Boston University’s impact extends far beyond our campus in the heart of Boston. Our students, faculty, and alumni travel around the globe to study, teach and become immersed in the communities in which they live. As one of the world’s leading research universities, Boston University is currently engaged in more than 340 separate research, service, and educational programs and projects. Today, BU is the fourth-largest private university in the country and a member of the American Association of Universities, a nonprofit association of 62 of North America’s leading research-intensive institutions.

With 17 schools and colleges, BU offers our students more than 250 programs of study in science and engineering, social science and humanities, health science, the arts, and other professional disciplines. And after graduation? Our students take their place in a long line of alumni whose inclusive and engaging educational experience prepared them to help serve, shape, and improve the world.

About This Course:

Social media technologies are continuously transforming the ways consumers interact with each other and firms. These changes constitute a fundamental shift in the marketplace–consumers have greater opportunities to voice their opinions and connect with their peers as well as increased influence over marketers and brands. 

In this course, part of the Digital Product Management MicroMasters program, we examine how organizations capitalize on social media and consumer-to-consumer interactions to support their marketing efforts. We view these issues from a strategic and a practical perspective, rather than a technical or platform perspective.  We will give you the knowledge you need to create engaging content for platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat and how to identify influencers, deliver content to a targeted audience, and measure the success of your efforts. 

Understanding social media is crucial for product managers who will be operating in a digital environment. Product managers will learn how to use social media conversations to inform their decision-making and how to leverage social media to promote their products, services, and the brand. Additionally, learners will gain an understanding of how social media can be used to achieve specific organizational objectives and to measure the effectiveness of those efforts.

Why Take This Course?

This is a on Edx. The verified certificate also available for social media marketing online course. This is one of the best free online courses on social media marketing. The instructor of this free course is Barbara Bickart, Senior Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Marketing Boston University.

Learning Outcomes:

• How to develop a social media marketing strategy
• How to develop and deliver content that engages consumers and is strategically integrated across platforms
• How to measure the effectiveness of social efforts.
• How social media can be used to listen to consumers, monitor their behavior, and engage them in co-creation of products and services
• How to manage social media

Course Syllabus: 

Week 1: A Strategic Perspective on Social Media Marketing

• Introduction to social media and how it has altered the consumer decision-making process and communications paradigm. Describe the role of social media in marketing strategy and assess the tradeoffs in using social media relative to traditional communication methods. Learn how to set social media marketing objectives that are linked to business objectives.

Week 2: Leveraging Networks

• Understand the role of networks in the distribution of content, including network structure and how it affects the flow of information. Learn how to leverage online networks and communities to engage consumers in brand-related conversations. Discuss how to identify influencers and their role in distributing content.

Week 3: Creating Engaging Content

• Learn how to create social media content that attracts and retains consumers’ attention and motivates engagement and sharing. Describe the role of storytelling in a digital landscape. Understand how to evaluate and select platforms for distributing content.

Week 4: Social Media Listening and Co-Creation

• Examine how social media listening is integrated into marketing decision making. Introduction to approaches to social media listening and how to draw inferences from listening data. Learn how social media is used to facilitate open innovation and co-creation.

Week 5: Assessing Social Media ROI

Introduction to a framework for assessing the return on investment of social media activities. Describe metrics for measuring the success of social media efforts and explore the role of analytics in linking these metrics to the bottom line. Understand the role of paid media in social media marketing.

Week 6: The Role of Social Media in the Organization

• Describe organizational approaches to managing social media and developing social media policy. Discuss how to manage specific issues in social media, including negative feedback, online reviews, and crisis management. Identify ethical conflicts and issues associated with social media marketing decisions.

How to Apply for free Social Media Marketing Course?

• Enter your email address
• Enter your full name (Your full name will appear on any certificates that you earn.)
• Create a public username for the forums (cannot have spaces)
  Note: You cannot change your username once it has been created.
• Create a password
• Select your country
• Agree to the edX Honor code and terms of service
• Select Create your account
• When you find a course that interests you in the course catalog, you can enroll in the course by selecting the Enroll Now button on the course About page.
• Registering for an edX account is completely free! You can also take courses for free, or you can choose to pay a fee and pursue a verified certificate.