Discover industry-leading tools and techniques for building a powerful social media presence, with advice from digital marketing experts
In an ever-increasing digital world, succeeding on social media has never been more important for brands. With 3.96 billion total social media users across all platforms as of January 2022, each spending an average of 95 minutes per day connected, it has become an essential part of every digital marketing toolkit.
Standing out from the crowd with so much competition isn’t as straightforward as it might seem, though. Whether you’re a company looking to promote your products online, or a personal brand trying to make a name for yourself–between algorithms, adverts, and engagement rates, it can be difficult to know where to start. These free lessons are designed to give you the tools and knowledge you need to create a strategy that stops people scrolling.
1. Free class: Identify Your Ideal Client
Defining your target audience is the first step in any good strategy. As social media expert Dot Lung (@dotlung) says: “It’s difficult to be successful without knowing who you’re trying to attract.”
For this class, she has developed a set of 25 questions designed to help you establish and identify who your ideal client is, from their pain points to the social platforms they use. Dot also talks about the importance of competitor research for creating content your audience resonates with.
2. Free class: What Makes Content Sticky?
“What makes content sticky?” That’s the question David Cuen (@davidcuen) answers in this free lesson exploring the basics of sticky content. As a marketing executive and director of content communities at Booking.com, he’s passionate about creative communication.
With him as your guide, learn how to use logic and emotion to make engaging content that keeps your audience coming back for more. Discover how concepts like the power of three and storytelling can make the content you create stick in people’s minds, both on and off-screen, and explore how some of the biggest brands in the world employ these techniques in their marketing.
3. Free class: Your Voice
Establishing a unique tone of voice that represents you and your brand is crucial to standing out against the competition. Defining that voice is something content creator, influencer consultant, and personal branding expert Vix Meldrew (@vixmeldrew) is experienced in, having started her own online community designed to support creators on their brand-building journeys.
In this lesson, she teaches you how to find your brand voice, and communicate in a way that’s authentically you by researching your target audience and how they communicate.
Learn how to come up with brand words and avoid “fluff” in your captions, Stories, and other content to create a tone of voice that’s consistent across your marketing channels.
4. Free class: How to Write for Social
Paul Anglin (@paulanglin) is a senior copywriter and tone of voice consultant who has over 20 years of experience in his field. He runs his own studio and has worked with clients including Nike, Apple, and Microsoft.
He shares his expertise to help you learn how to write with intention for social media.
Begin by looking at the brand tone of voice in the context of social, using international brands like Diesel and The Economist as examples of best practice. Then learn how to keep your copy short, sharp, and engaging by cutting unnecessary pronouns and adverbs, before exploring how to find your angle when writing online.
5. Free class: The Secrets for a Good Advertising Campaign
With more competition than ever before, advertising on social media has become a necessity for many brands. In this lesson, Rebecca Rowntree (@hello_rebeccarowntree), the creative director of one of the top ten agencies in the world, teaches you how to build a powerful promotional campaign.
Having worked with clients including Nike, PlayStation, and Uber, she has curated these key components throughout the course of her career.
Learn how to identify a brief that needs more work, how a strong strategy can encourage creativity, and how to use both of them to come up with big ideas that are good enough to share. Rebecca also rounds up some of her favorite campaigns from world-famous brands.
6. Free class: SMART Objectives
Setting goals is essential for success in all areas of business, and social media is no exception. In this lesson, Ana Marín (@anamarinirl) teaches you how to establish powerful objectives with the SMART acronym in mind.
Learn how to set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, along with how to avoid meaningless metrics. The lesson is part of Ana’s full course on social media strategy to design, manage, and launch campaigns, in which she teaches you how to attract new business opportunities with a personalized content strategy that speaks to your target market.
7. Free class: Common Types of Videos
Studies have shown that one-third of all online activity is spent watching videos. For Charlene and Carly, the founders of Canvas+Co (@canvasco), video plays an essential role in their work, which aims to help brands build effective, cross-platform marketing strategies that grab consumers' attention on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.
In this lesson, they talk you through some of the main video formats for businesses: company, product, promotional, and how-to, along with the features and purpose of each. Discover examples of powerful videos in these formats and use them as inspiration to craft your own video content.
8. Free class: Social Listening
It’s not just content that needs to be taken into consideration when it comes to succeeding on social media platforms. The way both brands and individuals communicate with their audience plays a huge part. Hana Klokner (@hanajayklokner) has over ten years of experience as a social media marketing specialist and started her own consultancy in 2018, which has seen her work with clients like Amazon.
With Hana’s expertise, explore what social listening is and learn how to use it to improve your communication on social media.
Discover how social listening works across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, along with the different ways to search for popular content or connect with your audience using hashtags, keywords, location tags, and more.
9. Free class: How to Find Trending Hashtags and Viral Challenges
TikTok has taken the world by storm since it was launched in 2016. It was the most downloaded app of 2021 according to Hootsuite, and the sixth most-used app in the world, making it a cornerstone of any social strategy. TikTok strategist, That Icelandic Guy (@arnulfur), knows its appeal more than most, having built a following of almost 800K followers on the platform.
In this lesson, he gives you an insight into using viral content to build a community on TikTok.
Learn how to identify trends and challenges by exploring things like hashtags and your timeline. Look at examples of trending content and hear how to use it to give your ideas a better chance of being seen, while staying true to your brand or niche.
10. Free class: Content Strategy for YouTube
TikTok’s influence has been so far-reaching that other platforms like YouTube have even released features designed to compete with it. Despite launching Shorts, its 60-second video format last year, long-form content still has an important part to play in the video creation platform.
In this lesson, creative marketer and social media consultant Marja Dzemionaite (@marija_dzemionaite) guides you through the content aspect of your social strategy for YouTube.
Having worked at agencies with brands like Spotify, Tom Ford Beauty, and MAC, it’s something she’s well experienced in. Learn how to plan your content pillars and dive into the different types of videos brands can create on YouTube along with the benefits of each one.
Remember, you have until July 8 to benefit from these free classes! After that date, you can sign up for the teacher's full course to learn more.
Continue building your digital marketing strategy with these resources
- Watch this free Instagram brand engagement tutorial for top tips on getting likes, shares, and comments.
- Learn how to create social media content that increases the visibility of your brand with these online social media courses for creative freelancers.
- Discover tips to define the tone of voice that's right for your brand with expert guidelines and best examples for different types.
