With final grades all posted, it is time for the summer to commence and the travels, vacations, and fun activities begin.
Wait – that was before COVID19. What will we be able to do for the summer?
I have always used my summer breaks to reset, refresh, and educate myself on a new tool or skill. With travel being suspended and all of my summer conferences going virtual (this will be the first time in a long time I have not been on an airplane in months!), I will be at home working on various projects, which gives me a lot of time to invest in my continued education.
Later and TikTok. I love how Later and Taylor Loren really went ahead of the curve here and provided a free resource here for educators, students and professionals to use TikTok for business! I have not see any particular certifications *yet* on TikTok from credible and established resources, but this is a good start with lots of ideas and insights to consider.
Twitter Flight School. Twitter Flight School has been around for a while now, but got an update with their latest features and areas in advertising, measurement, and content creation. From a business standpoint, I think it is a great resource to look at Twitter from this perspective, and this allows the students (and others) to take advantage of this certification to add to their LinkedIn and resume profile. I do wish there were more resources and educational features (like what Facebook has done with their Educators Portal) to be able to embed into content that is being covered in our classes.
HubSpot Social Media Certification (update). Full disclosure – I had an opportunity to not only be a part of the certification for the first version and this updated one. HubSpot Academy has updated their latest social media certification with new videos, areas of specialization, and topics. A lot has happened in social media since the first version of this certification was released back in 2018. Two years in social media is a lot!
I think HubSpot had done a nice job in updating the certification to cover new topics such as influencers and creators. Like Twitter, there are some things I think HubSpot may want to consider for future versions. For example, for this certification, there is a workbook that goes along with the certification. To be honest, in the classes I teach where the students are asked to complete the certification for class, I do not have the students do the workbook. Students today are not only asked to know the concepts of what they are learning in social media, but apply it strategically in real scenario. The workbook activities in my opinion are basic in nature.
If I were HubSpot, my recommendation would be to reach out to professors like Lin Humphrey, Scott Cowley, and Matt Kushin who are not only teaching social media, but have published extensive research on certifications and how they can be integrated into assignments that are beneficial for classes in the future.
Facebook Blueprint Educators Portal. Like HubSpot, I have not only worked with Facebook Blueprint as a class client, but I had the opportunity to work on their Educators Portal this past year and was part of the pilot test.
When it comes to social media certifications, Facebook Blueprint has all of the elements to know for dealing with creative content, ads, and measurement on their platforms in one place. The Educators Portal focuses on bringing in all of these resources for educators to have on hand for their classes, including resources for class, slide decks, and more.
The only thing to note here – which Facebook is working on – is the cost of the exam for students to take. It’s $99 – but it is due to the fact they use Pearson as a proctor for the exam to make sure there is no cheating (none of the other certifications out in social media do this, which is an ongoing conversation in the social media education community). There are ways in which you can address this by: working with your university and development office to set up scholarship funds for students to pay for the exam, or use the exam as your book cost for the class.
Summary
Continued education is a vital part of growing as a social media professional. We are seeing so many changes happening in the industry, and it is key for all of us to stay on top of the trends, case studies, and strategies guiding our field.
I am grateful to Later, Twitter, HubSpot, and Facebook for providing these great tools and resources for all of us!
Let me know if you have any other recommendations you would add to the list! Stay safe and have a great day!
Best Wishes,
