“Importantly, companies are using social media to do things that go way beyond just chatting up existing customers on Facebook. Sales departments use social to nurture leads and close sales. HR posts job openings and vets applicants. Community and support squads mine networks, blogs, and forums with deep listening tools.” In this quote, Ryan Holmes, founder, and CEO of Hootsuite explains the vital role social media plays in marketing today and why it is important to understand its uses and benefits for business and your company.
What is Social Media Marketing?
Hootsuite defines Social Media Marketing as "the use of social media by marketers to increase brand awareness, identify key audiences, generate leads, and build meaningful relationships with customers." Social media can also be used for customer service and give potential employees insight into a company's culture. It is essential to build and maintain a social media presence that reflects the company's values and help reach business goals and objectives.
Depending on your business and the platforms on which your customers or consumers spend the bulk of their time, you will have to set up the appropriate pages and accounts to interact with them. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Blogging lend themselves to a combination of text, images, and video, while Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube are more visual.
The Certification Process
Hootsuite has six free courses on Hootsuite Academy to help you learn about social media marketing and prepare for the exam. The videos are split into two categories, beginner, and intermediate levels. Two of the courses are beginner level: Introduction to Social Media Marketing and Optimizing Your Social Media Profiles. The remaining four courses are intermediate level Social Media Strategy from A to Z, Grow Your Online Community, Content Marketing Fundamentals, and Social Advertising Fundamentals.
Each course is subdivided into sections, most of which have detailed examples and quizzes to aid your learning and exam prep. Downloadable PDF study guides are also provided for each course. The videos have about 3 hours of content, which is approximately 30 minutes for each course. The certification focuses primarily on strategy, content marketing and social advertising fundamentals for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube.
The Exam
The exam consists of 60 multiple choice questions that must be completed in 60 minutes. 80% is the passing score. The certification never expires once you pass the exam. If you fail, you do not need to pay to retake the exam.
The certification costs $199 and grants a year of access to Hootsuite's Certified Professionals Directory, which makes it easier to get discovered by clients and employers looking for certified professionals. You also gain access to updated courses and exams, and discounts for future certifications.
Hootsuite recently reshuffled its certification suite, changing its name from Hootsuite Podium to Hootsuite Academy. With change came the ability to easily access the certification for Hootsuite Social Media Management platform for $99. I will discuss that process in a future post.
Developed and offered in conjunction with the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Hootsuite also offers an Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification for Marketing Strategists, Social Media Managers, Brand and Agency Ambassadors and anyone else interested in gaining advanced knowledge in the field. The course costs $2200 or $194 per month for about 11 months.
To learn more about the Hootsuite Social Media Marketing certification process and/or take the exam, click here
Thanks for reading!