“We need to know what to track and how.”
Behind every great online marketing strategy is the compelling story that calls someone to action, the ideas that make us click, and the analytics driving it all.
“Analytics helps us exceed our performance goals,” says Alice Goldstein, a veteran social media marketer who teaches her students the art of persuasion, the power of visual storytelling, and the analytics that help identify, reach, and track a targeted audience.
In her newly redesigned social media course—Advanced Social Media Marketing: A Practical Approach for Business—starting Oct. 31, Goldstein will be zeroing in on the the strategies that guide effective online campaigns. The course is one of three that make up a miniUCSC Extension skills badge, the Social Media Marketing Professional Award.
“The key to achieving measurable goals is using modern methods, tools, and platforms,” she says. “We need to know what to track and how.”
This is not a lecture course. Goldstein asks her students to work on a real strategy for an existing or fictitious company or organization. Students in Advanced Social Media Marketing learn to test everything from Facebook ads and infographics to videos and ebooks. They learn to launch influencer campaigns and practice the art and science of visual storytelling.
When we ask what is going to make this a great campaign, we need to look at the story we’re telling and how effective we are at being persuasive, she says.
“You may want to bring in more stakeholders, people who want to invest or help your business grow. A lot of people may not do too well with words so we learn how to tell a story with data visualization.”
While there are no prerequisites for the course, students can expect to dig in and put each new skill into action.
“All of these skills are going to help them be more critical thinkers and see how things in the realm of social media analytics change over time in any campaign. It’s important to know how to apply strategic analytics in the beginning, the middle, and the end.”