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Your #Career : 37 Free Online Marketing and Social Media Classes to Elevate Your Skills…Where Can you Go For the Best, Most Useful Marketing Information? Check Out these Free Resources.

When I first started out with digital marketing, I was blown away by the sheer amount of online marketing resources and social media classes.

I read hundreds of articles and enrolled in as many marketing courses that I could possibly get my hands on. Even today, millions of resources continue to be published online every month.

 

Related: 15 Social Media Podcasts to Take Your Marketing Skills to the Next Level

Where can you go for the best, most useful marketing information? I’ve had the chance to test out and research a huge amount of resources, and I’m excited to share with you 37 free marketing and social media classes that you can enroll in to upgrade your skills across the board.

 

The list here includes free online courses in a number of social media-related topics and disciplines. If you’d like to dig into one area in particular, here’s a quick table of contents so you can jump to the section that’s most important to you:

Free online courses to learn and improve your social media marketing skills

1. What is Social?

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: Northwestern University

Topics include:

  • Social trends
  • Defining target audiences
  • Data analysis

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

“What is Social?” is a massive open online course (MOOC) for business owners, executives and marketing professionals who want to significantly improve their abilities to grow their social media strategyusing effective, proven methodologies. In short, it’s a really awesome, action-based intro to social media.

The exciting part with this hands-on class is that you not only get to hear about ways to grow your professional persona using social media, but you will actually do it! “What is Social?” is the first in a six-course specialization offered by Northwestern University (a top university in the United States). Once you finish this first course, you can continue on with the next steps of the track: Social Media Marketing: How to Profit in a Digital World. (The first course is free; the full track costs $426.)

2. Diploma in Social Media Marketing

Offered by: Alison

Created by: Advance Learning Academy

Topics include:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook pages
  • Blogging and podcasting
  • Social media images
  • Email list growth
  • Affiliate marketing

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Alison is a similar to Coursera as a site that offers a huge range of classes and certifications, including several in the marketing space. Their free social media class covers the use of email marketing, affiliate marketing, using social media tools such as Twitter, blogging and podcasting, and how to use Facebook to create a business page and get it noticed by current and potential customers. So you’re likely to get a social media foundation plus a handful of other digital marketing skills to boot.

3. Social Media Monitoring

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: Eric Schwartzman

Topics include:

  • Keyword filtering
  • Google related searches
  • Using Google Alerts and its benefits
  • Identifying influencers and content curation possibilities
  • Monitoring strategies for Facebook, Twitter and more

Skill level: All Levels

About this course:

This free social media class on how to monitor what your audience and customers are saying online is for marketers looking to keep a finger on the pulse of their community. Whether you’re just starting out in social media or are a seasoned veteran, this course has actionable social monitoring takeaways for people of all skills levels.

The course provides detailed examples of monitoring in action, allows you to get an overview of the different social media monitoring toolsavailable for use, and strategies for how you can use what you’ve learned and apply it to your own social media program.

4. The Business of Social

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: Northwestern University

Topics include:

  • Discovering where social media “fits in”
  • How to tie social media to real business results
  • Managing and measuring a successful social media program

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

“The Business of Social” is for businesses owners, marketers and social media managers looking for ways to tie social media directly into real business growth objectives. In other words, those looking to drive real, measurable value from a social media strategy and program.

Instead of focusing on how marketers can create great content for social media, this class more focuses on how exactly to measure your social investments in terms of time, cost and opportunities.

5. Social Media Ethics

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: Eric Schwartzman

Topics include:

  • How to use good judgement when using social media for work
  • What constitutes ethical behavior on social media
  • Demonstrating consideration for others on social media

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Have you ever wondered what it means to use social media effectively and ethically? This free course on “Social Media Ethics” provides the framework for social networking and engaging in ethical conversations online for all professionals and employees. Touching on local, state and federal laws, it takes the guessing game out of what is and is not legal on social media for employees of businesses.

6. Advanced Social Media Marketing for Picking up Clients

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Brian Yang

Topics include:

  • Common social media myths and mistakes
  • The art of using Facebook Groups
  • Attracting YouTube subscribers and creating engaging videos
  • Creating quality (not spammy) content for social media

Skill level: Intermediate

About this course:

The tagline for this social media class is “picking up clients with social media in 48 hours or less.” Which points to the fact that this instructor dives into intermediate social media strategies. Moving beyond more beginner tactics like setting up social media accounts and basic posting strategies, this class assumes that you already know those things and provides details on how to best use the channels that you’re already familiar with.

All you need for this course is an active Facebook, YouTube and Reddit account and you’ll be on your way to learning the secrets behind picking up clients on social media.

7. Facebook Blueprint

Offered by: Facebook

Created by: Blueprint eLearning

Topics include:

  • Facebook terminology and know-how
  • Best practices for Facebook and Instagram posting
  • Optimizing Facebook and Instagram advertising
  • Creating a quality Facebook page and experience

Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

About this course:

Perfect for small businesses, marketers, agencies and advertisers, Facebook Blueprint is your one stop shop for everything there is to know about running successful advertising campaigns using your Facebook Business Page. This huge resource of free, self-paced social media classes will cover best-practices and top strategies used by the world’s largest brands.

With Facebook becoming very much a “pay-to-play” platform, this is the perfect opportunity for businesses and marketers to fully grasp everything there is to know about ensuring that your advertising dollar stretches as far as possible.

8. Social Media Quickstarter

Offered by: Constant Contact

Created by: Constant Contact

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • Snapchat
  • And more!

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

All social media managers and marketers start somewhere. This free social media class from Constant Contact is a great resource for those who are looking to dive into the world of social media without all of the complications. It offers a step-by-step guide to building a presence on almost every social media platform you can think of.

For those unsure if social media is right for you or for your business, this class is a great way to dip your toes in and start small with social media marketing. Who knows, you may find that social media is just right for you!

Free online courses to boost your digital marketing know-how

9. Email Marketing for E-Commerce

Offered by: Skillshare

Created by: Mailchimp

  • Email marketing automation
  • Email marketing optimization
  • Email marketing personalization

Skill level: Intermediate to Advanced

About this course:

Marketers and social media professionals with a basic understanding of how email marketing works will love this free online course from Mailchimp. Perfect for those of you on the go, it’s a 25-minute, highly tactical class on developing the basic email marketing principles that you may already be familiar with.

By the end of this email course, you’ll have a great understanding of how to create engaging email marketing campaigns and how to optimize your strategy in order to increase business revenue.

10. Marketing in a Digital World

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: University of Illinois

  • How tools such as smartphones and 3D devices are changing the marketing sphere
  • How power is shifting from companies and brands to consumers
  • Offering product ideas that stick in a digital world

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

“Marketing in a Digital World” is one of the most popular free marketing courses on Coursera — with more then 100,000 students enrolled to this date. Taught by a professor at the University of Illinois, this class focuses on the transformation of marketing strategies an tactics into a digital-first world. Specifically, how technology is putting the power of marketing into the hands of the consumer.

This course is perfect for marketers looking to understand where the marketing field is today and how you can leverage new-age strategies to attract customers. And for those who are keen to continue their learning, this course is part of a larger Digital Marketing Specializationfor the University of Illinois.

11. QuickSprout University

Offered by: QuickSprout

Created by: Neil Patel

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Link building
  • Content marketing
  • Social media
  • Paid advertising
  • And more!

Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

About this course:

This awesome (or should we say huge?) set of classes from the one and only Neil Patel is a great place for marketers looking to learn about a huge variety of online and digital marketing tactics. Class topics range from beginner SEO and content creation strategies to advanced social media, email marketing and paid advertising.

What makes this course is that Neil Patel presents the information in very easy-to-learn and snackable ways. The lessons are presented in video format and range anywhere from 3:00-12:00 minutes. Each video also comes with a full transcript allowing more visual learners to follow along.

12. Inbound Marketing Certification

Offered by: HubSpot

Created by: HubSpot

  • Inbound marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Inbound sales techniques
  • Content marketing
  • Growth-driven design

Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

About this course:

HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Certification is full of super actionable, hands-on learning material that allows marketers to take their general inbound marketing know-how to the next level. The certification consists of 12 different classes and more than 4.5 hours of learning material in both video and text format.

You’ll learn all about SEO, blogging, landing pages, lead nurturing, conversion analysis and reporting come together to form a modern-day inbound marketing strategy. This free online marketing course is presented in different modules, where after successful completion of all the lessons and tests, you’ll be HubSpot certified!

13. Viral Marketing and How to Create Contagious Content

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: University of Pennsylvania

  • What makes ideas sticky
  • How social influence shapes behavior
  • The power of word of mouth

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

Taught by University of Pennsylvania Professor and best-selling author, Jonah Berger, this free online marketing course helps to answer the mystery of why some ideas and products become popular and why others do not. It’s perfect for social media managers and marketers looking to put a “science” behind their content marketing method.

You’ll start with an understanding of why things catch on in the first place and how you can use those lessons to create viral content online. Then, you’ll move on to spreading your new and creative ideas through social media and other digital marketing channels.

14. Pay Per Click (PPC) University

Offered by: WordStream

Created by: WordStream

  • All about PPC (What it is, basic terminology, structuring)
  • Keyword research
  • Landing page optimization
  • A/B testing
  • PPC for lead generation and B2B

Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

About this course:

PPC University is a fully free online learning resource created by WordStream, to help build your PPC and digital marketing skills. The format is presented in three streams of learning plans which offer lessons for beginning to advanced users, with additional modules for social advertising.

Related: The Power of Emojis in Marketing and How to Use Them Efficiently

You can also access a number of webinars and white papers to enhance your digital marketing expertise, and best of all, everything’s mobile-friendly so you can learn on the go, whenever you have time!

15. Diploma in E-Business

Offered by: Alison

Created by: Google

  • Introduction to Google Webmaster
  • Using Google AdWords
  • Understanding and using Google Analytics Data
  • Conversion reports and collecting actionable insights

Skill level: Intermediate

About this course:

This “Diploma in E-Business” course is a comprehensive resource for marketers, business owners and advertisers who would like to get the most out of their digital marketing efforts. You’ll learn things like the fundamentals of promoting your business online, using various Google-powered tools and how to track and make sense of the vast amounts of data available to you.

Whether you have a deep knowledge of how to market your business online or are just getting started, this course is an awesome way to strengthen your digital marketing skills.

16. Google Digital Marketing Course

Offered by: WordStream

Created by: WordStream

  • All about PPC (What it is, basic terminology, structuring)
  • Keyword research
  • Landing page optimization
  • A/B testing
  • PPC for lead generation and B2B

Skill level: Beginner – Advanced

About this course:

Learning the ins-and-outs of all of the marketing tools that Google offers is quite the task. But marketers and business owners have seen the direct benefits of mastering the various Google advertising platforms in terms of business ROI. This course offers a direct line to always-updated resources for everything Google.

This course is also a part of a Online Marketing Challenge from Google. Students that plan to take the Online Marketing Challenge are encouraged to complete the Digital Marketing Course first. Marketers looking to learn everything there is to know about Google (and advertising), this is a great place to start!

17. Buffer’s Week of Webinars on Digital Marketing

Offered by: Buffer

Created by: Buffer

Topics include:

  • Content curation and sharing on social media
  • Getting your content seen on Facebook
  • Instagram Marketing to boost your business
  • Branding and PR outreach
  • Getting started with social media data

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

While not a social media “class” in a traditional sense, Buffer’s Week-of-Webinars covers everything from content curation to social media analytics to getting your content seen in the Facebook News Feed.

The great thing about this series of online marketing webinars is that no registration is required to sign up and you can view all five of the videos at your own convenience. And we’d love to hear what you think of these webinars in the comments below!

Free online courses to level up with marketing analytics and data

18. Introduction to Analytics and the Language of SAS

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Jigsaw Academy

Topics include:

  • What “analytics” means
  • What the field of analytics is and why it’s booming
  • Popular analytics tools and applications
  • Introduction to the language of SAS

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

This “Introduction to Analytics” course is a great starting point for marketers looking to understand what the field of analytics is all about and how to apply it to a variety of businesses and situations. If you’re looking to go beyond the very popular marketing spreadsheets, this course is perfect for you.

This class is broken up into 12 videos of varying length — anywhere from 5-30 minutes and will take you about 2 hours to complete from start to finish.

19. Google Analytics Academy

Offered by: Google

Created by: Google

Topics include:

  • Digital analytics fundamentals
  • Google Analytics platform principles
  • Ecommerce analytics
  • Mobile app analytics
  • Google Tag Manager

Skill level: Intermediate – Advanced

About this course:

Google Analytics Academy is an incredible online resource for marketers looking to up their game in everything Google-related. With the importance of tracking and incorporating data into your marketing strategy, there has never been a better time to learn all you can about one of the most data-rich resources in the world.

Some of the most popular modules from the Google Analytics Academy include Digital Analytics Fundamentals and Google Analytics Platform Principles. Both of those courses will give you a solid foundation of how to implement data into your strategy and how you can use the platform to best inform your decisions moving forward.

20. An Introduction to Consumer Neuroscience and Neuromarketing

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: Copenhagen Business School

Topics include:

  • What Neuromarketing is all about
  • Attention and consciousness
  • Sensory neuromarketing
  • Emotions, feelings, wanting and liking

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

I put this fantastic course on Neuromarketing under the Analytics and Data section because it really gets into the nuts and bolts of why people make the decisions that they do online and in real life. Understanding that can help marketers and business make decisions based on data and research.

You’ll be taken on a journey through the basic brain mechanisms in consumer choice, and how to stay updated on these topics. The course will give an overview of the current and future uses of neuroscience in business and how you can apply it to your own social media and marketing strategy.

21. Data Analytics with Excel PivotTables

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: UpSkill Ladder

Topics include:

  • Intro to business analytics
  • Understanding Excel and PivotTables
  • Getting started with PivotTables
  • Terms such as Grouping and Custom Calculations

Skill level: Advanced

About this course:

I have the tendency to cringe when I hear the words “Excel PivotTables.” But I also understand how important the use of PivotTables can be in diving into your analytics and making informed decisions about marketing.

This course will teach you how to do Data analytics with Excel PivotTables effectively and efficiently. At the end of the lessons, you will understand the concept, various scenarios and types of Business analytics. Along with that you will learn, how to use one of the strongest features of Microsoft Excel, which is the PivotTables.

22. Digital Analytics for Marketing Professionals

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: University of Illinois

Topics include:

  • Data collection, analysis and visualization
  • How data fits into a company’s marketing strategy
  • Making informed marketing decisions based on data

Skill level: Advanced

About this course:

Taught by Kevin Hartman, Head of Industry at Google, this free marketing course on “Digital Analytics” focuses on the specific data collection, analysis and visualization techniques used by the world’s top brands. Unlike some of the other analytics classes offered online, this one focuses specifically on marketing.

This course will set you up with a full understanding of how to properly approach data analytics in marketing and how to make informed decisions based on your finding. In short, you’ll be a data wizard!

23. Marketing Measurement Strategy

Offered by: edX

Created by: University of California at Berkeley

Topics include:

  • How to identify marketing trends
  • How to predict future market conditions
  • An understanding of metrics used to measure marketing success

Skill level: Intermediate

About this course:

In this marketing class, you’ll learn the best approaches and practices for marketing measurement, including how to use metrics to measure success. The professor, Stephan Sorger, presents hands-on examples of how to identify market trends, how to predict future conditions and how to put those into action.

24. Social Media Analytics

Offered by: Quintly

Created by: Quintly

Topics include:

  • Introduction to social media analytics
  • The social media landscape
  • Differentiation between social networks for data collection
  • Finding KPIs that fit your goals

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

As social media continues to drive traffic and revenue for businesses, the need for marketers to fully understand the “why” behind social success (or downturns) will increase.

This free social media class from Quintly covers the basic principles of social media analytics both for beginners and for marketers who want to refresh their knowledge. It aims to help anybody involved in social media analytics, no matter whether you are working for a brand, an agency or in the media.

Free online courses to get up to speed on content, blogging and SEO

25. SEO Training

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Eric Schwartzman

Topics include:

  • Integrating SEO in offline and online marketing activities
  • The vocabulary of search engine optimization
  • Most effective SEO strategies
  • White hat vs. black hat SEO

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

This SEO Training class is perfect for social media managers, executives and entry-level employees. This SEO course will help you increase the search rank of your corporate website, your blog or LinkedIn profile.

Learn how to figure out which terms your customers actually search and how to create online content that is most likely to rank high in Google search engine page results. For most organizations, search engine optimization presents a greater conversion opportunity that social media outreach.

26. Writing for the Web

Offered by: Open2Study

Created by: Frankie Madden

Topics include:

  • How to structure a web page
  • Considerations for search engines and accessibility
  • Making your content scannable
  • Using keywords, headings, lists and links

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Knowing how to write well is an important skill for just about anything, but knowing how to write for the web is a whole different ball game. It takes clear and concise copy to gain the attention of your readers in just a few seconds.

This course will help just about anyone — from journalists to technical writers to developers to aspiring bloggers — create content that really engages and converts online. It also will teach you the skills needed to accommodate the requirements of online readers through web design, writing style, structure and SEO.

27. Writing for Brands: Freelancing in the Age of Content Marketing

Offered by: Skillshare

Created by: Contently

Topics include:

  • What content marketing entails
  • The basics of writing for, and working with brands
  • Marketing yourself as a writer
  • How to craft the perfect pitch to a brand

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Have you ever wondered how all of those great bloggers get writing gigs for brands online? This course provides the framework for starting a successful freelance career if that’s something you’d be interested in. Taught by Brian Maehl of Contently, “Writing for Brands” is an actionable, 30-minute writing course that breaks down the process into simple steps.

Whether writing turns into a full-time career for you or just a fun project to tackle on the side, the folks at Contently are happy to help prepare you to pitch your content ideas to brands both big and small.

28. SEO Training Course

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Moz

Topics include:

  • Building a monthly SEO plan
  • 5 ways to use social media profiles for SEO
  • Link building with Twitter
  • Mapping keywords to content

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Optimizing a web site for search engines requires looking at a ton of unique elements both on and off your website. This course on SEO from the folks at Moz will help you to start making sense of it all. Most importantly, it will help you form consistent SEO habits that you can implement long after this course is over.

If you’re interested in getting started with optimizing your website for search engines and how social media has the power to fit within that strategy, this is a great place to start for beginners.

29. Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: William Flanagan

Topics include:

  • End-to-end B2B marketing tactics and strategies
  • Content creation that converts
  • Identifying industry influencers
  • Building a data system to foster improvement

Skill level: Intermediate – Advanced

About this course:

B2B companies, products and services often require a slightly different approach to content marketing. Customer sales cycles are more drawn out and require various, targeted content types to help assist decision-makers to the next stage.

The entire set of classes in this content marketing course lasts roughy 35 minutes. You’ll learn how to get inside the mind of your market and build content that interests them in a short period of time. Allowing you to get back to running your business!

30. High-Impact Business Writing

Offered by: Coursera

Created by: University of California at Irvine

Topics include:

  • Introduction and basics to business writing
  • Various business document types
  • Informal and social media communication

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Writing great copy that is meant to drive people to take a specific business action is a unique and valuable skill to have for marketers and business owners alike. This “High-Impact Business Writing” course is aimed at helping you get your thoughts on paper in a clear and concise manner.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to GIFs: How to Create Them and When to Use Them

Structured as a 4-week class, you’ll start with the basics of businesses writing, including why it’s important, and move to more advanced topics such as preparing business documents and translating ideas to more informal channels such as social media. In short, helping to to become a business copy whiz!

31. Internet Marketing for Smart People

Offered by: Copyblogger

Created by: Copyblogger

Topics include:

  • Introduction and basics to business writing
  • Various business document types
  • Informal and social media communication

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

With the tagline, “you don’t have to be a genius to master internet marketing,” this 20-part email course from the folks at Copyblogger offers a great starting place for those new to the marketing field. What’s unique about this course is that it digs deeply into the areas of direct response copywriting and relationship building.

It’s set up in “4 Pillars” takes you through various topics such as customer relationships, writing, content marketing and delivering something that’s worth selling.

Free online courses to learn marketing design and imagery

32. Graphic Design Basics: Core Principles for Graphic Design

Offered by: Skillshare

Created by: Smithsonian Design Museum

Topics include:

  • Identifying and defining basic design principles
  • Effectively critiquing your own work for balance
  • Applying what you’ve learned to your own projects

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Have you ever wanted to get started with design so that you can create your own images for social media and marketing? This “Graphic Design Basics” from will set you up with a solid foundation to branch out as a beginner designer.

In this 35-minute class designers Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips walk students through what it takes to create great designs. Including, the 5 important and fundamental aspects of design and how you can apply those to every one of your projects moving forward.

33. How to Create Better Graphic Design

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Inoshiro Design

Topics include:

  • Identifying and defining basic design principles
  • Effectively critiquing your own work for balance
  • Applying what you’ve learned to your own projects

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Did you know that in 2016, visual content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content? Today, it’s becoming important, even crucial for marketers to have at least some basic knowledge of key design terms.

This course does a deep dive into the five steps for better visual communication. These components include creating ideas and applying them to your design, communicating ideas effectively within the design and having a consistent design look and feel.

34. The Landing Page Conversion Course

Offered by: Unbounce

Created by: Unbounce

Topics include:

  • Landing page 101
  • 5 core landing page elements
  • The psychology of conversion

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course:

Curious about the power of landing pages in marketing campaigns? Unbounce has the art of a perfect landing page down to a science. And in this comprehensive online marketing class, they share all of that knowledge with you, no questions asked.

The Landing Page Conversion Course takes you from “Landing Page 101” right on down to “Copywriting” and even “Testing and Optimization.” If you’ve ever been curious about the power of landing pages and how they can help you grow your business, this course is the perfect one for you.

35. Visual and Graphic Design

Offered by: ALISON

Created by: XSIQ

Topics include:

  • Using various design elements
  • Drawing and production systems in design
  • The production process for designers

Skill level: Beginner

About this course:

Great design starts with the fundamentals. The free course from ALISON examines various design elements including line, shape, form and texture and design principles, covering composition, balance, contrast and hierarchy. If you’re interested in exploring graphic design, industrial design or the design process in general, this free graphic design class is perfect for you.

36. Graphic Design 101

Offered by: Udemy

Created by: Design and Art Direction Mason Gentry

Topics include:

  • Concept-driven design and implementation
  • Why some design mediums need to communicate more quickly than others
  • Thinking behind great graphic design
  • A birds eye view of the entire field of graphic deisgn

Skill level: Intermediate

About this class:

Are you interested in deepening your knowledge of graphic design or how graphic design can be applied in the real world? The class “Graphic Design 101” is specifically for developers who may know a little about graphic design, but would like to learn more.

Many students who take this class have the ability to recognize a good design when they see one, but may not know why it’s a good design. This free online design class looks to help answer the “why.”

37. DIY Viral Video: A Class on Making iPhone How-To Videos

Offered by: Skillshare

Created by: Nicole Farb

Topics include:

  • Setting up for a great video
  • Tools and techniques for shooting a video
  • Finalizing and sharing a videos online

Skill level: Beginner – Intermediate

About this course: Video marketing is making a huge splash online and on social media. But one thing what we consistently hear is that marketers aren’t quite sure where to start. Yet, videos have the potential to engage an audience in new and exciting ways — just look at BuzzFeed Tasty for an example of the power of video!

In this short class, Nicole Farb shows how you can create your own video in a scrappy, easy and high-quality way and how she has seen huge success with it in the past. Perfect for marketers and social media managers just getting started with video.

 

Entrepreneur.com | December 12, 2016 | Brian Peters

 

#Leadership : 15 Social Media Podcasts to Take Your Marketing Skills to the Next Level…Take it From the Pros — these Podcasts will Help Boost your Social Media Presence.

What should you do if you want to become the best at what you do?  There’s probably a long list, with lots of options. One thing we’re particularly fond of at Buffer when it comes to improving ourselves is listening to podcasts relevant to our niche and industry.

Free- Coffee with Laptop

In our case, that means social media podcasts!

What we love about podcasts is that they make it easy to hear from industry leaders and talented folks about their experiences and advice (which we might not be able to read about anywhere else). There are so many of these voices in the marketing space that have been influential for me and the team!

Related: How to Promote Your Podcast

So the big question is: Where to start? Which podcasts should I try? What episodes should I listen to?

I have the same questions in mind whenever I find the time to listen to podcasts. Rather than spending your podcast time finding a podcast episode to listen to, I’d love to help you skip that step and go straight to listening. Here’s a list of 15 top marketing podcasts, covering three areas of social media marketing, with some top episodes from each podcast to check out!

To make it easier to find the parts of this post that are most helpful, here’s a look at all we’ll cover:

Psst! Our new podcast, The Science of Social Media, is live in iTunes.

This is our newly-launched social media podcast for marketers and brands interested in learning about new and exciting ways to implement social media marketing across a variety of platforms and industries. Every week, Hailley Griffis, Brian Peters and Kevan Leeinterview some of the best marketers around in quick, 30-minute episodes.

Here are some recent episodes you might like:


9 Top social media marketing podcasts

1. Social Pros by Jay Baer and Adam Brown

Real people doing real work in social media. Social Pros, recently named the best marketing podcast at the Content Marketing Awards, dives into the inside stories and behind-the-scenes strategies of how huge companies and brands like Ford, Dell, IBM, ESPN and more manage and measure their social media programs.

Hosts: Jay Baer (President of Convince & Convert) and Adam Brown(Executive Strategist at Salesforce)

Format: Interviews (with its ‘The Big Two’ questions at the end: 1. What’s your one tip for becoming a social pro? and 2. If you could do a Skype call with any living person, who would it be?)

Duration: Ranges from 30 to 60 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


2. Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner

In his weekly podcast, Michael Stelzner interviews social media experts to find out how successful businesses run their social media and uncover strategies and actionable tips to improve one’s social media marketing.

For each episode, there’s a very detailed blog post about the content of the interview so that you don’t have to take notes while listening.

Hosts: Michael Stelzner (Founder of Social Media Examiner and the Social Media Marketing World conference)

Format: Interviews (with a quick social media discovery of the week at the start)

Duration: 45 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


3. The #AskGaryVee Show by Gary Vaynerchuk

For each episode of #AskGaryVee, Gary Vaynerchuk answers a question from his audience about marketing, social media, entrepreneurship and startups based on his lifetime experience of building successful, multi-million dollar companies. If you tweet him your question with #AskGaryVee, you might get on the show!

The show originally started as YouTube videos only, and Gary turned them into podcasts too so that his audience can listen to them on the go. If you usually listen to podcasts on your computer or prefer to watch the video, you might find the #AskGaryVee Search Engineuseful!

Hosts: Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media and co-founder of Vayner Sports)

Format: 1-2 questions from his audience and answers from Gary

Duration: Ranges from 15 to 45 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


4. Social Media Social Hour by Tyler Anderson

This is a podcast for marketers and entrepreneurs looking to get on the social media fast track. Each week, Tyler Anderson interviews people behind top brands and influencers to discuss social media, tech and online marketing. Tyler also shares tools and processes he personally uses (like Focus Booster) to help him with social media management, marketing, productivity and more.

Hosts: Tyler Anderson (Founder and CEO at Casual Fridays)

Format: Interviews

Duration: Ranges from 20 to 50 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


5. Online Marketing Made Easy by Amy Porterfield

In her podcast, Amy Porterfield shares how to monetize your online marketing and blogging efforts using her own tested, actionable lead-generation strategies. Amy creates educational content on social media marketing, freelancing and several other areas of online marketing and even shares free cheatsheets and guides so that you can follow along while listening to the podcast. Sometimes, she’s joined by a Facebook ad expert, Rick Mulready, to discuss all about Facebook ads.

Hosts: Amy Porterfield (Social media strategist and co-author ofFacebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies)

Format: Mix between interviews and solo podcasting on Facebook ads, online marketing and blogging

Duration: Ranges from 30 to 50 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


6. Social Zoom Factor with Pam Moore

With 100,000 downloads per month, Social Zoom Factor is one of the most popular marketing podcasts. The show is hosted by Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz, a company with clients like IBM and Adobe. Pam covers topics such as social media, experiential branding, digital marketing and more.

Related: How to Curate Content and Grow Your Online Following

If you are an auditory learner and prefer listening versus reading blog posts, this might be the podcast for you!

Hosts: Pam Moore (CEO and Founder, Marketing Nutz)

Format: Solo podcasting on social media strategies

Duration: About 30 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


7. #TwitterSmarter by Madalyn Sklar

In this podcast dedicated to Twitter, Madalyn Sklar interviews amazing movers and shakers in the world of social media and online marketing to discover the best Twitter insights, information and resources.

If you are into Twitter chats, Madalyn also hosts a weekly #TwitterSmarter chat — a Twitter chat to connect, learn and share Twitter tips — every Thursday at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT.

Hosts: Madalyn Sklar (Twitter marketing strategist)

Format: Interviews

Duration: Ranges from 10 to 30 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


8. Hashtagged by Jordan Powers

Hashtagged is a podcast all about Instagram. In each episode, Jordan Powers interviews a member of the Instagram community to uncover insights to growing a following, building a community and making an impact.

Hosts: Jordan Powers (Photographer and co-founder of Made in Mankato, a video production company)

Format: Interviews

Duration: Ranges from 30 to 60 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


9. Manly Pinterest Tips with Jeff Sieh

In this podcast mainly for everything about Pinterest, Jeff Sieh explores best practices, strategies and demonstrations with several Power Pinners. Once in a while, Jeff will cover other social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too.

Hosts: Jeff Sieh (Social media consultant and speaker)

Format: Interviews and answering questions from the community during the interviews

Duration: Ranges from 40 to 60 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


Paid social marketing

1. The Art of Paid Traffic by Rick Mulready

In The Art of Paid Traffic, Rick Mulready reveals the best paid traffic tips, tactics and strategies for generating leads and sales on autopilot for your business. Together with expert guests such as Massimo Chieruzzi, founder & CEO of AdEspresso, Rick dives into Facebook ads, YouTube ads, Twitter ads, Google Adwords, retargeting and more.

Hosts: Rick Mulready (Expert in Facebook ads and marketing strategies for small businesses)

Format: Mix of interviews, case studies and solo podcasting

Duration: Ranges from 20 to 50 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


2. Perpetual Traffic by Keith Krance, Molly Pittman and Ralph Burns

Perpetual Traffic podcast covers actionable strategies mainly for advertising on Facebook, with occasional mentions of YouTube, Twitter, Google AdWords, LinkedIn and more. Keith, Molly and Ralph interview business owners on how they overcame struggles with digital marketing and online advertising.

Hosts: Keith Krance (Founder and president of Dominate Web Media),Molly Pittman (Vice President and Traffic Manager, Digital Marketer) and Ralph Burns (Managing Partner at Dominate Web Media)

Format: Interviews and discussions on digital marketing and online advertising

Duration: Ranges from 20 to 40 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


3. Social Media Pubcast with Jon Loomer

In each episode of Social Media Pubcast, Jon Loomer invites an industry expert to his virtual pub to discuss Facebook marketing and advertising over a beer. Jon also records audio versions of his blog posts for people who want to listen on the go.

Jon manages an exclusive community for advanced Facebook marketers, Power Hitters Club, which I thought is pretty awesome (says the Community Champion in me)!

Hosts: Jon Loomer (Founder of Jon Loomer, For Advanced Facebook Marketers)

Format: Mix of pubcasts with guests and audio version of blog posts

Duration: About 40 minutes for pubcasts and 10 minutes for audio recordings of blog posts

Recent episodes you might like:


Community building and customer support

At Buffer, the distinction between marketing and community is very blurry. In fact, we believe they belong together! An example is how our awesome social media manager, Brian Peters, has built an engaging community on Instagram.

Related: A Complete Guide to Instagram Marketing

Here are two podcasts with a strong community focus, plus a bonus third podcast with ties into customer support (a really great skill for social media marketers to have).

1. The FeverBee Podcast by FeverBee

While this show has stopped for a while now, the archive is a treasure trove of information! The podcast covers the latest in community management, social science and FeverBee news. In each episode, a community manager or social media manager of a well-known brand joins the show to share their knowledge.

Hosts: Caty Kobe (previously Head of Training, FeverBee)

Format: Interviews

Duration: About 30 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


2. Community Signal by Patrick O’Keefe

Community Signal is a weekly podcast for community professionals, which is very community-focused. Patrick O’Keefe believes that social media is a set of tools for building a community and while “marketing brings new customers, community helps you keep them.”

Hosts: Patrick O’Keefe (Managed communities for more than 16 years)

Format: Interviews

Duration: About 30 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:


3. Support Ops by Chase Clemons

I believe it’s quite common for social media managers to receive support requests on their social channel. If that’s the case for you and if you are wondering how to get better at that, Support Ops might be just for you! This weekly podcast aims to help you deliver a better support experience to your customers.

Hosts and team: Chase Clemons (Support, Basecamp), Carolyn Kopprasch (Chief Happiness Officer, Buffer), Chase Livingston(Happiness Engineer, Automattic) and Jeff Vincent (Product, Wista)

Format: Discussions on customer support among the team, sometimes with guests

Duration: About 30 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

 

Entrepreneur.com | October 20, 2016 |  Alfred Lua – Community and Marketing at Buffer

Your #Career : 7 Things You Must Do To Maximize The Value Of Your LinkedIn Profile…Your LinkedIn Profile is One of the Most Important Career Marketing Tools you Have.

You’ve done all the hard work to create a stellar LinkedIn profile. You have a professional headshot, a compelling headline and a complete, authentic summary (if you are still working on this, read this post for guidance). When LinkedIn says your profile is “all-star,” it’s time to turn your hard work into a tool that will advance your career.

Free- Business Desk

Here are seven actions to take (in four categories) to maximize the value of your perfect profile:

1. Make it visible. You don’t want to be the world’s best-kept secret, wasting all that effort you spent building the online representation of the real you. I recommend making every element of your profile visible to everyone. Through the Privacy and Settings option, you can choose to share your entire profile or just a few elements with public viewers. Allow anyone to see your public profile. What’s the value of creating your profile if you don’t showcase it?

 

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2. Keep it current. The more interaction you have with your profile, the more likely it will be seen by others. In fact, according to LinkedIn, you should “update your status at least 20 times per month in order to maximize your reach to approximately 60% of your unique audience.”

Stay connected with your contacts by updating your status regularly – letting others know what you are working on and the events you are attending, along with sharing links to the content you find interesting. 

Direct People to it

Sure, people can find your profile through LinkedIn searches – publishing all the right keywords is essential for attracting people you didn’t even know were looking for you. I call it planned serendipity. But you need to go beyond the random and unplanned connections. You need to send people to your profile so they can learn more about you.

There are two easy ways to get people to check out your profile:

3. Use a QR Code. You want people to learn more about you after meeting you at a networking function. Make it easy for them to get to your profile by creating a QR (quick response) code that links directly to your profile. Add your QR code to business cards, your resume, and your pitch letters. You can also create stickers with your QR code and add them to your name badge at networking functions.

4. Create LinkedIn buttons. Use the LinkedIn buttons to direct people to your profile. Under “Privacy and Settings” you can access your public profile settings (on the right side of the screen). At the bottom of the box, there’s an option to create what LinkedIn calls “your public profile badge.” This lets you choose from a series of button options that you can add to your email signature, Blog, Website, etc.

Repurpose it

LinkedIn provides a valuable, one-stop-shopping resource for people who want to know more about your expertise. But the act of putting your profile together is also a valuable, one-stop-shopping exercise in getting clear about your personal brand message and defining and documenting your career success. Now that you have all that content in one place, leverage that work for other applications. In personal branding, we have a technique we call “being lazy,” which means repurpose and reuse content. This helps ensure consistency and saves time and effort. Here are three ways to maximize the effort you put into build your amazing LinkedIn profile: 

5. Get a copy of it. You can export your profile to Word or PDF document to use in your career marketing activities. Here’s how.

6. Turn it into a resume. LinkedIn Labsprovides an option to turn your LinkedIn profile into your resume. First, you select your resume template, and then you can customize the content that you pull directly from your profile. This helps save time and ensures consistency between your on- and offline career materials.

7. Create your own website. There are a number of services that will let you import your LinkedIn content into their platform so you can create your own custom website. My favorite is branded.me (disclosure: branded.me is a partner of my company, Reach Personal Branding). They allow you to import your profile content into one of a variety of templates. Then you can customize your site with images, colors, fonts, etc.

Your LinkedIn profile is one of the most important career marketing tools you have. Its value is amplified when you get more people to see it, and when you repurpose it to support your personal branding efforts.

Remember, before you maximize your profile, you need to make sure it is compelling and reflects who you are in the real world. Learn how to build a stellar LinkedIn summary in this recorded webinar which you can download here.

 

Forbes.com | January 4, 2015 | William Arruda

 

Strategy: Seeking Social’s ROI? You’re Missing The Point Entirely…There are More Than 2 Billion People on Social Networks Today, & With the Proliferation of Mobile Technology

Businesses have been obsessively trying to find the ROI of social media, which is the completely wrong approach. Don’t get me wrong—it’s not that you shouldn’t measure the impact of social media; but the measurement should be a business one, not a measure of social alone. Social Media is an enablement tool, not a standalone channel. And its true value comes in the ability to enable your business.

Meg Bear is group vice president for Oracle Cloud Social Platform.

Meg Bear is group vice president for Oracle Cloud Social Platform.

Merriam-Webster defines enable as “to provide with the means or opportunity; to make possible; to cause to operate.” And that’s what social media should do for business—provide the means and opportunity to make things possible and operational.

Great companies have already begun using social to innovate more quickly and more effectively. For example:

General Motors is developing better automobiles by seeking customer input, as well as making product adjustments on the assembly line by listening to social conversations. Social media has enabled the most comprehensive and insightful focus group ever, and GM is leveraging socially driven customer insights every day for business success.

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Marriott International created an award-winning marketing promotion based on a customer remark on social media informing the hotel that its beds were a customer favorite. By listening to and learning from social media, Marriott was able to execute its highly popular “30 Beds in 30 Days” promotion. This is one example of social media enabling customers and businesses to co-create campaigns that resonate and succeed.

Polaris produced a new line of top-selling, pink snowmobiles thanks to social intelligence that informed product development. The company gleaned from the social web that there was strong buzz around the color pink. And although it went against the grain, they trusted the data and closed the loop with development, producing a new product line that has since become a fan favorite.

LeapFrog brought back a once-retired product simply by taking action on what it heard from social media. LeapFrog got more than 5,000 likes and 400 Facebook shares within only hours of bringing back its Fridge Phonics magnetic letter set.

LEGO has increased its brand marketing power exponentially by empowering employees through its social media driver’s license program. Once they’ve completed this social media training course, employees are allowed to engage with customers across social networks, helping the company share and amplify LEGO stories from across the globe, while enhancing brand marketing and awareness. The program is one example of LEGO’s socially enabled business that is helping drive and meet organizational objectives.

We are talking about real business value here: Customer insights are leading to the creation of more popular products and services, while more engaged and empowered employees are leading to greater brand awareness and loyalty.

It’s about executing business strategy, not implementing social strategy. These innovative companies are using social as a way to operationalize the business—and aren’t treating it like a stepchild of the organization.

When you view social through the lens of enabling your key areas of business, you begin to understand its power. Social should be woven throughout the fabric of your organization. It’s really less of a traditional “channel” than a seamless current flowing through today’s modern communications.

Social does have certain unique and transformational characteristics, including:

  • Data: Social data can reveal not only what consumers are doing, but the why behind their actions, revealing more fine-grained affinities. Businesses can now combine the affinity data that social provides with traditional CRM data and third-party insights to paint a much richer, more accurate picture of their customers. Companies get a universal customer profile that helps them better understand customers and leads to increased engagements and improved customer experiences.
  • Speed: The real-time nature of social allows businesses to understand and meet the expectations of today’s consumer more quickly. Social is instantaneous, and feedback happens in real time.
  • Transparency: Social provides an open, knowledge-sharing platform that has forced a level of transparency on businesses that requires a change in mindset. The days of businesses simply pushing their message without any real way for consumers to respond are gone. That has shifted the power to the consumer and forced organizations to operate in a much more open fashion. This level of transparency has given businesses an opportunity to demonstrate an authentic and human side, and to evolve from customer interactions to customer partnerships.
  • Engagement: Customer partnerships are built from relationships. Relationships develop over time, after a series of two-way connected interactions. Social helps you make these interactions more personal, further increasing customer engagement. And those engagements are opportunities for businesses to provide information when customers seek it, to anticipate customer needs ahead of time, to deliver personalized, relevant content, and in general to provide real value to customers.
  • Scale: There are more than 2 billion people on social networks today, and with the proliferation of mobile technology, there is no sign that this trend will reverse itself or even slow. Television advertising is still a thriving business because it allows brands to tell a story and reach millions. Social is giving brands that same storytelling capability, with a similar reach, but using a two-way mechanism that provides opportunity for amplification and engagement. As the number and power of social networks increase, the opportunity to develop more personalized relationships with your customers grows and expands.
  • Personalization: Social allows businesses to develop highly targeted and personalized interactions with customers and prospects in conjunction with data-driven insights. Relevance in personalization is critical, and social technology provides a path that we had only dreamed of 10 years ago. Today’s customers expect businesses to understand them and to offer them products, services, and value relevant and targeted to them, not generic for all. Social enables brands to tailor interactions that are personal and resonate much more effectively.

To understand and begin to maximize the vast potential of social, businesses must rethink how they view social. As our world becomes more customer-centric and digitally powered, social becomes more critical across every business function, from marketing and sales, to service and product development, to human resources and employee communications.

For 2015, redefine social metrics so that they are tied to business key performance indicators. Leverage the strengths of social to help lift your business objectives and build a deeper relationship with your customers. In short, let social enable your business.

 

Forbes.com |  February 16, 2015  |  Meg Bear 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2015/02/16/seeking-socials-roi-youre-missing-the-point-entirely/

 

Strategy: 6 Ways To Take Advantage Of Negative Reviews… You Can’t Be What Everyone Wants You to Be, & as You Go on Serving the Public, You are Bound to Disappoint a Few

With sites like Yelp and Google Reviews a single customer can share his or her poor experience with your company with millions of people by a few clicks of the mouse.  From there, your reputation can be dragged in the mud by any crackpot or veiled competitor.

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4 Fears That Can Sabotage Your Earning Power

4 Fears That Can Sabotage Your Earning Power

Richard Li is the CEO of 4k.com, and he confirms that “One complaint can go viral in a matter of hours, and make your company look shoddy and ridiculous.”

Of course, prevention is better than cure, which is why you must step up your customer service and focus on providing the best possible experience for each prospective customer, as well as established customer.

But you can’t be what everyone wants you to be, and as you go on serving the public, you are bound to disappoint a few.

Here are six ways to protect your company’s image and customer base:

1. Automate the process.

The first step to taking in negative feedback is to actually invest in a service to notify you when feedback about your company appears online. Yext does a good job, as it allows you to monitor feedback across multiple platforms, making it easier to track feedback about your services.

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2. Stay calm.

When you see unfair and negative feedback from a customer you may want to hit back.  Wrong!  That anger may slip into your post, making the customer more angry, and this back-and-forth between you and your customer wastes time and can never resolve a negative situation.

Don’t respond immediately, and take some time to collect your thoughts and don’t be too defensive with your response. Instead, let the customer know that you heard them, and that you are going to keep their feedback in mind. Your response’s purpose is to be helpful, not to defend your services.

3. View criticism as an opportunity.

Most see negative feedback as simply an attempt to damage the reputation of their company, but you must be willing to learn from negative feedback and actually improve services. You must see what went wrong with that customer, and focus on improving your services in those areas.

4. Turn it into an advantage.

Don’t always assume that negative reviews can only be a disadvantage to your business.  Be open to customer input and you might learn something about how your competitors do things right that you’re doing wrong.  The customer is always going to compare you with your competitors, so you might as well take advantage of it.

5. Reply to everything.

You must make it a rule to reply to each and every review. It’s also smart, if you’re a small company that can’t staff a full-time trouble-shooter, to outsource your responses.  James John, the CEO of The Reputation Firm, is adamant about taking each complaint seriously: “The public loves a David vs Goliath story, so you’ve got to be careful to manage your response so you don’t come out looking like the bad guy.”

6. Make customer satisfaction company policy.

Almost every successful company makes it company policy to satisfy every customer. Tony Hsieh, for example, has asked his employees to focus on satisfying Zappos’ customers by offering refunds, upgrading shipping for free, or by the simple act of sending flowers. And they don’t stop there; their marketing department makes sure their going the extra mile with customers gets the maximum amount of exposure.

Forbes.com | February 11, 2015  |  Steve Olenski

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Strategy: 9 Predictions for the Search Industry in 2015…You Can Say What You Want About Google’s Motives/Morality/Evilness, but the Basic Fact of Their Power Does Raise Concerns

It’s January, and a great time to offer some thoughts on what we might see this year. What follows are my predictions for 9 things to expect in the world of search in 2015:

1. We Will See Massive Expansion of Google’s Knowledge Graph: This is a one of the bigger areas of investment for Google, and they are going to keep pushing more and more new answer boxes and related search features into the search results. They are pushing steadily towards building the Star Trek computer, i.e., a computer that you can have a natural language conversation with, and it can understand you and answer your questions.

If you are not sure what I mean when I reference an “answer box”, here is an example of one in response to the query “apples vs oranges”:

Google Response to Apples vs. Oranges

Notice how Google answers the question you have asked directly, and shows that answer above the regular search results.

2. Google Will Acquire One or More Companies Related to Articial Intelligence (AI): AI is integral to the Google strategic plan. Yet, the field is still very much in its early days. Google will look for companies that have developed technologies that can help them accelerate their progress. In some cases, the acquisition might be as much about hiring the people as it is about the tech they have developed so far.

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3. Mobile Search Will Become a Confirmed Ranking Factor: On November 18th, Google let it be known that they are experimenting with mobile friendliness as a ranking factor. I believe that they will make this permanent, and that Google will set this up as something that impacts the rankings users see only when they are on a mobile device. In other words, your site might rank differently for mobile searches than it will for desktop searches.

Currently, if you are able to get a mobile friendly designation using this tool, you will get the rankings boost. You will also get a “Mobile-friendly” label added to the search results for your site when someone searches for it on a mobile device:

Example of Mobile Friendly Label in Search Results

In addition, I predict that they will turn up the significance of this factor. As early as March of 2014, Google was saying that mobile search volumes would start to exceed desktop search volumes before the end of 2014. That’s a big deal, and Google is going to place a tremendous amount of emphasis on this.

As a bonus element to this prediction, I also believe you will see the needs of the mobile device UI dictate the overall UI (including that for desktop searches). Google is always looking towards the future, and they believe the future is mobile.

4. Google+ Will Not Die: I am sure this one reads a bit oddly, but the reality is that there are tons of search industry media that keep writing articles about Google+ dying. It’s the social platform that the tech media loves to hate, and to be fair, it’s not a runaway success.

But, sadly for those media people, Google is going to continue to invest in this platform. No doubt that it has a long way to go to be what Google wants it to be, but they do make money on it. How you ask? It drives a great deal of personalization in the search results, allowing them to serve better results and more targeted ads, and this increases ad click-through rate.

It’s also a source of data on people, and for this reason, succeeding in social is just way too important for Google.

5. Google Will Acquire at Least One Social Media Platform: As I just noted, building a powerful presence in social media is critical for Google. Google+ is currently just one piece of this. So is YouTube (which is linked to Google+ via the commenting system), and no one will dispute the success of YouTube. But, this is not enough. I think they are looking for other ways to develop a strong presence in social media.

I don’t think that the acquisition targets will be any of the current top players (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest). I think that the targets will be smaller up and coming players that can fit into their social media portfolio.

6. Bing Will Focus Their Business on Embedded Partnerships: At the November Web Summit conference in Dublin, Bing’s Stefan Weitztalked about Bing’s focus:

The question is, where is search really going? It’s unlikely we’re going to take share in [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][the pure search] space, but in machine learning, natural language search… and how we can make search more part of living. For us, it’s less about Bing.com, though that’s still important. It’s really about how we can instead weave the tech into things you’re already doing.

Look to Bing to keep working on partnerships to embed search technology in other people’s devices and apps, and to acquire companies with devices or apps that they can enhance with search technology.

7. Yahoo Will Continue to Build Their Presence in Search: Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer was recently able to complete a deal with Mozilla Corp to take over as the default search engine in Firefox. This was just a start for Yahoo, and you should expect that they will pursue more such opportunities.

This will put them head to head with Bing in pursuing these types of strategies. This creates an interesting dynamic because the Yahoo – Bing search partnership arrangement is due to last until July of 2019, so there is a long way to go there yet! But, Yahoo will work around the edges of this deal in as many ways as possible. One way or another, Yahoo is staying in search.

8. The EU Will Continue to Go After Google: It’s no secret that theEuropean Union is not fond of Google. To be sure, much of this is because of the ignorance of many regulators on how the Interwebs work, but, there is also the very real concern with how important Google has become.

Google is more powerful, and independent of, most governments. This has come about because the value of their service is so high, and so far ahead of competition. You can say what you want about their motives/morality/evilness, but the basic fact of their power does raise concerns.

I, for one, believe they remain a pretty ethical organization (not perfect, but better than most), but that does not mean that this will last indefinitely. The EU is going to continue pushing them hard. Don’t be surprised if you see some shocking rulings coming out of Europe.

9. Net Neutrality Will Suffer a Setback in the US: I hate this prediction, but I do believe there is a decent chance that network neutrality will take a hit this year. A ruling is expected out of the FCC early this year. This could mean that network carriers can start treating service providers differently. For example, they could choose to lower bandwidth for YouTube videos, either to offer a competing service, or to make YouTube pay fees to get higher bandwidth.

This would severely hamper the fundamental freedoms which the Internet provides. I know, you may disagree with what I just wrote about that, and this is your right. But whether or not you agree with me on whether or not this is good or bad, I do believe that there will be some changes to Network Neutrality in the US in 2015. Hopefully, they will be small ones!

Summary

There are 9 predictions for you for 2015. I’d love to hear what your thoughts are on what will happen in the coming year. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Forbes.com | January 6, 2015 | Eric Enge

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