It seems like HootSuite is always up to something these days.
Today the Vancouver creators of a social media dashboard announced a partnership with Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications to offer an Advanced Social Media Strategy (ASMS) Certificate. Newhouse is one of North America’s most prestigious schools for communication studies.
According to HootSuite, early students include employees of Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Coors Light, Edelman, Florida Panthers, lululemon athletica, and others.
“To fully unlock the value of social, organizations must ensure everyone understands the implications of social media on their businesses, so they’re on the same page and speaking the same language. The ASMS certificate helps achieve this. A lot of businesses will benefit from having top-notch, social media experts on staff,” said HootSuite’s Greg Gunn.
HootSuite said it saw a need to develop a certification for business professionals who wanted practical social media skills with a better understanding of how social media can be used across the entire organization.
The ASMS Certificate will be earned online and provides participants with a flexible format with 15 self-paced lessons on social media strategy, including:
- Strategic Planning Process: Social media strategy and appropriate listening and response tactics are covered, including insights on social influence, measuring success and ROI.
- Content Strategy: Content marketing topics including paid social, engagement, curation, and real-time responsive marketing provide participants with an overview of the various strategies in use today.
- Situation and Environment Analysis: Participants receive an introduction to the social media ecosystem, including social relationship software, campaign management, and and analytics.
- Information Management and Threats: Participants learn about issues relating to privacy, protecting customer and employee data, crisis management, and information security.
HootSuite has already been going after the academic realm, in partnering up with accredited institutions to add its real-world offerings of social media skill sets to students.
The company nearly has eight million global users now and more than 500 classrooms have enrolled in its “Higher Education Program.” The program delivers one of the first recognized credentials that combines higher education with the experience of a social relationship platform leader.
Additional details on the ASMS Certificate, including options for enterprise and group pricing, are available on the Newhouse Website.