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3 Best Social Media Marketing Courses to Take in 2024

Build your business’s online presence and branding on the most popular social platforms.

Have you ever wondered how to harness the incredible power of social media marketing? Well, I’ve got some exciting news for you. Social media marketing is not just a mystical art reserved for a select few—it’s a skill set that can be learned, practiced, and honed with the right tools, techniques, and expert guidance.

Not convinced yet? Just take a look at the numbers: over half of the world’s population is active on social media, and that number keeps growing year after year. Can you believe it? That’s a whopping 6.5% increase from just a year ago! Eastern Asia alone boasts more than 1.2 billion people using social media, while North America has over 434 million people connected. The potential reach and impact are simply mind-boggling.

Now, let me share a short story with you. A few years ago, I participated in a couple of in-person digital marketing bootcamps. They were great, don’t get me wrong, but boy, has the market transformed since then! There’s a new player in town called TikTok, revolutionizing the way we do business on social media. Even Instagram has taken a wild turn, transforming into a video sharing platform. Keeping up with the ever-changing trends has become crucial.

But fear not! I’ve been diligently following the latest developments, and I can confidently say that there’s a treasure trove of courses out there that can help you achieve phenomenal results. And guess what? They won’t break the bank either. In fact, these courses cost a mere fraction of what you’d pay for a traditional workshop, making them an incredible value for your money.

So, if you’re on the hunt for top-rated courses that cover all the major social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and of course, TikTok—then look no further. I present to you the best courses handpicked from Class Central’s vast catalog, featuring 1400+ Social Media Marketing courses. Each course has been carefully selected using a proven methodology.

Class Central recommends Introduction to Social Media Marketing by Meta, part of the Facebook Social Media Marketing professional certificate, as the best Social Media Marketing course which lays the foundations. If you want to go beyond, Social Media Marketing by Hubspot Academy will give you the necessary tools to get started with a practical approach.

Here are my top picks:

Course Highlight Workload
The Best Social Media Marketing Course 15 hours
Practical Course on Building an Effective Social Media Strategy 4-5 hours
Instagram Strategy for Business Growth 1-2 hours
Honorable Mentions NA

The Essential Steps to Success in Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is a dynamic field within digital marketing that can revolutionize your campaigns, ads, and content, captivating your audience and compelling them to take action. While e-marketing and digital marketing are still riding the wave of popularity, social media marketing has emerged as a rising star, garnering attention from both researchers and practitioners alike.

Whether you’re a small business owner, a savvy marketer, a creative freelancer, or an independent professional seeking to establish a strong online presence, social media marketing holds the key to finding the perfect positioning for your brand.

Now, let’s get into the essential steps you need to take to craft a successful social media marketing campaign. The journey begins by identifying your niche and understanding your target audience inside out. This knowledge will help you select the most suitable platform to advertise on, ensuring maximum impact and visibility.

Once you’ve chosen your platform, it’s time to acquaint yourself with its intricacies. Consider enrolling in a course or training program to gain an in-depth understanding of how to leverage the unique features and functionalities offered by each social media channel. By doing so, you’ll be better equipped to harness their true potential and achieve remarkable results.

To truly excel in social media marketing, you’ll also need to understand the fundamentals of marketing itself. This means delving into the world of copywriting, creative writing, content creation, and SEO optimization. These skills will empower you to create captivating and persuasive content that grabs attention, resonates with your audience, and drives conversions.

Research Methodology

I built this ranking following the now tried-and-tested methodology used in previous Best Courses Guides (you can find them all here). It involves a three-step process:

  1. Research: I started by leveraging Class Central’s database with 100K online courses and 200K+ reviews. Then, I made a preliminary selection of Social Media Marketing courses by rating, reviews, and bookmarks.
  2. Evaluate: I read through reviews on Class Central, Reddit, and course providers to understand what other learners thought about each course and combined it with my own experience as a learner.
  3. Select: Well-made courses were picked if they presented valuable and engaging content and they have to fit in a set of criteria and be ranked accordingly: comprehensive curriculum, affordability, release date, ratings and enrollments.

The Best Social Media Marketing Course

Introduction to Social Media Marketing by Meta is a free-to-audit course that lays the foundation of social media marketing strategy. Aimed for beginners or small-businesses starting their digital marketing strategy into the most popular channels. It focuses primarily on Facebook and Instagram since this course was developed in conjunction with Meta, formerly known as Facebook. However, you will learn the basics of Youtube, WhatsApp, WeChat, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, and Pinterest.

This is the first course in the Facebook Social Media Marketing professional certificate. If you want a more in-depth experience, you may also consider taking the next courses in this specialization, Social Media Management. In total, there are 5 courses and a capstone project. You can watch (audit) all courses for free (learn how to sign up for Coursera courses for free). Upon successful completion of the full program, you will earn both the Coursera and the Facebook Digital Marketing Associate Certification, proving your skills in social media marketing and in the use of Facebook Ads Manager.

In this 5-week long course, you will have free access to all lectures, readings, and practice activities. For paying learners, you will also have graded quizzes and peer-graded assignments, which means you have to submit your own hands-on project.

Provider Coursera
Instructor(s) Anke Audenaert
Level Beginner
Workload 15 hours
Enrollments 316,405
Rating 4.8 (11,125 ratings)
Certificate Available

Additional Info

Practical Course on Building an Effective Social Media Strategy

Social Media Marketing by Hubspot Academy will help you shape some basic foundations of your marketing strategy and brand positioning. This is a more practical course than the previous one. It will help you build an effective social media strategy and will expand all of your other inbound marketing efforts. Learn everything from creating an effective social media strategy, to listening and monitoring, developing close relationships through engagement, setting up social listening and moderation, extending your reach, creating social content, social advertising, measuring ROI, and more.

This course is divided into 8 modules and 39 videos. It includes study guides, practical exercises and 29 mini-quizzes to test your knowledge. After completing all lessons, you can then take the final exam to test what you’ve learned. If you pass, you will receive a certification which can be added to your LinkedIn profile.

Provider Hubspot Academy
Instructor(s) Crystal King, Dayne Topkin, Corey Braccialini
Level Beginner
Workload 4-5 hours
Certificate Available

Additional Info

Instagram Strategy for Business Growth

From the best seller instructor Dot Lung, in Instagram Strategy for Business Growth you will learn a proven method to generate brand awareness and build a relationship with your audience. This course is aimed for freelancers, coaches, consultants, and small business owners. If you have fewer than 10k followers, this course is for you. It can also be applied to personal branding.

This is a self paced course with 21 lessons and 17 additional resources. By the end of this course you will deliver a project on “creating a month-long calendar full of engaging social media posts for your business”. Upon completion of the course, you can download your certificate.

You can check on other students’ projects on the course main page. Once you finish your projects, you can receive comments and feedback from other students as well.

Provider Domestika
Instructor(s) Dot Lung
Level Beginner
Workload 1-2 hours
Enrollments 128,906
Rating 96% positive (4k reviews)
Certificate Available

Honorable Mentions

Personal Branding: Crafting Your Social Media Presence (Skillshare)

This course is for creating a personal brand. It’s a short course aimed for influencers, content creators, and small business owners who want to connect in a more personal way with their audience. In the end, that’s what most users are looking for on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, to connect with real people. So, in that way, you can become the spokesperson of your brand.

In this 65-minute class, Kate Arends explores the evolution of her blog to explain why an authentic personal brand is important — and how to optimize yours for what you want, who you are, and what success means to you. Each short lesson is filled with data and experience as well as specific strategies and examples. A special focus on social media keeps everything tactical.

The class includes exclusive downloadable worksheets to help you put every lesson into action. These useful PDFs will help you identify what sets you apart, how to be strategic about what you share, and how to set goals for your work. They’re designed to use and reuse, giving you tools to rely on again and again.

By the end of this course, you can submit your own project to receive feedback from your peers.

YouTube Success: Build an Authentic Channel That’s Worth the Follow (Skillshare)

In this course, you will learn how to create a successful YouTube channel with authenticity. Creating content online is a great way to become relevant to your audience. YouTube has one of the highest engagement rates when it comes to time spent per visit. Being on camera is not an easy task though. In this class, you will learn how to be empowered and be your true self on camera, share authentic content with your followers/customers, and build a fan base. 

This 55-minute course is divided into 9 lessons. By the end of the course, you can submit your own project to receive feedback from your peers.

So, what are your favorite courses? Leave a comment below with your recommendations.

Fabio Dantas Profile Image

Fabio Dantas

Content writer with a degree in chemical engineering. I'm passionate about creative writing, process improvement, productivity, and mindfulness. I aim to empower learners through my articles by providing practical tips, inspiration, and a deeper understanding of learning.

Comments 1

  1. Brian Honigman

    Thank you Fabio for including my class alongside all these other great courses!

    Reply

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