A Guide to Free Resources, Courses and Books to Learn Social Media Marketing

Startup Library
5 min readOct 13, 2022

Social media marketing is a broad field that encompasses many different strategies, tactics and techniques. From choosing the right social media platforms for your business to coming up with engaging content ideas and monitoring analytics, there are many nuances to this profession.

Social media marketers can learn new strategies and best practices by reading blogs, attending conferences or events, and following industry leaders on social media.

It can be challenging to keep up with all the resources available, so we’ve put together a list of free resources, courses and books you can use to learn social media marketing.

Blogs

Blogs are a form of journalism that’s published online. They allow social media marketers to stay up-to-date on current events, trends and new developments in their industry. If you’re looking for free resources to learn social media marketing, start by checking out some of the top social media blogs.

Some of the most popular include:

Social Media Today

The Social Media Today blog is run by the marketing software company, Sprout Social. Their mission is to provide the best resources and advice to social media marketers, helping them to learn and grow their businesses.

Hootsuite Blog

As the world’s most popular social media management tool, the Hootsuite blog is a must-read for social media marketers. Hootsuite has a variety of posts, from start-to-finish case studies to in-depth analyses of social media trends, such as the evolution of live video.

Social Media Marketing Strategies & Breaking News | Later Blog

Later is better known as a Social Media tool to help you schedule posts for automatic publishing. I’m using Later for all my Instagram and Twitter posts. Besides this, they offer a great variety of articles on Social Media in their blog. Check them out.

Conferences and Events

If you’re looking to learn social media marketing from the experts, attending conferences and events is a great way to expand your knowledge and network.

You can find events on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, or by searching online with terms like “social media conferences.”

You can also follow industry leaders on social media and attend their events. There are many different conferences and events that social media marketers can attend.

Here are a few of the most popular:

Social Media Marketing World

The world’s largest social media marketing conference takes place every year in Florida. The conference features keynote speakers and workshops, as well as host competitions, awards and special guest speakers.

Social Media Marketing Summit

The Social Media Marketing Summit is a series of events that take place in cities across North America. Their conferences feature keynote speakers, workshops and panel discussions on social media marketing.

Social Media Week

Social Media Week is a series of events that take place in 14 different cities around the globe. These conferences focus on social media, popular culture and technology.

Free Courses

If you want to learn social media marketing from the comfort of your own home, there are a variety of free courses you can take online. You can sign up for free courses on social media marketing on websites like Coursera, edX and YouTube.

There are also a number of free social media marketing courses on LinkedIn Learning. Below are a few of our favourite free social media marketing courses.

Introduction to Social Media Marketing

These 83 courses provide an introduction to all the major social media platforms, as well as best practices and strategies for social media marketing. They are designed for professionals who want to learn more about social media marketing but don’t have a lot of experience in the field.

Advanced Social Media Marketing

These 52 (at the time of writing) courses are designed for those who want to learn the latest trends and best practices for social media marketing. You’ll learn about strategies for different platforms and tools, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Social Media Analytics

This link redirects you to 354 free courses that focus on the analytics side of social media marketing. They cover topics like setting up goals and conversion tracking, as well as using data to inform content strategy and more.

Books for learning social media marketing

If you prefer reading to watching videos or taking online courses, there are a number of social media marketing books on the market. You can find them at your local bookstore or order them online. Here are a few of the most popular social media marketing books:

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

This book helps social media marketers learn how to create products that are so engaging, customers can’t stop using them. Author Nirav Pandya gives readers the tools they need to create powerful, engaging content.

The Social Media Marketing Book

This book offers a comprehensive guide to all aspects of social media marketing. The author provides readers with an overview of social media platforms and how to best use them for marketing.

The Social Media Marketing Workbook

This workbook offers readers a hands-on approach to social media marketing. It includes exercises and activities to help you apply what you’re learning.

Summing up

Social media marketing is more important than ever before. It’s a cost-effective way to reach a wider audience and build your brand. If you’re just starting out with social media marketing, it can be challenging to keep up with all the different platforms and best practices.

If you’re looking for free resources to learn social media marketing, start by checking out some of the top blogs in the industry. You can also attend events and conferences to learn more from the experts. You can also find a variety of social media marketing books at your local bookstore or online.

Are you ready for your next job in Social Media Marketing? Check out our Job Board for Remote Social Media Marketing Jobs.

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