As PR professionals, it is our job to stay up-to-date on new and constantly evolving social and online trends and strategies. Historically, this was tough to do without attending costly conferences or taking a chance on hit-or-miss webinars until now. Our team has recently discovered some excellent FREE social media training guides and resources to help professionals learn both basic tricks of the trade and some more advanced skills. If you like what you see, you can choose to pay for more services with each provider, but at the very least you can get free insights into how to build and manage your social or online presence and content.We've gathered a list of the free tools we think are most useful. Anyone can use these services to start or improve their social media game.
HubSpot Academy
- HubSpot Academy provides guides, videos, webinars, step-by-step project guidance and even inbound marketing certification for users. Topics range from blogging to email marketing to social media, and as with most free resources, you can absorb them at your own pace.
- HubSpot's own software and services are used as a reference point for most of the training, which is to be expected. For example, the social media user guide is built off the social monitoring and reports tools HubSpot offers.
Hootsuite's Resource Library
- Hootsuite, a social media management system, has compiled a resource library for users to get acquainted with social media trends and strategies, including webinars, case studies, quick tips, tool kits and more.
- You might start with this webinar, an introduction to social media strategy.
Additional Free Resources
- Boot Camp Digital makes available several resource guides about how to use Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+ for business.
- Shift Communications has a great PR resources section on their website with information ranging from blogging to Google Analytics and more.
- Social Media Examiner provides some great 101-level social media guides and resources.