Social Media Marketing Prerequisites

Social Media Marketers use different social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to promote products, brands, and ideas. With over half the world’s population online, social media marketing continues to grow. Although you can learn social media marketing without any prerequisites, having some skills when you start can make learning the field easier. An affinity for tech, content creation, people skills, and an understanding of human behavior are just a few of the abilities that can help you start a career as a Social Media Marketer.

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.

Is Social Media Marketing Easy to Learn?

If you are a people person who enjoys interacting with the public, social media marketing may be easy for you to learn. Of course, you need to know more than how to talk to strangers. Social Media Marketers use tools like Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Emplifi Social Marketing Cloud to keep up with conversations and track likes and shares on social media. You will also need to learn data analytics.

Most people find it easier to learn new skills by taking classes. Noble Desktop’s Social Media Marketing Certificate teaches skills that can help you start a career in the industry. Those ready to dive into the field can attend in-person classes at Noble Desktop’s New York City location or attend live online digital marketing courses from anywhere in the world. You can also find other digital marketing courses, bootcamps, and certificate programs in your area using Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me tool. Noble Desktop also offers more detailed courses for those looking to hone their skills on specific channels, such as Facebook Marketing, Instagram Marketing, Social Media Content Marketing: Blogs & Twitter, and Video Marketing: TikTok & YouTube, among others.

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 Intro to Social Media Marketing.

What to Know Before Learning Social Media Marketing

One of the best ways to get started in social media marketing is to create a website and some social media accounts. You can learn a lot on your own and by following tutorials, reading blogs, and listening to podcasts. A great place to practice your social media marketing skills is to create a website for yourself (or help out a friend!) and use it to test out different techniques. Being able to implement various strategies and compare what works and what doesn’t will help you when you are applying for a job. A website of your own gives you a chance to work on content marketing skills, drill down on the ins and outs of video marketing, and figure out search engine optimization.

Create some social media accounts and learn how they work. Start an Instagram account and begin creating content. See what resonates, what people respond to, and what they don’t. Create a YouTube account and practice making videos. This might feel difficult at first, but as you learn the ropes, it will become easier, and you will enjoy it more.

While there are no formal prerequisites for learning social media marketing, there are some primary and secondary skills that will make the process easier. If you enjoy using technology, are comfortable working with numbers, and like interacting with people online, you will have an easier time mastering social media marketing.

Foundational Skills

The skills listed below are necessary for a successful social media marketing career. Primary skills can be learned from classes and tutorials. You should be at least proficient in using software tools, paid and unpaid ads, content marketing, data analytics, and the ins and outs of social media before you set out on your career as a Social Media Marketer.

Tech Savvy

If the thought of digging in and learning a new software tool excites you, you are already on the road to becoming a Social Media Marketer. Whether it’s posting on social media, researching the competition, or collecting data on website visitors, Social Media Marketers spend most of their time online. Some of the most popular kinds of tools Social Marketers use are social listening and social media analytics. Tools help Social Media Marketers produce and schedule content and manage paid and unpaid advertising. Social Media Marketers also need to keep up with rapidly changing markets and new tools and platforms that come along.

Content Creation

Engagement is the backbone of social media marketing. The ability to create or choose quality content to engage with social media users is one of the most valuable skills for a Social Media Marketer. Content refers to any written, visual, or audio media that can be posted online, downloaded, or shared with others. Social Media Marketers use content marketing to share information, educate followers, and build relationships within an online community. It also helps with brand recognition and loyalty, can save costs, and lead to increased sales.

Social Media Analytics

Social media analytics involves collecting, tracking, and analyzing user data on social media accounts so you can figure out how your strategy is working. You’ll glean crucial information on engagement, such as your campaign’s reach, what kinds of positive (and negative) mentions you’re getting online, how many people are seeing your posts and if they’re being shared, if your brand’s hashtag is performing well, and other details to help improve or change your strategy. Having access to this data allows you to focus better on future marketing efforts, ultimately saving you time and money.

Psychology

Psychology is the study of how people think, behave, and learn, which is a useful perspective for a Social Media Marketer. People who have studied psychology possess skills in research and writing, problem-solving, and critical thinking, especially in analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of data.

Sociology

Sociology is the study of how people behave within society. A sociological perspective is useful for Social Media Marketers to help understand how a target audience behaves on social media and how to influence that behavior.

People Skills

People skills are also important for social media marketing. The ability to read people accurately and present a brand successfully is fundamental to a social media marketing campaign.

Statistics

Any study of human behavior involves statistics, and social media marketing is no exception. An understanding of statistics underlies the data analytics that digital marketing is built on.

Marketing Principles

The four principles of marketing are product, price, place, and promotion. An understanding of how these principles are involved in social media marketing can help anyone who wants to start a career in the field.

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

• Possessing certain skills before studying social media marketing can make the process easier. Some of these skills are:
• Affinity for technology
• Content creation
• Social media analytics
• Psychology
• Sociology
• People skills
• Statistics
• Marketing Principles
• Signing up for classes helps many people learn new skills.
• You can receive comprehensive social media marketing training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.