Social media was once a frilly past time, but over the last few years has proven itself to be a valuable business skill and an integral part of any personal branding or business marketing strategy. In order to make the most of your time, you will want to take it seriously and learn the hard skills necessary to drive traffic to your pages and convert them into active members of your community. Learning those skills takes time, but there are more effective ways to attain those skills in a shorter amount of time through online training academies.
Here are 4 online training academies that you can use to become a social media marketing expert in no time.
Udemy is an online learning platform that allows just about anyone to create a course in, well, just about anything from basic accounting to learning foreign languages to cooking skills. The courses range in price and length from free, hour-long lessons to hundreds of dollars and week-long lesson plans. The course size is so big, that you’ll have to dig through dozens of courses to find the right one for you, but most offer a few free videos so you can try it before you buy it.
Very similar to Udemy, SkillShare brings teachers and learners together. Here, you can find classes from small time social media marketers, to the big boys, like Gary Vaynerchuck. The main difference between SkillShare and Udemy is the pricing structure. Udemy charges by the course, while SkillShare is a membership site that gives you access to all of their courses for one monthly price.
HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification
HubSpot is one of the top marketing automation platforms on the market and recently had their initial public offering in October. While their product speaks for itself, one of their main competitive advantages lies in their training resources, which enable their users to get the most out of their product. Additionally, they offer a free Inbound Marketing Certification course, which will leave you equipped with the basics of lead generation, conversion, and community management on social media (among other aspects of digital marketing).
Social Media Marketing University
This is a niche site that operates very similarly to other training academies I mentioned, but their sole purpose is to help you become an expert in all aspects of social media. You do have the option of choosing specific courses in which to earn your certification. Brace yourself, because this one isn’t cheap. The full course costs upwards of $3,000, but you can be confident that you are getting the highest level training available.
Personally, I have used all of these resources for my own personal growth and development as a social media marketing professional. So, I can personally vouch for their effectiveness. Give these a try and reach out to me on Twitter to let me know how they work for you or if you need any help getting started.
Great resources that I had no idea about, Reade. Checking them out now.