How to Learn Social Media Marketing

As more marketing activities move online, reaching out to potential customers on social media continues to become more popular, and the number of jobs advertised for Social Media Marketers is growing.The number of options for learning social media marketing might be overwhelming at first glance. There are books, video tutorials, classes, and more to choose from; it all depends on your learning style and personal preferences.

Here, we’ll discuss the various methods of learning Social Media Marketing so you can make an informed decision about how you’d like to get started.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing uses platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok to connect with a target audience. According to Hootsuite’s Digital 2021 report, more than 4.48 billion people use these platforms daily, making social media marketing a smart choice to help drive website traffic, build a widely-known brand, and gain revenue.

There are two types of social media marketing: paid and unpaid. Paid marketing means buying ads on different social media sites, while unpaid marketing relies on high-quality content, clicks, likes, and shares. It’s also called “earned marketing.” While earned marketing is valuable because it doesn’t cost any money, it can take a long time to see results, so Social Media Marketers need to be patient and persistent.

A social media marketing campaign is based on these five essential activities:

• Strategy–setting goals, choosing the best channels, and deciding what type of content will attract your audience.
• Planning and publishing–understanding your audience, knowing what and when to publish, and maintaining consistency.
• Listening and engagement–interacting with your audience and tracking changes in the market.
• Analytics–collecting, tracking, and analyzing data on social media accounts so you can figure out what is working for you.
• Advertising–earned and paid advertising.

Read more about what social media marketing is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is a powerful way to get the word out about your product or message, and one of the best things is you can do it for free. It doesn’t cost anything to open accounts on the different social media platforms, and many of the digital marketing tools you need are free to use or have a free version.

Data analytics tools allow you to research the market, identify a target audience, and tailor your message directly to them. Engagement tools let you interact with potential customers, get important feedback, see what your competitors are doing, and change your campaign as you need to. Social media marketing creates and maintains a community through regularly posted, high-quality content.

It can take a bit of time to see organic results, but you can use paid advertising to speed things up. Advertising increases engagement and is a good investment. Social media marketing tools allow you to pinpoint your audience and advertise just to them.

In-Person Social Media Marketing Training

Some people prefer to attend in-person classes at a brick-and-mortar location when learning new information. If you like to interact face to face with your instructor and classmates, this would be a good option for you when it comes to learning social media marketing. In an in-person class, you can ask the instructor questions, get help when you have difficulties with assignments, make connections with other students and do some networking. Of course, there are drawbacks to in-person classes, too. There is time spent commuting to the site and finding parking or paying for transportation, and sometimes the class timing isn’t convenient.

Noble Desktop offers a Social Media Marketing Certificate in person in New York City from a state-of-the-art campus in Midtown Manhattan. Students use classroom computers with the necessary tools downloaded, and the instructor is in the room. Other in-person training options include Brainstation’s Social Media Marketing Certificate, General Assembly’s Social Media Bootcamp, and a collection of social media marketing classes by Certstaffix Training.

Live Online Social Media Marketing Training

Certificate programs are designed to give you the skill set you need to succeed as a Social Media Marketer. Many schools offer online courses in social media marketing, some of them as asynchronous classes that you can take in your spare time. Certificate programs are intensive courses focusing exclusively on social marketing subjects and take two to four months to complete.

Noble Desktop offers a Social Media Marketing Bootcamp covering the tools and techniques you need to succeed in social media marketing. This course covers the social media giants, including Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and introduces students to the optimal social media strategies for brand building to enhance a business. Topics include social media strategy development, content creation, brand building, analytics, and conversion optimization. This program also includes a free retake option so you can come back within a year to refresh the material.

You can also take a Social Media Marketing Certificate through Noble Desktop. The course curriculum includes a LinkedIn Marketing Bootcamp, YouTube Marketing, TikTok Marketing, Social Media Content Marketing: Blogs and Twitter, Instagram Marketing Bootcamp, Facebook Marketing Bootcamp, Streaming for Social Media, and Social Media Industry and Portfolio. This class will give you the tools and techniques you need to succeed in social media marketing. In addition to the interactive training, you get four 1-on-1 mentoring sessions that you can use for a portfolio review, review challenging concepts, polish your resume and LinkedIn profile, get advice from a marketing professional about applying for jobs, and ensure you are on track with your learning goals.

You can take live online classes from anywhere in the world with a set-up similar to in-person instruction. A real-time, remote instructor can answer questions and has the ability to share your screen to show you how to do things. You get the same level of attention as in in-person classes. When you complete the course, you will receive a verified digital certificate of completion licensed by the New York State Department of Education.

Free Online Courses & Tutorials

Free courses can give you a brief introduction to some aspects of social media marketing. This can help you decide if you want to pursue the field further. If you are not ready to commit to the time and expense involved with a bootcamp or certificate course, you can find free introductory video courses and tutorials. Noble Desktop offers Intro to Social Media Marketing, a seminar that introduces students to social media marketing and how to successfully leverage it to increase the reach of their brand. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of choosing the right social media channels for the right message and cultivating an authentic brand voice. Students learn to research what works and what doesn't for their brand, then discover what makes for good storytelling in a social media context. By the end of the tutorial, students will have a firm understanding of social media marketing and how to create an action plan to generate organic brand engagement.

Some other free online introductory courses and tutorials include What is Social? from Coursera, WordStream Learn’s PPC University, Social Media Quickstarter from Constant Contact, and Google Analytics Academy, a series of free classes about Google’s measurement tools.

There are many options for free social media marketing tutorials on YouTube. Simplilearn offers a six-hour Social Media Marketing Full Course tutorial for beginners. Neil Patel has several free tutorials on learning social media marketing and other digital marketing topics. Other YouTubers offering free online tutorials include Maggie Stara, Jordan Platten, Dan Lok, and Santrel Media.

On-Demand Social Media Marketing Classes

There are other online classes that could be useful for Social Media Marketers. Noble Desktop’s Dominate Local Search with Google My Business is a free video class that covers how important Google My Business is to the success of local businesses. The tutorial begins by demonstrating how to set up a Google My Business profile so that the student's business can be linked to Google Maps and Google's local search functions. Students learn about the key features of a successful Google My Business listing and how to tailor their profile to attract customers. By the end of the seminar, students are equipped to make regular updates to their Google My Business listing to maintain and improve their search ranking.

Noble also offers some courses on Search Engine Optimization, a skill that can be very helpful for Social Media Marketers. Noble’s SEO Level 1 is an introductory SEO class where participants will gain a better understanding of search engines and how to optimize their sites for better search rankings. This course covers search engine basics, keyword research techniques, competitive analysis, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and link building. Students will walk away from this 1-day course with a solid foundation for SEO and strategies to implement for their websites. Noble’s SEO Level 2 is an advanced SEO class that builds off on the basic knowledge of SEO taught in Level 1. Students learn advanced techniques and strategies to outperform the competition in search ranking. Students will dive deeper into link-building strategies, learn competitive research techniques, master more optimization techniques, and learn how to measure SEO success and performance. Both courses include a free retake so students can refresh the course material.

Skillshare has several SEO tutorial options, including The Ultimate SEO Training 2022 + SEO for WordPress Websites, Introduction to SEO: Tactics and Strategy for Entrepreneurs, and SEO Today: Strategies to Earn Trust, Rank High, and Stand Out. Udemy offers SEO 2022: Complete SEO Training + SEO for WordPress Websites, and Simplilearn has a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Training Course.

Other options for online social media marketing classes include Facebook Ads and Facebook Marketing from Coursenvy, Powerful Social Media Marketing for Beginners from Skillshare, and Social Media Marketing for Small Business from LinkedIn Learning.

Which Learning Method is Right for Me?

With so many different resources available to help beginners learn social media marketing, you might be unsure about which one is best for you. Everyone has different learning styles and preferences, and you can experiment with multiple tools to see which one feels right for you. One of the great things about directing your own learning is that you get to pick which combination of tools you prefer; you don’t have to stick with what a teacher chooses.

It’s also essential to consider your current schedule before selecting a learning method. If you have a lot of responsibilities like a full-time job or family commitments, you may not be able to devote time to a structured course that requires you to attend at the same time every day. In this case, a self-paced class or video tutorials may be better since you can access them when your schedule allows. On the other hand, those with a more flexible schedule may prefer a structured course offered in-person or live online.

Why Learn Social Media Marketing?

As businesses have moved online, social media marketing has become a popular career. In order to become a successful Social Media Marketer, you need to understand how the different social media platforms operate and their focuses. You need to have skills like clear communication, organization, flexibility, writing, creativity, and data analytics. You also need to know how to build a brand and use quality content to increase sales.

Read more about why you should learn social media marketing.

Level of Difficulty, Prerequisites, & Cost

Whether or not social media marketing is difficult to learn depends upon your level of interest, the time you have to devote to study, and your motivation. Do you love having a passion project? Do you enjoy multitasking and keeping track of data? Is creating content for social media followers your idea of a good time? Then it probably wouldn’t be hard for you to learn social media marketing and change careers, especially if you sign up for a certificate course.

Enrolling in a class doesn’t necessarily need any prerequisites to learn social media marketing, but a few skills can make the experience easier. If you are comfortable with technology and like working with numbers, it will be easier for you to learn to use social media marketing tools. Some familiarity with social media and good communication skills are a plus, too. Beyond that, solid writing ability, creativity, persistence, and the ability to multitask will make learning social media smoother.

Beyond the cost of a class, it isn’t that expensive to learn social media marketing. Some of the most widely used tools like Google Analytics are free, and others like Moz have a free version to get you started. SEMRush is another useful digital marketing tool, and while it can be expensive, you get a seven-day free trial to try it out first.

Read about how difficult it is to learn social media marketing.

Learn Social Media Marketing with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop’s social media marketing courses teach skills that can help you start a career in the industry. Classes are small, with expert instructors, and you can retake a course for free up to a year after you take it. Those ready to dive into the field can attend in-person classes at Noble Desktop’s New York City location or attend live online social media courses from anywhere in the world.

In Noble Desktop’s Social Media Marketing Certificate, you can master successful social media marketing tools and techniques. You will learn about strategy development, content creation, brand building, analytics, and conversion optimization.

Noble Desktop also offers more detailed courses for those looking to hone their skills on specific channels, such as Facebook Marketing, email marketing, Social Media Content Marketing: Blogs & Twitter, and Video Marketing: TikTok & YouTube, or go for a Social Media Marketing Certificate. Other Noble Desktop resources that can help prepare for a career in digital marketing include its digital marketing blog, which has detailed articles about social media marketing, SEO, and other essential tools for digital marketers. Further resources include Noble’s seminar on YouTube entitled The Pillars of Digital Marketing Success.

Key Insights

• If you want to study social media marketing and switch to a new career, there are many options for online classes available.
• You can choose from social media marketing bootcamps and certificate programs.
• Some are paid courses, and others are free.
• Noble Desktop offers live online classes with a real-time instructor
• Live online classes are similar to in-person classes in that you can interact with the instructor, but you can take the class from anywhere you want.
• There are also many free classes and tutorials introducing you to social media marketing.
• You can receive comprehensive social media marketing training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.