Hubspot Academy: Inbound Marketing
HubSpot offers a variety of courses with certifications that focus on various aspects of Inbound Marketing. They offer a general Inbound Marketing certification as well as several specific courses on topics such as email marketing and content management. HubSpot has developed a partner program in which they provide additional resources for professors in higher education. For more information, visit academy.hubspot.com/about-the-education-partner-program. I use the SEO and Email Marketing Certifications in my Strategic Internet Marketing course.
Weebly: Website Design
Personal Branding is becoming more important for not only current marketers but for graduating seniors who are entering the job market. Weebly offers a simple to use website creation platform with excellent training resources. Requiring students to learn how to create a personal branding website is not only a great class assignment but also helps them on the job market. Weebly has a free account that is excellent for class exercises; however, for personal branding a paid account should be required as course materials. The cost is approximately $100 for a full year of website hosting and domain registration. I require that my students create a website and while they can use another option such as Wix or WordPress, most marketing students find Weebly easier to use. To sign up for a free account, go to www.weebly.com. This site was created using Weebly.
Google Analytics Academy
In addition to creating a personal branding website, the students learn about measuring effectiveness by connecting Google Analytics. I have them complete Google Analytics for Beginners. In addition to look at the analytics for their personal websites, we use the Demo Account for the Google Merchandise store to look at the analytics of an ecommerce store. I highly recommend including this in your digital course. You can sign up at Google Analytics Academy.
StoryboardThat: Digital Storytelling
StoryboardThat allows you to create storyboards using layouts and images and is great for those who lack drawing skills. I have used it myself since drawing is not one of my talents. The platform is very easy to use. There is a free account that students can sign up for and still have plenty of options available for use. Great for creating TV ads and YouTube videos. To sign up for a free account go to http://www.storyboardthat.com/.
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HootSuite University: Social Media Management and Education
HootSuite is the leading provider of Social Media Management Solutions. They have as their clients over 700 of the Fortune 500 companies. They offer HootSuite Academy which is their certification program for social media management using the HootSuite platform. Additionally, they provide excellent courses on social media strategy. Professors can enroll their students in the course at no cost to the student or university. I suggest that you complete the program with your students. I earned my own HootSuite Certification at hootsuite.com/pages/landing/student-program
