One of the biggest challenges for business owners is finding new customers. Over the past decade, some business owners have leveraged social media to do just that. Whether you're a social media novice or a seasoned veteran, this course will give you a solid foundation in social media marketing and using it to grow your business.

In today's globally connected environment, social media is a game changer for businesses. So, whether you're looking for a new way to market your business or simply want to better understand social media, this online social media marketing course will empower you.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

• This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac.

Software Requirements:

• PC: Windows 8 or later.
• Mac: OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 or later.
• Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click here to download the Acrobat Reader.
• Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

• Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Developing a Social Media Foundation

In this lesson, you'll build the foundation you need to use social media to grow your business. You will discover the definition of social media, learn about its characteristics, and see what it can do for your business. Then, you'll explore the various types of social media and focus in on the ones that offer the greatest benefits.

Creating Your Social Media Strategy

You will see how you can build a strategy for using social media to grow your business. First, you will discover what a strategy is and why it's important to have one for your social media efforts. Then, you will gain an understanding of the critical elements of any social media strategy.

Building Your Social Media Organization

This lesson demonstrates how to develop a social media organization that will help you be as effective as possible. First, you will see how to choose from among the various platforms to select the ones that will serve your business best. Finally, you will learn how you can transform your simple diagram into a more detailed electronic file and add elements as your business grows.

Crafting High-Quality Content

In this lesson, you will learn how to produce social media content that engages your followers and entices them to comment. You will gain an understanding of how to write content that's optimized for distribution on social media platforms and to do so without it becoming a full-time job. Finally, you will learn the various ways that you can store, manage, search, and retrieve the social media content that you produce.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites. In this lesson, you will learn how you can use Facebook to effectively market and grow your business. First, you will get an overview of how Facebook works, and you will take a tour of a Facebook business page. Next, you learn how to create a Facebook account, set up a page for your business, and use strategies to gain awareness and exposure for your business.

Twitter

This lesson focuses on using Twitter to effectively market and grow your business. You will be guided through the steps required to create and brand a Twitter account for your business. Finally, you will learn several advanced strategies that you can use to gain awareness and exposure for your business.

LinkedIn

This lesson will teach you how to use LinkedIn to make connections, expand your personal network, and grow your business. You will explore a handful of strategies that you can use to gain awareness and exposure for your business.

Pinterest

In this lesson, you will learn how you can use Pinterest to share information and connect with others who are interested in your products and services. You will learn a handful of strategies that can help your business gain additional awareness and exposure.

Instagram

In this lesson, you'll learn how you can use Instagram to effectively market and grow your business. First, you'll look at an overview of the social media platform, see how it differs from others you've explored, and take a tour of its features. After that, you'll see how to create a personal account and how to decide whether or not to switch to a business profile. Finally, you'll examine several strategies that you can use to leverage Instagram to engage and interact and grow a base of followers for your business.

Social Media Automation

In this lesson, you will learn about social media automation. You will peek at the pros and cons and identify the most common pitfalls of using automation. And finally, this lesson introduces the most popular free and paid automation tools that you can put to immediate use.

Social Media and Your Team

In this lesson, you will learn to minimize the time you spend on social media activities through delegation. First, this lesson investigates the types of tasks you can delegate and examine some common pitfalls to avoid. Next, you will explore process for assigning tasks to team members and, if needed, hiring a part-time or full-time social media manager. Finally, you will gain some strategies for centralizing your social media information and get a preview of some software solutions for integrating your social media team's efforts.

Measuring Your Social Media Performance

How do you know if what you're doing is working? In this lesson, you will learn about tracking, monitoring, measuring and improving your social media activities. You'll investigate the most common types of metrics you will find in social media and then examine some popular third-party tools that can take your analysis to another level.

Lesson 1

Gain an understanding of why you should be using social media in your business, learn about the different types of social media, and uncover a step-by-step process to use social media to grow your business.

Lesson 2

Grasp why having a social media strategy is important, discover the critical elements of any social media strategy, and learn how to create a social media strategy that will help you grow your business.

Lesson 3

Learn how to select the right social media platforms for your business, learn to build a simple social media organization diagram, and see how to expand that diagram to meet your future business needs.

Lesson 4

Develop an understanding of the types of social media content, and discover ways to quickly and effortlessly produce, optimize, and manage the content you post.

Lesson 5

Set up a Facebook account, and gain an understanding of how you can effectively use this social networking platform to grow your business.

Lesson 6

Get an overview of the different ways Twitter can benefit your business, master techniques for using Twitter, and create a new Twitter account.

Lesson 7

Learn all about how you can put LinkedIn to work for your business, and create a new LinkedIn account.

Lesson 8

Gain an understanding of why and how to effectively use Pinterest to grow your business.

Lesson 9

Grasp what Google+ is, and learn how to effectively use this platform to grow your business.

Lesson 10

Develop expertise about social media automation, how to use it, and what tools are available to automate your social media activities.

Lesson 11

Learn to minimize the time you spend on social media activities through delegation.

Lesson 12

Comprehend common social media metrics, decide which ones to implement in your business, and learn how to use them to track, monitor, measure, and continuously improve your social media performance.

Brad Semp, Ph.D., is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at a global corporation, a life-long entrepreneur, and a former professor of Bachelors and Masters of Science courses in Internet Marketing. Dr. Brad is active on social media platforms to engage with prospects and customers, expand relationships, and to grow businesses. He routinely coaches other entrepreneurs and business owners and consults with Fortune 500 organizations on how to design and implement effective social media systems, strategies, and tactics.