1. Introduction to Social Media and Social Networking
What is Social Media?; A brief history of Social Media; How Social Media Works; Why should a business use Social Media; The power of Social Media in the Marketing and Advertising Arena; Introduction to Social Media Marketing Techniques; Understanding your audience; Social Network Platforms and Applications; Media Distribution; Establishing new categories of relationships with your customers; Accumulating Social Capital; The future of Social Networking.
2. How Social Media is Transforms the way we do Business
Social Sales; Transforming the Sales Cycle; Building relationships with your customers; Using customer testimonials on your site; Building a rapport with your customers; Online customer support; Social Network Marketing; Hypertargeting; Creating specific advertising campaigns; Reaching Passive Buyers; Loyalty and Engagement; Social Networking Communities; Brand Advertising; Social Distribution; Social Ads; Viral Marketing; Challenges and Limitations; Social Innovation; Concept generation; Crowdsourcing; Collaboration and Feedback; Commercial Implementation; Continual Iteration; Social Recruiting; The use of Social Networks for recruiting; Sourcing Candidates; Active Candidates; Passive Candidates; Candidate References; Getting Referrals from Extended Networks; Targeting Specialized Networks; Employer Reputation; Keeping In Touch.
3. Facebook
What is Facebook; Who uses Facebook; How can Facebook benefit a business; Understanding the Facebook environment; Signing up for a Facebook account; Defining your profile; Editing your profile; Searching for and adding friends; Using the Facebook Wall feature; Using pictures on your Facebook profile; Using the News Feed feature; Controlling what people see – using the Hide feature; Facebook Messaging; Facebook Groups; Facebook Links; Facebook Applications; Browsing for Applications; Including Business Applications; Finding Help – the Facebook Community; The Architecture of a Facebook Page; Understanding Facebook Advertising; Developing a Facebook Marketing Plan; Facebook Groups, Hosting Facebook Events; Case Study Sites.
4. Twitter
Introduction to Twitter; Understanding a Tweet; Decoding the elements of a Tweet; Signing up for a Twitter account; Creating and modifying your profile; Adding a profile icon; Finding people and uploading contacts; Following someone on Twitter; Adding followers to your account; Using Twitter Badges; Creating a Tweet; Working within the constraints of a Tweet – getting your message out in 140 characters or less; Re-tweeting; Sharing Links – Using TinyURL.com; Using Twitter with Mobile Devices; Using Twitter Goodies; Adding Twitter to Blogs; Connecting Twitter to Facebook, Direct Messages; Planning your Twitter Marketing Strategy; Building a Twitter Tribe; Case Study Sites.
5. YouTube
Introduction to YouTube; Understanding YouTube; Browsing on YouTube; YouTube as a social media site; YouTube as a business tool; YouTube as an educational tool; Creating a YouTube account; Linking to your Gmail account; Creating a video for YouTube; Using Open Source Video Editing Software; Adding voiceovers, soundtracks and special effects to your videos; Formatting Videos for Uploading; Uploading Videos to YouTube; Downloading videos from YouTube; Linking and Embedding videos in your own website; Posting comments on other peoples videos; Comparing YouTube and Facebook; Sharing Videos with Facebook; Sharing Videos with Twitter; Case Study Sites
5. LinkedIn
Introduction to LinkedIn; The benefits of having a LinkedIn account; Creating a LinkedIn account; Modifying your user profile; Finding colleagues already on LinkedIn; Building your network; Connecting to the people you want – using Referrals; Making Referrals; Using InMail to contact people outside your network; Searching for a Job on LinkedIn; Getting help – exploring the LinkedIn learning centre; Using LinkedIn Applications; Case Study Sites.
6. Flickr
Introduction to Flickr; Setting up a Flickr Account; Using the Take a Tour Facility; Comparing the Free and Pro versions of Flickr; Finding your friends on Flickr; Linking Flickr to your Gmail account; Adding Contacts to your account; Preparing pictures for uploading; Understanding picture formats for the web; Uploading Pictures to Flickr; Using Flickr from a business perspective.
7. Blogs and Blogger
Introduction to Blogs; A brief history of Blogs and Blogging; Creating a Blog – Introduction to Blogger; Registering with Blogger and creating your first Blog; Creating good content for your Blog; Using Templates to format the appearance of your Blog; Publishing your Blog; Uploading pictures and videos to your Blog; Creating links with other Bloggers; Making people aware of your Blog – The use of RSS; Adding an RSS Feed to your Blog; Adding Gadgets to your Blogger account; Comparing Blogger and Wordpress; Using other Blog software; Case Study Sites
8. Social Media Marketing Campaign
Identifying your target audience; Defining the Goals of your campaign; Defining a Clear Strategy for your Campaign; Knowing your unsanctioned community – what people are saying about you; Defining and Establishing your presence; Engaging your Customers; Deciding on the platforms and tools to use; Deciding on a Media Strategy; Hypersegment your audience; Implementing a Pilot Campaign and analysing the results; Identifying Key Risk Areas; The importance of Landing Pages; Interacting with your customers; Revising your campaign strategy.
9. Measuring the Success of Social Media Marketing
Understanding Web Metrics and Analytics; Standard Web Metrics; Social Media Metrics; Identifying your current site statistics; Defining what metrics are to be measured – Content, Relevance and Impact; Benchmarking; Identifying your Return On Investment (ROI); Setting Goals; Finding out what sites are actually driving traffic to your website; Deciding on a Web Analytics solution; AWStats and Google Analytics; Introduction to Google Analytics; Setting up a Google Analytics Account; Integrating Google Analytics Tracking Code into your web pages; Setting up Goals in Google Analytics; Other methods of analysing web metrics.
10. Search Engine Optimistaion
How Search Engines Work; Algorithm Based Ranking Systems; Determining Searcher Intent – Types of Searches; Analysing Ranking Factors; Advanced Searching Techniques; Vertical Search Engines; Country Specific Search Engines; Search Directories;Setting out your SEO Goals and Objectives; Outlining and Developing your SEO Plan; Researching your potential audience; Finding your niche on the webThe importance of planning; The importance of site architecture; Who are your competitors?; Measuring your success – Server Statistics Software; Website SWOT Analysis
11. Google AdWords
Where did it all begin? Google Adwords essentials: Why use Google AdWords?, Google AdWords Basic terminology, Getting started with Google AdWords, The Google world and AdWords, The difference between Sponsored Listings and Organic Listings, The Pay-Per-Click revolution, Google AdWords and Direct Marketing.Benefits of AdWords: Relevance, Return on investment (ROI) and Reach, Targeting the right audiences, Keywords and placements, The power of positioning with Ad Rank, Paying for results only, Discount features, Avoiding speculation. Features of AdWords: Variety and advert formats, Accessibility via Search and Content Networks, Ad performance and monitoring, Quality Score and Click-Through Rate (CTR), Report Centre, Conversion tracking. Google AdWords Statistics explained: The Snapshot Screen, The All Online Campaigns view.
Different editions: Starter versus Standard, Opening a new Google AdWords account, Google AdWords: Organizing and Managing the Account, The Google AdWords Campaign Management Tab.The Online Marketplace, Online Profitability Predictions, Online Marketing Trends, Positioning an Online Business Strategically, Building a Google AdWords Campaign from scratch, Setting up Your Google AdWords Campaign for Success, Common Mistakes to avoid when Setting up Google AdWords Campaigns.
12. E-Commerce: The Theory of E-Commerce
What is e-commerce?; Definitions; Advantages of e-commerce; Limitations of e-commerce; The 1st and 2nd waves of e-commerce; Categories of e-commerce; Methods of accepting payments online; Working with PayPal; Electronic Wallets; Metered Payments; Off the shelf e-commerce solutions.
13. Ecommerce: Practical
What is HTML?; The structure of a HTML web page; Introduction to HTML Tags; The <html>, <head>, <body> and <title> Tags; Creating a basic HTML web page; Working with text; Basic formatting – the <b>, <i> and <u> Tags; Other formatting Tags – the <p> Tag and the Heading Tags; HTML Attributes; Working with Hyperlinks; Using colour in a web page; Working with Images; Formatting images for the web; HTML Lists – ordered Lists, Unordered Lists and Definition Lists; Creating Tables in HTML; Formatting Tables;
What is XHTML?; Why XHTML is important; Differences between HTML and XHTML. What is CSS?; How does CSS work?; The three types of Cascading Style Sheets – In-Line CSS, Internal CSS and External CSS; Examples of formatting using CSS; Linking a web page to an external CSS page; Formatting the page with CSS; Font and Text formatting; Working with Links.
14. Doing Business on the Internet
Doing Business on the Internet, The Benefits of Digital Marketing # Online Marketing Planning, Key Concepts in Internet Technology, Business Models on the Internet, Online Market Research.
15. Analysing the Web
Website Hits, Website Page View Analytics, Recording Online Visitor Statistics, Time of Visit to website, Keyword Phrase Used, IP Address Information, Website Arrival and Exit Pages, Logfile versus Page Tagging, Web Click Tracks and Google Analytics, Benefits of Web Analytics.
16. Promoting Your Website
Promoting your Website, Online Promotion Techniques, Web 2.0, Services & Applications, Email Marketing, Online Advertising.
17. Online Public Relations
Internet influence on News, Internet Journalists, Economics of Online News Production, Internet Critics and other influences, the PR Practitioner as an Online Publisher, Ethical Internet PR, Truthfulness and Duty of Care, Online Ethics, Debate, Guidelines and Best Practice.
Monitoring and Evaluation of Social Media Discourse, Trends and Value. Policy Influences, corporate speak. Implications of Social Media for Corporate Social Responsibility. Local versus Global Communication, Landscaping Platforms, Channels and context, Online PR Organisational Analysis and Segmentation, Developing Online PR Strategies, Online PR Tactics and SEO considerations, Online PR Planning, Managing Online PR Risk and Opportunities.
Blogs, Microblogs, Chatrooms, Delicious, Email, Flickr, Twitter, Instant messaging, Message Boards, Mobile Internet , New Media Releases, Online Conferencing, Online Surveys, Pay per click, Podcasts, RSS, Search Engines, SEO, Social Networking Service Sites, Video Sharing, Virtual worlds, VoIP, Wiki and Widgets. Commercial Implications of the Internet, Social Interaction with the Internet, Web 2.0 and its Implications, Internet Convergence, the Network Effect, Internet Information Exchange, Internet Audience Size and Exposure, Internet Culture and Communication, Transparency and the Internet.
18. Presentation Skills
Preparation and Research; Speech Content; Subject Matter and Objectives; Speech Delivery and Variety; Body Language, Eye Contact, etc.; Presentation Aids e.g. Visuals, etc.; Management of Locations and Audiences; Presentation Structure
Social Media Project
The project is an important part of the course. Each course participant is given the project brief. Participants are asked at the end of the course to produce a proposal with their recommendations to their subject expert. This gives participants the opportunity to use the knowledge they have obtained during the course in a focused way and develops pitching skills.
Methods of Training
Online Lecture Modules, Subject Expert Feedback Sessions after each Module, practical case studies, end of module assignments. etc.
Subject Experts
Full support is available from our subject experts by email at the end of each module and an ongoing basis during the course.
Who Should Apply
Anyone interested in developing skills or a career in this area. Early application is advisable as places are booking up fast.
Qualifications
Successful candidates qualify for the Diploma in Social Network Marketing (Dip. Social Network Mkt.). The Diploma is awarded at Distinction, Credit or Pass level. The diploma is certified by the Institute of Commercial Management.