June 11, 2023 | Julia Jacome
The certification I completed was Social Media Marketing.
I choose this certificate option, because I have always been interested in digital marketing especially in the social media space. This is also the area of work I hope to get a job in after I finish schooling and I felt that this would give me good insight to what a job in this field will entail. As I went through this certificate training, I quickly became entrained with the information and felt that it was necessary for me to learn this to enable me to take the next steps in the career that I want in the future.
How long did it take me to complete it?
I spaced out the videos at a good pace. I started the certificate program around week 3 and did a couple of videos and answered the given questions. The first round I did took me about 2 hours. The next time I logged in to complete the certificate training, I finished it in around 4 to 5 hours, this included the final test at the end. Overall, I was timely, but I don’t think it was hard to complete.
What did I like best/least?
Throughout the certificate training the topic that I found most interesting was building a content strategy for social media. Over the time of my internship with Beaver Athletics I have had to help with coming up with social media strategies to help improve fan engagement and I found this section to be helpful when it came to breaking down all the elements of a content strategy and content calendar. After this section it gave the option to download their premade excel file with every aspect of the content strategy to then make a plan and calendar for your brand. I found this extremely helpful and I plan to use this in the future.
Throughout the certificate training there wasn’t any part where I would say I didn’t like it. I appreciated every aspect of this training and every section lead to the bigger picture of social media marketing and strategy.
Were there any disappointments or frustrations?
My only frustration with the content that was included in the social media marekting certifiate had nothing to do with the actual content within the structure of the certificate and what was talked about in each section, but the final exam. I understand that we had to cover each section thoroughly but with each section we had up to 4 questions and the final exam was 70 questions which I found to be a little lengthly for the exam. But this was something minor and honestly I didn’t have any disappointments of frustrations with the content of the lessons that were given for the completion of the certificate. The only other thing I can think of was what I think was a glitch within the system. When you went to take the tests, sometimes it make you take them again. At first I thought if you got the question wrong too many times then that is why it made you retake it, but I also had issues when I did get the answers correct. I think this is a glitch within their system that needs to be resolved.
What did I learn?
- How to develop a social media strategy:
- How to listen to and monitor social media
- How to build a content strategy for social media
- How to create a social media calendar
- How to extend my reach on social media
- How to use social media to build one-to-one relationships
- Got an introduction to social media advertising
- How to measure my social return on investment (ROI)
Do I believe this certification program is useful for other marketers?
I do in fact think this certification program is useful for other marketers. I thought this program gave a great insight into what it take to successful market through social media and what you need to look out for and what you need to do to prepare even before posting on social media. Overall, I think this is a great course for anyone wanting to break into this space but doesn’t know where to start.
On a scale of 1-5, how likely am I to recommend this certification program to a friend?
On a scale of 1-5 I am willing to give this a 5 on how likely I am to recommend this certification program to a friend. I think this is a great way to learn about social media marketing and at the end getting a certification that you can put on your resume or LinkedIn profile doesn’t hurt!
