When I started out on social media platforms, I felt excited just like every other newbie. However, my excitement was cut short when severe attempts to elicits a certain number of reactions on my posts came to nothing. While this trend continued for weeks, I figured out that the much I know was lacking compared to how much those with better results knew.
To meet up with the standard, I had to read hundreds of articles on social media and enrolled in as many free social media online classes that I could possibly get my hands on. These social media marketing courses online widened my horizons and taught me a whole lot about social media that goes beyond creating a profile and posting content.
In this article, I’m excited to share the 21 Best Free social media online classes for beginners & experts. See the table of contents below.
What is Social Media?
Social media is any digital tool that enables users to quickly create and share content with the public. Social media incorporates a wide range of websites and apps like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Quora, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, etc.
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While many people access social media through smartphone apps, this communication tool began with computers, and social media can refer to any internet communication tool that allows users to broadly share content and engage with the public.
Through the use of social media, businesses create online awareness. Therefore, there is a need to master how social media works so you can leverage its capabilities.
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Why Utilizing Social Media Is Important?
Social Media Marketing is important because:
- It’s the fastest way to spread the word about a new product, service, or news item – A tweet can go rival in minutes and spread a message around the Word faster than TV or other traditional media
- Highly trendy – Millions of people spend a good amount of their time on social media networks so if you ‘need them’ you know where to find them
- It’s the new marketing strategy– Back in the old days, marketers found out that many people spend time in their cars driving so they thought of the billboards on the roads. Today, people are spending time on social media so as a marketer you have to start thinking this way too.
- It’s the new influencer – Recent studies show that social media is becoming a great sales channel and more and more companies are stating that they get customers from Facebook or Twitter.
You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on a marketing degree to learn how to leverage social media in order to help your brand, employer, or clients establish a strong online presence. The web contains an abundance of resources to teach users how to develop and utilize social media marketing strategies for personal and business purposes.
You can learn social media for free on platforms like Udemy, Coursera, Hubspot Academy, edX, Alison, etc. Through the use of experienced tutors who come on these platforms, the fundamentals and core of social media are demystified into easy-to-understand terms.
Read on to check out the 21 best free social media online classes.
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What Are the Requirements and Prerequisites To Learn Social Media?
There may be age restrictions for minors, and in some cases, access is limited to certain geographic locations. However, for the most part, you can register in a free online social media class as a newbie.
Nonetheless, you should a functional computer or phone that has internet access. Having a basic understanding of how social media works will also be an advantage.
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Our list of social media online classes is made up of top-ranking courses from renowned eLearning platforms. The courses were selected based on reviews, ratings, course outline, and price.
Cost: FREE
In this free online course, you will learn the right way to do social media marketing. This course covers all the main social media platforms, giving you key skills and a great overview of social media marketing. You will be trained in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube basics as well as Pinterest and LinkedIn. Plus, a look at Split testing and Funnel building done in step-by-step over-the-shoulder style by an expert.
Cost: FREE
This free social media class on how to monitor what your audience and customers are saying online is for marketers looking to keep a finger on the pulse of their community. Whether you’re just starting out in social media or are a seasoned veteran, this course has actionable social monitoring takeaways for people of all skills levels.
The course provides detailed examples of monitoring in action, allows you to get an overview of the different social media monitoring tools available for use, and strategies for how you can use what you’ve learned and apply it to your own social media program.
Cost: FREE
This is a massive open online course (MOOC) for business owners, executives, and marketing professionals who want to significantly improve their abilities to grow their social media strategy using effective, proven methodologies. In short, it’s a really awesome, action-based intro to social media.
The exciting part with this hands-on class is that you not only get to hear about ways to grow your professional persona using social media, but you will actually do it! “What Is Social” is the first in a six-course specialization offered by Northwestern University (a top university in the United States).
Cost: FREE
The Business of Social” is for business owners, marketers, and social media managers looking for ways to tie social media directly into real business growth objectives. In other words, those looking to drive real, calculable value from a social media strategy and program.
Instead of focusing on how marketers can create great content for social media, this class more focuses on how exactly to measure your social investments in terms of time, cost, and opportunities.
Cost: FREE
Social Media Ethics” presents the framework for social networking and engaging in ethical conversations online for all professionals and employees. Touching on local, State, and Federal laws, it takes the guessing game out of what is and is not legal on social media for employees of businesses
Cost: FREE
This free online social media class on Udemy teaches how to use Facebook groups, Niche forums, YouTube, and other social media channels to pick up coaching and consulting paying clients.
This course is for freelancers, coaches, consultants, and startups in search of clients.
#7 The Complete Instagram Marketing Course For Beginners – Udemy
Cost: FREE
This free online social media class aims to take you through beginner, intermediate and advanced Instagram marketing and management training. Here you will learn the basics from how to set up an Instagram account to how to make your first post on the platform. Towards the end of the course, you must have mastered how to manage a personal or business Instagram account effectively by knowing how to create, schedule, and post engaging content at the best time and for the right audience using the relevant hashtags.
This course is designed for beginners and advanced learners.
Social media monitoring online conversations is the first step to efficient social media management. In this social media training course, you will learn how to use social media monitoring tools to find the right conversations that link you to the right clients.
You will also learn how to use social media tools to conduct content curation and find online influencers. This course is for marketers, sales professionals, customer service representatives, and all other related professionals who wish to learn.
This free online social media class is designed for social media managers, executives, and entry-level employees who wish to learn how to manage the risks and capitalize on the opportunities of social media in the workplace.
By the end of this class, you will master how to use social media for business outreach, the benefits and drawbacks of social media, how to integrate new media into public relations campaigns, and a whole lot more.
Cost: FREE
This simplified free online social media course teaches how to create and run a social media marketing agency from the comfort of your home. You will learn how to bring your client results and how to close deals.
This is one of the best free social media classes offered on Udemy. In this online class, you will learn how to leverage social media for your small business sales.
The tutor carefully explains the three-step process for converting social media and to customers, how to translate your offline sales funnel to the online world, and lots more. This course is for beginner and advanced small business owners, and solopreneurs
Cost: FREE
This 45-minute, straightforward online class will give you a rock-solid foundation for your business or brand on social media.
Whether you’re looking to scale up brand awareness, increase website traffic, or drive sales, learning how to craft a simple social media strategy will help you achieve your goals on Facebook and Twitter.
Cost: FREE
This introductory class is perfect for marketers, brands, small businesses, freelancers, and everyone looking to utilize the potential of paid new media advertising. By the end of the class, you’ll be ready to run your first social media ad campaign — and connect with customers, convert views into action, and drive impact for long-term business success.
This course is for beginner and intermediate learners.
Cost: FREE
This online social media course teaches how to use social media for business from creating a social media presence to knowing how to measure progress.
Additionally, you’ll learn about the key steps in promoting your brand through social media, including setting campaign objectives, identifying the target audience and the right channels, creating engaging content, and managing your presence.
This free social media class online is for those seeking to develop their skills in social media for business.
Cost: FREE
The impact of social media on business, society, entertainment, and politics is undeniable. Harnessing its power will help you meet your business goals.
In this two-week course, you’ll discover how to create and measure the success of a social media marketing campaign. You’ll explore how companies use digital marketing, and learn what goes into planning and running a successful campaign. Furthermore, you will learn how to identify your target audience through personas, and how to measure a campaign’s effectiveness.
This course is intended for anyone who is interested in increasing their digital skills in social media.
#16 Create a Professional Online Presence – FutureLearn
Cost: FREE
Every professional is entitled to having an amazing social media presence that represents who you are and the business you represent. This online class teaches how to build your online presence for career upscale and increase in employability.
This two-week course will help you explore the various elements that make up your professional online presence, and how to build your digital identity without affecting your employability.
With expert guidance, you’ll learn how to present yourself in the most professional light and discover how to make your online presence have the greatest impact for the right reasons.
This course is specifically designed for beginners and advanced learners that want to make the best out of social media.
Cost: FREE
Building an online brand and outreach strategy is paramount to any social media planning and strategy. This course will prepare you for a comprehensive approach to online advertising, detailing various analysis approaches and selecting the right networks and the right messages.
You will explore relevant and trending concepts such as social media ads, active users, advertising platforms, advertising strategy, advertising, hashtags, influencers, landing page, SEO, ad spend, advertising options, email marketing, Google AdWords, lead generation, video ads, click-through rate, and content marketing. Be prepared to plan and allocate resources to the advertising that creates an impact.
Cost: FREE
Social media and online communication dominate our daily lives in an unprecedented manner. This online social media course will help you decipher how to effectively use social media for your benefit.
This social media course on edX will increase your understanding of social media by looking at the ways networked connectivity lets users become ‘social’, how this was amplified with the emergence of the web, and how social media became the default mode of the mobile web we use today.
Cost: FREE
Social media has dramatically altered marketing by allowing businesses to authentically engage with their customers. In this learning path, discover how to leverage social media in your overall marketing strategy, and learn best practices for helping you successfully connect with consumers. You will also learn the foundational skills of social media marketing and how to advertise on social platforms and measure effectiveness.
Cost: FREE
Search engine optimization (SEO) can make your social media channels come alive. In fact, you can achieve 10x the visibility of your posts, whether they’re on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. In this course, you will learn the powerful tactics for increasing the search ranking of your B2B and B2C social media channels, complete with real-world examples and proven strategies that you can apply right away. Additionally, you will learn how to optimize your profiles, create and share SEO-rich content, increase your reach, engage with target users, and more.
Cost: FREE
Social media never stands still and neither can a social media strategy. In this course, the teacher demonstrates the most up-to-date approach businesses are using to find new customers and grow their brands. Discover how to plan a social media presence, properly participate on social media channels, and create a robust content plan. Additionally, Anke walks through how to build a following and manage customer interactions and explores when and how to advertise.
Social media is any digital tool that enables users to quickly create and share content with the public. Social media incorporates a wide range of websites and apps like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Quora, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, etc.
Most free online courses in social media marketing do not offer college credits. However, there are a few exceptions. Most notably, some coursework in edX can earn users credit through specific universities.
Most free courses offered are not manually graded but many do have multiple choice quizzes that are automatically graded when you hit submit.
If you put in the required time and dedication to an online social media class, you will definitely get the best out of it.
Conclusion
If you have the time, dedication, and motivation to put into online coursework, it is well worth it to take advantage of the opportunity. These online social media classes improve your skillset and knowledge base about the workings of social media. At the end of each of the courses on our list, a certificate is awarded to learners, it can be displayed on your LinkedIn page or CV to lend credibility and give you an edge over the competition.
