FAQ on Social Media Management Certificate Program | Social Media Management Training

Social Media Management Class

FAQ about the Social Media Management Certificate Program

People who are considering enrolling in a social media management training program face several common decisions:

What’s your best learning environment? Classroom, online, blended, hands-on lab?
What learning environment is the course taught in?
How knowledgeable are the teachers, and how well do they teach and keep your attention?
Is the class for enrolled students (a curriculum class), or for any students (a continuing education class)?
Do you need community college credit (curriculum class) or just want to learn (continuing education class)?
How much does it cost, compared to the number of hours of training you’re getting?
Why would anyone pay for this?

We can’t answer all of those questions for you personally, but it’s possible that the Q&A below will help you come to a decision. If you have questions we haven’t covered below, please email them to us at info@martinbrossmanandassociates.com.

Who should take this class?
What will you learn?
Is there an advantage to early registration?
What qualifications are needed?
What’s involved in the Social Media Management Certificate Program?
Why are the beginning and advanced classes all in one course?
What if I’m not a beginner? What if I have been using Social Media for business for a while already?
How important are Social Media Certificate Programs? What kind of weight do they hold? Are they recognized?
Why are you teaching Social Media Management?
Is your class hands-on?
Will we have Internet access in class?
What type of class is best? In person classes, in person computer labs, online classes with live webinars or online classes with no live webinars?
Why should anyone pay for this?

Below you will find frequently asked questions and answers:

Who should take this class?

Micro business owners, practice managers, and solo-professionals who need to get better at marketing online.
Creative professionals – artists, musicians, writers, potters…who want to sell more art
Anyone who really wants to learn how to grow a micro or small business online
Campaign managers who know how to GOTV using traditional methods and want to be able to add social media tools to their toolset.
Students who want to be more competitive in the job market
Marketing students who want to get practical know-how on how to manage a social media plan for a customer.
Marketing professionals who haven’t fully incorporated social media into their marketing mix, or who want to get a refresher.

What will you learn?

A complete process from start to finish from evaluating and online presence, defining and strategy, doing research, building a plan…
How to set up and manage ongoing content creation and interaction online
How to integrate your online marketing with your traditional marketing
How to manage your time
How to develop a work-flow
How to find and generate relevant and interesting content
How to handle digital photographs and basic enhancements
How to use images on the different platforms, including how adding text can increase the power of your images
What each different social media platform is good for
How to decide where to put your attention
How to measure your results
How to monitor your online reputation
How to use a smart phone to keep up with your online content
Common mistakes than can be avoided
Basic strategies to prevent common mistakes
How to define, plan, develop and run a social media program for a business

Collecting observations from two rounds of a structured role-play exercise about professional social media management. Photo by Robin Werling

What qualifications are needed for the social media training course?

You will need easy access to a computer and the Internet for your weekly assignments (5 hours minimum a week)
You can a browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, etc.) and search Google
You’re comfortable with email and have at least one social media account, such as Facebook
You’re motivated to learn. We have a lot to pass on to you to ensure that you can use this information to significantly benefit your livelihood.
You’re willing to do a project based on creating and managing online content, and to present your project to the class in April.
You understand English well-enough to follow the class lectures and discussion on Internet and Business related concepts

What’s involved in the Social Media Management Certificate Program?

Simply put, Karen and Martin will distill everything they’ve learned over a combined 10 years of experience, so you can have a running head start. You’ll have 14 @ 3-hour evening classes on Monday nights in Pittsboro. You’ll have homework every week, including some reading, and a good bit of work on the Internet to practice what you’ve been learning. There’s also a project with a 5 minute class presentation towards the end of the class.

Why are the beginning and advanced classes all in one course?

We decided to include the full program from the beginning, because that was the only way we could assure the students that they would be prepared for the Advanced Social Media and the Being a Social Media Manager part. It all builds on what comes before. When you’re developing a strategy and then a plan for a business, you need to know all kinds of things, including, what user names to use for social media accounts, and what the repercussions are of different choices.

What if I’m not a beginner? What if I have been using Social Media for business for a while already?

Some of what you hear will be repetition and it will reinforce what you already know now
Some will be new, because there is just so much to know, and so many changes
You will be able to design a project that advances your knowledge and reflects your experience
You may be able to contribute your insight and experience, helping all of us
You can use the class time to write down questions you have on other topics, or brainstorm about future social media activities

How important are Social Media Certificate Programs? What kind of weight do they hold? Are they recognized?

First, certification is different than a certificate program. “Certification” is managed by and recognized by a professional body or association, such as the PMP, which is offered and managed by the Project Management Institute. Social media does not have a professional body managing the profession. These are not “certification” programs.
Certificates are given for completion in a course of study, as documentation of study.
How much weight do certificates hold? Listing the Certificate on your resume or LinkedIn profile signifies that you have successfully completed this course of study. But the real weight comes from the confidence, knowledge and experience you bring to the table. It’s what you have embodied that will impress and gain you opportunities.

Why are you teaching Social Media Management?

Martin Brossman has a mission to help North Carolina’s economy from the ground up, from you and me, by helping us gain the skills to be more successful in all aspects of our lives, including work.
Karen Tiede loves how social media has helped her to share her art with new audiences. She has a mission to help the people she works with to be more productive and efficient.
Between the development of the Internet, and the proliferation of mobile phones, we now have a “2nd Life” on the Internet. It’s a new language, includes many new subcultures, and has greatly altered the way businesses communicate – towards more disclosure, more interaction, more feedback. It’s critical that everyone at the least understand, at best become fluent in, this new way of communicating, just as critical as it’s been to make sure everyone learns how to read and do math.

Is your class hands-on?

The Social Media Management training program is hands-on in the sense that you will have to practice and develop a social media strategy, plan and program for homework. But we will not have you doing the online work in class. There is a lot we need to convey in this training program, and the most effective way was to have lecture, demonstrations and dialogue in class, and have you do the hands on part on your own. If you don’t do the homework, you will not master the material. If you do do the homework, you’ll be well on your way.

Role play exercise in Week 11 of the Social Media Management Certificate Program, CCCC Pittsboro Campus.

Will we have Internet Access in class?

The instructors will have good Internet connection during class so we can demonstrate things live for you. At this time, the facility’s internet connection will not support large-scale simultaneous internet access, so we may have to limit student access to the internet at times.

What type of class is best? In person classes, in person computer labs, online classes with live webinars or online classes with no live webinars?

It’s really about what works for each individual person.
For some of us, if the teachers are dynamic and passionate, there’s nothing like a live class.
For others, if they don’t have their fingers on a keyboard and eyes in front of a monitor, trying everything out, they get bored.
Some people prefer being in the quiet of their own home, watching a live webinar, and others prefer the same situation with recorded videos.
We’re very excited about holding in-person classes because we’re passionate about this subject, and passionate about empowering students in the area of their own interests. We like to make sure we answer questions, keep it relevant to all our students, and provide a life-changing positive experience.

I don’t understand why anyone would pay for that…

The second “m” in SMMCP is “Management.” We are not teaching “how to do FB” in this class; the people who take the course already know how to use the major social media platforms to market their business.

The material we cover in the class addresses how to manage a business presence, including reputation, policy, legal issues, security, risk, configuration, and content development and ownership. All of this material is presented in the context of finding new clients and developing a tighter relationship with existing clients.