Did you know that almost 4.48 billion people use one social media platform or another? That is nearly half the world’s population. The sheer number of people on these platforms is the reason why so many brands and marketers are flocking to social media to build brand awareness, generate leads, and more. Indeed, the statistics and data for global social media use are quite mind blowing and you can find them and more about the state of social media marketing in the Influencer Marketing Hub Social Media Benchmark Report 2022.
Shelby Leimgruber 
Ed Lawrence 
Gretta Van Riel 
Pat Flynn 
Gretta Van Riel 
Nathan Chan 
David Perell 
Hayley Paige 
Angie Gensler 
Elise Darma If you haven’t yet taken advantage of this enormous opportunity, it is not too late to get started. The beauty of social media marketing is that if you do it right, you can grow your business exponentially in a short period of time. But, for that, you need to get a good start.
Learning the most effective social media marketing tips and using them correctly from the beginning can give you the extra push you need. And now it is easier than ever to take one or more social media marketing courses online, from the comfort of your own home. In this post, we have compiled a list of 17 of best free courses that are very useful for any social media marketer. Read on and decide which one you would like to try:
17 Free Social Media Marketing Courses:
- 1. TikTok Marketing Masterclass (Influencer Marketing Hub)
- 2. What is Social? (Coursera)
- 3. Social Media Analytics Course (Quintly)
- 4. Social Media (HubSpot)
- 5. Social Media Marketing Certification (eMarketing Institute)
- 6. The Business of Social (Coursera)
- 7. Build Your Personal Brand and Sell Your Expertise Using Social Media (Social Creators)
- 8. Writing for Social Media (edX)
- 9. Social Media Ethics (Udemy)
- 10. Content, Advertising & Social IMC (Coursera)
- 11. Introduction to Social Media Strategy (Skillshare)
- 12. Social Media 101 (Constant Contact)
- 13. Social Media Monitoring (Udemy)
- 14. Introduction to Social Media Advertising (SkillShare)
- 15. Advanced Social Media Marketing for Picking Up Clients (Udemy)
- 16. Social Media Marketing (Oxford Home Study Centre)Â
- 17. Quicksprout Social Media Courses (Quicksprout)Â
- Frequently Asked Questions
1. TikTok Marketing Masterclass (Influencer Marketing Hub)
One of the most valuable and information packed courses out there, teaching you everythig you need to know to master TikTok for your business or personal brand.
Your course instructors for the The TikTok Masterclass are Ed Lawrence and Shelby Leimgruber, a social media influencer with a strong track record of success. She enjoys more than 500,000 followers on social media and a 10% engagement rate.
This course includes 11 modules and additional bonuses covering everything from the basics to the complexities of working with major brands. Through this course, you’ll learn:
- TikTok basics
- How to craft a profitable brand persona without sacrificing authenticity
- How to build your audience
- How to increase engagement on TikTok
- How to start working with brands
- How to make money as a TikTok influencer
The course is totally free and packed with
- Resources: Brand collaboration outreach templates, influencer case studies, exclusive interviews with experts ($145 value)
- Production Worksheets: Video planning and storyboard templates, camera shot list, budget templates, cue sheets ($105 value)
- TikTok Stash Bundle: Engagement and Earning Potential Tools, scheduling tools, editing apps, optimisation tools, FTC requirements ($245 value)
2. What is Social? (Coursera)
This is an introductory course to social media marketing offered by Northwestern University and is available from Coursera. The instructor for this course is Randy Hlavac of Northwestern University, who is also the CEO of Marketing Synergy, Inc.
Here are some of the things that you will learn in this course:
- An introduction to social media marketing
- Social media trends
- How to use social media for business
- The changing dynamics of social media and the importance of big data
The course uses a mix of videos, reading materials, assignments, and quizzes. It is a nine-hour course, but they suggest that you take 3-4 weeks to complete it.
After completion of all of the course modules, you get a certificate that you can share on LinkedIn or showcase on your resume.
3. Social Media Analytics Course (Quintly)
This is a beginner-level course on social media analytics that you can take to learn the basics or simply to refresh your knowledge. The course is divided into modules or steps starting from analysing your current situation to automating analytics reports.
Here are some of the things that you will learn:
- Situation analysis
- Competitor benchmarking
- Collecting data from different social media platforms
- Identifying KPIs to measure your goals
- Understanding analytics reports and metrics
- Deciding on the audience for different types of reports
- Automating reports
The course includes videos, reading materials, and quizzes and provides an engaging way to learn.
4. Social Media (HubSpot)
Source: academy.hubspot.com
This is a social media certification course offered by HubSpot that will help you build a solid social strategy and strengthen your social presence.
By the end of this course you will learn how to:
- Develop a social media marketing strategy
- Perform social media monitoring
- Develop a social content strategy
- Expand your social media reach
- Know how to advertise on social media
- Measure your social media marketing ROI
- Other social media essentials
Overall, it is an all-in-one course that covers almost all aspects that you need to get started with social media marketing. The course has 9 lessons, 34 quizzes, and 40 videos. It takes 4 hours and 39 minutes to complete, but we suggest taking more time to understand each topic thoroughly.
5. Social Media Marketing Certification (eMarketing Institute)
Unlike most other courses on this list, this one does not contain any videos or interactive elements. It is, in fact, in the form of a 165-page ebook which details all major aspects of social media marketing.
Once you finish reading the course material, you can take a test. If you pass the test, you will get a certification that you can add to your resume.
Here are some of the topics that are covered in the course:
- Basics of social media marketing
- Different social media platforms
- How to identify and define your target audience
- How to engage your target audience
- Sharing content on social media
- Social media strategy
- Dos and don’ts of social media marketing
As it is a completely text-based course, the completion time may vary from one person to another. Read it at your own pace and take the test only when you are ready.
6. The Business of Social (Coursera)
This is another informative social media course offered by Northwestern University that provides a certificate. This is an advanced course that helps you track your social media performance and link it to sales and other business functions.
Here are some of the things that you will learn:
- Legal considerations to consider for your social media strategy
- Using different social media metrics to drive real business results
- Creating a performance funnel
- Designing a pilot program and justifying its viability
This course follows a more practical approach to learning, rather than just theoretical. The course is taught by different instructors, who are experts in the field. The course takes five hours to complete, but they suggest completing it in 3-4 weeks.
7. Build Your Personal Brand and Sell Your Expertise Using Social Media (Social Creators)
This is a course on personal branding that will help you build a unique social media identity and a strong social presence. This is most useful for influencers but is something that all marketers can benefit from.
The course is divided into four parts all in the form of videos, making it easy to grasp the concepts. Additional course materials also include a 21-page guide on personal branding.
8. Writing for Social Media (edX)
This is a free course offered by the prestigious University of California, Berkley. It provides a broad framework for writing content for social media. The instructor of the course is Tim Peters, who is a Lead Content Strategist for Tata Consultancy Services.
Here are some of the things that you will learn:
- Understanding your target audience
- Writing content tailored to your audience, keeping the delivery channel in mind
- Using effective writing strategies to optimise your content
- Connecting with your audience by communicating the right way
The course will take 4 weeks to complete. You can take the course for free but to get the certificate, you need to pay.
9. Social Media Ethics (Udemy)
This is a free course available on Udemy. It was created by Eric Schwartzman, who is also the instructor of this course. The course covers the important topic of social media ethics and being responsible when posting content on social media.
Here’s what you will learn from this course:
- Using good judgement when using social media
- Not posting content that could get you fired or sued
- Understanding what ethical social media behaviour means
You get the video content for free, but for the certification, you need to pay. It is a short course that can be completed in 33 minutes.
10. Content, Advertising & Social IMC (Coursera)
This is another social media marketing specialisation course provided by Northwestern University. In this course, you will learn how to create engaging content that has the capacity to go viral.
Here are some topics that it covers:
- Content strategy
- Advertising
- Social integrated marketing communications
- Measuring the ROI of social media marketing programs
The course takes 8 hours to complete but they suggest taking 4 weeks to do so. This course comes with a shareable LinkedIn certificate.
11. Introduction to Social Media Strategy (Skillshare)
Source: skillshare.com
This is a beginner-level course offered by Buffer and the instructor is their digital marketing strategist, Brian Peters. It is designed to help you learn how to form an effective social media strategy.
Here are some of the aspects that it will cover:
- Finding a unique voice
- Selecting the right platforms
- Creating and curating engaging content
- Using the right tools
- A 5-step Facebook advertising strategy
It is a short video tutorial that can be completed in just 43 minutes. However, we suggest that you do your own research and study after each lesson.
12. Social Media 101 (Constant Contact)
This is a detailed social media course for beginners, offered by Social Media Quickstarter. It trains you on step-by-step processes to build your social media presence on different platforms. It includes a different course module for each platform, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Within each module, you will get detailed information about all aspects of building a profile and engaging your audience on that channel. It also includes dos and don’ts for each platform and suggests strategies to do well on each platform.
13. Social Media Monitoring (Udemy)
This is another free Udemy course created by Eric Schwartzman. It will guide you through various aspects of social media monitoring.
Here are some topics that it will cover:
- Techniques for keyword phrase filtering
- Finding the right keywords to monitor
- Finding influencers and building influencer lists
- Curating content
- The drawback of rich text analysis
- Social media monitoring strategies for different platforms
The course uses a mix of video and textual reading materials. The course duration is 7 hours and 26 minutes. You can get the video content for free but for the certificate and additional resources, you need to pay.
14. Introduction to Social Media Advertising (SkillShare)
Source: skillshare.com
Social media advertising sounds like a task you would want to outsource. If you're interested in creating and running your own campaigns, this Skillshare course is just what you need. This introductory social media advertising class is ideal for marketers, brands, small businesses, freelancers, and everyone looking to harness the potential of paid social advertising. Hosted by Brian Peters from Buffer, you'll learn how to:
- Learning key terms and vocabulary
- Setting and evaluating campaign goals
- Targeting audience segments
- Developing attention-grabbing graphics and copy
This course covers the basics so well that it gives a clear direction of what you should explore next to advance your skills. This is a core foundation of Social Media Advertising and helps to understand what matters in your advertising efforts and how to start and measure success.
15. Advanced Social Media Marketing for Picking Up Clients (Udemy)
Source: udemy.com
Are you already familiar with social media marketing and advertising works but want a bit of a challenge? This Udemy course is just for you! In less than 48 hours, you'll learn:
- The most common social media marketing myths and mistakes that are taught as "best practice"
- How to use private Facebook groups to "present" your service offering without being pushy or annoying
- The AMOC authority framework—A 4 step system that allows you to demonstrate expertise and invite pursuit from your clients
- How to position yourself as the "problem solver" so you never have to handle sales objections again
- How cheap "marketing-tricks-n-tips" is making you appear like a spammer and what you can do about it
- Why your competitors will never implement the strategies from this course and how you can benefit as the result
What makes this course a reliable investment in your developing social media marketing success? Not only is it affordable (it's free, after all), it's designed specifically for freelancers, coaches, consultants, startups looking to grow, and more.
16. Social Media Marketing (Oxford Home Study Centre)
Source: oxfordhomestudy.com
This free online social media marketing course from Oxford Home Study Centre provides newbies and other inexperienced users with a basic introduction to everything social media and marketing on different platforms. Not only is this course completely free to take, but it also rewards you with a certification of completion to add to your resume. The course will teach you what successful social media marketing looks like, why it's so powerful, and what goes into every social media marketing strategy plan.
You will also learn:
- What the Five P's of social media are and how to implement them
- How to expand your digital presence to attract new followers and keep them
- Everything that goes into developing a comprehensive social media plan
What makes this free social media marketing course a great option for growth and education is how it's self-paced. There's no rush to finish the test and get your certification. This helps avoid stress and burnout. It's also really easy to sign up for the course and get complete tutor support from start to finish. Someone will always be holding your hand!
17. Quicksprout Social Media Courses (Quicksprout)
Source: quicksprout.com
Quicksprout offers a content-rich section devoted to everything involved with social media. There are dozens and dozens of informative social media marketing guides that will teach you everything you want to know from generating leads to creating content calendars.
Several different guides you can look more into include:
Quicksprout University doesn't look like much. It doesn't look anything like a traditional online course you'd normally see on a platform like Teachable. But the big difference people always pay attention to boils down to cost. For most online courses, you have to pay a pretty penny for them. For Quicksprout, you can bookmark these guides and revisit them over and over, again and again, anytime you want without having to empty your bank account.
Conclusion
These are some of the best free social media marketing courses that you can enrol in to brush up on your skills or learn new ones. If you are new to this and want to build your social media presence from scratch, you should definitely try a few of these courses.
Pick the ones that intrigue you the most and give them a try. If you don’t like the materials or approach, you can always switch to a more interactive course, as they are all free. Happy learning!
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best free social media marketing courses?
In this post, we have compiled a list of 17 of the best free courses that are very useful for any social media marketer. Some of the courses we examined include:
TikTok Marketing Masterclass (Influencer Marketing Hub)
What is Social? (Coursera)
Social Media Analytics Course (Quintly)
Social Media (HubSpot)
Social Media Marketing Certification (eMarketing Institute)
The Business of Social (Coursera)
Build Your Personal Brand and Sell Your Expertise Using Social Media (Social Creators)
Writing for Social Media (edX)
For more, check the above article.
How can I learn social media marketing for free?
As with most things, the bulk of the courses online cost money, in some cases, a considerable sum. However, we do have a couple of free courses available at the Influencer Marketing Hub. We examine the TikTok Marketing Masterclass in the article above. It teaches you how to build your personal brand on TikTok. You could also try Ed Lawrence’s Influencer Marketing 101 or Elise Darma’s Free Instagram Masterclass, where she teaches three secrets to organically double your leads, clients, and sales.
What is the best social media marketing course?
The question of what is the best social media marketing course is, of course, a matter of opinion. For a start, most courses focus on one specific social network. The best Instagram course would hardly help you learn how to improve your YouTube marketing, for instance. We believe we have created a range of high-quality social courses. These include free courses on TikTok and Instagram (as well as one on influencer marketing), and paid courses on Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and email marketing.
How can I learn about TikTok for free?
We believe we offer the best free TikTok marketing course with our TikTok Marketing Masterclass. In it, we teach you how to build your personal brand on TikTok. Modules include:
- TikTok Basics, Popularity and Features
- Knowing your target audience
- How to set up your TikTok profile like a pro
- How to make award-winning TikTok videos
- How to create content that builds your following
- How to make money on TikTok
- How brands work with Influencers
- TikTok ads reach
and more.
How do beginners start social media marketing?
One of the first things a beginner should do is learn as much as he or she can about social media marketing. Perhaps a good starting point would be to take one or more of the courses we have referred to in this article. Some of the courses aim to target beginners, for example, What is Social? on Coursera. Although perhaps targeting a more advanced audience, HubSpot Academy’s Social Media Marketing Course gives you a chance to earn certification.
How can I improve my social media skills?
Any of the courses we have covered in this post should help you improve your social media skills. Indeed, you will learn a considerable amount about social media by reading the many posts we have written about Social Media on the Influencer Marketing Hub. Of course, while these courses and blog posts will teach you ways to operate social media accounts effectively, they will mean nothing if you don’t put the ideas into practice on your social accounts. Learn from experimenting and repeat your successes.
