Beginning You’re Social Media Journey 

Posted bysbird97Posted inSocial Media

Getting started in social media is different for everyone, for example in my case learning social media at first was very overwhelming. I didn’t know where to start as the world of social media also involves many other fields in digital marketing. If you relate to this I hope to shed some light on where to start on your own social media learning journey. 

Keep in mind that there is no set learning guide on everything you need to know. With social media, you will always have to constantly learn and grow throughout your career. 

With this in mind let’s get started. 

I will share what I have learned, the courses I have taken, and some blogs I follow.  

Note

*This list is not perfect or an entire set of things to know. I am still an ongoing learner*

Let’s Begin 

Create your Own Social Media Accounts

Creating and getting familiar with how different social media platforms work, is a good opportunity to apply your learning to your own social media accounts. When you become more familiar with platforms such as 

  • Facebook 
  • Instagram 
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Snapchat 
  • TikTok
  • Pinterest 
  • YouTube

As this is a lot of accounts, creating accounts for each one is fast and simple. As you familiarize yourself with these platforms you’ll be able to do more advanced research on how to utilize these platforms for your brand. 

Market Yourself

One of the biggest skills a marketer has is being able to sell yourself. One of the best ways to market yourself is to build your brand. Your brand can be about your experience, knowledge, skills, and sharing your passions and goals. 

Building a personal brand can be forming a blog and using social media sites to market your blog. Using your social media sites to share more about yourself and your building knowledge. Keep in mind building a brand is all about what you make of it as long as you present yourself in a good way just have fun with it. Linkedin is also a great place to start when building your professional brand. 

Follow Blogs and Experts on Social Media

By following blogs and experts on social media you can stay up to date on the latest news and updates on all things social media. 

Some of my favorite blogs and people to follow are 

  • Later Blog
  • Skillcrush Hubspot Academy 
  • Hubspot 
  • Hootsuite 
  • Social Media examiner 
  • Jera Bean 

Create a Social Media Strategy 

Apart from creating a personal brand, creating a social media strategy can help plan and organize your content. There are many resources to help you get started on creating a social media strategy. 

Search Engine Optimization 

One of the first things that I learned to start with is learning about the basics of search engine optimization. After researching where to start the article from ReliableSoft Digital Marketing Academy, this article explained that starting search engine optimization and search engine marketing is a good place to start due to building visibility and authority with your content. Learning about search engine optimization will give you the tools to have more people visit your website and have Google see your website as a trusted source of knowledge. 

Some SEO Topics include 

  • On page-SEO
  • Building backlinks (off-page-SEO)
  • Creating useful content
  • Keyword research 
  • Optimization site performance and many more. 

Search engine optimization is powerful because if you provide content that is high quality and useful to your target audience then Google will favor your website and rank higher in the search results pages of Google. 

Some resources that I have used to learn SEO are 

When you get the basic idea and learn some methods you can apply what you’ve learned and start your website and measure the analytics of your website. For example, I created this blog to put my learnings into practice and to help others to do the same. 

Learn about Public Relations and Business 

A big misconception about social media is that it is just fun-filled and you get to be on social media all day scrolling through your feed. This isn’t the case as marketing, especially with social media requires knowledge of business and public reactions to protect a companies brand and reparations as well as ensure a positive return on investment (ROI)

  • The buyer’s journey
  • Sales funnel
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • How to manage a crisis 
  • Identifying business goals
  • Measuring return on investment (ROI)

Next is getting Certifications or a Degree (optional)

In the digital world, things change every day and new trends emerge in an instant. This being the case it is also important to keep your skills and knowledge of the social media field sharp as you continue your ongoing learning journey. This can be in the form of going back to school and earning a degree in marketing, communications, public relations, and so on. Or you can earn certificates, no matter which you choose, staying educated is important. 

Some of my favorite certificates are 

And many more. 

 Additional Skills 

  • Graphic Design (Basic design skills)
  • Web design and programming 
  • Communication skills
  • Being Organized
  • Multitasking
  • Networking (Linkedin is good for this)
  • Growth mindset
  • Continuous learning 

Others Helpful Resources 

Social Media Learning and Blogs

As you start your social media journey there is no one-size fits. We all have our pace of learning, style of learning, and approach. As this is not a perfect list I do hope this helps at the start of your social media journey. 

If you have any suggestions feel free to leave a comment about any of your favorite social media and digital marketing resources. Share how you came to want to pursue a career in marketing. I would love to hear from my readers. 

Take care and thanks for reading!! ☺️

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