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Leverage Social Media to Gain Customers

Strategic Social Media Marketing

Social media has forever changed the way that companies interact with customers. In the St. Thomas Strategic Social Media Marketing program, learn to use social media platforms to drive customer engagement and long-term loyalty.

Successful social media marketing goes beyond maintaining an active social presence. It requires channel-specific strategy and content, and ongoing engagement.

Develop an advanced understanding of social media campaign management and lead generation tactics in the St. Thomas Strategic Social Media Marketing program. Discover the different social media channels and how to choose those best suited for your brand and to reach your audience. Learn proven strategies to build a following, drive engagement, offer relevant promotions and reward existing customers.

Instructors use relatable, real-world scenarios to teach concepts to help you develop practical skills you can use Monday morning at work. Small class sizes create a collaborative learning environment and help you build your network of fellow business leaders. Sessions are held on the downtown Minneapolis campus, and parking is available within one block. There are no prerequisites for this program; however, it is recommended that you have previous experience using social media platforms before you enroll.

Contact

Abbey Welle

Program Manager
Email
abbey.welle@stthomas.edu
Phone Number
(651) 962-4616
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Is This Program Right For You?

Social media marketing can be used across all industries and many job functions. Participants in the Strategic Social Media Marketing program have a variety of titles and job functions, including:

  • Brand Marketer
  • Account Manager
  • Marketing Coordinator
  • Sales Professional
  • Real Estate Agents
  • Copywriter
  • Marketing Specialist
  • Small Business Owners
  • Marketing Manager
  • Creative Director
  • Project Manager
  • Promotions Analyst
  • Media Producer
  • Communications Specialist
  • Communications Manager
  • Customer Relations Manager
  • Program Coordinator/Manager

Benefits of This Program

Start with Strategy.

A successful social media campaign needs thought and planning before it is executed. Learn how and where to begin.

Use Storytelling to your Advantage.

Build a social media presence and make it personal for your customer.

Make Social Media a Priority.

Leverage social media to find the right platform to support your marketing efforts.

Gain a New Network of Professional Peers.

Use your network as a resource for advice long after the program ends.

Measure your Results.

Use analytics to gauge the effectiveness of your efforts.

Todd Hedberg, program instructor with the University of St. Thomas' Opus College of Business, is also the director of digital marketing at Widex Hearing Technology. He talks about how the program helps students build their toolkits and prepare effective social media campaigns.

Executive Education: Strategic Social Media Marketing

Successful social media marketing goes beyond maintaining an active social presence and requires channel-specific content, engagement and promotion strategies. This certificate program helps marketers gain an advanced understanding of effective social media campaign management and lead generation tactics. Regardless of the size or type of your organization, the skills and strategies shared in this course will reward participants with numerous opportunities within social media marketing.

Curriculum

The Strategic Social Media Marketing program has seven modules that include lectures, tool demos and hands-on learning:

Social media is a powerful tool to connect with customers. If done well, it is more than just a platform to speak to your audience - it's a way to speak with them. Explore why having a strategy around your social media efforts is a critical component to success. Whether you are working on paid or organic, Facebook or Linkedin, gain an overview of how to approach the process of determining which platforms are the right fit for your goals and customers.

Every brand has unique stories to tell and so do their customers. Social media offers the perfect way to amplify those stories to targeted audiences. Gain insights into building an active brand voice and storytelling on social media. Explore the creative planning process for content delivery. Learn how to use cost-effective content development tools to bring it all to life.

Social media is a two-way street. Active listening and timely responses are critical to ongoing success. Build your social media community management skills with the tactics and tools you will cover in this session. Explore opportunities to engage employees as ambassadors of the brand social media cause.

Today, social media has a "pay to play" dynamic for brands aiming to attract consumer audiences. But that doesn't mean it requires a large investment to successfully engage. Explore social advertising platforms and campaign strategies. Learn to master lead generation on social media while maintaining a budget.

Decisions made without data are merely guesses. Marketers that pay attention to social media analytics data can drive greater results. Learn where to access social analytics and how to interpret the data to gain important campaign insights and consumer engagement intelligence. Learn how to create the right goals for your social media activity and how to measure the effectiveness of your strategies.

Make your social media a true marketing platform. Learn proven strategies to build a following, drive engagement, offer relevant promotions and reward existing customers. This session will look at easy-to-adopt examples from large and small businesses across non-profit and retail industries. Explore best practices for developing your brand positioning through social channels, creating and/or implementing brand voice into your work, and examining how social channels operate on an enterprise level.

Leave the program with a social channel strategic plan in hand. You’ll work on this project throughout the program, and participate in a group workshop session to finalize details. Use this session to gain insights from faculty and your fellow students and practice developing a strategic social media plan. Then, you’re ready to return to work and apply what you’ve learned.

Related Programs

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St. Thomas Executive Education programs give you cutting-edge, practical knowledge and real-world skills you can apply at work the very next day. Gain the tools and techniques to be a more effective, strategic leader.
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