Introduction to social media

• The difference between business goals, marketing objectives and social media plans
• How social media can help a marketing team deliver on both their business goals and marketing objectives
• How to avoid some common mistakes made when starting out using social media for business

Role of social media in the marketing funnel

• What the marketing funnel is
• How social media fits in with each part of the marketing funnel
• How that impacts a social media strategy and content plan

Social media objectives

• How to turn business goals into social media objectives
• How SMART objectives work for social media
• How to measure success using KPIs

Introduction to social media research and insights

• What audience, market, and social media research involves
• Why research is critical for effective social content
• Where to find simple tools and sources for gathering useful insights
• How to ask the right questions when given a campaign brief

Social media algorithms and platforms

• What a social media platform is and what a social media algorithm is
• How algorithms work, who owns them and their differences
• How algorithms can help or hinder marketers for both organic and paid marketing

Understanding your audience

• What role do customer insights and audience segmentation play in social media
• What an audience persona is
• How to use audience research to match platform choice and social media content with audience needs

Social media content

• How different types of social media content work and what they are best used for
• How to align content types with audience interests, behaviours and each platform's strengths
• Practical steps to create effective social media content that drives results

Content calendars

• What content calendars are and why they are important for social media success
• The difference between planned, reactive, planned-reactive, and calendar-based content
• How to build, manage, and adapt a content calendar for your business

Test, learn and adjust

• Why testing matters for any social media plan
• What you can test, including examples for different platforms and goals
• How to record, interpret and respond to test results so you keep improving

Paid social media

• How paid social fits within an overall social media strategy
• How paid social campaigns are structured and delivered
• How to get the most from your budget while learning what is effective for your brand and objectives.

Brand guardianship

• What brand guardianship is and why it matters
• Different ways to use social media content to build and maintain a positive brand image
• How to curate content that aligns with your brand values and audience expectations

Data and analytics: measuring success

• What to measure, why, and how when analysing social media performance
• How to align data and metrics with your SMART objectives
• How to interpret platform analytics dashboards to identify what is working and what to improve

Social trends

• How to spot trends early and assess whether they're relevant to your audience and SMART objectives
• When to engage with a trend, when to adapt it for your brand and when to wisely ignore it
• What to do when your post unexpectedly goes viral

Challenges and pitfalls

• How to identify and avoid common social media pitfalls before they become serious issues
• The key questions to ask your manager or brand guardian when challenges arise
• How to handle a social media 'disaster escalation' calmly and professionally

Enjoy the flexibility of devising your own personalised study routine with the 12 months access to the Award content. You will receive email support and 24/7 access to course materials. For more information, call 020 8614 0277.

To attain the Award in Social Media, you must successfully pass a one-hour online assessment with a minimum grade of 60%. If the minimum pass mark is not met, you will have the opportunity to re-sit at a later date.