Of the five most visited webpages on the internet, three of them (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) are social media services, and one of them (YouTube) is a community-driven video-sharing site. This level of traffic has attracted the interest of advertisers, who are constantly vying for the attention of the billions of users who regularly visit these sites. This has made social media marketing a massive industry, and anyone looking to find work in digital marketing is likely to want to learn how to best design and execute advertising campaigns on various platforms. One way to ensure that prospective clients and employers are confident in your skills is to become certified in social media marketing.
Noble Desktop: Social Media Marketing Certificate
Key Information: This social media marketing course is designed to teach students how to advertise on most major social media platforms. The course can be taken in-person or in live online classrooms. Noble offers the course in one-month full-time sessions and three-month part-time sessions. All students who enroll in this program will receive one-on-one career assistance mentoring and can take the course again within one year.
Noble Desktop offers a focused, comprehensive Social Media Marketing Certificate program for students looking to learn how to manage every social media advertising campaign aspect. This course covers all of the major social media platforms and offers students practical advice on planning social media campaigns. Each platform has its own features, audiences and communities, so what works on Facebook may not work on Instagram and smart social media marketers will be able to build complex, overarching online advertising strategies that are then tailored to individual platforms. This course will teach students the skills they need to create complex social media marketing campaigns and run the individual aspects of those campaigns across multiple platforms.
The course covers lessons in advertising strategies for Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter) and a host of online streaming platforms. Students will learn how each platform differs from the other and what unique aspects of the interface, advertising tools and content delivery systems are more important to advertisers. For example, students will learn how to use the Facebook Groups and Marketplace tools, build a following on Instagram and TikTok and work with streamers and content creators on YouTube or Twitch. In addition, students will learn how different platform-specific advertising campaigns can complement one another as marketers attempt to capture an audience and build a coherent brand identity across their internet presence.
This is a career-focused program aimed at helping students build a new career in social media marketing. Students can attend this course either in-person at Noble’s Manhattan campus or in a live online classroom. Either way, students will receive expert instruction from digital marketing experts who can provide students with real-time, personalized feedback on their work and answer the question that they have about the lessons. All of the lessons provide students with transferable job skills, and the course culminates with a portfolio-building workshop for students to start crafting their job materials. Students will also benefit from professional development services, including one-on-one career coaching sessions. All students can retake the course for free within one year, giving them even more opportunities to get even more practice planning and executing social media marketing campaigns.
Noble Desktop: Digital Marketing Certificate
Key Information: This certificate program can be taken on-site at Noble’s Manhattan campus or through live online instruction. The program offers two scheduling options: one month of full-time or six months of part-time study. The course comes with a free retake option within one year, and every student will receive one-on-one career mentorship from industry professionals.
Students looking to learn social media marketing skills as part of a more robust marketing education should consider enrolling in Noble Dekstop’s Digital Marketing Certificate. This course covers all the major aspects of running an online marketing campaign, including SEO practices, paid search advertising, online data analytics and social media marketing. Students will receive hands-on training working with practical advertising concerns, and they can expect to leave the course prepared to start looking for a career in digital marketing or to begin marketing their own products or services. This career-focused program is a great place for students to build transferable advertising skills and learn the ins and outs of online marketing.
Students will get hands-on practice designing and executing all of the major aspects of a digital marketing campaign. Students will learn the fundamentals of web marketing and what makes it different from traditional marketing. Then, they will get lessons on how to create and manage content for webpages, email marketing campaigns, and social media marketing campaigns, with emphasis on the major platforms that most advertisers utilize. In addition, students will get detailed training in online analytics tools (like Google Analytics) and SEO best practices that they can use to increase the reach of their product. This training will set students up for long-term digital marketing success and give them the wide range of skills they need to design and run complex digital marketing campaigns.
Students can enroll to take this course either in-person at Noble Desktop’s Manhattan campus or in a live, digital classroom. In either case, students will learn from experienced instructors who can provide students with real assistance and personalized feedback on their work. Since this is a career-focused course, all lessons are geared toward helping students prepare for the practical concerns surrounding the job market. All of the lessons that are taught provide students with practical, hands-on experience working on real-world examples of advertising projects. Students will work on building their own advertising portfolios in guided seminars, and they will receive one-on-one career mentorship from Noble’s expert instructors. As a final perk of enrolling, all students can retake the class within one year, giving them even more opportunities to learn digital marketing skills from Noble’s expert instructors.
Meta: Digital Marketing Associate Certification
Key Information: This focused certification exam tests a student’s understanding of the advertising tools available on Meta platforms (including Facebook). This 90-minute exam tests students’ knowledge of advertising fundamentals and Meta platforms, and the certification lasts for two years.
Another option for students seeking certification is to look at the options offered by specific platforms and service providers, like Meta’s Digital Marketing Associate Certification. This certification exam demonstrates a student's general proficiency with online and social media marketing skills and their specific understanding of Meta platforms like Facebook. This exam aims to cover a student’s understanding of advertising fundamentals, like how to structure an advertising campaign and how to align it with your business needs, and more Meta-specific skills, like understanding how successful Facebook campaigns are usually run or how Meta collects and shares user data. The exam aims to cover a wide range of skills, and students will need to know the ins and outs of Facebook, Pixel, and general advertising principles to pass.
The exam lasts for one ninety-minute period and is offered fully online. Meta aims the exam at entry-level marketers, students and job-seekers, making this a good choice for students who are just starting their digital marketing careers or have just completed a certificate-granting program. The exam comes with supplemental study materials, including free practice tests and guided study materials covering all of the major elements of the exam. Once a student completes the exam, they will be certified for two years, at which point they will need to retake the latest version of the exam. Meta also offers more advanced and focused digital marketing certifications for students looking to round out their accreditations.
ECornell: Social Media Marketing Certificate
Key Information: this part-time, live online training program allows students to learn social media marketing in as little as three months of study. This course is offered by Cornell University, and students who enroll will be able to attend one of their regularly scheduled online marketing symposiums to hear speakers and meet professional contacts.
Cornell University offers a wide variety of comprehensive online certificate programs, including a deep dive into online marketing in their Social Media Marketing Certificate program. This program aims to teach students the fundamentals of online marketing and provide them with specific skills to run and design social media marketing campaigns. Students will learn how to build a brand identity for the products or company using content-based marketing strategies. The largest portion of the program emphasizes how to work alongside social media influencers and content creators to help amplify your brand’s reach and audience engagement. These lessons aim to teach students the different roles influencers play in a social media marketing campaign and the practical skills necessary to identify potential collaborations and work alongside multiple influencers to create a brand funnel.Â
This part-time program lasts approximately three months and asks students to engage with the course for only about five hours a week, making it an ideal course for students with restrictive schedules. The course is completely online and taught by both Cornell marketing faculty and professional online entrepreneurs (including one of the co-founders of Socialfly). The program offers students a chance to network with other professionals and receive career development support, including practical hands-on experience working on online marketing campaigns and interacting with professional social media influencers. Students who complete the course will be able to participate in Cornell’s annual marketing symposium, a three-day live online event in which students can listen to speakers, network with professionals and keep themselves up-to-date on the latest in online marketing trends.
UCLA Extension: Social Media Marketing
Key Information: This part-time social media marketing course is available in-person or through asynchronous online instruction. The program lasts between five to ten weeks, and regardless of training modality, students will have access to UCLA career services to help them prepare for the world of professional online marketing.
Offered through the UCLA Extension schools online certificate program, this Social Media Marketing Certificate course aims to provide students with practical, hands-on training in building and managing successful social media marketing campaigns. This course covers the various platforms and channels that comprise the present social media ecosystem and how marketers can best equip themselves to navigate that ecosystem. Students will learn how to create brand awareness, buzz and engagement on social media platforms and how these marketing tools can be integrated into a larger marketing strategy. Students can get practical experience using real-world case studies of social media marketing campaigns to understand better the role that social media ecosystems play in online marketing.
This program is offered in live and asynchronous options and is offered part-time through digital classrooms and at the UCLA extension campus. Students who enroll online will have no formal in-class meetings but regularly meet with their instructors to receive feedback on assignments and guidance on their work. The online course lasts approximately two months, and the part-time in-person course lasts approximately five weeks. This certificate-granting course can be enrolled on its own for students who want to learn specific social media skills or as part of a larger specialization in digital marketing or general business studies. Students enrolled in the course will have access to UCLA’s career services center, including access to regularly held workshops and one-on-one career mentoring services.
Meta Blueprint: Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate
Key Information: Meta offers a part-time, asynchronous professional development certificate program for students looking to learn how to advertise on their platform. The course comprises approximately 60 hours of material that students can move through at their own pace. Students enrolled in this program will have access to Coursera career services.
Offered through the Coursera online learning platform, Meta offers a professional skills-focused, part-time asynchronous Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate program. This program will teach students how to establish an online social media presence for their business, develop effective posts and content, and create Facebook and Instagram advertising campaigns. The course covers social media marketing fundamentals, like how to start building a brand, capture an audience and generate regular engagement, and it covers Meta platform-specific skills for professionals looking to utilize the tools offered by the Meta Ads Manager platform. The program is taught by experienced professional social media advertisers, and students enrolled in the course will receive a well-rounded social media marketing education.
The course is fully self-paced and comprises approximately sixty hours of video content. Meta anticipates that students who work a few hours a week will complete the program within six months, but this will vary depending on how much time a student spends on their lessons. The program gives students access to hands-on lessons modeled after real-world advertising case studies so that students will leave the course with a handful of portfolio-ready projects on top of their Meta online marketing certificate. Students will also have the opportunity to access the career services offered through Coursera, which include one-on-one career mentoring assistance and job material-building workshops.
X: X Flight School
Key Information: The X Flight School is an on-demand course platform that provides students with the opportunity they need to learn how to launch and manage X advertising campaigns. Students can complete courses at their own pace and in the order of their choosing. Each course requires students to complete a proficiency exam for a badge or certificate.
X offers a range of certificate-granting courses as part of their X Flight School program for students looking to master the art of traditional and targeted X advertising. In these courses, students will learn how to utilize the tools provided by X to advertise their products, build engagement on the platform and build successful long-term marketing strategies. These courses cover subjects such as X advertising fundamentals, launching a campaign on X, utilizing the platform for video advertisements and using the platform to advertise creative services. These short courses let students build their own training curriculum helping ensure that they have the skills necessary to start utilizing X as part of their social media marketing strategies.Â
These on-demand classes are available to students as part of a X Flight School subscription, and students are free to take courses when it best suits their schedules. These courses can all be completed in under one day, and many of them last less than an hour, giving students increased flexibility to learn online marketing skills. Courses can be taken separately, and badges and certificates are awarded to students who complete clusters of related classes, thus demonstrating their proficiency as X advertisers. Students will need to complete proficiency exams once they finish a training course, but the material is easily accessible for practice and study.
Digital Marketing Institute: Social Media Marketing Course
Key Information: This online training course is a self-paced, asynchronous program that offers students a robust social media marketing education. The course consists of 25 hours of material, and DMI estimates that most students complete the program in 8 weeks. Students must pass an exam covering the material to graduate from the program.
The Digital Marketing Institute is an industry-recognized training provider for students aiming to learn how to design and run online advertising campaigns. They offer an asynchronous, online Social Media Marketing Course that aims to provide students with the training they need to design, launch and manage a social media marketing campaign that runs over multiple platforms. Students will work on interactive, hands-on modules covering social media marketing fundamentals and platform-specific skills for working on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. The program aims to provide students with practical skills in content creation and general marketing knowledge. The aim is that students will leave the course prepared to create and execute their own social media marketing strategies that account for the complexity of online platforms and the audience ecosystems they need to target.
This program is fully asynchronous, meaning that students can learn the skills they need to pass the program at their own pace. The program consists of about 25 hours of video content plus practical exercises, and students will have 24 weeks to complete the program. DMI estimates that most students complete the program in about eight weeks. Once students feel comfortable with the content, they will take an online proctored exam to demonstrate their proficiency, at which point they will graduate from the program and receive their professional certificate of completion. Students will be able to receive assistance and support from DMI’s instructors and social media marketing experts as they move their way through the program.
HubSpot Academy: Social Media Marketing Course
Key Information: This free, asynchronous social media marketing certificate program introduces students to the world of social media advertising. The course comprises eight hours of recorded video content for students looking to get a solid foundational understanding of the basics of social media marketing.
HubSpot Academy offers a free online Social Media Marketing certificate course for students looking to master the basics of running a social media advertising campaign. This course will teach students how to design social media marketing campaigns and how to launch them in such a way that helps maximize their chances of success. The program aims to teach students how to organically grow their social media following and parlay that growth into a more productive bottom line for their business. The course includes modules on monitoring social media platforms, extending the reach of a marketing campaign, and measuring your return on investment. The program doesn’t emphasize specific platform strategies, instead aiming to help students learn the important fundamentals of social media marketing.
This is a free online certificate program, so the lessons are necessarily going to be introductory and cursory. The class comprises eight hours of recorded video content and hands-on exercises. Experienced social marketing professionals teach the program though students will not have direct access to their instructors as they prepare to complete the program. Students who enroll in this course will get access to the entire HubSpot training catalog, giving them ample opportunity to expand on their marketing skills and receive introductory training in various subjects.
Hootsuite: Social Media Marketing Certification Course
Key Information: This course serves as a hybrid of a certificate-granting training program and a certification exam. Students will receive four hours of online instruction before attempting to pass a 60-minute skills exam. The certification does not expire, and students can retake the exam or re-examine the course materials as they desire.
This asynchronous Social Media Marketing Certification Course, provided by HootSuite, aims to provide students with the basic skills they need to succeed at designing and running their own social media marketing campaigns. The course teaches students basic social media marketing strategies and offers them lessons in building content that creates an engaged and vibrant community of followers. This course provides students with instruction in building communities on social media platforms and measuring the long-term success of their campaigns. The course aims to give students the tools to create professional-quality social media marketing campaigns and run those campaigns flawlessly.
This course combines a traditional certification exam with an on-demand skills training course. Students will watch roughly four hours of recorded video lessons and then take a skills exam based on the content they just learned. The exam is a sixty-question timed test, and it can be completed with only the knowledge acquired through the HootSuite training course. The exam can be taken as often as a student wishes, and the course material is available until students complete the exam. The certification granted by this program does not expire.
Frequently Asked Question
What is the Difference Between a Certificate and a Certification?
Students who are new to the field of professional marketing may be surprised to learn that certificates and certifications are different things. While they are both ways to become certified and demonstrate a student’s proficiency in the field, they demonstrate this proficiency in different ways. Certifications are awarded to students who pass exams offered by first-party publishers or industry-recognized third-party organizations. These exams test students’ existing knowledge of social media marketing skills and will have different focuses depending on the provider (for example, Meta exams exclusively test Facebook and Instagram marketing skills). These exams do not tend to come with formal skills training, though almost all come with free study materials to help students prepare for the exam. Most certifications expire after a fixed period of time, requiring professionals to recertify regularly.
Certificates are more like diplomas awarded to students who complete industry-recognized skills training programs. These courses give students a chance to learn social media marketing skills from experienced professionals, and this makes the classes ideal for students looking to change careers or learn new skills. Since these are skill development classes, they tend to be designed with beginners in mind and are often ideally suited for professionals looking to learn how to advertise their own products and services. These programs tend to be significantly more expensive and time-consuming than certification exams, but this is because students equipped to pass a certification exam have likely already spent the time and money necessary to become trained.
Which Path Should I Pursue?
The question of how to become certified is likely to come down to whether you are comfortable with your existing social media marketing skill. If you have a degree in marketing, significant on-the-job training or have already completed a certificate course in a related field, it is likely in your best interest to sit for a certification exam while taking advantage of study materials on your own time. If you don’t have a background in social media marketing but you are intent on getting certified to find a new job, you’ll likely want to enroll in a certificate-granting program. These courses will give students the hands-on experience that they need to learn how to design and run a social media marketing campaign, and they will give students the career skills that they need to find work in the field.
Do I Need to Become Certified to Find a Job?
For the most part, you will not need to become certified to find a job in social media marketing. While this may vary between openings, relatively few social media marketing jobs require applicants to become certified. However, becoming certified is a good way to help set your resume apart from other applicants. Students who complete certification exams will have evidence that their skills are up-to-date and relevant. Students who complete certificate-granting courses will have evidence that they have been trained in the skills they need to start working and will likely have a deeper portfolio of sample materials to add to their resumes.
Which Certificate Course is Right for Me?
Students who decide that enrolling in a certificate course is the right path for them will then need to choose the course that best fits their needs and long-term goals. There are a lot of different training services available, and students will be able to find courses that run in-person or online, full-time or part-time and via live instruction or asynchronously. Each of these modalities changes how the course runs and what students can expect from their training. All modes have advantages and disadvantages, so students should seriously consider their options before enrolling in a social media certificate program.
Which is Better: In-Person or Online Classes
Over the last several years, online learning has become increasingly common and popular. Many certificate programs are now offered online or have moved to a completely online delivery system. These classes have many of the same features and benefits as in-person classes when they are taught live and offer asynchronous or part-time options for students with scheduling concerns. Students must seriously consider whether online classes are right for them since these programs are no longer significantly more limited than in-person alternatives.
Many students still prefer in-person classes since the space of the classroom helps direct their attention to their materials and keeps them focused on their instructors and lessons. It can also be very helpful for students to be in the same room as their instructor, asking questions and getting personalized feedback and assistance on their work. Students enrolled in these classes will also be able to work directly with their classmates on collaborative assignments, and this can provide them with valuable networking opportunities. The drawback to these classes is that students can only enroll in the courses they can commute to, which can greatly restrict a student’s option for taking classes, particularly when they don’t live near a major metropolitan area.
Online classes give students the opportunity to learn from anywhere in the country, provided they have access to the internet, so students can find the perfect course to suit their needs. Students will have increased flexibility to find full-time or part-time classes that align with their schedule, and they can find hybrid or asynchronous courses to let them learn at their own pace. Live online classes give students a chance to still receive direct instruction and personalized feedback from an experienced instructor in real-time, and these courses give students a chance to work directly with their classmates over the internet. The drawback to these classes is that on-demand and asynchronous classes can carry their own challenges, and regardless of modality, students will have more responsibility for ensuring that they stay on track with their studies.Â
Which is Better: Live Online, Asynchronous, or Hybrid Classes?
For students who opt to enroll in online classes, the next major decision will be whether they enroll in a live online class, an asynchronous course or a course that is a hybrid of the two. Live online classes closely resemble in-person courses, with a live instructor regularly holding class sessions and teaching social media marketing skills in real time over telecommunication applications. Asynchronous courses are made up of pre-produced content, usually, videos, that students can work with at their own pace. Hybrid classes combine these two modes of learning.
Hybrid classes are best suited for students with significant scheduling issues who want to learn the basics of social media marketing but can’t commit to a regularly scheduled class. These courses give students a chance to work on their own time, and they can commit to however much time they have available during any given week. Students can also more easily return to older material. However, without a live instructor to provide them with assistance and feedback, students will be on their own as they work on their lessons, making the process significantly harder and more time-consuming. Students who encounter problems need to solve them on their own, and this can lead to burnout or neglect. Another concern is that social media platforms update regularly and introduce new features and functionalities. This means that even reputable training providers of on-demand courses may not be fully current on recent platform changes.
Live online courses address these issues by allowing students to learn from live instructors from anywhere in real-time. Students can ask questions and get immediate, personalized feedback on their work, which can be very useful for learning how to create content for specific purposes. In addition, students can more easily iterate on their projects and plans when they are frequently in touch with their instructors. In these classes, students can also be assured that the material is up-to-date and as accurate as possible. These courses do tend to be more expensive, but this is because students are receiving personalized instruction and the attentiveness of a professional teacher. Unless you cannot attend a full-time or part-time live online training course, these classes are far better for students with long-term aspirations of working as professional Social Media Marketers.