Social Media Advertising (Coursera)

Social Media Advertising (Coursera)

Social media platforms are driven by digital advertising. As a result, social media advertising is affordable and can be purchased at almost any budget. Targeting options in social media advertising are also sophisticated. It is possible to tailor ads around a user’s behaviors (e.g., likes, posts and clicks). This course unpacks small business use cases of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter advertising. From basic campaigns, to advanced techniques including lookalike modeling and audience retargeting, this course shows how to effectively advertise on three major social media platforms.

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What You Will Learn

  • Identify social media advertising types that are likely to succeed
  • Understand the different types of social media ads
  • Implement effective social media targeting parameters to match desired audiences
  • Execute social media advertising campaigns

Course 3 of 4 in the Digital Advertising Strategy Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Case Study
Through an hour long case-study, Rob Drews of Placewise will walk through how a small business, City Center Shopping mall, successfully leveraged Facebook and Instagram to satisfy an array of business objectives.

WEEK 2
Facebook
Facebook is the largest and farthest reaching social media platform. Facebook offers robust location and interest based social media targeting. Facebook collects a lot of data about consumers, for the primary aim of serving more relevant advertising. A wide variety of ad types on Facebook exist, each suited to specific objectives. Basic campaign and ad creation in the Twitter ads platform is covered. This module also touches on budgeting, limitations and current trends in Facebook advertising.

WEEK 3
Instagram
Instagram advertising provides the option to capture audiences and engage them with compelling photos and short videos. Instagram is home to many influencers, and as a result consumers of Instagram use it to digest high quality content based on interests. In recent years, many startups and small businesses have had luck directly selling products on Instagram. This module goes from campaign advice to pro-tips and shows how basic Instagram campaigns are set up in the Facebook Ads manager.

WEEK 4
Twitter
Twitter is a social media of niche interests and breaking news. Celebrities, journalists and industry experts alike all use platform. Twitter can be useful to target niche audiences. This module walks through campaign types and creative best practices for Twitter’s Ad platform. Basic campaign creation in the Twitter ads platform is also covered.

WEEK 5
Custom Audiences: Retargeting and Lookalike Modeling
Retargeting is an effective way to reach customers that have previously visited your website or are members of loyalty clubs, email lists, or online stories. Retargeting allows advertisers to easily reach customers who have already engaged with a product/service/brick and mortar, thereby increasing relevance, precision and engagement. Lookalike modeling however helps companies that don’t have big customer lists expand their audience by inferring what behaviors, locations and interests existing customer behaviors have, and reaching more individuals “like” an existing audience. In this module, we’ll cover how to implement retargeting and lookalike modeling in Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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