Social Media Starter Course Overview

Posted on 03. Sep, 2008 by Chi-chi Ekweozor in Social Media Strategies

Social Media Starter Course Overview

Introduction
In these times of economic uncertainty, how do you stand out in a crowded marketplace?

Your competition is increasingly your customers themselves, empowered by social media platforms like blogs, micro-blogging tools like Twitter and profiles on social networking and video sharing sites.

They are staying connected with each other for longer online, and increasingly via the mobile web using smartphones like the iPhone, creating and consuming information about products and services in a virtuous circle of digital word of mouth.

It is time to admit the inevitable.

Marketing is now about creating meaningful relationships with consumers.

The good news is that you already have most of the tools for building trust and creating meaningful relationships with consumers online.  You just need to know how to use them.

Designed for new starters

The Social Media Starter Course is designed specifically for people who are new to social media but find they increasingly have to use it in their day to day jobs.

Whether you are responsible for creating marketing campaigns or getting the word out about a new product or service, this interactive two hour workshop gives you the knowledge you need to start making measurable connections with consumers using social media.

Learn how to increase your marketing return on investment by building trust and extending your circle of influencing online. The end result?  More customers buying your products or services.

Most social media tools encourage rapid feedback allowing the user to learn about real people’s preferences, expectations and needs.

This data alone allows the discerning business to make better informed decisions.

Topics covered
What is social media?  Why is it important?  How can it boost your company’s search engine visibility and help your marketing budget go further in the current economic climate?

We explain why the web is causing a fundamental shift from passively consumed traditional mass media to fragmented media consumption on demand and demonstrate how social media enables marketers to make measurable, meaningful and productive connections with consumers.

Meet the technologies involved
We provide a hands-on introduction to the technologies involved, covering all of the following:

Blogging - The anatomy of a blog.  Comments, links, RSS and Google’s respect.

Online video - Making the best possible video for the web. We cover a number of online video distribution platforms from YouTube to Brightcove to Vimeo.

Microblogging – Using micro-blogging services like Twitter and Jaiku.  How publishing your thoughts in 140 characters or less helps you make friends, find answers, influence people and grow your brand.

Social Networking - How to choose between the hundreds of social networking sites vying for your attention.

Podcasting – Audio versus video.  Getting listed on the iTunes store.

Can You Solve My Marketing Problem?
Alongside an interactive presentation and Q&A session, we devote a substantial section of the course to solving a real marketing problem using social media.

Please bring along a real marketing problem or issue you would like addressed.

We also show you how to develop a social media strategy that can be integrated with a traditional marketing campaign.

One Central Park, ManchesterThe Venue
The Social Media Starter Course takes place at Manchester’s multi-million pound technology and enterprise centre, One Central Park, located just two miles from Manchester city centre.  The course is delivered in a small, intimate classroom environment with no more than twenty attending ensuring you have one-to-one contact with the course leader.  Lunch and refreshments are provided.

How Do I Benefit?
You may need to make a case for using social media in your workplace.  What better way than by pointing to case studies of successful social media campaigns run by well-known brands?

We demonstrate the benefits of using social media complete with UK-specific brand case studies and examples.

We explore the potential pitfalls of marketing with social media and cover the basics of social media etiquette; we show you how to interact instead of interrupting and demonstrate why honesty is so important on the social web.

What Will I Learn?
After attending a Social Media Starter Course you will:

  • Have a thorough understanding of the basics of social media.
  • Learn how to combine social media with traditional marketing.
  • Learn how to measure a social media campaign.

Who Should Attend:

• marketing, media and PR professionals
• owners of small to medium sized businesses (SMEs)
• charities and voluntary organisations
• journalists
• media, marketing & journalism students
• anyone who needs to sell directly to consumers online

Who is the course leader?
Chi-chi Ekweozor is a gifted communicator with more than 3 years experience in creating social media content for the web.  Her company, Real Fresh TV published Europe’s first video podcast, the 3 Minute Gig and now advises companies as varied as T-Mobile and PUMA on how to create and execute effective social media campaigns.

Equally at home with developing multi-platform content campaigns as she is with devising social media marketing promotions, she has a particular talent for presenting digital marketing concepts in clear, everyday language.

She was short listed for a 4Talent 2008 Multi-Platform Award. The 4Talent Awards, sponsored by Channel 4, spotlight 20 highly creative individuals under the age of 30 who are tipped for the top in TV and new media.

Her widely read social media and multi-platform marketing blog is at www.realfresh.tv.  She twitters at twitter.com/realfreshtv.

When is the next course?

See the Real Fresh TV Training Calendar for the next Social Media Starter Course.  They currently take place once a month.

Related posts:

  1. Introducing the Social Media Starter Course
  2. The Learning Social Media by Doing Course Overview
  3. Putting On A Social Media Starter Course
  4. Introduction to Social Media for Media Professionals Overview
  5. Introduction to Social Media for Media Professionals

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18 Responses to “Social Media Starter Course Overview”

  1. Joanne Zimakas 9 March 2009 at 6:40 pm #

    I just finished transcribing all the interviews for The Social Media Bible, http://www.TheSocialMediaBible.com, published by John Wiley & Sons . I became part of the team virtually; I am a virtual transcriptionist. I only mention this as a testament to the power of social media, or as I like to call this combo, Social Media ².

    I urge all to go to and listen to these nearly 50 interviews with the top SVP’s and founders of the major social media companies world wide, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc. They are 30+/- minute podcasts about how each social media technology is being used for business.

    This book and website will be a wonderful resource for your students!

    Joanne Zimakas

    East Longmeadow, MA 01028

  2. Chi-chi Ekweozor 10 March 2009 at 3:44 pm #

    @Joanne Zimakas:

    Thanks for your comment.

    Just checked out Social Media Bible; that’s an impressive list of contributors and experts!

    Thanks for the heads up on the podcasts: particularly liked the one featuring Mashable‘s Pete Cashmore.

    I realise the Social Media Bible has not yet been released.

    Any chance you could send us a copy for review on this site and inclusion in the Social Media Starter Course?

    Happy to start a discussion over email.

    Drop me a line

  3. Steven Groves 11 March 2009 at 9:15 pm #

    Chi-chi,

    We’ve got you on the early release list for the Social Media Bible now. Look forward to your review!

  4. Chi-chi Ekweozor 13 March 2009 at 11:21 am #

    @Steven Groves:

    Wow, that’s exciting news!

    Apologies for the delay in spotting your comment. Look forward to receiving a copy of the Social Media Bible.


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