Online ExpertTrack in Business & Management

How to Create a Social Media Strategy

4.4 (9 reviews)

Learn how to create an engaging social media strategy, improve brand image and social engagement online, and measure your results

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Institute of Data & MarketingInstitute of Data & Marketing

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Learn to create a social media strategy, from setting goals to measuring results

This ExpertTrack will help marketers understand how to create a social media strategy for their brand.

Under the guidance of social media professionals and experts working in industry, you’ll learn everything from why social engagement is key and how to choose the right platform to social media content formats, social metrics and analytics insights.

On completing this ExpertTrack, you will be equipped with the skills to create an award-winning social media strategy of your own.

Discover the importance of social engagement

On the first social media management course on this ExpertTrack, you’ll explore the importance of social engagement – the heart of your social media strategy.

You’ll learn how to set goals and KPIs using the SMART Objective Framework to ensure your social media campaign goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. You’ll also look at how to engage in social listening, so you can monitor what people are saying about your brand online.

This will equip you with the skills to begin creating your social media strategy.

Express your brand personality through social media content

The second course will focus on social media content and uncovering your brand’s personality online.

You’ll identify the best platforms to reach your audience and the content you should publish to drive social engagement.

You’ll learn how to develop both planned and reactive social media content as part of your strategy. You’ll also consider the differences between owned, earned, and paid social media content, and how to justify budget for your social media campaign.

Run a live social media campaign

The final course on this ExpertTrack will consider your ongoing marketing strategy after social media campaigns are live. You’ll look at how to offer customer service through social media as part of an omnichannel marketing strategy and learn how to engage in online reputation management. You’ll also explore how to engage with influencers in support of your social media strategy, before examining those all-important social media analytics. Understanding those will enable you to better understand your audiences and the success (and shortcomings) of your social media campaigns.

Key skills you will learn

  • Influencer marketing
  • Omnichannel marketing
  • Multichannel marketing
  • Social media
  • Customer service
  • Social media strategy
  • Digital marketing
  • Social media analytics
  • Social media content
  • Marketing

Learning outcomes

By the end of the ExpertTrack, you’ll be able to...

  • Create social media campaign strategies that have great results in a multi-channel environment
  • Engage audiences through social media
  • Set effective SMART objectives, which are aligned with your business and marketing goals
  • Listen to what your audiences are telling you on social media to gain a deeper understanding
  • Explain how a social media strategy will improve your performance
  • Get started with writing your own social media strategy
  • Develop your own social media content strategy and plan
  • Managing the customer service demands on a social media channel
  • Understand influencer marketing through social media platforms
  • Gather useful data, analyse and turn into actionable insights

Experience required

This ExpertTrack is aimed at current or aspiring social media managers or multichannel marketing strategists. A base level of knowledge or experience running social media campaigns would be advantageous in understanding course content and fostering peer-to-peer learning.

Ideally, learners will have created and posted social media content to multiple platforms, will understand how to gather stats from social media platforms, and will have worked on social media campaigns that form part of a multichannel marketing strategy.

Getting started

This social media ExpertTrack is designed for digital marketers who would like to better understand how to create effective social media strategies. It would be of interest to those who want to learn how to think more strategically about their brand’s social media, how to improve and set the direction of social engagement, and understand the part played by social media in a multichannel marketing strategy. This may include social media managers looking to improve results, professionals interested in moving into social media management, as well as marketing professionals who want to specialise

ExpertTrack course overview

  • Course 1

    4.4 (9 reviews)

    Discover how to create a social media strategy in this digital marketing course for social media managers.

    1 test

    1 peer-graded assignment

    4 weeks

    4 hours per week

    • Week 1

      Introduction to Social Media Strategy
      • Welcome to the course
      • Week Outcomes
      • Why is social media engagement important?
      • Creating a customer-centric social media strategy
      • Exemplary brands in social media
      • Congratulations
    • Week 2

      Setting objectives and using metrics
      • Week Outcomes
      • Setting objectives and KPIs
      • Choose the right metrics to measure success
      • Use the SMART Objective Framework
      • Congratulations
    • Week 3

      Social Listening
      • Week Outcomes
      • Social Media listening
      • How to build a social listening strategy
      • Components of a social listening strategy
      • Tools for social listening
      • Congratulations
    • Week 4

      Developing a social media strategy
      • Week Outcomes
      • Developing a social media strategy
      • Developing a social media channel strategy
      • Developing a social media campaign strategy
      • Peer Graded Assignment: Create your example campaign strategy
      • Congratulations
  • Course 2

    Discover how to plan effective content as part of your social media strategy on this digital marketing course.

    1 test

    1 peer-graded assignment

    3 weeks

    4 hours per week

    • Week 1

      Aligning your audience
      • Welcome to the course
      • Aligning your audience and social platforms
      • Paid, owned and earned social media
      • Funding your social media channels
      • Justifying your budget
      • Congratulations
    • Week 2

      Defining content pillars and content format
      • Week Outcomes
      • Defining content pillars
      • Content formats
      • Congratulations
    • Week 3

      Social media content planning
      • Week Outcomes
      • Planning your social media content
      • Peer Graded Assignment: Create your example content calendar
      • Reactive and planned social media content development
      • Tips for implementing your content plan
      • End of the course
  • Course 3

    Discover how to effectively manage live social media campaigns, engage influencers, and get insights from social media analytics

    2 tests

    1 peer-graded assignment

    3 weeks

    4 hours per week

    • Week 1

      Customer service on social media
      • Welcome to the course
      • Interacting with customers on social media
      • Good customer service
      • Staffing social media for customer service
      • PR disasters, recovery and contingency
      • Congratulations
    • Week 2

      The power of influencers
      • Week Outcomes
      • Research and identify your influencers
      • Engaging influencers in your marketing campaign
      • Peer Graded Assignment: Writing an email to an influencer
      • Measuring influencer activity
      • Congratulations
    • Week 3

      Using insights to improve social media performance
      • Week Outcomes
      • Introduction to social media analytics and insights
      • Recording your social media metrics and turning them into insights
      • Common social media insights
      • Always improving your social media performance
      • Case Study Test: End of ExpertTrack assessment
      • Congratulations

Prove you're job ready

Highlight the new, job-relevant skills you’ve gained and supplement existing qualifications with a hard-earned, industry-specific digital certificate – plus one for every course within your ExpertTrack.

  • Learn the latest in your chosen industry or subject.
  • Complete each course and pass assessments.
  • Receive certificates validated by the educating organisation.
  • Impress employers with learning outcomes you can add to your CV.
  • Make your career dreams a reality.

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Meet your instructor

Writer, presenter, educator & speaker on technology & social media. More at https://willfrancis.com

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