Today’s Digital Workforce: Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification

Staying Competitive in

Today’s widening digital skills gap impacts both businesses and employees. It has become more important than ever to empower professionals with social media education to provide value to business.

The Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification (ASMS), created by Hootsuite and Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications—two global leaders in digital communications—provides strategic social media skills to an evolving digital workforce.

The Story 81%

78%

90%

of ASMS participants surveyed say the ASMS Certification gave them strategic social media skills

of ASMS participants surveyed directly applied ASMS Certification skills to their current professional role

of ASMS participants surveyed found the ASMS Certification to be professionally valuable to further their career

Businesses are experiencing a serious lack of candidates with technical competencies.

The Challenge: Digital Skills Gap for an Evolving Workforce

of companies have a corporate social media policy

say that their employees’ knowledge of social media usage and policy is “good” or “very good”

85% 18%

The State of Social Business, Altimeter Report, 2013

As competitive companies scale their social media across the organization, a majority of their employees lack the technical skills to support strategic efforts.

In a recent survey of 43 countries, the most likely business solution to alleviate talent shortages was to train and develop existing staff to meet their business needs.

The Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification (ASMS) combines industry knowledge gained from the world’s most widely used social relationship platform and the academic excellence from one of North America’s most prestigious communication schools. The course, taught by Newhouse Social Media Professor Dr. William J. Ward, is comprised of 15 self-paced, comprehensive lessons on social media strategy and covers the entire social media ecosystem.

The Solution: Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification

To showcase the value of Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification, we spoke to four enrolled professionals to hear their insights.

Jason Boucher Social Media Manager at University of New Hampshire

Once a student at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and former President of Social Media Club New Hampshire, Jason Boucher now manages the growing social communities of students, prospects, and alumni for UNH. Jason first introduced the university to Hootsuite, eventually moving multiple teams online and becoming Hootsuite-certified through Hootsuite University. Recognizing an opportunity to further his professional skills, expand his career, and relay advanced strategy back to the university, Jason pursued ASMS Certification.

Jason’s Top ASMS Takeaways:

• Content Strategy: Jason learned how to turn a content calendar into a social media strategy for the university.

• Improve the ROI of Social: He learned how to define individual departmental and organizational social goals to optimize how success is measured.

• Enhance Career Growth: The certification enabled Jason to take a more senior look at his role and refine his career trajectory.

“Hootsuite and Syracuse University are both world renowned. With this additional education, I’m confident that I can grow my position as I bring that much more to the table.”

Jason Boucher, Social Media Manager at University of New Hampshire

Jason Boucher Social Media Manager at University of New Hampshire

Nick Nunes is a man of opportunity. Starting out at Bell Canada as a contractor, he was soon offered a permanent job as a Marketing Communications Manager, before eventually transitioning to his current role building Bell’s B2B social media strategy. As Social Media and Search Manager, he ensures messages from Bell Business are unified to support multiple business units. Working directly with more than 20 stakeholders and leaders who encourage him to grow his knowledge base, Nick took it upon himself to complete the ASMS Certification to enhance his career.

Nick Nunes Social Media and Search Manager at Bell Canada

Nick’s Top ASMS Takeaways:

• Strategic Communication Planning: Nick learned how to scale social across the organization, which is important as he connects with multiple departments.

• ROI Reporting: He discovered how to measure the ROI of social messages to prove its worth to executives.

• Case Studies: Through teachings from other organizations, Nick learned successful real world social media strategies to add more value to his business partnerships.

“Hearing about how these organizations solved their challenges and capitalized on opportunities from the case studies provided me with many key takeaways and motivated me to think outside the box. That knowledge and motivation ultimately adds value to my partnerships across Bell.”

Nick Nunes, Social Media and Search Manager, Bell Canada

Nick Nunes Social Media and Search Manager at Bell Canada

Two communications professionals at Safeway Operations (Canada) enrolled in ASMS Certification. Digital Marketing Specialist, Brenna White’s main enrolment goal was to educate colleagues, promote social to the executive team, and develop strategies for the future. Laura Arbuthnot, Digital Marketing Supervisor, wanted to streamline communications across the organization by advocating for social in every department.

Brenna White and Laura Arbuthnot Safeway Operations (Canada), Sobeys Inc.

Brenna and Laura’s Top ASMS Takeaways:

• Content Strategy & Curation Process: Both Brenna and Laura found the ideas and strategies useful for brainstorming new processes as they build a new content strategy from the ground up.

• ROI Reporting: They gained added knowledge on how to prove the ROI of social to secure more buy-in from executive teams.

• Improve Communication: Laura learned how invaluable social media and social relationship platforms are for collaborating and communicating among teams and organization-wide.

“Safeway is such a large company under a massive transition into Sobeys. With that comes silos of information and communication is critical. The ASMS Certification shed light on some ways to advocate social across the organization and break down internal barriers.”

Brenna White and Laura Arbuthnot, Safeway Operations (Canada), Sobeys Inc.

Brenna White and Laura Arbuthnot Safeway Operations (Canada), Sobeys Inc.

Social Media Education for Professionals and Businesses

The Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification from Hootsuite and Newhouse School benefits businesses as more candidates and employees are armed with the social skills necessary in today’s competitive digital landscape. Professionals who want to increase their knowledge and meet career goals will be suitably empowered through social media education. Learn more at newhouse.hootsuite.com