Social media is a blessing and a curse for most business owners. Done right, social media can bolster leads, help shape your brand voice, and gain you a great deal of exposure. Done wrong, social media can be downright ineffective or even blow up into a PR nightmare, depending on the situation. While you may know how to use your own personal social media profiles to communicate with friends and family, running a social media profile for a business is a different story and may require that you take a few social media classes.

Here at 435 Digital, we see a lot of different mistakes made on social media profiles run by business owners and their staff. We’ve gathered some of the common ones here and will be running through them Jeff Foxworthy-style.

You Know You Need Social Media Classes When…

1. Your business Twitter account is packed full of your personal Foursquare check-ins – You figured out how to link the two accounts, which turned out to be a bad idea for your business account. Very few people care to get constant updates about where you like to eat when they are trying to get info about your business.

2. You often mistakenly post personal updates on your business’ Facebook page – it’s easy to do if you’re the admin and can lead to some pretty unprofessional updates. Things you rant about to your close network of friends may not be what you want potential customers seeing.

3. You have 5 posts on a random Tuesday and none again until two weeks later – nothing screams spam like posting a ton of updates all at once on the same day. Most people don’t want to hear from you much more than once a day, which is dependant on your audience size, type of business, etc. Understanding when to post and being consistent about it can really help build your following.

4. You’ve never heard of Pinterest – Pinterest drives a lot of traffic these days. If you’ve never heard of this social media platform, it’d be a great idea to seek out a social media class to learn how it can be used to benefit your business.

5. You’ve gotten into arguments with customers on your social media profiles for all to see – When people post unflattering commentary on your social media profiles, it’s easy to want to respond and defend yourself. This is usually a terrible idea and can do a lot to harm your brand identity online. Learning how to handle criticism on your social media profiles can help you diffuse these types of situations and show your customers that you believe in good customer service.

Social media shouldn’t just be something that you do because you think you should. It should be something you do because you want to reach out to customers and create a community around your business. Using the right strategy and better understanding how to navigate the various social media platforms can lead to stronger branding for your business and increase your digital marketing leads.

To wrap things up, we have a few tips for anyone interested in attending a social media class:

• Take advantage of the knowledge of the instructor and ask questions.
• Take notes! You’ll likely need to review what you learned as you develop your social media strategy.
• Network with the other attendees and learn more about how they’re using social media to grow their businesses.
• If everything seems overwhelming and beyond what you want to deal with, don’t panic. You can always hire a digital marketing agency to help you get the most from your social media efforts.

If you’re interested in scheduling a social media training session with our experts, call us today at 855-687-6397. We cater our training for everyone from small to large businesses and would be interested to hear more about what you struggle with when using social media for your business.

The post You Know You Need Social Media Classes When… appeared first on 435 Digital.

Great news. This fall, we are offering a series of strategy classes for non-profit professionals and volunteers. The classes are offered in partnership with Chicago Non-Profit, which provides resources and workshops to more than 1,200 local non-profits.

Please see below for our complete schedule and registration information. Our six classes include:

Social Media for Non-Profits: Designing Your Social Media Strategy

Facebook for Non-Profits: Part One

Facebook for Non-Profits: Part Two

Twitter for Non-Profits

Building & Maintaining Your Social Media Dashboard

Tying It All Together:  A Panel Discussion on Social Media for Non-Profits

Because these classes are designed specifically for the non-profit community, reduced prices start at $25 per class.  The classes are based on our curriculum which has been taught to more than 1,000 professionals nationwide since March.

All of the classes will be held at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, which is located in the AON Center. Classes run three hours and will include time for networking with fellow attendees.

Below is a list of the six classes I will be teaching.  Chicago Non-Profit is offering four additional classes in partnership with the Young Professionals of Chicago, creative go-round and 20k films.  Topics include branding, creating short videos using an iPhone, and creating fundraising events. Please visit Chicago Non-Profit’s website for more information  about those classes.

Questions? Problems registering? Please call or email Chicago Non-Profit.

I hope to see you at one or all of our social media classes!

Classes for Non-Profit Professionals & Volunteers

Social Media for Non-Profits: Designing Your Strategy, $25/$35

In this overview class, learn how to design a social media strategy that is customized to the needs of a non-profit. We will discuss how to select the right platform, share content effectively, grow your following, monitor and respond to real-time conversations, and create social media guidelines for your employees.

Wednesday, Aug. 24 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. | AON Center | Click here for more info & to register

Facebook for Non-Profits: Part One, $35/$50

This is an introductory course to the world’s largest social network–Facebook.  In this course, you will learn how to create a profile both for yourself and a page for your nonprofit. We will also discuss how to grow your following and protect your privacy.

Tuesday, Sept. 13 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. | AON Center | Click here for more info & to register

Facebook for Non-Profits: Part Two, $35/$50

In this intermediate class, learn how to design and grow a dynamic Facebook page for your nonprofit.  We will discuss how to create a calendar for sharing content, select apps to customize your page and analyze Facebook Insights to track your page’s growth.

Wednesday, Oct. 5 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. | AON Center  | Click here for more info & to register

Twitter for Non-Profits, $35/$50

This intermediate class is for people who are already familiar with Twitter. In this intermediate course, we will show you how to take full advantage of your nonprofit’s Twitter profile. You will learn how to quickly grow your following, share relevant information and monitor real-time conversations about your brand.

Wednesday, Oct. 26 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. | AON Center | Click here for more info & to register

Building & Managing Your Social Media Dashboard, $35/$50

In this advanced class, learn how to manage your social media profiles by creating a customized social media dashboard. We’ll walk you through both Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, the most popular free social media dashboards.  We’ll also discuss how to recruit the right person to help manage your nonprofit’s social media profiles.

Wednesday, Nov. 9 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. | AON Center | Click here for more info & to register

Tying It All Together: A Panel Discussion on Social Media for Non-Profits, $20/$35

You’ve learned what it takes to create an effective social media strategy — now hear the success stories of four Chicago nonprofits. We will discuss how they created their strategies, what worked and didn’t work, lessons learned and their advice to other nonprofits. Panelists TBA.

Wednesday, Nov. 30 | 5:3o p.m. to 8 p.m. | AON Center | Click here for more info & to register

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