Social Media Training: Why?
Teaching someone how to use social media is a bit like schools teaching teenagers how to use Word. They already know it and are probably better than you too. So why bother with social media marketing courses?
Because there is a gap in knowledge from being able to use social media platforms and being able to convert that discipline into an added-value activity for your business.
Social Media Marketing
What do people mean when they refer to social media marketing? Isn’t it just social media? Well, not quite. Social media are the networks and platforms we use to communicate electronically with those we are connected with. Social media marketing is having a strategy and a purpose to that activity which is business focussed. This could be as a customer service channel, it could be to improve Google rankings, or it could be to raise brand awareness.
What are the main disciplines on a social media course?
We will now look at LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Google+
social media courses
LinkedIn Training
You need approximately 1000 connections to reach the tipping point on LinkedIn. That is, enough meaningful connections to have your content noticed by others and start becoming effective. You also need a content posting strategy. A good LinkedIn training course will set out a road map for you to achieve this. It will give you best-practice techniques to grow your connections and have your content grow virally.
YouTube Training
Why bother with YouTube? Well it’s the second most popular website in the world and content is becoming more and more visual so a video element to your social media marketing is essential. A good YouTube training course will show you how to configure your video channel correctly, how to create custom graphics and how to have your video content move up the rankings.
Twitter Training
Too many tweets? Maybe. But Twitter, when used correctly, is a brilliant way to capture your competitor’s customers and move them to you. It can also support your content marketing campaign and promote your branding. Gain your competitor’s followers and direct them to your website, blog of Facebook Fan Page and start building an online relationship with them. This is what a good twitter course will do.
Facebook Training
Where to start with Facebook? Many business owners have a Facebook page yet do nothing with it or configure incorrectly or not at all. There are countless opportunities, that most miss, to lever Facebook to help your Google rankings. But you need to know how to do it correctly.
Getting your Fan Page to go viral is the holy grail of Facebook marketing. A strong Facebook training course will provide good case studies on what works and what doesn’t.
Google+ Training
Why bother? Good question. Well, because it now has a MAJOR impact on your website rankings. All web content now needs to be ‘authored’ for Google to give it any credence. You cannot author a site unless you have a Google+ page and it is configured correctly. Or you have a Google+ Business page and you are using the publisher tag. You need Google+ because without it your main website will suffer – that’s how Google works.
Social Media Course Advice
A good social media training course will take you through all these platforms. But most importantly, it should focus specifically on how to use social media to generate business.
by Carl Duncker
