Certified Social Media & Digital Marketing Expert

Section 1: Social Media Strategy

Social Media Overview

• Current marketplace
• Trends and latest developments
• Basic principles behind using Social Media

Principles of Social Media

• Reciprocity and Sharing of information
• Conversations through Social Media – how to create a dialogue
• Driving word of mouth
• Cultivating relationships through Social Media
• Delivering trust
• Importance of honesty and integrity

Types of Social Media

• Communication forums – including blogs, discussion groups, micro-blogs
• Collaboration – including wikis, social bookmarking, social news
• Multi-media sharing – including photos, videos, audio sharing
• Reviews, comments and opinions across all sectors
• Entertainment, including games, virtual worlds, game sharing

Audiences for Social Media

• Demographics and statistics
• Driving factors

Why Social Media Matters

• Understanding how it affects brands and businesses
• Understanding the network economy
• Case studies – good and bad examples

Monitoring your brand’s presence

• Official and unofficial – what people are saying about your brand in the Social Media space
• Basic analysis techniques and tools
• Interpreting the results
• Benchmarking practices

Legality

• Ethics – the laws behind Social Media
• Best practices

Creating a Social Media strategy for your brand

• Informal discussion about objectives for your brand
• Group exercise, including feedback

Benefits

Following this section, you will understand:
• The depth and breadth of social media and its drivers
• What makes a media social and how it differs from the broadcast media model
• The importance of trust, honesty and transparency
• Social media demographics and how it relates to brand engagement
• How other businesses, organisations and brands are using social media
• How it can go wrong and how to react to problems when they arise
• Best practices, ethics and legislation relating to social media
• Basic techniques and tools for benchmarking your social media presence
• The first steps in creating a social media strategy for your business or brand
• Some of the latest services and trends

Section 2: Social Media Implementation

Introducing Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube
• How do they fit into the bigger social media picture?
• What differences are there between each tool?
• What is each good for? (eg. SEO, traffic to your site, brand exposure, customer communication)
• What are the benefits of using them for brands and business?
• Measuring and monitoring

LinkedIn – it’s more than just a place for your CV

• For individuals – setting up your account, optimising your profile, adding contacts, asking your network questions, adding applications.
• For companies – introducing company pages and groups, finding potential suppliers, creating a community
• Using LinkedIn for HR
• Case studies and examples

Twitter

• Setting up your account and strategies around personal and corporate branding
• Followers and following – how to find people, best practices in growing your followers
• Tips on what to write and the tone to use
• How to reply to tweets and contact followers privately
• A look at hashtags and why they’re useful
• Using Twitter search
• Case studies and examples

Facebook – how can businesses use this vast social network?

• An overview of Facebook and how it’s used by individuals
• Advertising opportunities – how Fabcebook adverts work, creating an advert, targeting, costs
• How to set up groups and branded pages, and understanding the difference between each
• What are ‘Likes’ and what do they indicate?
• Apps? What are they and what should you be aware of?
• Sharing content via Facebook
• Adding social sharing buttons to your site
• A look at Facebook Places and Facebook Deals
• Case studies and examples

YouTube & Vimeo – the role of video in business

• Overview of the website and how it works
• Examples of business uses
• How to add a YouTube video to your website or blog
• Uploading a video
• Introducing tags and why they’re important
• YouTube comments – how do they work, do’s and don’ts of moderation
• A look at branded channels
• Case studies and examples

Section 3: Digital Marketing

• Digital Marketing Strategy
• Search Engine Optimization
• Online Advertising
• Affiliate Marketing
• Video Marketing
• Data Analytics
• Conversion Optimization
• Case studies and examples

Benefits

Following this training course, you will be able to:
• Use the core functions of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Video
• Feel confident exploring social media websites in your own time
• Understand how each social media tool examined can be used and benefit your business
• Add and link to content such as videos and photos, to social media sites
• Understand how Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube can work together
• Assess good and bad social media best practices
• Grow your relationships with clients, stakeholders and customers
• Know options for advertising on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
• Feel confident about executing digital Marketing strategy and implementation

Audience and Requirement for Certification

This training course is primarily targeting users of social media who need to gain a greater understanding of implementing social media strategies for external comms. Typical attendees are marketers, community managers, PR professionals, publishers and account planners. No previous knowledge or membership of the social networks is required but we do ask that you bring along your own WiFi enabled laptop. All candidates have to pass a global certification exam consists of 80 multiple choice questions and 1 case study essay questions, passing scaled score is 60% of examination questions. Once a candidate pass the certification exam, he/she will be granted the global examination certification credential CSDE (Certified Social Media and Digital Marketing Expert). Certifications to be delivered 6-8 weeks of examination result.