Foundations of Social Media Marketing

The Foundations of Social Media Marketing course trains participants in utilizing proven best practice methodologies and technologies to build and foster a community of customers using popular social media platforms.

Once considered “non-traditional” media, the social realm has quickly become a central component of everyday life – and, as a result, the demand for expertise in managing social communities within organizations large and small has exploded.

The Foundations of Social Media Marketing course covers both the strategy and the tactics required to leverage popular social media channels and create compelling and engaging content. Course topics include:

• Intro to Digital Marketing & Social Media
• Developing Social Media Strategies for your Unique Voice
• Leveraging Social Media Channels (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and others)Utilizing Blogging & Google+ for Attracting Customers
• Engaging customers in Visual Storytelling
• Enticing Customers with Video for Social Media 
• Utilizing LinkedIn for Expertise Management 
• Social Listening
• Social Media & Community Management

Investigating case studies, you will learn to implement best practices for successful corporate community management, from strategy and privacy considerations to technical implementation and ROI measurement. In addition, you will choose your own real world business or brand to leverage as you develop and execute against your strategy.

What Will You Learn?

Upon completion of this course you will be able to:

• Identify: Identify strategic objectives and goals for social media that align with the overall objectives of a company or organization and brand
• Design: Design, execute, and manage social media efforts across a variety of online channels using industry-leading tools
• Utilize: Utilize best practice learning to select the right social media channels for a company or organization, and create effective company accounts and pages
• Execute: Execute real-time social media tactics to increase customer engagement, goals fulfillment, or mitigate threats
• Evaluate: Set measurement criteria, such as Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Return on Investment (ROI), to evaluate the success of social efforts
• Develop: Develop and implement processes, communication guidelines, and industry-leading tools for teams to effectively execute and manage social media efforts within an organization

For all classes, students will check in and be greeted on the 5th floor of the Burnham Center. Students will be required to bring a laptop to class. If students do not have a laptop, they should contact DPI after registering to reserve a temporary laptop for class use.