Did you know that almost people use one social media platform or another? That is nearly half the world’s population. The sheer number of people on these platforms is the reason why so many brands and marketers are flocking to social media to build brand awareness, generate leads, and more.
Image via
If you haven’t yet taken advantage of this enormous opportunity, it is not too late to get started. The beauty of social media marketing is that if you do it right, you can grow your business exponentially in a short period of time. But, for that, you need to get a good start.
Learning the most effective and using them correctly from the beginning can give you the extra push you need. And now it is easier than ever to take one or more social media marketing courses online, from the comfort of your own home. In this post, we have compiled a list of twelve of best free courses that are very useful for any social media marketer. Read on and decide which one you would like to try:
This is an introductory course to social media marketing offered by Northwestern University and is available from Coursera. The instructor for this course is Randy Hlavac of Northwestern University, who is also the CEO of Marketing Synergy, Inc.
Here are some of the things that you will learn in this course:
The course uses a mix of videos, reading materials, assignments, and quizzes. It is a nine-hour course, but they suggest that you take 3-4 weeks to complete it.
After completion of all of the course modules, you get a certificate that you can share on LinkedIn or showcase on your resume.
2. Social Media Analytics Course (Quintly)
This is a beginner-level course on social media analytics that you can take to learn the basics or simply to refresh your knowledge. The course is divided into modules or steps starting from analysing your current situation to automating analytics reports.
Here are some of the things that you will learn:
The course includes videos, reading materials, and quizzes and provides an engaging way to learn.
Image via
This is a social media certification course offered by HubSpot that will help you build a solid social strategy and strengthen your social presence.
By the end of this course you will learn how to:
Overall, it is an all-in-one course that covers almost all aspects that you need to get started with social media marketing. The course has 9 lessons, 34 quizzes, and 40 videos. It takes 4 hours and 39 minutes to complete, but we suggest taking more time to understand each topic thoroughly.
4. Social Media Marketing Certification (eMarketing Institute)
Unlike most other courses on this list, this one does not contain any videos or interactive elements. It is, in fact, in the form of a 165-page ebook which details all major aspects of social media marketing.
Once you finish reading the course material, you can take a test. If you pass the test, you will get a certification that you can add to your resume.
Here are some of the topics that are covered in the course:
As it is a completely text-based course, the completion time may vary from one person to another. Read it at your own pace and take the test only when you are ready.
5. The Business of Social (Coursera)
This is another informative social media course offered by Northwestern University that provides a certificate. This is an advanced course that helps you track your social media performance and link it to sales and other business functions.
Here are some of the things that you will learn:
This course follows a more practical approach to learning, rather than just theoretical. The course is taught by different instructors, who are experts in the field. The course takes five hours to complete, but they suggest completing it in 3-4 weeks.
6. Build Your Personal Brand and Sell Your Expertise Using Social Media (Social Creators)
This is a course on personal branding that will help you build a unique social media identity and a strong social presence. This is most useful for influencers but is something that all marketers can benefit from.
The course is divided into four parts all in the form of videos, making it easy to grasp the concepts. Additional course materials also include a 21-page guide on personal branding.
7. Writing for Social Media (edX)
This is a free course offered by the prestigious University of California, Berkley. It provides a broad framework for writing content for social media. The instructor of the course is Tim Peters, who is a Lead Content Strategist for Tata Consultancy Services.
Here are some of the things that you will learn:
The course will take 4 weeks to complete. You can take the course for free but to get the certificate, you need to pay.
8. Social Media Ethics (Udemy)
This is a free course available on Udemy. It was created by Eric Schwartzman, who is also the instructor of this course. The course covers the important topic of social media ethics and being responsible when posting content on social media.
Here’s what you will learn from this course:
You get the video content for free, but for the certification, you need to pay. It is a short course that can be completed in 33 minutes.
9. Content, Advertising & Social IMC (Coursera)
This is another social media marketing specialisation course provided by Northwestern University. In this course, you will learn how to create engaging content that has the capacity to go viral.
Here are some topics that it covers:
The course takes 8 hours to complete but they suggest taking 4 weeks to do so. This course comes with a shareable LinkedIn certificate.
Image via
This is a beginner-level course offered by Buffer and the instructor is their digital marketing strategist, Brian Peters. It is designed to help you learn how to form an effective social media strategy.
Here are some of the aspects that it will cover:
It is a short video tutorial that can be completed in just 43 minutes. However, we suggest that you do your own research and study after each lesson.
11. Social Media 101 (Constant Contact)
This is a detailed social media course for beginners, offered by Social Media Quickstarter. It trains you on step-by-step processes to build your social media presence on different platforms. It includes a different course module for each platform, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Within each module, you will get detailed information about all aspects of building a profile and engaging your audience on that channel. It also includes dos and don’ts for each platform and suggests strategies to do well on each platform.
12. Social Media Monitoring (Udemy)
This is another free Udemy course created by Eric Schwartzman. It will guide you through various aspects of .
Here are some topics that it will cover:
The course uses a mix of video and textual reading materials. The course duration is 7 hours and 26 minutes. You can get the video content for free but for the certificate and additional resources, you need to pay.
These are some of the best free social media marketing courses that you can enrol in to brush up on your skills or learn new ones. If you are new to this and want to build your social media presence from scratch, you should definitely try a few of these courses.
Pick the ones that intrigue you the most and give them a try. If you don’t like the materials or approach, you can always switch to a more interactive course, as they are all free. Happy learning!
