Top 10 Free Social Media Marketing Courses That Won’t Put You to Sleep

Top 10 Free Social Media Marketing Courses That Won’t Put You to Sleep

Google is generally good at delivering the best results for queries (because, Google), but there are exceptions. Apparently, “Free Social Media Marketing Course” is one of them.

Due to (a) the fast-moving nature of social media, (b) what I call “black hat course engine optimization”, and (c) those who copy lists without their research – the results are a pretty impressive disappointment.

There are about 10 identical courses in each roundup, many of which are:

• Not free: not good.
• Not Fun: One-hour text-only slideshow with voiceover.
• Out of date: The title says 2021, but the content is from 2016.
• Too long: 18 hours of video or 165 pages of text-only content.
• Sleep Aid: University lectures without visuals.

For a visual, creative, and fast-moving medium like social media, these courses won’t cut it.

Free Social Media Marketing Courses Are Worth Your Time

That being said, I’ve listed eight (virtually) free social media marketing courses that are recent, brief (15 minutes to two hours), and fun. they are:

• Local Social Media Marketing Lab
• Corporate social media marketing
• How to develop an impactful social strategy for any business
• Social Listening: Your Launchpad for Social Media Success
• Facebook Advertising Blueprint
• Influencer Marketing 101: From Zero to Hero
• How to use TikTok for business
• Best Practices for Inclusive Social Media
• PPC University: Social Advertising 101

I do realize that this list will be out of date someday, but not any time soon given the evergreen tips and information in these courses.

let’s start.

1. Local Social Media Marketing Course (LOCALiQ)

This course is brought to you by LOCALiQ, a digital marketing agency known for its proprietary technology and deep local roots in more than 260 US communities.

• Title: Local Social Media Marketing Lab
• Format: written visually
• Duration: 38 minutes
• Cost: Free

Sure, social media can get you in front of billions of people, but that’s not what you want (or if it is, it’s time to rethink your strategy).

This course from LOCALiQ teaches you how to use social media to get the right influence – not for likes and attention, for example, but continued business growth.

True to its name, this course covers how to use social media for local marketing, but make no mistake – it’s also informative for anyone looking to grow a business of any size. The course covers:

• The essence and nuances of each top platform.
• How to optimize your profile and posts for local SEO.
• (Did you know that Facebook is one of the top three business directories?)
• How to create content that differentiates your brand and attracts customers.
• What to publish (and what not to publish) on each platform, and how often.
• Over 131 posts with ideas and examples.

Who is this course suitable for:

Small/local business owners/marketers looking to build an authoritative online presence within their geographic and topical communities through social media.

2. Business Social Media Marketing (WordStream)

• Title: Corporate Social Media Marketing
• Format: written visually
• Duration: 21 minutes
• Cost: Free

In this free crash course on social media marketing, we’ll walk you through every aspect of the topic, from definitions and statistics to strategies and services.

In addition to social media marketing definitions, benefits, and statistics, you’ll learn about:

• Five core pillars of social media marketing
• Elements of a successful social media marketing strategy
• How to develop a social media marketing plan
• Comparison of the most popular social media marketing platforms
• Tips, tools, and services to help you achieve your goals.

Who is this course suitable for:

Business owners and marketers are unsure which platforms to focus on and how to use their time wisely.

3. Social Media Marketing Strategy Course (SkillShare)

This course is brought to you by Living to Roam, an e-learning destination for businesses and marketers of all levels.

• Title: Social Media Marketing: How to Create an Impactful Strategy for Any Business
• (If you are having trouble using this link, please open it in an incognito window.)
• Format: Video
• Duration: 2 hours
• Cost: Free *SkillShare 7-day free trial*

The instructor for this course is Maggie Stara, founder of Living to Roam, a social media and digital marketing consultant with a background in organizational psychology.

She uses her big-picture thinking to teach you how to develop a holistic social media marketing strategy based on your long-term business goals and break it down into measurable, achievable steps.

You will learn how to:

• Review your current policies and decide which ones to expand, continue, or stop.
• Find, evaluate and learn from competitors’ strategies on each network.
• Prioritize strategy and allocate resources to drive your marketing goals.
• Tailor your strategy to your team’s unique skill set.
• Document and report on your social media strategy analysis.

This course applies to:

Social media marketers and managers of mid-sized or large organizations looking to simplify and expand their social media marketing efforts.

4. Sprout Social

This course is from Sprout Social, a social media management software provider known for its intuitive, easy-to-use web and mobile platforms.

• Title: Social Listening: Your Launchpad for Social Media Success
• Format: Written
• Duration: 33 minutes
• Cost: Free

Social media optimization is more than just looking at your data and making adjustments. Since social media is a vast world in which people can express opinions and emotions, there are many more pictures. This is where social listening is important and why I put this course on my list.

Through this course you will learn:

• The difference between social media monitoring and social media listening
• How to use social listening for brand health, industry insights, competitor analysis, campaign analysis, and event monitoring
• In-depth coverage of social listening strategies and use cases using real brands.
• How small businesses can use it to build thought leadership, reach top audiences, identify top influencers, expand their local presence, and beat big brands

Who is this course suitable for:

Small businesses and social media marketers want to build a community around their brand, stay on top and maintain a strong reputation.

5. Facebook Advertising and Social Selling Course (Facebook)

This course comes from Facebook, the world’s largest social media channel with the widest age range of users than any other platform.

• Title: Facebook Blueprint: Begin Your Advertising Journey
• Format: text with visual effects
• Duration: 1-2 hours
• Cost: Free

Facebook Blueprint is a free learning center that provides a series of step-by-step tutorials on effective marketing and advertising with Facebook and Instagram. The tutorials are short and modular, and Facebook will mix and match according to your learning goals.

While it doesn’t address a strategic approach, it’s the best place to find the latest information. Also, before you start watching dance moves, you need to learn how to walk. am I right?

In the “Start advertising from your page” section, you’ll learn how to set up Facebook ads, including how to:

• Choose the right campaign objectives for your business goals.
• Choose the correct target audience type.
• Choose a placement targeting and budgeting method.
• Use Facebook Ads Manager to schedule, measure, and analyze campaign results

In the “Sell Your Products Online” track, you’ll learn about:

• How Facebook and Instagram commerce works.
• How to manage inventory using product catalogs.
• How to set up your store and use Commerce Manager.

The lessons are simple and clear. They do have some short videos, but these are more about the benefits of a product or feature than screencasts or tutorials.

Who is this course suitable for:

Business owners, marketers, and entrepreneurs looking to start using Facebook ads or selling directly through the Facebook platform.

6. Social Media Influencer Marketing Mini-Course (later)

This course is brought to you by Later, the leading visual marketing platform for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

• Title: Influencer Marketing 101: From Zero to Hero
• Format: video and text
• Duration: 20 minutes
• Cost: Free

Social media influencers may be more accessible than major celebrities, but that doesn’t mean working with an influencer is a walk in the park. Some of us don’t even know how to get to the park. Or even which park are we going to…

This course provides you with a workable introductory outline and then walks you through the essential elements of a successful influencer marketing strategy:

• Set your goals and plan your activities.
• Find the most influential people for your target and audience.
• Reach out to influencers.
• Create an event profile.
• Track your campaign’s ROI.

Each of the five steps above has a short video, and each step has additional free resources, tools, and templates.

Free Social Media Marketing Course: Post-Influencer Marketing Course Screenshot

The course’s instructor, Gretta van Riel, is the founder of Hey Influencers, the world’s first influencer relationship management platform.

Who is this course for?

Business owners or marketers looking to reach a wider but still relevant audience through influencer marketing.

7. TikTok Marketing Course (Udemy)

Since TikTok is relatively new and it has penetrated everyday life, it is only right to include a TikTok-specific course on this list.

• Title: How to Use TikTok for Business (Beginner to Advanced)
• Format: Video
• Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes
• Cost: Free

What makes TikTok unique is that it is a super social platform. It’s not just about connecting users; the way users interact is what drives the platform itself.

So, to successfully market and advertise on TikTok, there is a slightly different approach. ROI Overload founder and Success Story Podcast host Scott Clary talks about this in his class.

You’ll get tips and tools to continue growing, growing, and generating leads and sales on TikTok. include:

• A complete TikTok walkthrough – from setting up your profile to recording a duet.
• How to integrate TikTok into your content marketing strategy and create great videos.
• Strategies and best practices for optimizing TikTok’s algorithm.
• Advanced TikTok marketing strategies including influencer campaigns, advertising, and analytics.

Who is this course suitable for:

Anyone looking to promote their business, personal brand, or product through video marketing through TikTok.

8. Inclusive Social Media Marketing (Ragan)

Confession: This isn’t a course, but it’s a well-written guide from the Ragan Communications Social Media Committee.

• Title: Best Practices for Inclusive Social Media
• Format: Screenshots attached (pdf)
• Duration: 17 minutes
• Cost: Free

While there are plenty of free courses on diversity and inclusion, I love the way this guide focuses on social media. The introduction to this guide gives the expected solid experience:  

Creating diversity and inclusion-sensitive social media campaign should sound like a slam dunk for professional communicators. Choose imagery that mixes racial and gender identities, avoid using racial and ethnic stereotypes, and you’re good to go — right?

    Not so fast. There’s something subtle about the way you create social posts that demonstrate your organization’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I)—not just lip service.

It then goes on to offer nuanced tips on how to showcase the diversity, equity, and inclusion in your social media content.

It covers:

• How to demonstrate genuine support for diversity and inclusion.
• Tips on how your supportive content can make a bigger impact.
• How to create posts that are not performative, but purposeful as part of a larger plan.
• Questions to ask before posting.
• Ways to make your content more accessible.

Who is this course suitable for:

Everyone.

9. Social Media Advertising Course (WordStream)

• Course Title: PPC University
• Format: written visually
• Duration: 1-2 hours
• Cost: Free

While Facebook Blueprint is great, it’s of course only focused on Facebook and Instagram ads and is very tactical. So what about the more strategic aspects of social media advertising? You can find this in our own PPC University.

Between the Social Advertising 101 course and the Facebook Advertising course, you’ll learn how to master the art and science of social media advertising.

Social Advertising 101 covers:

• Why social media advertising is beneficial, overall tips for success, and metrics to track.
• Crash courses on advertising on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok.
• Fundamentals of social selling on Facebook and Instagram.

In Facebook Ads, you’ll dive into intermediate and advanced strategies related to:

• Cost: Choose the right budget strategy and optimize your account to maximize spending.
• Campaigns: Use different ad types and build a strong audience.
• Content: Tips and tools for writing great Facebook ads and getting ad creative.

• Competitors: Beat your competitors with an omnichannel strategy.