Resources For Staying Up-To-Date on Social Media Trends
February 25, 2021
Hello friends! Another blog post that was LONG OVERDUE for an update. This is still one of my most popular resources, so I’m happy to be giving it the refresh it deserves. Read below for alllll my favorite email subscriptions, podcasts, YouTube channels, certifications, and online courses I recommend for staying up to date in the ever-changing social media world!
E-mail Subscriptions
Podcasts
YouTube Channels
- Vanessa Lau – If you’re looking for business & money management tips, social media growth hacks, advice on how to quit your 9-5, or some all around tough love, Vanessa is your gal. She posts weekly videos and blog posts filled with valuable, free resources. I’m a big fan of Vanessa’s direct, no bullshit approach to social media and content strategy.
- Sunny Lenarduzzi – While Sunny’s niche is primarily YouTube focused, she shares killer social media tips growth tips, content strategies, and great business management and productivity advice for entrepreneurs/solopreneurs.
Certifications
- Google Analytics – It’s FREE to get certified! I highly recommend every online business owner, blogger, and influencer get certified. It provides insights on how well your content is performing, who your audience is, when they are active, your most popular posts, etc. It’s important to understand your numbers and exactly who your audience. That way, you can make more content they like (and also leverage your stats when negotiating brand deals)!
- Google Digital Garage – Another FREE certification from Google designed to help you master the basics of digital marketing. There are 26 modules centered around building your online presence, planning your online business strategy, search ads, helping people find you locally & online, social media, mobile, content, and email marketing, advertising online, and more. It’s a very all-encompassing and a great place to start if you’re looking to expand your digital knowledge or in the online start-up process.
- HubSpot Academy – HubSpot provides free online training to marketing, sales, and customer service professionals. They offer free certifications, courses, ebooks, and more. I myself am certified in social media, content marketing, inbound marketing, and email marketing through HubSpot. If you’re looking to expand your knowledge on niche marketing topics, definitely checkout HubSpot Academy.
- Facebook Blueprint – Blueprint is Facebook’s global course and certification program written by Facebook themselves. In my opinion, the bets way to learn how to run ads on a platform is from the platform itself. The course is free, but the certification is $150. I won’t lie, the course and exam are INTENSE, but it teaches you everything you need to know about the user interface and I think it’s worth getting the certification if you’re going to run ads on a professional level.
- Pinterest Academy – a collection of free online courses for businesses and agencies to learn how to connect with their audience on Pinterest written by Pinterest themselves.
- Twitter Flight School – want to master advertising on Twitter? Look no further than the platform’s course itself.
Online Courses
- Cat Howell’s Facebook Ads Academy – Start with the free version of her ads academy. She provides so much insight about the Facebook Ads Manager, leveraging the algorithm, and detailed targeting capabilities of Facebook. It’s a phenomenal place to start if you’re a beginner and looking for a crash course on how to best use Facebook Ads to your advantage.
- Shine with Natasha – I’m linking my friend Tash’s entire course page because she has a ton of affordable courses that teach you how to MASTER some of Instagram’s core video features like IGTV, Stories, Reels, Guides, and more. Natasha is a great source for all this organic Instagram marketing!
- Homemade Social’s Own Your Instagram Course – this course is everything I wished I would have had starting out as a freelancer in the social media world.
- Homemade Social’s Instagram Stories – This was the course that I mentioned taking this month. It only takes roughly two hours to complete and is absolutely AMAZING. I seriously cannot recommend this enough. Becca goes in depth on tips to increase your engagement, developing a strategy, being consistent, best practices, measuring success, and her favorite apps and time saving hacks. Plus – there are so many freebies! Becca and the Homemade Social team have forever changed my Instagram strategy.