Digital marketing is constantly changing. What worked 10 years ago does not work anymore. For example, it was very easy to grow on Facebook back in the day, now it’s very challenging. Today, digital marketing is not only about numbers but also about content and entertainment. Over time, different new social media platforms and tools and taken a rise. Likewise, the interest of people in digital marketing has also risen. We can see recruiters asking for digital marketers to be someone who can do content, social media, paid ads, graphics, website, and SEO. That is a tedious job in itself and not everyone can master each of those skills. However, there is no harm in learning the skills and working on that one skill you enjoy the most and mastering that skill.
I learned about digital marketing through different blogs and videos on Google and YouTube back in 2012. I may and may not have taken all the courses for certificates that I am listing below. These certifications can be a roadmap for you if you want to gain skills to become a digital marketer.
Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
If you are a complete newbie, this is the course you need to take. It is a course provided exclusively for beginners by Google itself. The course is free and is accredited by Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe and The Open University. There are 26 modules and practical exercises to help you bring your knowledge into action.
Sign Up for the Fundamentals of digital marketing
Search Engine Fundamentals
These courses will teach you about SEO and how it helps you rank your website on different keywords. It is beginner friendly with many real-life examples
Sign up for Search Engine Fundamentals
Google Analytics
As a marketer, you will get to hear a lot about the views, data, who is watching, why is this not working and why is this working, the time for content, etc. After you know the basics of digital marketing, you will have to master Google Analytics to get a sneak peek at the marketing data of your website and app. It’s a must-know skill by any marketer.
Sign up to Analytics Academy Or Skillshop to learn about Google Analytics, Data Studio, and Google Tag Manager Fundamentals
Google Ads Certification
Do you see a lot of Paid Ads specialist job ads? Are you intrigued to know what skill you need to become a Paid Ads specialist? Then this is the one course you need to enroll in. It will help you to set up ads on Google. If you learned about the fundamentals of digital marketing, you should know there are two ways to get traffic to your side, one is organic and another is by paying.
Sign up for Google Ads Certification
HubSpot Certifications
HubSpot is very popular among marketers for sales, customer service, and CRM service. They have their own free certification programs which you can take and upon completion of the program you can add your certification on your LinkedIn profile to get recognized.
Sign Up to HubSpot Academy
SEMrush Certifications
SEMrush is very popular among marketers in SEO. If you want to become an SEO specialist, you will be using SEMrush at some point. If not SEMrush, there are other platforms as well however, the platform is easy to use and among one of the marketer’s favorite tools. You can take different SEO and content courses and also give an exam for free.
Sign up to SEMrush Academy
Master your Design Skills
Adobe Photoshop has been very popular for doing any graphics. However, not many can master Photoshop because it is very time-consuming to learn. As a social media marketer, you will not want to take a lot of your time enhancing your photo editing skills, sites like Canva makes things easier. It is very easy to create logos, blog banners, social media posts, and so on with Canva with its free and paid templates.
Sign up for Canva courses for a better understanding,
Facebook Certifications
Facebook loves you when you love its platform and promotes its services. It offers various courses and certifications for a marketer to master their skills. It is recognized by the businesses and you can get a point extra for having their certification on your resume.
Sign up for Facebook Certification
Google Data Analytics Certificate
All the above-mentioned courses will help you become better at digital marketing skills. Data analytics may not be a goal for many marketers. However, I highly recommend the course by Google on Coursera, it is not free but the knowledge and insight you gain about data and how you can use it will change the way you think. It will help you make a decision based on facts and data and as a marketer you can profit from this course.
Sign up for Google Data Analytics Certificate
These are the trusted sources for digital marketing programs and to enhance your skills. However, there are many other platforms as well, which I have not mentioned here. You are free to comment in the comment section if you know of any course that can benefit the readers. The path of learning is not easy, you will have to go through different resources to know about the stuff you may not know about. Try and search different platforms while reading the courses so you become clear on things you do not understand.