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Advance your organization via social media

UD Fundamentals of Social Media Marketing Certificate badge
Digital badge upon program completion >>

In today’s ever-changing landscape, organizations need effective social media marketing strategies to reach their full potential. This program introduces students to leveraging social media to build and extend brand awareness, increase visibility, engage current and potential customers, cultivate brand ambassadors, gain new customers, promote growth and support organizational goals.

Learn More about UD PCS Virtual Info SessionsStudents will learn the fundamentals and best practices—monitoring and listening, audience engagement, content curation, campaign planning and execution, tools and resources, and measuring results— for using social media for marketing on current, new and emerging platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Pinterest.

As they explore utilizing social media to support organizational goals, students will view presentations and materials at their convenience and receive detailed feedback on assigned knowledge checks throughout the self-paced course. They can also schedule a time to meet with the instructor for further discussion.


We also have a self-paced, online Foundations of Digital Marketing program that can be started anytime. LEARN MORE


Program details

Register now buttonFundamentals of Social Media Marketing Certificate – Noncredit Certificate
LOCATION: ONLINE
SCHEDULE: Self-paced class can be started anytime.
PRICE: $495, all materials included. Potential discounts available, including: Elevate Delaware funding, Military, UD student or alum, 2 or more (group).

Thonnia Lee on laptop outdoors
Learn more: Social Media Marketing program aids employee communication

Who should participate in this program?

  • Business owners wanting to utilize or optimize social media marketing to reach their clients
  • Aspiring social media managers
  • Marketing and communication professionals
  • Consultants
  • Nonprofit employees and volunteers
  • Sales professionals
  • Anyone looking to start a social media marketing business

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Instructor

Nancy Dibert is the program director and chief instructor for the University of Delaware’s Fundamentals of Social Media Marketing Certificate and Advanced Social Media Marketing for Business Certificate programs and a customized learning facilitator with UD’s Division of Professional and Continuing Studies (UD PCS). A nationally-recognized and well-respected social media marketing expert, Dibert has developed award-winning social media campaigns for clients in government, education and private industry environments and has reached millions of people through her innovative social engagement strategies.

Dibert graduated from high school at 14 and received her first advanced degree at 17. She earned a bachelor of science in business from the State University of New York at Albany, a master of science in business administration from Penn State University and a master of science in marketing from University of Maryland University College. Dibert continues to make education a priority and is a longtime member of Mensa International.

She enjoys meeting people and sharing what she knows, both locally and on the road. Dibert has lectured on social media, strategic marketing, cross-selling, advertising, branding and other topics. A Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert and an Authorized Business Partner, she is also Google AdWords certified and HTML-certified by the HTML Writers Guild.

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Course outline

SAMPLE A COURSE TOPIC —
“Defining a target audience”

Recorded lessons

Class 1: Introduction

  • Introduction to class and learning objectives
  • Discuss course outline as it pertains to individual organizations
  • Overview of course documents and tools

Class 2: Introduction to Social Media Marketing

  • History of social media marketing
  • Inbound vs. outbound marketing
  • Social technographics ladder
  • How social networks spread and shape information and influence
  • Rules of engagement: best practices for professional and ethical social media marketing
  • Introduction to social media analytics and reporting to measure the results and impact of social media marketing efforts

Classes 3, 4, and 5: Social Media Platforms

  • Marketing platforms, audience demographics
  • Platform terms, concepts, use, profiles and channel tactics to stimulate engagement and grow audience
  • Branding and image guidelines
  • Channel etiquette

Classes 6 and 7: Campaign Planning

  • Define social media goals and strategy
  • Identifying target audiences
  • Engaging content: planning, calendaring, creation and curation
  • Purpose of written, photos, video, audio and shared content
  • Planning, developing, executing and monitoring social media marketing campaigns

Class 8: Social Media Toolkit

  • Social media tools, software and resources for discovering shareable content and scheduling posts
  • Social listening and monitoring
  • Engage the audience, participate in online conversations, and outreach to current and potential customers
  • Creating brand evangelists
  • Introduction to social media paid ads and boosted posts

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Learner outcomes

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamentals of content marketing and how to leverage social influence to support organizational goals for communications, marketing, public relations, customer service, lead generation, sales and human resources.
  • Discern and evaluate different social media platforms’ scope, audiences and organizational usage benefits and risks, and which to include in the marketing mix to support organizational goals.
  • Utilize features on different social media platforms.
  • Participate effectively and ethically on different social media platforms using current compliance, regulations and legal best practices.
  • Identify best practices for managing social media platforms and tactics for increasing audience engagement.
  • Employ social media specific writing tactics to create concise, persuasive content that supports organizational, communications and marketing objectives.
  • Evaluate and employ social media tools and software to schedule content distribution and curation, and monitor social media conversations, mentions and current trends.

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Technology requirements

  • A laptop or desktop computer (PC or Mac) is required to participate in this class.

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Prerequisites

  • Students are expected to have personal social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Pinterest.
  • A mobile device and access to a computer with internet connectivity is required for this course.

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What our students say

  • “I walked away with tools that are going to benefit me but didn’t feel so stressed because I needed to have a certain grade on a test. As long as you are engaged and attempting to participate, you are going to learn something that is going to benefit others.” – Thonnia Lee
  • “If you are really wanting to take your business to a new level, these are the classes to take. There is a lot of work involved, but I enjoyed all of it and it was definitely worth it for me.” – Ann Manley
  • “UD’s social media classes have redeveloped my confidence in myself and my ability to interact with people. I have learned that I am not completely out of touch with millennials and Gen Zers.” – Tony Powell

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For more information

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