The Professional Specialist Diploma in Social Media Marketing is an in-depth 30-hour course created and validated by the Digital Marketing Institute (DMI). In 2017, DMI was named by ValueColleges.com as among the top 30 best value digital marketing certification programs, the only non-traditional university in the list.

The Professional Specialist Diploma in Social Media Marketing focuses on helping marketers develop a detailed understanding of key social media disciplines including content marketing, and platforms on which an organisation can promote its content and services.

This course is a 4 -day classroom training and at the end of the classroom training, a 3 hours certification exam may be taken.

Becoming a Certified Social Media Marketing Professional will provide you the knowledge and hands on experience to craft and implement effective digital sales strategies.  The Professional Specialist Diploma in Social Media Marketing certificate is awarded to candidates passing the examination. The Professional Specialist Diploma in Social Media Marketing has been credit rated by Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) at Level 8 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). SCQF level 8 corresponds to level 5 on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF).

This course is suitable for people who are responsible for the planning, execution and management of social media campaigns, social media specialists, enthusiasts, executives or anyone who would like to enhance their digital marketing knowledge base in this area.

Candidates can expect to gain the following key competencies related to this certification:

·         Understand how your target audience think and behave on social

·          Develop an understanding and appreciation of creating engaging content

·          Plan and develop the most optimum platforms for content distribution

·         Plan and deliver a Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin Advertising strategy, using the various advertising tools and formats available

·         Understand and appreciate the potential and limitations of social apps and video to help brands engage with their target audience

·         Appreciate the capabilities of marketing automation software for scaling marketing processes and activities 

No prerequisites for attending this course.

The ten modules of the Professional Specialist Diploma in Social Media Marketing programme focuses on the planning, implementation and measurement of your social media strategy.

he Specialist Diploma in Social Media Marketing

Social Research

The Social Research module will introduce you to the key social media concepts and equip you with the research tools and techniques needed to discover everything you need to know about your audience, competitors, cultural and industry trends.

What you’ll learn:

• Understand the foundation principles of social media marketing

• Distinguish between traditional and social media marketing

• Understand the dimensions of audience research to define the needs, wants and goals of your audience

• Create a framework for identifying and performing competitor analysis

• Investigate the key components of cultural and trend research to inform your social media campaigns

• Analyze data and extract actionable insights to inform the creation of a social media marketing strategy

Content Creation

The Content Creation module will introduce the concept of engaging with and acquiring customers using the creation and sharing of content. This module equips you with the knowledge and skills to resource a content management function, to target your audience, select your platform and make use of social listening and competitor analysis.

What you’ll learn:

• Plan a content creation strategy that targets the right audience to increase ROI

• Create a variety of content formats that will help you to deliver the right content to the right audience to increase conversions

• Identify best practice, optimal management and scheduling of your content for increased engagement and reach

• Devise, execute and monitor your own content creation strategy for campaign success

Professional Diploma in Social Media Marketing

Content Outreach

You’ll be introduced to the concept of content seeding and how to use content effectively over multiple social platforms. You will acquire an understanding of how to promote content and the importance of paid promotion for relevant, highly shareable content.

What you’ll learn:

• Create a solid content outreach strategy by performing content analysis to extract deep insight

• Understand content seeding and how to use content effectively over multiple social platforms

• Apply content outreach tactics and concepts in order to gain reach for your target audience

• Effectively analyze and measure the success and impact of your content

• Monitor the results of the publishing and promotion of content to improve and optimize your content outreach strategy

Facebook

The Facebook module provides you with a comprehensive understanding of how Facebook works as a platform for community building, content marketing and brand promotion.

You will learn how to use Facebook for Business; This module guides you through the various aspects to Facebook for Business, such as Facebook Ads. You will also be adept in planning and delivering a Facebook Advertising strategy, including KPI monitoring and ongoing measurement.

What you’ll learn:

• Understand how Facebook works as a platform for community building, content marketing and brand promotion

• Develop a Facebook page that expresses your identity, reaches your audience and engages with your audience through social interactions

• Identify and utilize the various Facebook platform features to target your audience and drive results

• Plan and deliver a Facebook Advertising strategy, using the various advertising tools and formats available

• Analyze, optimize and report on the performance of your ads to create powerful campaigns that convert

Professional Diploma in Social Media Marketing

Twitter

This module equips you with the knowledge of how Twitter operates and the value it represents for businesses as a marketing and promotion platform.

You will be guided through each step of using Twitter for Business; from customizing your account to building a profile for your business’ Twitter page. The Twitter module will also teach you how to target specific demographics when building your following.

What you’ll learn:

• Recognize the value Twitter represents for businesses as a marketing and promotion platform

• Setup, customize and promote a Twitter account to build a profile for a business, brand, organization or personality

• Implement Twitter Ads and specific formats to run campaigns and promote content aligned to your KPIs and marketing objectives

• Learn how to integrate Google Analytics with Twitter analytics and third party tools to analyze campaign performance and optimize accordingly

LinkedIn

The LinkedIn module gives you a comprehensive understanding of the benefits of using LinkedIn for marketing purposes. You will learn LinkedIn-specific features which will help you to facilitate campaign objectives.

What you’ll learn:

• Recognize the importance of having a unified brand presence across company and personal LinkedIn accounts

• Use LinkedIn-specific features and tools to set campaign objectives and increase ROI

• Run ad campaigns that reach, nurture and convert customers

• Use LinkedIn analytics tools to measure and report on your campaign success

Social Apps

The Social Apps module will give you core insights into the leading app-based platforms; Instagram and Snapchat. Going beyond basic features and vanity metrics, you will learn how to navigate each platform and discover the features that can be leveraged to deliver real measurable results in unique, creative and interactive ways.

What you’ll learn:

• Confidently navigate each platform’s features and optimize for both organic and paid campaigns that drive results

• Manage Instagram and Snapchat accounts effectively, in accordance with best practice guidelines

• Master Instagram and Snapchat’s native advertising tools to drive targeted traffic to your content

• Analyze campaign performance through native and 3rd party analytics tools to measure success and improve your social media efforts

Social Video

The Social Video module will introduce you to the concept of social video marketing and its growing importance for today’s online consumers. Focusing on YouTube, you will learn how to leverage the creative life cycle for audience development and advertising in order to build sustainable communities for lead generation.

What you’ll learn:

• Create, optimize, and manage a YouTube channel for your brand

• Recognize and understand the best formats of social video for content promotion

• Use enhancement features to improve your video content and extend user engagement in order

to gain a dedicated fan base and create brand advocates

• Make your video content searchable by targeting key demographics and new potential markets

• Develop your own YouTube advertising strategy in order to run cost-effective and successful campaigns

• Utilize YouTube’s pro-analytics for monitoring your advertising strategy

Marketing Automation

The Marketing Automation module aims to empower digital marketers to automate their marketing processes in the areas of lead management, lead generation, lead nurturing, sales enablement, social media marketing automation and customer evangelism.

What you’ll learn:

• Understand the terminology, features and processes used in marketing automation

• Appreciate the capabilities of marketing automation software for scaling marketing processes and activities that are already successful

• Make informed decisions on the best marketing automation tool for your business and marketing goals

• Understand inbound/outbound marketing philosophies, the buyers journey and how they can be applied to marketing automation

• Import and organize contacts from various channels to facilitate online tracking, lead scoring and segmentation

• Generate, nurture and communicate with leads through marketing automation software

• Analyze and measure the success of your efforts through daily, weekly and monthly reporting

Strategy & Planning

The Strategy & Planning module will teach you how to devise an all-encompassing social media strategy using the PROPEL strategy model. You will learn how planning, researching, setting objectives, preparation, execution and learning are the key components of a successful social strategy and ROI.

What you’ll learn:

• Plan, research and set informed objectives for your social media strategy

• Prepare materials and assets to take action and implement strategy activities

• Develop and implement your content, campaigns and activations in your strategy

• Report, analyze and measure the performance and impact of your strategy activities

• Apply changes to your strategy based on learned insight from the learn phrase of the PROPEL model

·         Social Media Marketing Consultants and Practitioners

·         Digital Marketing Executives and Managers

·         Account Managers, Relationship Managers and those leading sales teams

·         Business owners looking to maximize their owned social media channels

·         Anyone looking to develop their digital and social media marketing capabilities

This course is suitable for anyone seeking to enhance their competencies in Social Media Marketing. The aim of the Professional Specialist Diploma in Social Media Marketing is will equip you with the latest techniques for content creation and outreach across all of the core social networks, giving you a practical knowledge of how to create best practice paid and organic social media campaigns.