Wednesday 30 November 2016

Top 10 Tips for Building Your Tribe in Social Media

Whether you are a solopreneur or run a multi-million dollar corporation, one of the most important assets your business can build today is your social media tribe.

Your tribe drives your business, tells more people why they need to join the fun with you and let’s you know what you’re doing well and what you need to improve.

In short, your tribe becomes the reason you remain in business, your raison d’ĂȘtre.

Your tribe pays your mortgage, puts shoes on your kids feet and helping them do better and be better is part of what gives your life meaning.

Here are my top 10 tips for building your tribe through social media:

  1. Don’t just do something, research. Many people make the mistake of thinking that all they have to do is set up a Facebook account or other social media network site and start talking. Begin at the beginning. Research the keywords that your fans will use when they go to the search engines to find your business, products, books and services. This is a major mistake that many people make. They never really build an audience because they don’t know what their audience is actually looking for.
  2. Once you know your keywords, create hashtags. Your hashtags become searchable terms that people will use in social media to find you.
  3. Use a dashboard. Having used both Social Ally and Hootsuite I recommend Hootsuite. A social media dashboard is a single location where you can connect all your social media accounts. From this place, you can schedule your social media posts to be sent out multiple times throughout the day, set up systems to monitor your top hashtags, follow back people who follow you, research your followers and much more. In short, for $10 a month, you can automate, simplify and educate yourself.
  4. Find future tribe members by researching your hashtags. You can use your dashboard to find other people who are obsessed with the same topics that you are. Many people focus on Influencers, who are simply people who have a lot of followers who can sway many other folks to make decisions. But recognize that literally anybody in social media can have influence – either in your favor or against you. Make friends with your influencers. Follow them. Retweet them, share their information, engage them in conversations, offer to cross blog with them.
  5. Blog once a week using your keywords. You can definitely blog more than once a week, but our Search Engine Optimization guru Scott D. Smith argues that once a week gives you 80 percent of the impact you need. Put the keyword in the title and first paragraph. Realize that the most important part of your blog is the title, so learn how to create killer headlines that grab people’s attention. The second most important part of your blog is the first paragraph. If you don’t grab their attention with your headline and first paragraph, you’ve lost them. Realize that people today scan more than they read, which is why blogs based on lists (such as this one) are the most successful these days.
  6. Use a Jetpack on your WordPress website to automate publishing your articles all over the social media. When you set up your Jetpack plugin, every time you hit “Publish” on your blog, your article gets automatically sent out to all the social media networks connected to your website. This saves you a tremendous amount of time.
  7. Be a friend to have a friend. Share more than you sell. Retweet, share, engage with content that your raving fans create. Don’t just be a boring monologue ranting on “buy my stuff.”  You create good karma in social media every time you share the meaningful content that other people create. They will be more likely to share your information once you have shared first. Give first receive later.
  8. Tell your story in a visual way. Recognize that Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world after Google. You can create one to three minute videos using your smart phone or video conference services like Zoom.us. Use your smart phone to photograph your customers engaging with your products and services. Use services like Canva to create graphics that grab people’s attention. Realize that if your social media post does not have an image, a video or a GIF, it’s less likely to be noticed or shared. Colored visuals increase people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80 percent.
  9. Ultimately, your goal through the social media is to drive people to your home website where they will buy your products, sign up for your services and become paying customers. Create giveaways to lure people to sign up for your email newsletter. A good way to do this is create autoresponders through services like Constant Contact and market the material you are giving away for free through your social media.
  10. Use the Google analytics information on your website to identify what kinds of content your fans are responding to. This analytic information is free and available to anyone who has a website. You can see which articles people have been reading the most. Then give your fans more information about the most popular topics. Often you think you know what people are coming to you for but you won’t really know until you see the analytical information Google provides for you. Focus on these topics and share freely to your social media tribe.

Want to learn more about how you can Win the Game of Social Media?

Putting all this together takes time and is part of creating a successful social media strategy.

Join Catherine Carrigan and Ramajon Cogan at www.whatissocialmediatoday.com and we will show you how! Call Catherine Carrigan today at 678-612-8816 or email catherine@catherinecarrigan.com or contact Ramajon Cogan at (928) 821-4553 or email wheresramajon@gmail.com.

 

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37 Free Marketing and Social Media Classes to Elevate Your Skills Today

When I first started out with digital marketing, I was blown away by the sheer amount of online marketing resources and social media classes.

I read hundreds of articles and enrolled in as many marketing courses that I could possibly get my hands on. Even today, millions of resources continue to be published online every month.

It’s enough to wonder …

Where can you go for the best, most useful marketing information?

I’ve had the chance to test out and research a huge amount of resources, and I’m excited to share with you 37 free marketing and social media classes that you can enroll in to upgrade your skills across the board. 

Let’s dive in!

37 Free Online Marketing and Social Media Classes

The list here includes free online courses in a number of social media-related topics and disciplines. If you’d like to dig into one area in particular, here’s a quick table of contents so you can jump to the section that’s most important to you:

Free Online Courses to Learn and Improve Your Social Media Marketing Skills

1. What Is Social?

coursera-what-is-social

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: Northwestern University

Topics include:

  • Social trends
  • Defining target audiences
  • Data analysis

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

“What Is Social?” is a massive open online course (MOOC) for business owners, executives, and marketing professionals who want to significantly improve their abilities to grow their social media strategy using effective, proven methodologies. In short, it’s a really awesome, action-based intro to social media.

The exciting part with this hands-on class is that you not only get to hear about ways to grow your professional persona using social media, but you will actually do it! “What Is Social” is the first in a six-course specialization offered by Northwestern University (a top university in the United States). Once you finish this first course, you can continue on with the next steps of the track: Social Media Marketing: How to Profit in a Digital World. (The first course is free; the full track costs $426.)

2. Diploma in Social Media Marketing

alison-social-media-marketing-free-course

Offered by: Alison

Created by: Advance Learning Academy

Topics include:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook pages
  • Blogging and podcasting
  • Social media images
  • Email list growth
  • Affiliate marketing

Skill level: Beginner

About this course: 

Alison is a similar to Coursera as a site that offers a huge range of classes and certifications, including several in the marketing space. Their free social media class covers the use of email marketing, affiliate marketing, using social media tools such as Twitter, blogging and podcasting, and how to use Facebook to create a business page and get it noticed by current and potential customers. So you’re likely to get a social media foundation plus a handful of other digital marketing skills to boot.

3. Social Media Monitoring

Social Media Monitoring with Coursera

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: Eric Schwartzman

Topics include:

  • Keyword filtering
  • Google related searches
  • Using Google Alerts and its benefits
  • Identifying influencers and content curation possibilities
  • Monitoring strategies for Facebook, Twitter, and more

Skill level: All Levels

About this course: 

This free social media class on how to monitor what your audience and customers are saying online is for marketers looking to keep a finger on the pulse of their community. Whether you’re just starting out in social media or are a seasoned veteran, this course has actionable social monitoring takeaways for people of all skills levels.

The course provides detailed examples of monitoring in action, allows you to get an overview of the different social media monitoring tools available for use, and strategies for how you can use what you’ve learned and apply it to your own social media program.

4. The Business of Social

The Business of Social Course

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: Northwestern University

Topics include:

  • Discovering where social media “fits in”
  • How to tie social media to real business results
  • Managing and measuring a successful social media program

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

“The Business of Social” is for businesses owners, marketers, and social media managers looking for ways to tie social media directly into real business growth objectives. In other words, those looking to drive real, measurable value from a social media strategy and program.

Instead of focusing on how marketers can create great content for social media, this class more focuses on how exactly to measure your social investments in terms of time, cost, and opportunities.

5. Social Media Ethics

Social Media Ethics

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: Eric Schwartzman

Topics include:

  • How to use good judgement when using social media for work
  • What constitutes ethical behavior on social media
  • Demonstrating consideration for others on social media

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Have you ever wondered what it means to use social media effectively and ethically? This free course on “Social Media Ethics” provides the framework for social networking and engaging in ethical conversations online for all professionals and employees. Touching on local, State, and Federal laws, it takes the guessing game out of what is and is not legal on social media for employees of businesses.

6. Advanced Social Media Marketing for Picking up Clients

Advanced Social Media Marketing for Picking Up Clients

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Brian Yang

Topics include:

  • Common social media myths and mistakes
  • The art of using Facebook Groups
  • Attracting YouTube subscribers and creating engaging videos
  • Creating quality (not spammy) content for social media

Skill level: Intermediate

About this course: 

The tagline for this social media class is “picking up clients with social media in 48 hours or less.” Which points to the fact that this instructor dives into intermediate social media strategies. Moving beyond more beginner tactics like setting up social media accounts and basic posting strategies, this class assumes that you already know those things and provides details on how to best use the channels that you’re already familiar with.

All you need for this course is an active Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit account and you’ll be on your way to learning the secrets behind picking up clients on social media.

7. Facebook Blueprint

Facebook Blueprint Social Media Course

Offered by: Facebook

Created by: Blueprint eLearning

Topics include:

  • Facebook Terminology and Know-How
  • Best Practices for Facebook & Instagram Posting
  • Optimizing Facebook & Instagram Advertising
  • Creating a quality Facebook Page and experience

Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

About this course: 

Perfect for small businesses, marketers, agencies, and advertisers, Facebook Blueprint is your one stop shop for everything there is to know about running successful advertising campaigns using your Facebook Business Page. This huge resource of free, self-paced social media classes will cover best-practices and top strategies used by the world’s largest brands.

With Facebook becoming very much a “pay-to-play” platform, this is the perfect opportunity for businesses and marketers to fully grasp everything there is to know about ensuring that your advertising dollar stretches as far as possible.

8. Social Media Quickstarter

Social Media Kickstarter with Constant Contact

Offered by: Constant Contact

Created by: Constant Contact

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • Snapchat
  • And more!

Skill level: Beginner

About this course: 

All social media managers and marketers start somewhere. This free social media class from Constant Contact is a great resource for those who are looking to dive into the world of social media without all of the complications. It offers a step-by-step guide to building a presence on almost every social media platform you can think of.

For those unsure if social media is right for you or for your business, this class is a great way to dip your toes in and start small with social media marketing. Who knows, you may find that social media is just right for you!


Free Online Courses to Boost Your Digital Marketing Know-How

9. Email Marketing for E-Commerce

Email Marketing for Ecommerce

Offered by: Skillshare

Created by: Mailchimp

  • Email marketing automation
  • Email marketing optimization
  • Email marketing personalization

Skill level: Intermediate to Advanced

About this course: 

Marketers and social media professionals with a basic understanding of how email marketing works will love this free online course from Mailchimp. Perfect for those of you on the go, it’s a 25-minute, highly tactical class on developing the basic email marketing principles that you may already be familiar with.

By the end of this email course, you’ll have a great understanding of how to create engaging email marketing campaigns and how to optimize your strategy in order to increase business revenue.

10. Marketing in a Digital World

Marketing in a Digital World

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: University of Illinois

  • How tools such as smartphones and 3D devices are changing the marketing sphere
  • How power is shifting from companies and brands to consumers
  • Offering product ideas that stick in a digital world

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

“Marketing in a Digital World” is one of the most popular free marketing courses on Coursera – with more then 100,000 students enrolled to this date. Taught by a professor at the University of Illinois, this class focuses on the transformation of marketing strategies an tactics into a digital-first world. Specifically, how technology is putting the power of marketing into the hands of the consumer.

This course is perfect for marketers looking to understand where the marketing field is today and how you can leverage new-age strategies to attract customers. And for those who are keen to continue their learning, this course is part of a larger Digital Marketing Specialization for the University of Illinois.

11. QuickSprout University

QuickSprout University

Offered by: QuickSprout

Created by: Neil Patel

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Link Building
  • Content Marketing
  • Social Media
  • Paid Advertising
  • And more!

Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

About this course:

This awesome (or should we say huge?) set of classes from the one and only Neil Patel is a great place for marketers looking to learn about a huge variety of online and digital marketing tactics. Class topics range from beginner SEO and content creation strategies to advanced social media, email marketing and paid advertising.

What makes this course is that Neil Patel presents the information in very easy-to-learn and snackable ways. The lessons are presented in video format and range anywhere from 3:00 – 12:00 minutes. Each video also comes with a full transcript allowing more visual learners to follow along.

12. Inbound Marketing Certification

HubSpot Inbound Marketing Academy

Offered by: HubSpot

Created by: HubSpot

  • Inbound marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Inbound sales techniques
  • Content marketing
  • Growth-driven design

Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

About this course:

HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Certification is full of super actionable, hands-on learning material that allows marketers to take their general inbound marketing know-how to the next level. The certification consists of 12 different classes and more than 4.5 hours of learning material in both video and text format.

You’ll learn all about SEO, blogging, landing pages, lead nurturing, conversion analysis and reporting come together to form a modern-day inbound marketing strategy. This free online marketing course is presented in different modules, where after successful completion of all the lessons and tests, you’ll be HubSpot certified!

13. Viral Marketing and How to Create Contagious Content

Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: University of Pennsylvania

  • What makes ideas sticky
  • How social influence shapes behavior
  • The power of word of mouth

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

Taught by University of Pennsylvania Professor and best-selling author, Jonah Berger, this free online marketing course helps to answer the mystery of why some ideas and products become popular and why others do not. It’s perfect for social media managers and marketers looking to put a “science” behind their content marketing method.

You’ll start with an understanding of why things catch on in the first place and how you can use those lessons to create viral content online. Then, you’ll move on to spreading your new and creative ideas through social media and other digital marketing channels.

14. Pay Per Click (PPC) University

WordStream PPC University, Social Media Marketing Class

Offered by: WordStream

Created by: WordStream

  • All about PPC (What it is, basic terminology, structuring)
  • Keyword research
  • Landing page optimization
  • A/B testing
  • PPC for lead generation and B2B

Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

About this course: 

PPC University is a fully free online learning resource created by WordStream, to help build your PPC and digital marketing skills. The format is presented in three streams of learning plans which offer lessons for beginning to advanced users, with additional modules for social advertising.

You can also access a number of webinars and white papers to enhance your digital marketing expertise, and best of all, everything’s mobile-friendly so you can learn on the go, whenever you have time!

15. Diploma in E-Business

Diploma in Ebusiness

Offered by: Alison

Created by: Google

  • Introduction to Google Webmaster
  • Using Google AdWords
  • Understanding and using Google Analytics Data
  • Conversion Reports and collecting actionable insights

Skill level: Intermediate

About this course: 

This “Diploma in E-Business” course is a comprehensive resource for marketers, business owners, and advertisers who would like to get the most out of their digital marketing efforts. You’ll learn things like the fundamentals of promoting your business online, using various Google-powered tools, and how to track and make sense of the vast amounts of data available to you.

Whether you have a deep knowledge of how to market your business online or are just getting started, this course is an awesome way to strengthen your digital marketing skills.

16. Google Digital Marketing Course

Google Online Marketing Challenge, Google Digital Marketing Course

Offered by: WordStream

Created by: WordStream

  • All about PPC (What it is, basic terminology, structuring)
  • Keyword research
  • Landing page optimization
  • A/B testing
  • PPC for lead generation and B2B

Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

About this course: 

Learning the ins-and-outs of all of the marketing tools that Google offers is quite the task. But marketers and business owners have seen the direct benefits of mastering the various Google advertising platforms in terms of business ROI. This course offers a direct line to always-updated resources for everything Google.

This course is also a part of a Online Marketing Challenge from Google. Students that plan to take the Online Marketing Challenge are encouraged to complete the Digital Marketing Course first. Marketers looking to learn everything there is to know about Google (and advertising), this is a great place to start!

17. Buffer’s Week of Webinars on Digital Marketing

Buffer Week of Webinars, Buffer Social Media Class

Offered by: Buffer

Created by: Buffer

Topics include:

  • Content curation and sharing on social media
  • Getting your content seen on Facebook
  • Instagram Marketing to boost your business
  • Branding and PR outreach
  • Getting started with social media data

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

While not a social media “class” in a traditional sense, Buffer’s Week-of-Webinars covers everything from content curation to social media analytics to getting your content seen in the Facebook News Feed.

The great thing about this series of online marketing webinars is that no registration is required to sign up and you can view all five of the videos at your own convenience. And we’d love to hear what you think of these webinars in the comments below!


Free Online Courses to Level Up With Marketing Analytics & Data

18. Introduction to Analytics and the Language of SAS

Introduction to Analytics and the Language of SAS

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Jigsaw Academy

Topics include:

  • What “analytics” means
  • Why the field of analytics is and why it’s booming
  • Popular analytics tools and applications
  • Introduction to the language of SAS

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

This “Introduction to Analytics” course is a great starting point for marketers looking to understand what the field of analytics is all about and how to apply it to a variety of businesses and situations. If you’re looking to go beyond the very popular marketing spreadsheets, this course is perfect for you.

This class is broken up into 12 videos of varying length – anywhere from 5-30 minutes and will take you about 2 hours to complete from start to finish.

19. Google Analytics Academy

Google Analytics Academy, Social Media Classes

Offered by: Google

Created by: Google

Topics include:

  • Digital analytics fundamentals
  • Google Analytics platform principles
  • Ecommerce analytics
  • Mobile app analytics
  • Google Tag Manager

Skill level: Intermediate – Advanced

About this course:

Google Analytics Academy is an incredible online resource for marketers looking to up their game in everything Google-related. With the importance of tracking and incorporating data into your marketing strategy, there has never been a better time to learn all you can about one of the most data-rich resources in the world.

Some of the most popular modules from the Google Analytics Academy include Digital Analytics Fundamentals and Google Analytics Platform Principles. Both of those courses will give you a solid foundation of how to implement data into your strategy and how you can use the platform to best inform your decisions moving forward.

20. An Introduction to Consumer Neuroscience and Neuromarketing

An Introduction to Consumer Neuroscience & Neuromarketing, social media and marketing courses

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: Copenhagen Business School

Topics include:

  • What Neuromarketing is all about
  • Attention and consciousness
  • Sensory neuromarketing
  • Emotions, feelings, wanting and liking

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

I put this fantastic course on Neuromarketing under the Analytics and Data section because it really gets into the nuts and bolts of why people make the decisions that they do online and in real life. Understanding that can help marketers and business make decisions based on data and research.

You’ll be taken on a journey through the basic brain mechanisms in consumer choice, and how to stay updated on these topics. The course will give an overview of the current and future uses of neuroscience in business and how you can apply it to your own social media and marketing strategy.

21. Data Analytics with Excel PivotTables

Data Analytics with Excel PivotTables 2016

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: UpSkill Ladder

Topics include:

  • Intro to business analytics
  • Understanding Excel and PivotTables
  • Getting started with PivotTables
  • Terms such as Grouping and Custom Calculations

Skill level: Advanced

About this course:

I have the tendency to cringe when I hear the words “Excel PivotTables.” But I also understand how important the use of PivotTables can be in diving into your analytics and making informed decisions about marketing.

This course will teach you how to do Data analytics with Excel PivotTables effectively and efficiently. At the end of the lessons, you will understand the concept, various scenarios and types of Business analytics. Along with that you will learn, how to use one of the strongest features of Microsoft Excel, which is the PivotTables.

22. Digital Analytics for Marketing Professionals

Digital Analytics for Marketing Professionals: Marketing Analytics in Practice

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: University of Illinois

Topics include:

  • Data Collection, Analysis and Visualization
  • How data fits into a company’s marketing strategy
  • Making informed marketing decisions based on data

Skill level: Advanced

About this course:

Taught by Kevin Hartman, Head of Industry at Google, this free marketing course on “Digital Analytics” focuses on the specific data collection, analysis, and visualization techniques used by the world’s top brands. Unlike some of the other analytics classes offered online, this one focuses specifically on marketing.

This course will set you up with a full understanding of how to properly approach data analytics in marketing and how to make informed decisions based on your finding. In short, you’ll be a data wizard!

23. Marketing Measurement Strategy

Marketing Analytics: Marketing Measurement Strategy

Offered by: edX

Created by: University of California at Berkeley

Topics include:

  • How to identify marketing trends
  • How to predict future market conditions
  •  An understanding of metrics used to measure marketing success

Skill level: Intermediate

About this course:

In this marketing class, you’ll learn the best approaches and practices for marketing measurement, including how to use metrics to measure success. The professor, Stephan Sorger, presents hands-on examples of how to identify market trends, how to predict future conditions, and how to put those into action.

24. Social Media Analytics

Free Social Media Analytics Course

Offered by: Quintly

Created by: Quintly

Topics include:

  • Introduction to social media analytics
  • The social media landscape
  • Differentiation between social networks for data collection
  • Finding KPIs that fit your goals

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

As social media continues to drive traffic and revenue for businesses, the need for marketers to fully understand the “why” behind social success (or downturns) will increase.

This free social media class from Quintly covers the basic principles of social media analytics both for beginners and for marketers who want to refresh their knowledge. It aims to help anybody involved in social media analytics, no matter whether you are working for a brand, an agency or in the media.


Free Online Courses to Get Up to Speed on Content, Blogging, & SEO

25. SEO Training

SEO Training, free marketing courses

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Eric Schwartzman

Topics include:

  • Integrating SEO in offline and online marketing activities
  • The vocabulary of search engine optimization
  • Most effective SEO strategies
  • White hat vs. black hat SEO

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

This SEO Training class is perfect for social media managers, executives and entry-level employees. This SEO course will help you increase the search rank of your corporate website, you blog or LinkedIn profile.

Learn how to figure out which terms your customers actually search and how to create online content that is most likely to rank high in Google search engine page results.  For most organizations, search engine optimization presents a greater conversion opportunity that social media outreach.

26. Writing for the Web

Writing for the Web social media course

Offered by: Open2Study

Created by: Frankie Madden

Topics include:

  • How to structure a web page
  • Considerations for search engines and accessibility
  • Making your content scannable
  • Using keywords, headings, lists and links

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Knowing how to write well is an important skill for just about anything, but knowing how to write for the web is a whole different ball game. It takes clear and concise copy to gain the attention of your readers in just a few seconds.

This course will help just about anyone – from journalists to technical writers to developers to aspiring bloggers – create content that really engages and converts online. It also will teach you the skills needed to accommodate the requirements of online readers through web design, writing style, structure and SEO.

27. Writing for Brands: Freelancing in the Age of Content Marketing

Writing for Brands: Freelancing in the Age of Content Marketing

Offered by: Skillshare

Created by: Contently

Topics include:

  • What content marketing entails
  • The basics of writing for, and working with brands
  • Marketing yourself as a writer
  • How to craft the perfect pitch to a brand

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Have you ever wondered how all of those great bloggers get writing gigs for brands online? This course provides the framework for starting a successful freelance career if that’s something you’d be interested in. Taught by Brian Maehl of Contently, “Writing for Brands” is an actionable, 30-minutes writing course that breaks down the process into simple steps.

Whether writing turns into a full-time career for you or just a fun project to tackle on the side, the folks at Contently are happy to help prepare you to pitch your content ideas to brands both big and small.

28. SEO Training Course

SEO Training Course from MOZ

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Moz

Topics include:

  • Building a monthly SEO plan
  • 5 ways to use social media profiles for SEO
  • Link building with Twitter
  • Mapping keywords to content

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Optimizing a web site for search engines requires looking at a ton of unique elements both on and off your website. This course on SEO from the folks at Moz will help you to start making sense of it all. Most importantly, it will help you form consistent SEO habits that you can implement long after this course is over.

If you’re interested in getting started with optimizing your website for search engines and how social media has the power to fit within that strategy, this is a great place to start for beginners.

29. Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises

Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: William Flanagan

Topics include:

  • End-to-end B2B marketing tactics and strategies
  • Content creation that converts
  • Identifying industry influencers
  • Building a data system to foster improvement

Skill level: Intermediate – Advanced

About this course:

B2B companies, products, and services often require a slightly different approach to content marketing. Customer sales cycles are more drawn out and require various, targeted content types to help assist decision-makers to the next stage.

The entire set of classes in this content marketing course lasts roughy 35 minutes. You’ll learn how to get inside the mind of your market and build content that interests them in a short period of time. Allowing you to get back to running your business!

30. High-Impact Business Writing

High-Impact Business Writing Online Course

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: University of California at Irvine

Topics include:

  • Introduction and basics to business writing
  • Various business document types
  • Informal and social media communication

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Writing great copy that is meant to drive people to take a specific business action is a unique and valuable skill to have for marketers and business owners alike. This “High-Impact Business Writing” course is aimed at helping you get your thoughts on paper in a clear and concise manner.

Structured as a 4-week class, you’ll start with the basics of businesses writing, including why it’s important, and move to more advanced topics such as preparing business documents and translating ideas to more informal channels such as social media. In short, helping to to become a business copy whiz!

31. Internet Marketing for Smart People

Internet Marketing for smart people

Offered by: Copyblogger

Created by: Copyblogger

Topics include:

  • Introduction and basics to business writing
  • Various business document types
  • Informal and social media communication

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

With the tagline, “you don’t have to be a genius to master internet marketing,” this 20-part email course from the folks at Copyblogger offers a great starting place for those new to the marketing field. What’s unique about this course is that it digs deeply into the areas of direct response copywriting and relationship building.

It’s set up in “4 Pillars” takes you through various topics such as customer relationships, writing, content marketing and delivering something that’s worth selling.


Free Online Courses to Learn Marketing Design and Imagery

32. Graphic Design Basics: Core Principles for Graphic Design

Graphic Design Basics: Core Principles for Visual Design

Offered by: Skillshare

Created by: Smithsonian Design Museum

Topics include:

  • Identifying and defining basic design principles
  • Effectively critiquing your own work for balance
  • Applying what you’ve learned to your own projects

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Have you ever wanted to get started with design so that you can create your own images for social media and marketing? This “Graphic Design Basics” from will set you up with a solid foundation to branch out as a beginner designer.

In this 35-minute class designers Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips walk students through what it takes to create great designs. Including, the 5 important and fundamental aspects of design and how you can apply those to every one of your projects moving forward.

33. How to Create Better Graphic Design

How to create better graphic design

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Inoshiro Design

Topics include:

  • Identifying and defining basic design principles
  • Effectively critiquing your own work for balance
  • Applying what you’ve learned to your own projects

Skill level: Beginner

About this course: 

Did you know that in 2016, visual content is more than 40X more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content? Today, it’s becoming important, even crucial for marketers to have at least some basic knowledge of key design terms.

This course does a deep dive into the five steps for better visual communication. These components include creating ideas and applying them to your design, communicating ideas effectively within the design, and having a consistent design look and feel.

34. The Landing Page Conversion Course

THE LANDING PAGE CONVERSION COURSE

Offered by: Unbounce

Created by: Unbounce

Topics include:

  • Landing page 101
  • 5 core landing page elements
  • The psychology of conversion

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course: 

Curious about the power of landing pages in marketing campaigns? Unbounce has the art of a perfect landing page down to a science. And in this comprehensive online marketing class, they share all of that knowledge with you, no questions asked.

The Landing Page Conversion Course takes you from “Landing Page 101” right on down to “Copywriting” and even “Testing and Optimization.” If you’ve ever been curious about the power of landing pages and how they can help you grow your business, this course is the perfect one for you.

35. Visual and Graphic Design

Graphic Design - Visual and Graphic Design

Offered by: ALISON

Created by: XSIQ

Topics include:

  • Using various design elements
  • Drawing and production systems in design
  • The production process for designers

Skill level: Beginner

About this course: 

Great design starts with the fundamentals. The free course from ALISON examines various design elements including line, shape, form and texture and design principles, covering composition, balance, contrast and hierarchy. If you’re interested in exploring graphic design, industrial design or the design process in general, this free graphic design class is perfect for you.

36. Graphic Design 101

Graphic Design 101

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Design and Art Direction Mason Gentry

Topics include:

  • Concept-driven design and implementation
  • Why some design mediums need to communicate more quickly than others
  • Thinking behind great graphic design
  • A birds eye view of the entire field of graphic deisgn

Skill level: Intermediate

About this class: 

Are you interested in deepening your knowledge of graphic design or how graphic design can be applied in the real world? The class “Graphic Design 101” is specifically for developers who may know a little about graphic design, but would like to learn more.

Many students who take this class have the ability to recognize a good design when they see one, but may not know WHY it’s a good design. This free online design class looks to help answer the “why.”

37. DIY Viral Video: A Class on Making iPhone How-To Videos

DIY Viral Video: A Mini Class on Making iPhone How-To Videos

Offered by: Skillshare

Created by: Nicole Farb

Topics include:

  • Setting up for a great video
  • Tools and techniques for shooting a video
  • Finalizing and sharing a videos online

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course: Video marketing is making a huge splash online and on social media. But one thing what we consistently hear is that marketers aren’t quite sure where to start. Yet, videos have the potential to engage an audience in new and exciting ways – Just look at BuzzFeed Tasty for an example of the power of video!

In this short class, Nicole Farb shows how you can create your own video in a scrappy, easy, and high-quality way and how she has seen huge success with it in the past. Perfect for marketers and social media managers just getting started with video.

Over to you!

As Malcolm Gladwell said in his book Outliers, “It takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field.”

Malcolm’s quote just goes to show that with enough effort, patience, and practice, you can learn anything you put your mind to. We hope that this lists helps you to find some great online social media classes and marketing resources.

Have you taken any online social media classes or marketing classes recently that you truly loved? We’d love to hear them!

Please feel free to leave us a comment below and we may add it to our list!



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Tuesday 29 November 2016

Top Strategies for Taking Your Online Community Offline with Marketing Events – Stefanie Grieser [SSM019]

How do you go from having no conference — from almost having no marketing team, just you being the 9th employee and one of the very first marketers — to a marketing conference of 1,000 attendees, acclaimed in your industry, a must-attend destination on the annual events calendar?

How do you do all of that in just four years?

We had the pleasure of speaking with Stefanie Grieser, International Marketing Manager at Unbounce, about the multifaceted strategies that go into marketing and growing one of the most successful marketing conferences in the industry. And how marketing events help to engage your audience and create delighted customers for life.

A huge thank you to Stefanie for jam-packing this episode with actionable wisdom and takeaways for social media managers and marketers looking for the best ways to start, grow, and nurture successful marketing and social media events.

How to listen: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS

This episode is available on:

In this episode, here’s what you’ll learn:

Stefanie Grieser shares the fascinating story and strategy of how Unbounce went from small meetups to hosting one of the largest marketing events in the industry. You’ll also learn other great things like:

  • How social media can help you market and grow your offline community
  • Why measuring the ROI of events is challenging, but important
  • Key factors and strategies in promoting marketing events and conferences
  • Where sales and acquiring new customers fits into the event marketing cycle

2 Key Takeaways for Successful Event Marketing from Stefanie

In Stefanie’s words…

1.Keep in mind the backbone of any great event is great content

“Keep in mind the backbone of any great event is great content: deliver great value for your audience and an audience. If you keep those two things top of the priority list I think you’ll succeed in event marketing. Again, I said this throughout the interview, you can have all the bells and whistles and you could be worried and stressed about catering, but at the end of the day that’s lower on the priority list to make a great event.”

2. Keep it simple at the start

“I would also advise people that are thinking about doing event marketing, whether it’s a conference or a smaller meetup, to keep it simple at the start. You don’t need to over-complicate things. Again, keep those two things top of mind, an audience and great content. Really keep it simple. I think the first year you can get sidelined. We’re going to have all these different tracks and all these people and it can get complicated really quickly.”

I think if you simplify things, especially if you’re a one person team. I was by myself. I was doing this. I was spearheading things from the ground up and there’s a lot of people around me would be like, “Oh, what about this? What about this?” I had to … It’s so great to think about all these extras and think about all these different tracks or what we could do here, but at the end of the day I think keeping it simple and keeping those two things top of mind will really serve you well.”

 Mentionable Quotes and Shareable Snippets

Event Marketing Tips with Stefanie Grieser

In Stefanie’s words…

“Really, event marketing is an extension of your content marketing. That’s the backbone to a really successful event. You can have all the bells and whistles, and events oftentimes get overshadowed by all these bells and whistles and great AV and balloons and swag. But really the backbone of a great event is an audience, the people there. That makes an event: a community and great content, valuable content that people can learn from.”

Show Notes and Other Memorable Moments

Thanks a million for checking out this episode! Below are the websites and other tidbits that were mentioned in today’s podcast about creating incredible Facebook communities using groups. If you have any questions for us, feel free to drop us a line in the comments and we’ll respond right away!

Companies and Events Mentioned by Stefanie

Great Quotes

  • “It’s a very big word, but really like any project or startup or even marketing channel, you should think of it as an MVP. Start small. We didn’t start by saying, ‘We’re going to do a conference. We’re going to pull off a conference.’ Yes, we kind of had the endgame in mind: It would be nice to do a conference. But why don’t we take little steps to get there?”
  • “These communities could really be strengthened through in-person encounters. Unbounce is a software company. We provide marketing and conversion software to marketers, and all of our interactions are done online. Building an in-person marketing strategy really actually strengthens some of the ties that we have to our community, to our customers, to people that could be customers — future customers I call them.”
  • “It showed us that people want in-person experiences and events. They want in-person connections. That was one little thing on the road to a bigger event. We did five or six meetups in different cities, and we found that it was really valuable. People were learning a lot. They were a high touch opportunity.”
  • “If you think of an event as a marketing campaign you are driving and you’re using different levers to promote your event to get people to come. Social is one of those, social is something that we integrate into a marketing campaign. It’s always an aspect. Okay, we have this campaign, you have this event. How are we going to tell people about it? We have an audience on social. We have a community on social so we’ll tell them through social media.”

How to Say Hello to Stefanie (and us)

Stefanie “Stef” Grieser is a must-follow marketer on Twitter and she would love to say “Hello” at smgrieser.

Thanks for listening! We’d love to connect with you at @buffer on Twitter or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

About the Show

The Science of Social Media is a podcast for marketers and social media managers looking for inspiration, ideas, and results for their social media strategies. Each week, we interview one of the very best in social media marketing from brands in every industry. You will learn the latest tactics on social media, the best tools to use, the smartest workflows, and the best goal-setting advice. It is our hope that each episode you’ll find one or two gems to use with your social media marketing!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.



source http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bufferapp/~3/4ZeJ9bQA0Yc/stefanie-grieser-show-notes

Monday 21 November 2016

Social Media ROI: How to Connect Social to Real Business Results – Neil Patel [SSM018]

We’ve found that one of the biggest challenges for social media marketers today is connecting social media to real business objectives and goals.

From brand awareness right on down to customer conversions, social media has the potential to fit into many parts of the marketing and sales funnel.

But where does social media fit best?

That is the important question we set out to answer!

We had the privilege of speaking with entreprenuer and social media expert, Neil Patel, about specific ways marketers and businesses can incorporate social media as a viable and integral part of their sales funnel.

A huge thank you to Neil for packing this episode with great insights and actionable takeaways for social media managers and marketers looking to demonstrate the true value and ROI of social media.

How to listen: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS

This episode is available on:

In this episode, here’s what you’ll learn:

Neil Patel shares his unique insights into the most effective ways brands and marketers can use social media to attract and acquire new customers. You’ll also learn some other great things like:

  • Why social media is so valuable for brands and businesses
  • How marketers can tie social media into key business results
  • Proven marketing tactics to help improve social media ROI
  • Social media remarketing and how to get going with targeting ads
  • Top performing channels for reaching new customers on social media

Key Takeaway for Marketers Looking to Demonstrate the ROI of Social Media

In Neil’s Words…

“People and brands are advertising on it and so it must be working!”

Think about how big these social media networks are. The key takeaways that I have are simple:

  • Make sure you set up your Google Analytics so that you can track.
  • Don’t expect a conversion right away. Try to collect the email address from your users.
  • When you’re collecting the email addresses look to use Facebook authentication or Twitter authentication which is an easier way to collect emails without people having to go through all of the work. It’s a lot quicker and easier.

Mentionable Quotes and Shareable Snippets

In Neil’s Words…

“You’ll be shocked. Social media doesn’t just drive users. It drives paying users and it’s really effective. And you can track all of it with analytics these days.”

Quote from Neil Patel on Social Media ROI

Show Notes and Other Memorable Moments

Thanks a million for checking out this episode! Below are the websites and other tidbits that were mentioned in today’s podcast about personal branding on social media. If you have any questions for us, feel free to drop us a line in the comments and we’ll respond right away!

Other Great Quotes from the Show

  • “When blogging first started, if you blogged you got good traffic… Now it’s changing to where the websites that have the best content get the best links and they tend to get the most traffic over time.”
  • “There’s so many people on the social web if you’re not on there you’re missing out on a ton of revenue – It’s that simple. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram – these websites are so popular.”
  • “The trick with remarketing is, if someone was on your product page and they didn’t buy, don’t send them to the same exact product page. I’m not saying sell a different product, I’m saying you have to adjust the design and copy to convince them to buy the second time.”
  • “Facebook and Google are the best performing networks for us. And what works is that on Google we combine it with YouTube where we do pre-roll videos which convert very well. Then, we send them to a landing page that talks about the product and answers objections.”
  • “The social media channels that are bringing in the most people and have the best quality traffic (based on your Google Analytics data) are where you should be focusing your time and attention.”

Awesome Companies and Articles Mentioned in the Show

How to Say Hello to Neil (and us)

Neil Patel is super active on Twitter and would love to say “hello” at neilpatel and you can read more about Neil and all of the great things he’s working on at neilpatel.com

Thanks for listening! We’d love to connect with you at @buffer on Twitter or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

About the Show

The Science of Social Media is a podcast for marketers and social media managers looking for inspiration, ideas, and results for their social media strategies. Each week, we interview one of the very best in social media marketing from brands in every industry. You will learn the latest tactics on social media, the best tools to use, the smartest workflows, and the best goal-setting advice. It is our hope that each episode you’ll find one or two gems to use with your social media marketing!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.



source http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bufferapp/~3/2DXCDQPAYQ4/neil-patel-show-notes