The social media landscape and digital marketing world adapt and change continuously, so if you want to get ahead, we advise that you brush up on your social media marketing knowledge regularly. Whether you are an influencer, a marketing agency, a start-up, a freelancer, or a regular social media user, you’ll need to master specific social media marketing skills by enrolling in a course to develop a brand image, attract your target audience, and leave an impression. Here are some of our favourites and free, online social media courses. Some can be completed at your own pace, while others need certification and examinations (don’t be afraid of those though – awards and certifications always look good on your CV and LinkedIn profile).
How to Use Social Media to Market Your Business
Learn the fundamentals of social media marketing with our free, comprehensive guide.
15 Free Social Media Courses
Deep Dive into Social Media (Google Digital Garage)
LOCALiQ are a Google industry partner, but that’s not why we are promoting them as a free learning resource. From display advertising to analytics, to search advertisements, Google is at the forefront of its business and provides a multitude of learning resources and certification options. All of these possibilities are free! Their “Deep Dive into Social Media” course covers a well-organised social media plan and strategy which will help you save time and effort. You can learn what types of social content work best, why social advertising can be a valuable complement to your plan, and how to track success so you can improve future social content.
What is social? (Coursera)
This is an introductory course to social media marketing offered by Northwestern University. The lecturer for this course is Randy Hlavac of Northwestern University, who is also the CEO of Marketing Synergy, Inc. The following are some of the topics covered in this course:
- An introduction to social media marketing.
- Trends in social media.
- How to use social media for business.
- The importance of big data and the changing dynamics of social media.
Videos, reading materials, assignments, and quizzes are used in the course. It is a nine-hour course, but they recommend you take three to four weeks to complete it. You will receive a certificate after completing all of the course modules, which you can then post on your LinkedIn.
Digital Skills: Social Media (Future Learn)
What exactly is social media, and how can it benefit your business? You’ll get answers to these and other questions in this course by Accenture. You’ll learn why social media marketing skills are becoming increasingly important for businesses of all sizes, as well as some of the ways you may put them to use. You’ll learn how to use social media to build and grow your business, as well as some of the tools that can assist you. Throughout the course you will learn how to:
- Identify social media channels.
- Explore the world of social media management.
- Develop your social media skills.
- Discover some social media top tips.
- Identify social media management tools.
This self-guided course allows you to learn at your own speed. You can meet other students, share your views, and participate in active conversations in the comments at any time during the course.
Social Media Analytics (Quintly)
This is a beginner-level social media analytics course that you may take to learn the basics or to brush up on your skills. From analysing your existing scenario to automating analytics reports, the training is broken down into modules or steps. Here are some of the things that you will learn:
- Situation analysis.
- Benchmarking against competitors.
- Obtaining data from several social media platforms.
- Identifying KPIs to measure your goals.
- Deciding on the audience for different types of reports.
- Automating reports.
The course includes videos, reading materials, and quizzes and provides an engaging way to learn.
Social Media Marketing (HubSpot)
The newly updated social media certification will help you shape the conversations around your brand, establish loyalty, and attract new customers and partners. Building a strong social media strategy will help you increase all of your inbound marketing initiatives while also increasing brand awareness, spreading word of mouth, and attracting customers. Join HubSpot Academy lecturer, Crystal King, and learn how to:
- Build an effective social media strategy.
- Set up social listening and moderation.
- Generate social content.
- Broaden your reach.
- Succeed in digital advertising.
- Measure ROI and more.
The course is 4:08 hours long, packed with 8 lessons, 39 videos, and 29 quizzes to test your knowledge, so you need to pay attention!
TikTok Marketing Masterclass (Influencer Marketing Hub)
One of the most comprehensive and useful courses available, teaching you all you need to know about mastering Tiktok for your business or personal brand. Ed Lawrence and Shelby Leimgruber, social media influencers with a proven track record, will be your course instructors for The TikTok Masterclass. This course contains 11 lessons and bonuses that cover everything from the fundamentals to the complexity of working with huge brands. This course will teach you:
- The basics of TikTok.
- How to create successful brand personas while maintaining authenticity.
- How to build your audience.
- >How to increase TikTok engagement.
- How to begin collaborating with brands.
- How to make money as a TikTok influencer.
The course is completely free and jam-packed with:
Resources: Brand partnership outreach templates, influencer case studies, and exclusive expert interviews.
Production Worksheets: Video planning and storyboard templates, camera shot list, budget templates, and cue sheets.
TikTok Stash Bundle: Engagement and earning potential tools, editing apps, scheduling tools, and FTC requirements.
Build Your Personal Brand and Sell Your Expertise Using Social Media (Social Creators)
Learn how to identify your ideal audience using design thinking so you can speak directly to their problems and give helpful content. When you sign up, you’ll also receive a 21-page personal branding guide, which will help you create a unique online presence that will help you get recruited for jobs. Follow a four-part video training series on how to use design thinking for social media to build your brand, communicate with the right people, and market your abilities and skills to a larger audience.
Introduction to Social Media Strategy (Skill Share)
In this 45-minute, straightforward course, you will learn how to create a social media strategy that works, with digital marketing consultant Brian Peters and Buffer. Learn how to create a basic social media strategy to fulfil your goals on Facebook and Twitter, whether you want to raise brand awareness, improve website traffic, or drive sales. The course will show you through a personalised social strategy process, from finding your voice to sponsored promotion. Find out how to:
- Choose the right social media platforms for your business.
- Create and curate great visual content.
- Schedule, analyse and enhance your posts with tools like Buffer.
- Execute Brian’s 5-step Facebook advertising strategy.
After taking this course, you will be able to create a unique social media strategy that will help you achieve your business objectives, build genuine connections with your target audience, and achieve the results you want.
Facebook Blueprint Courses (Facebook)
One of LOCALiQ’s marketing partners is Facebook. Everyone has heard of Facebook, and they are unquestionably experts in their industry, which is why their free courses are invaluable to anyone who wants to learn about social media. Some of their courses are quite complex and require payment, however, there are also free classes on Facebook Blueprint that will greatly enhance your marketing skills.
Writing for Social Media (edX)
The respected University of California, Berkley, is offering this course for free. It gives a comprehensive framework for creating social media content. Tim Peters, a Lead Content Strategist for Tata Consultancy Services, is the course’s instructor. The following are some of the things you will learn:
- Identifying your target audience.
- Writing content that is suited to your audience – keeping the delivery channel in mind.
- Optimising your content with effective writing strategies.
- Making a connection with your audience through effective communication.
The course will be completed in 4 weeks. You can take the course for free, but you must pay to receive a certificate.
Social Media Ethics (Udemy)
The law’s requirements, how ethics policy applies to social networking, and how to engage in ethical conversations on social media are all covered in this social media ethics training course. This self-paced employee training on social media ethics encourages ethical behaviour online. Employees and professionals can be certified to utilise social media successfully while also improving their ethics and compliance. This course is appropriate for anyone who wants to learn to use social media for business without breaking any federal, state, or municipal laws. What you’ll learn:
- Exercise good judgement when using social networks for work.
- Avoid tweeting something that could get you sued or fired.
- Recognise what makes ethical, respectful behaviour on social media.
- Demonstrate tolerance and consideration for others on social platforms.
You can watch the videos for free, but you must pay for the certification. It is a quick course that takes only 33 minutes to finish.
Social Media Monitoring (Udemy)
Eric Schwartzman has published yet another free Udemy course. It will walk you through all of the different aspects of social media monitoring. Monitoring online interactions on social media is the first step to efficient social media management. With this new social media training course, you’ll learn how to listen online. If you don’t know where your customers are, you can’t design a sensible social media plan. Learn how to use social monitoring tools to locate hotspots of conversation and meet your customers where they are most comfortable. Here are some of the subjects that will be covered:
- Techniques for keyword phrase filtering.
- Choosing the right keywords to monitor.
- Identifying influencers and compiling influencer lists.
- Content curation.
- The disadvantage of using rich text analysis.
- Social media monitoring strategies for different platforms.
A combination of video and textual reading materials are used in the course. The course is 7 hours 26 minutes long. You can obtain the video content for free, but you’ll have to pay for the certificate and additional resources.
Social Media 101 (Constant Contact)
Social Media Quickstarter offers comprehensive social media education for beginners. It teaches you how to create your social media presence on various platforms in a step-by-step manner. Each platform, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others, has its own course module. You’ll get thorough information about all parts of creating a profile and engaging your audience on that channel in each module. It also includes dos and don’ts for each platform, as well as suggestions for how to succeed on each.
Social Media Marketing (Oxford Home Study Centre)
This free online social media marketing from Oxford Home Study Centre provides a basic introduction to everything social media and marketing on various platforms for newcomers and other inexperienced users. This course is not only free to take, but it also comes with a certificate of completion that you can put on your resume. The course will show you how to do great social media marketing, why it is so effective, and what goes into creating a social media marketing strategy plan. You’ll also discover:
- What the 5 Ps of social media are and how to implement them.
- How to grow your digital presence in order to gain new followers and keep them.
- Everything that goes into developing a comprehensive social media plan.
The fact that this free social media marketing course is self-paced makes it a terrific option for growth and education. There is no need to rush through the test to get your certification. This helps to keep stress and burnout at bay. It is also quite simple to enrol in the course and receive full tutor support from start to finish. You’ll always have someone holding your hand!
Quicksprout Social Media Courses (Quicksprout)
Quicksprout has a content-rich section dedicated to all aspects of social media. There are a number of helpful social media marketing guides available that will teach you everything you need to know about everything from generating leads to developing content calendars. There are several other guides you can look into:
The major distinction that people always notice with Quicksprout University is the price. You’ll have to pay a lot of money for most online courses. You may bookmark these guides on Quicksprout and revisit them whenever you want without having to empty your bank account.
These are some of the top free social media marketing courses for brushing up on your skills or learning new ones. If you are new to social media and want to start from scratch, you should absolutely take a number of these courses. Choose the ones that pique your interest the most and give them a shot. You may always switch to a more interactive course if you don’t like the materials or approach, as they are all free. Good luck!
How to Use Social Media to Market Your Business
Learn the fundamentals of social media marketing with our free, comprehensive guide.
