Social Media Marketing Certificates Minneapolis, MN

Social media marketing is the strategic leveraging of social media platforms (like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok) to promote a brand and its offerings to the ideal customers. An effective social media marketing campaign requires sound strategy and planning, just like any other marketing campaign.

Once a business profile is created, you’ll start the process of maintaining and optimizing. Social media marketing requires developing a content calendar and creating posts combining text, images, and videos that position your brand in a positive light and capture a relevant audience. It also involves responding to comments, likes, and shares to maintain a positive reputation and build a community. Social media marketing usually also includes creating paid social ads that share your brand and products with the right people at the right times.

Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for marketing. You can use it to engage with an audience, sell a product, disseminate information, and measure your results. Working in social media marketing can be both creative and analytical and can lead to a successful and fulfilling career. Keep reading to learn more about social media marketing and the best training programs for you.

Why Become Certified in Social Media Marketing?

Most businesses these days depend on social media marketing just as much as traditional or digital marketing. There are approximately 4.89 billion total social media users worldwide, with the average user spending 151 minutes per day. According to Mintel, nearly half (47%) of U.S. consumers have purchased something through social media, while 6 in 10 (58%) are interested in doing so.

The popularity of social media means that there are plenty of job opportunities within the field of social media marketing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that jobs in the marketing industry will increase up to 10% by 2026, which is above the average for all careers. And, with current projections showing that $130.5 billion of total social media ad spending will be generated through mobile by 2027, it's clear the field is only going to expand further.

What You’ll Learn While Becoming Social Media Marketing Certified

Social media marketing is a multi-faceted field. With a variety of platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter (and more on the horizon each day), there’s a lot of virtual ground for a social media marketer to cover. From SEO to paid ads, video and image content to carefully crafted written words, your day-to-day can be full to the brim with a variety of tasks. Below are some of the top skills you’ll need to be successful as a social media marketer. If you already possess a few, then you’re ahead of the curve. Don’t worry if you don’t though; social media marketing training can teach you everything you need to know.

Content Curation

Content curation is one of the most important skills for a social media marketer to possess. Rather than creating your content, curation is when you search for relevant content from other sources and brands that you can leverage on your platforms. You will need to know when to share, what to share, and how to share, in addition to being familiar with content sources and audience preferences.

Analytical Skills

Being able to prove the success of your campaigns will be a central part of your work as a Digital Marketer. It’s important you know how to check metrics and reporting, but having an analytical mind will help you make sense of all that data—so you can make informed decisions instead of relying on assumptions. Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Sprout Social are analytic tools you will most likely use as a marketer for social media.

Branding

Creating and maintaining a strong brand identity will be key to the success of your social media campaigns. You may work for a company that already has an established brand voice and tone or you may be responsible for developing those standards and guidelines on your own. Consistency is key with branding; you want your followers to instantly know which ads are yours thanks to the language, color scheme, design, and feel.

Community Management

Social media marketing requires building connections and fostering an online community. Community management oversees the one-to-one or one-to-few interactions that strengthen relationships and promote brand advocacy. This can look like being prepared to answer difficult questions, rewarding your loyal customers and followers, prioritizing proactive engagement, and establishing a content creation feedback loop.

Ethics

A good social media marketer will always have an eye on the ethics of their work. This means being mindful of things like privacy, transparency, misuse of consumer data, predatory pricing, and discriminatory advertisements, to name a few. Upholding strong ethics will bolster your brand’s identity and reputation, encouraging a more loyal following.

Social Media Marketing Industries in Minneapolis

Healthcare & social assistance is the Metro Area's largest employing industry sector with 278,895 covered jobs at 13,204 establishments. According to Greater MSP, more than 500 medical device companies and 900 pharmaceutical/biotech R&D companies. In addition to Mayo Clinic and Medtronic, Minnesota is home to global leaders like UnitedHealth Care, Optum Health, and 3M.

Minneapolis is also a major hub for the retail industry. Target is famously based in the area and is ranked No. 17 this year, up from 22nd on last year's list. Additionally, Mall of America, the largest retail shopping mall in the United States, has 2.8 million feet of retail space with over 520 stores and 50 restaurants. The Mall of America alone generates $2 billion in economic activity annually for the state of Minnesota.

Manufacturing is the second largest-employing industry in the Twin Cities with 174,170 covered jobs at 4,046 establishments. Nearly half of Minnesota's Fortune 500 companies are involved in manufacturing, including 3M, CHS, General Mills, Land O'Lakes, Ecolab, Hormel Foods, and Polaris.

Each of these industries relies on social media marketers to help them engage with their customers, clients, and business partners through social profiles that align with their brand identity. These are only a small sampling of the industries that are available in Minneapolis; there are many more that use social media marketing to promote their products and brand identity. If you’re wondering what roles could be available to you across these industries, keep reading. Several possible job titles are outlined below to help you choose the right path for you.

Social Media Marketing Careers in Minneapolis

Because social media marketing is such a popular and ever-growing field, there are several potential job titles that you could have. A Digital Marketer is responsible for designing, managing, and reviewing digital marketing campaigns. These campaigns can include email, text, paid ads, and social media marketing. The average salary in Minneapolis for a Digital Marketer starts at $63,000 but can easily climb above six figures with enough experience.

Another job title is Social Media Strategist and spend your days designing social media blueprints, creating content, and managing client or company accounts. You can expect to make anywhere from $55,000 to $73,000 in this role, and could eventually progress to a Social Media Manager position.

You could become a Paid Search Manager and lead the day-to-day strategy, reporting, analysis, and optimization of paid search campaigns. Ideal for those who are both creative and analytical, you can make $86,000-$98,000 in this position in Minneapolis.

These are just a sampling of roles that will be available to you once you’re certified in social media marketing. Regardless of your job title or role, it’s easy to see that becoming certified in social media marketing can lead to a fulfilling and lucrative career.

Should You Pursue a Certificate or Certification

Both certificate and certification programs can provide a quality education, but there are some important distinctions between them. A certificate is given to show your successful completion of a course or training. Often considered continuing education, mid-career professionals pursue certificates to enhance or develop in-demand skills specific to their industry while novices use them to carve out new career paths. These are noncredit programs sponsored by educational institutions, meaning you will not earn an associate’s or bachelor’s degree by completing them. A certificate can bring value to your resume, but it won't carry the same weight as an associate's or bachelor’s degree, which are commonly required for many jobs.

Alternatively, a certification is a professional credential that you earn through a professional training program or assessment. These typically culminate in a final exam and many jobs require specific certifications for promotions and career advancement. These can lead to increased pay, potential promotions, and enhanced professional expertise. Many professions require certifications to be renewed at regular intervals and some companies may even cover the cost of certification, as these credentials bring value to the workplace.

If you’re looking to switch career fields entirely and need to learn as much about your new industry as possible, then a certificate could be the right choice. If you are established in your career and looking to level up, perhaps to gain a new title or increase your pay, then a certification course is probably the right route.

The amount of time and money you can commit to your training factor into this decision as well. If your company requires a certification for you to advance in your career, then most likely they will either pay in full or offer assistance for your certification course. Both certificates and certifications can vary in length, so it’s important to be mindful of how long the program will take you to complete.

Regardless of which pathway you choose, both can give you an upper hand in your professional development and expand your skill set, making you highly desirable within your current field or a new one.

Top Social Media Marketing Certificate Programs in Minneapolis

Minneapolis is known as the City of Lakes, but it’s also a great state to learn social media marketing. Below are some of the top certificates, boot camps, and courses available in the Minneapolis region and online that can help you kickstart your social media marketing career. Whether you choose in-person or virtual, each of the below programs offers an in-depth curriculum developed by industry experts. Keep reading to learn more!

Digital Marketing Boot Camp

This bootcamp from the University of Minnesota is a part-time program that takes a multidisciplinary approach to attaining proficiency in marketing tactic development, campaign development, digital advertising, and modern tools in site analytics and reporting. While this course covers way more than just social media marketing, all the topics covered will make you a more well-rounded marketing professional. You’ll learn how to craft engaging content, develop paid ads that will run on various social media platforms, track and analyze your data, and optimize content for search engines.

This program takes 18 weeks to complete with in-person classes held three evenings each week. You also have the option of adding on a paid micro-internship where you can gain valuable real-world experience, build your professional resume and portfolio, generate income during boot camp, and gain access to an exclusive network of potential employers.

Social Media Marketing Certificate

Offered bySaint Paul College, this certificate is held in a hybrid manner with both on-campus and virtual classes. You’ll learn the fundamentals of social media and e-marketing as well as how organizations communicate with their customers, analyze internet marketing and communications strategies, attract and retain customers, and create e-marketing and social media marketing plans that align with marketing strategy and goals.

This course can be completed on either a part-time or full-time schedule. There are some required prerequisites so it’s best to consult Saint Paul College’s list of entry requirements prior to enrolling.

Social Media Marketing Certificate

This month-long course from Noble Desktop will teach you all the fundamentals of social media marketing. Held live online, this course covers all of the most-used social platforms: LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, blogs, and X (formerly Twitter). You’ll learn how to properly leverage each of these platforms to engage your target audience, enhance your brand awareness, and increase sales. This course also includes a lesson on streaming for social media that includes how to set up OBS for streaming and the benefits of streaming to Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok.

This course concludes with a final section that teaches you about working in the social media industry while you create your professional portfolio. Included in your purchase is a one-year free retake and the certificate you receive upon completion.

Digital Marketing Certificate

Also offered by Noble Desktop, students in this training will develop an actionable, multi-tiered campaign optimized through search engine optimization (SEO), social media, paid search, content marketing, and email marketing. You’ll learn through live online sessions with an expert instructor in a small classroom setting and cover all the essential social media platforms for a well-rounded digital marketing education.

Setup assistance is available for students, as is one free retake and your certificate of completion. Payment plans and 12-month financing are available to make this course more accessible.

Social Media Marketing Training

Offered by Certstaffix, this live online training can be completed in six quick days. This in-depth program is a combination of six individual courses: Facebook Advertising, Instagram for Business, LinkedIn for Business, Social Media for Business, X for Business, and YouTube for Business. These courses will teach you how best to leverage each of these social media platforms to spread brand awareness, engage with your community, measure the success of your campaigns, and increase sales.

At the end of this course, you will receive a certificate of completion as well as a digital badge that you can add to your LinkedIn profile. You also have access to a free retake within six months, should you need an extension.