Social Media Marketing

New media is creating a new generation of influencers and it is resetting the hierarchy of authority, while completely freaking out those who once held power without objection. The truth is that most of the existing formulas, methodologies, and systems miss or completely ignore the role of new influencers to inspire action, cause change, spark trends and recruit advocates.
Ashton Kutcher
Actor, Producer, Social Media Celebrity, Businessman

Course Overview
This 1-day course is aimed at giving attendees a good foundation in the world of social media. It provides an equal balance of interactive presentation, discussion and group work on the applications that businesses and companies should be starting to use in their marketing mix.

Basic principles of Social Media Our first session will tackle the key concepts of Social Media and look at how it differs from other forms of marketing (both online and offline). We will also look at Search Engine Optimisation and discover why the principles of SEO are important for social media marketing. This session provides a solid foundation for the rest of the day and shows how a company can adopt these principles across all their Web 2.0 applications: from blogs and YouTube to Flickr and Twitter.

Twitter This session really does lift the lid on Twitter and looks at the many ways companies can use it: engagement, PR, brand building, selling, customer care, sales promotion and much more. We look at how organisations can, at 140 characters a tweet, turn this into a powerful marketing tool. Using a mix of case studies and real-time examples we will explore how your company can maximise the use of Twitter. We also look at third party applications and mobile devices, to see how you can use it for updating, tracking, monitoring, engaging, broadcasting and looking after.

Business Blogging – Blogging has undoubtedly been the driving force behind social media adoption. It allows individuals, businesses and even colleges, the ability to talk about their organisations, link to similar organisations and invite comments from their community. It is also a force to be reckoned with when it comes to gaining top position on Google! We will explore: Why would an organisation blog? What would they blog about? How do they create fresh, relevant content? How can organisations hook up blogs to other social media channels?

Photo and Video Sharing - Over the past year YouTube, along with Facebook, has been the runaway success of the Internet. Once the preserve of youngsters looking for kicks, it is now becoming mainstream and all sorts of businesses and organisations are using it for business and social means. So, how are companies using the media? How could it be used by your organisation to inform, create buzz and even generate sales?

Whereas YouTube and Facebook have been making a lot of noise on the Web scene, Flickr has quietly been making huge inroads into the way people archive and share their photos. We will look at why your organisation should consider Flickr, how they can use it effectively and how they can create groups and get their staff to add pictures and leave their thoughts.

Facebook – Profiles, friends, groups, networks, social ads, pages, polls... What does it all mean and how can you leverage the power of Facebook to improve your marketing efforts? How are organisations like Price Waterhouse and Dell using Facebook and what are the implications of using Facebook for your organisation? And what about Facebook Deals, Places and Social Plugins?

LinkedIn - is one of the biggest Professional Networking sites in the world. So, how does an organisation use it to develop new contacts, to enhance the online image of their company, to talk and engage with their peers and to advertise to specific audiences? This session will take a look at all the above, show you how to polish your company profile, create and maintain groups, discuss the benefits of plugins and explore how to use LinkedIn answers effectively.

Geo Location Marketing - Gap, Starbucks and Dominos have been trailblazers in the use of this nascent social media platform. We will look at the key differences between Foursquare and Facebook Deals and the upcoming Google Deals and ask how an organisation can use these platforms for various marketing means. What are check-ins? How can they be used in your industry? How can your customers be incentivised to use them? How can brand loyalty and awareness be developed using them?

Forums/Review Sites - These have been around since the birth of the Internet. Today, companies are increasingly using them to listen, broadcast and engage. Businesses are able to identify and empower advocates and ambassadors on them. We will look at the range of sites that are on the web and begin to identify strategies that your company could adopt to maximise their potential.

Our Clients

Here's a small selection of companies who have sent their employees on courses to us:

• Visit Wales
• Environment Agency
• University of East Anglia
• Welsh Assembly Government
• English Heritage
• University College London
• Aviva
• Becta
• Microsoft
• Welsh Screen Commission
• Welsh Water
• International Patent Office

Cost
Our Cardiff courses are charged out at a fee of £199 (+VAT) per person and include:

• Course material
• Access to a password-protected Social Media blog which features videos, articles, podcasts, videocasts, PowerPoint slides, book links and more.
• Lunch and refreshments throughout the day

Discount

• Get 10% off course bookings if your organisation is a registered charity.
• If you have 2 or more staff attending we can offer a discount.

In-house courses
Should your organisation require, we can arrange to have the workshop delivered either at your location or a venue closer to your workplace. Check out our In-House page for more details.

Book Online Now

To reserve a place, please complete our Online Booking Form or download and post to us an Offline Booking Form.

Testimonials

Alun John (Marketing Tom Media) came highly recommended! The Social Media Marketing course gave me an in-depth view on how to use popular social media sites to a business advantage. Anyone thinking of expanding their use of social media tools should consider this course. A thoroughly enjoyable and information packed course, with a practical approach. Will hopefully be joining Alun again on his upcoming courses in the near future.

Victoria Humphreys, Marketing Officer
Seren Books

This course offers a valuable insight into the world of Social Media, and how using specific social media tools can benefit your company no matter how big or small. Alun knows exactly what he’s talking about and is happy to answer questions along the way breaking down those barriers caused by fears of the ‘unknown’ (I was a non-Twitter user before I attended this course!) This course provided me with the confidence and knowledge to lead our company into the modern world! It was really interesting, enjoyable and fun too! I would highly recommend this course.

Ann Barker, Marketing Manager
Gymboree UK

With new media moving at such a fast pace, the Social Media Marketing course is a must for all marketing professionals, as it provides in-depth knowledge on how to make social media tools work for your business and enhance your digital marketing strategies. Having done several courses with Alun in the past, I knew that this would be fully informative, relevant and taught using a relaxed, interactive approach - definitely recommended!

Louise Elias, Marketing Manager
Sinclair Volkswagen

The Social Media Marketing course is ideal for anyone wishing to expand on their existing knowledge of social media marketing techniques, or for those who feel slightly lost in this fast-moving environment, like I did! I found the course highly interactive, and the lively discussions and presentations offered everyone the opportunity to think about their own organisations and how to apply these creative methods to marketing in a practical way. As a result of the course I have started a new job where I have the opportunity to apply all my knowledge on a day-to-day basis. I now feel I can talk with confidence on a range of social media initiatives and am even teaching my colleagues! I would thoroughly recommend this course for all marketing professionals as we move into what is seen to be a new and exciting time for social media marketing.

Beth James, Accessible Information and Research Officer
Learning Disability Wales

Everything I know about social media, I learnt from Alun! A really engaging and useful course to help you understand how to get your company’s social media presence up and running successfully. Alun uses his expert knowledge to give personalised recommendations and tips to meet the individual needs of your company. His passion and enthusiasm for the subject is truly infectious leaving you chomping at the bit to get started on your own social media strategy! Well worth attending.

Alice Silver, Community Manager
Schoolzone

I had some knowledge about different social media platforms but after attending the training program it gave me clear indications on what are the most productive routes to use various social media platforms to achieve the optimum results for our events/exhibition. I highly recommend this program.

Sumit Pal, Sales Manager
Property Investor Media

Marketing Tom’s social media courses are an effective way to learn about social media implementations and practices in the business world. The course I attended was good on an introductory level – covering the basics of the various platforms and why & how businesses should use them – but also covered more intermediate and advanced topics, while tying it all into the most important elements in business, which should be seen as the most important reasons why social media is used for business purposes: branding, interaction and ROI.

Steve Morgan, SEO Account Manager
Liberty Marketing

It's not just the big things, but the numerous little things that you learn on Alun's courses. I came away with a to-do list as long as both of my arms!

Chris Cowell, Director
S8080 Digital Web Agency

Thanks Alun, a great course as usual.

Liz Shellard, Web Development Officer
City and County Of Swansea

The Social Media Marketing course was a great insight into the way that marketing is changing and gave me some fantastic ideas that I have since been able to implement within my business. Well worth the investment!

Rachael Marking, Marketing Manager
Creditsafe Business Solutions Ltd

I would definitely recommend this course, the tutor has a real passion for the subject and delivers the course in an interesting and informative way. I came away full of new ideas which had an immediate impact on student recruitment.

Ros Owen, Marketing Manager
Coleg Harlech

We found the day engaging and thought-provoking. Alun’s style was easy and open, encouraging participation from attendees. Particularly fascinating were the communications “emodels” and the notion of viral marketing through Twitter. Twitter, Flickr and other social media marketing tools are now being adopted as part of our e-communications activities at Futurelab.

Tim Reader, Web Developer
Futurelab

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