Tag: diploma of social media marketing

How to do a social media audit?

With around 3.5 Billion social media users in the current world, most businesses want to reach out to them. Having that in mind, businesses are making a presence on these platforms, but social media marketing is not just about being present.

In this modern world, audits are not only relevant for accountants but also for digital marketing managers, and hence a social media audit comes into picture.

But, wait, what is a social media audit?

A social media audit is just a simple health check of your brand’s social media efforts. Just like any other business audit, it is will help you understand what is working and where you need improvement. It will further help you develop a social media strategy or modify your current strategy based on your findings.

It might sound harsh, as the word “audit” itself sounds, but as you reach the end of this blog, you’ll realise that it’s not that difficult.

Let’s look at how you need to go about it!

Step 1: Create a file. It’s as easy as that.

Depending on what you are comfortable with, either create a word document or an excel file to record all your finding before you start the process. If you’re using a word document, create a table otherwise you can just simply use excel. The things that you would want to put in the sheet are:The channels your brand is present on.

-Links to those profiles.

-Login details for all the profiles.

-Current social media owners/admins/managers of those pages.

-Contributor/person responsible for handling the page.

Step 2: Appearance matters.

After collecting all the information mentioned in step one, you would want to look at the qualitative and quantitative aspects of your brand’s profiles. It is quite like how a doctor first examines your physical symptoms of illness before running any tests on your body. Physical symptoms… for social media what could they be? This would be qualitative aspects of your pages, anything and everything other than the numbers.

-Profile and cover images:

Make sure that all your images are in alignment with your logo and brand guidelines.

-Profile Bio:

The “About Us” section or the profile should be updated according to the current brand positioning or strategy.

-Social Media Handles:

Are your handles consistent across all the different platforms? 

-Noting down the best and worst performing posts.

-Posts with the most engagement.

Some of the above-mentioned things might sound like it’s common sense but identifying them at the right time can be very beneficial. A few months ago, during an audit we realised that we have two twitter handles, which otherwise we may never have identified.

Step 3: Measure your performance.

This is the part where all the quantitative data crunching is going to happen. You don’t have to start worrying straightaway just by reading “data crunching” because you are going to realise that it is quite simple. However, before we get into that, you need to make a list of your major competitors and industry leaders to set a benchmark. When you measure your performance, compare it against your competitors.  

What metrics should you be measuring? Well, the answer to this question lies in your objective, and most often your objective is dependent on what stage your organisation is on the digital engagement cycle.


Source: http://dmresourcecenter.com/unit-2/digital-involvement-cycle/

It might also be important to keep in mind that your competitors might be at different stages of this cycle or they might be targeting a completely different segment. This could explain some of the differences.

You can measure these insights by either looking at the insights of your social media handles, or if you are using tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, HubSpot you can analyse your performance using those platforms.

Step 4: Set new objectives.

The last step for any audit would be to understand the reasons behind what’s working and what’s not, because the information that you are going to collect will help lay a roadmap to understand what you need to be doing in order to best connect with your target audience.

Based on this, create and update new social media objectives for your brand.

And Voila, you’re done!

Why Study Social Media?

Why study social media - blog post - 10118NAT Diploma of Social Media MarketingYou may be asking yourself why you should attend to college to study social media.

Over the years, social media has grown from what was initially called “New Media” to being a phenomenon all in itself.  As the internet has grown since its inception, no longer is it enough to just have a website – much more needs to be done if a business is to effectively reach a customer and make a sale among all their competitors and other online interests that the customer has.

Social Media Marketing is a specialised aspect that falls within the overall Marketing industry.  While many small companies feel that social media marketing is enough – just posting a few times on Facebook will not earn long term customers, or foster brand loyalty.

This is where learning social media marketing in a formal course will benefit any individual who chooses to pursue this path.  With frequent changes on all the social media platforms, regarding rules, platform layout, and more, social media marketing is becoming a specialised skill that one can no longer claim to be an expert on based simply on being self taught.  Previously, it was easy enough to attain a social media job by keeping an updated personal blog and owning a personal Facebook profile.  But not anymore, nowadays prospective clients want a portfolio or case studies of social media accounts that you have managed before.  While the question of ethics and client privacy comes into that topic, the basic premise is that clients want proof that you have specialist knowledge in the subject and are capable of what you plan to do.

It’s a common misconception by people who enjoy using social media and post multiple times a day, that they are social media experts.  Often these people will post in online groups asking about how they can get started as a social media manager.  Evidently they need direction, but without proper training, they may find themselves falling short when it comes to sustainable long term marketing for their clients.  This is where formal training can help fill in the gaps.

At KCBT, we offer the only nationally accredited social media qualification – 10118NAT Diploma of Social Media Marketing.  This classroom based course runs for 36 weeks, in which time the student will learn transferable skills such as market research, audience profiling, project planning, project management, results analysis and reporting.  At the end of the course, the student emerges with a qualification that opens doors for them.

Contact the team at KCBT if you wish to find out more about the course, how you can join and when our next intake is.

What Can You Get Out of a Diploma of Social Media Marketing

What Can You Get Out of a Diploma of Social Media Marketing

Are you on the fence about the merits of pursuing a diploma of social media marketing? The Keystone College of Business and Technology aims to equip you with the information that you need to be able to come to the right decision. In this article, we will show you some of the rewards that you can look forward to from enrolling in such a course.

An Open Door to a Promising World

Every career professional who hopes to make a dent in his or her industry knows that adapting to developments and trends is part of the process. In today’s increasingly digital world, social media marketing has turned into one of the greatest forces that continually shape not only the way we do business, but also the way we live.

If you decide to enroll in a course that is designed to educate you about this specific industry, you will be granted access to a world of great possibilities. And seeing as it looks like that it is here to stay, you can only expect more growth and room for advancement, in the future.

A Commitment to Continuous Learning

If you like a challenge, studying social media marketing will be right up your alley. This is because once you dip your foot in its water, you will find that it will only get deeper and deeper – and you will develop the skills that you need to be able to stay afloat.

Social media marketing encompasses many disciplines, and getting learned in one is not enough. You do not have to be an expert on all of them, but knowing your way around them is important to making the entire process work for you. Additionally, the industry is continually changing, so you will learn to keep up with everything and, by the by, grow your skills.

Finally, if you intend to run a business of your own, having the right set of tools that are necessary to bringing your offerings to your target market online is going to be beneficial. In fact, it can be said that every new business now has more potential for making it big more than ever, thanks to the power of social media. When you can harness it to suit your requirements, you will be able to surpass your own goals.

Ready to make that change? The Keystone College of Business and Technology is your partner towards making your dreams happen. Talk to us today!