Education in Social Media - Degree Or Not To Degree?

Information in this blog post was obtained from HubSpot Blog and The Content Marketing Institute.

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Have you ever wondered how much education it REALLY takes to break into the social media job arena? It can’t be that hard to understand, right?

Wrong! There are so many aspects to marketing and so many avenues to go down, that even the most educated can sometimes feel lost in the ever-growing world of social media. According to this article on HubSpot, it is imperative to have a higher form of education under your belt.

HubSpot recommends a Bachelor's Degree in any of these majors:

• Marketing

• Management

• Business

• Economics

• Psychology

• Communications

• Public Relations

• Journalism

They point out that the major doesn't really matter, what does matter is what you're involved with while in school. I know at Fort Hays State University (FHSU), there are business and economic clubs you can join as well as a Business Fraternity for both genders you can join. There are so many opportunities that FHSU has to offer to get involved in marketing outside of the coursework you're in.

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In this blog post, you can read about the various options you have outside of actual courses you can take in a college atmosphere.

Thanks to the advancement of technology, you have a vast amount of information at your fingertips. The benefit of these is you can learn at your own pace. From workshops, online training courses, or even consultants, it's up to you on how you want to learn and how fast you learn it.

They always say that you can never learn "too much" and with the ever changing world that you're about to make a career of, it's very important to learn as much as you can. As someone who has been in their position, it's good as well to keep on top of the latest trends and learning something new.

In this last post, HubSpot gives a wonderful list of online courses that you can take to freshen up and maybe learn something new.

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Most of them are free with a couple sprinkled in that you can purchase. All of them are great options. Here they are listed out. If you would like more information, visit their website for greater detail about each course.

Social Media Certification	HubSpot Academy	Free
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing	Google Digital Garage	Free
Social Ads 101	Wordstream	Free
Social Media Training for Beginners	Constant Contact	Free
Online Social Media Marketing Classes	Skillshare	Free/Paid (Depending on the course)
Acadium Digital Marketing Course	Acadium	Free
Social Media 101 Training	Boot Camp Digital	$97
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing, Social Media, and E-Commerce	Wharton, University of Pennsylvania	$585
The Strategy of Content Marketing	University of California, Davis	Enroll for free
Social Media Marketing Masterclass	Udemy	$149.99

The takeaway from all 3 articles is that you can never learn too much. Whether it's while you're in school, or looking to gain more knowledge in the profession you are already in, there are free resources for you to learn even more about marketing.

Another blog post you can read to help you gain knowledge on how to better your marketing skills without paying any money would be found here. Written by my one of my colleagues, it's a great example of ways to improve your skills without having to take a class.

Resources

Albee, A. (2014, March 17). Why marketers need more education to push content publishing forward. Content Marketing Institute. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/03/marketers-education-content-publishing/

Carmicheal, K. (2021, August 2). 10 of the best social media marketing courses to take today. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-marketing-courses

Decker, A. (2020, October 26). The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Jobs. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/marketing-jobs