The demand is real
Five minutes with Jonathon and Daniele; co-founders of the Social Media Agency and creators of the Diploma of Social Media Marketing
Q: At Social Media Agency, you’re surrounded by social media all day. What do you love about this industry?
A: We love how dynamic it is, but also, how diverse. Social media has such a huge array of career opportunities for people to pursue. You can be a social media strategist, content creator, social media manager, community manager, paid advertising specialist – to name a few.
It’s amazing to see the clever ways people are using social media to promote their business and connect with customers.
Q: Advice to someone looking to start up their own social media marketing business or upskill in their marketing role?
A: I think it’s important for people to understand there’s a big difference between a social media ‘native’ and a social media marketer. In the same way that using a phone doesn’t make you a telecommunications expert, using social media day-to-day doesn’t mean that you have the skills to successfully market a brand on social media. There is a whole different side to social media that users never see – in particular, the paid advertising platforms – that marketers must know how to use and leverage to achieve marketing objectives for a business.
Secondly, a great strategy is essential. So often we see people fail to document their strategy, try social media marketing for a couple of weeks, lose a whole bunch of money, then give up in frustration. Marketers need to have clear objectives and a rock-solid roadmap on how they will get there. If you don’t identify what success looks like at the very beginning, the chances of achieving it are low.
Finally, you need to learn the tactics that will implement your strategy. This includes the huge number of web tools to enhance and accelerate your social media marketing efforts, as well as the tips and tricks to best wrangle the different social media networks.
Fortunately, the Diploma of Social Media Marketing has a great mix of strategy and tactical knowledge, so we’d strongly recommend the course for anyone who’s serious about mastering social media marketing!
Q: Together with some big names in the industry, you’ve built the Diploma of Social Media Marketing (10118NAT). Why do we need this qualification?
A: There are a lot of short courses in social media marketing, but the Diploma of Social Media Marketing (DSMM) is the only formal qualification recognised by the Australian Government. This shows prospective employers that the course is high quality and provides the skills and training that students need to add value to a business.
We developed the course with some of the leading social media marketing experts, industry bodies, learning designers and education consultants. In the end we really just wanted students to receive a comprehensive and practical education in social media marketing.
Q: Tell us about the diploma
A: What makes this such a great course is the practical elements to the assessments. You can choose a business, create engaging content, post it to your chosen social media networks, then measure the results, all as part of the course. This is all captured in templates which you can then show to prospective employers as evidence of your newfound skills in social media marketing.
The course is made up of five core social media marketing units: content marketing, mainstream social media networks (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter & Youtube),
niche networks (Pinterest, Snapchat, WeChat, Messenger & WhatsApp), personal branding, and social media conversion and email marketing.
The structure of the course replicates the process taken by social media marketers in the real world. For example, we help you develop an effective content strategy (key for a good social media marketer) and you’ll get templates that you can use as part of your assessments, then actually take into your workplace and action them. The course also looks at creating high-quality content, distributing it across mainstream, niche and personal brand social media profiles, and converting the traffic into customers, primarily using email marketing.
Hungry for more social etiquette? Give us a call on 1300 738 955 or visit the course page to find out more about our Diploma of Social Media Marketing.
