According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a 7% rate of job growth is expected for marketing managers from 2019 to 2029.
To help stand out from your competition in the hiring process as well as feel entirely confident in your ability to perform in your social media role, you may want to take a social media course.
In this blog post, we'll cover some of the best social media marketing courses that are available today.
Best Social Media Marketing Courses
1. Social Media Certification
Price: Free
Platform: HubSpot Academy
HubSpot's Social Media Certification course is a robust program designed to help you attract customers and partners, and build brand loyalty. Because social media is the key to inbound marketing, this course ties in the two concepts seamlessly.
The course is flexible enough so that you can work on it on your time. It covers essential topics such as measuring ROI, extending reach, social media content creation, and social listening. You might also select to take specific lessons within the HubSpot Academy course — for instance, this one on Social Media Advertising.
Notable Takeaway: Learn how to create an inbound social media marketing strategy.
2. Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
Price: Free
Platform: Google Digital Garage
Google's social media certification has over 300,000 students and provides courses in social media, mobile marketing, SEO, and web optimization.
The courses explain paid and organic search and teach you how to develop search-engine-optimized web pages.
Learning how to optimize pages for search on a popular search engine (for free) sounds like a win-win. At the completion of the course, you'll receive a digital certificate you can add to your LinkedIn profile and resume.
Notable Takeaway: Better understand SEO and its relationship with digital marketing.
3. Social Ads 101
Price: Free
Platform: Wordstream
WordStream offers the necessary educational resources to develop a strong understanding of social media advertisements. This includes social media ads on a variety of platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and LinkedIn.
There's also information about why and how to advertise on social media as well as education around best practices while advertising across these platforms.
Lastly, you'll learn about social media ad metrics and social shopping — this way, you can effectively track measure your success as well as target your audience when and where they're ready to make a purchase.
Notable Feature: Learn about social ads on the major platforms including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and LinkedIn.
4. Social Media Training for Beginners
Price: Free
Platform: Constant Contact
Constant Contact is a great educational resource for beginners and those who are new to the world of social media marketing.
There are step-by-step instructions on how to create and maintain your social media presence across every major platform. This includes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google My Business, YouTube, and Snapchat.
Notable Feature: Learn everything you need to get started in social media marketing.
5. Online Social Media Marketing Classes
Price: Free or paid (depending on the social media course)
Platform: Skillshare
On Skillshare, you can pick classes that suit your interests and save classes to refer to later. There's a variety of business topics you can take classes on.
As for social media marketing specifically, you can filter social media marketing classes by the time that they take to complete, whether they're free or premium, whether or not the topic is trending, and more.
Notable Takeaway: Select the specific social media marketing topic and lesson time that best suits your need.
6. Acadium Digital Marketing Course
Price: Free
Platform: Acadium
Acadium is an apprenticeship and mentorship program — there are a number of lessons within the Digital Marketing Course that you can take before, after, or during your apprenticeship.
The courses offered cover an array of digital marketing topics including but not limited to social media marketing, paid advertising, email marketing, SEO, and content marketing.
Notable Takeaway: Get a full understanding of digital marketing while working an apprenticeship in which you can develop real-world experience.
7. Social Media 101 Training
Price: $97
Platform: Boot Camp Digital
Digital Marketing 101 by Boot Camp Digital is an impactful, video-led training that takes you on a deep dive into the basics of digital marketing and using it for social media. This is beginner-level training and can be completed in six hours.
Boot Camp's clientele includes Nike, NASA, GE, and Georgia-Pacific, and the platform gives buyers unlimited access once purchased. It provides a digital marketing template, ROI information, benchmarking, and a bonus-free digital tools course.
Notable Takeaway: Learn about digital marketing and work through a comprehensive section on social media marketing and strategy.
8. Fundamentals of Digital Marketing, Social Media, and E-Commerce
Price: $585
Platform: Wharton, University of Pennsylvania
Wharton's course is considered an intermediate dive into the intersection of digital marketing, social media marketing, and ecommerce. It's a self-paced, six-week class that demands three hours of your time each week.
This course is structured specifically for marketing professionals, small business owners, and consumers who want to know social media techniques. You'll learn how to produce marketing campaigns that are effective for your business.
Notable Takeaway: Marketing course designed for professionals.
9. The Strategy of Content Marketing
Price: Enroll for free
Platform: University of California, Davis
In this online class offered by the University of California, Davis, you'll learn how to create a content marketing strategy and develop an understanding of the ecosystem surrounding that strategy. Ample time will also be spent working on strategic writing and framing.
The different types of content marketing will be reviewed along with how they’re integral to social media marketing.There are five weeks worth of material paired with videos, exercises, readings, and quizzes.
Notable Takeaway: Learn about the power of integrating your content marketing and social media marketing strategies.
10. Social Media Marketing Masterclass
Price: $149.99
Platform: Udemy
Rather than a complete level one course in social media, this offering, by Udemy is a Masterclass on the subject, uniquely centered around ethical digital marketing techniques.
You'll learn how to set up a powerful marketing strategy and a schedule that aligns with accomplishing business goals.
You'll also dive into how social media marketing integrates with your business, email marketing, and building an online community. This course can be completed in 20 hours, and gives you a certificate of completion at its end.
Notable Takeaway: Learn how to build a social media marketing strategy and schedule for your unique business.
Find Your Ideal Social Media Marketing Course
Social media marketing can be extremely powerful when done right — and understanding how to apply the most effective and up-to-date strategies will help you stand out from other social media marketers and strategists so you can propel your career.
So, identity the right course for your experience level, budget, and goals — then get started learning.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
