Social media is still a relatively new format for communication on both a personal and professional level. Whether you jumped right in or still hesitate to create an online environment for yourself you can always find help if you know where to look for it. Free and paid coursework and networking is available online and around the Los Angeles area to inform you on the vast possibilities social media provides.
There are a variety of courses offered to the personal or professional social media user through UCLA extension. Classes offered in mastering branding and advertising for your professional accounts as well as building an audience for your personal sites. There are also classes offered that deal in internet basics including browsing, making a determination if a website is safe and beginning on social media for those 50 and over.
- Best Practices in Social Media for the Communications Professional
- Social Media Marketing
- Internet Catch-up for Boomers and Above: Part II
- Advertising in the Digital Age
- Personal Branding Boot Camp
- Building an Online Audience
Meetup.com is a social site that allows users to organize and plan various get-togethers with others sharing a common interest. For a small fee an organizer creates a group and sets perimeters for others to join. If you don’t find exactly what you are looking for on Meetup.com you can always create it yourself.
Searching the Los Angeles area for social media and setting a radius from your home base, several professional and recreational meetups are sure to appear.
A few of the meetups in the Los Angeles area for marketing through social media where professionals come together to discuss current trends as well as brainstorm new ideas and networking are listed below.
- Social Media Campfire
- Internet Marketing and Social Media 101
- The Los Angeles Social Networking Meetup Group
Meetups of a more social nature that allow the attendees to get together and make videos, discuss blogging and personal social networking websites are also available with a quick search. All it takes is to enter a website name or key word and find the one that is right for you.
Another great tool to use from home is iTunes U. Currently over 1000 colleges and universities from around the world offer free lectures, videos and books to iTunes users. With an assortment of subjects including social media at your fingertips it seems prudent to check out what is available.
- Mastering Social Media presented by Writers Guild of America East
- Networking and Social Media presented by Seattle Pacific University, Center for Career and Calling
- Social Media and the Digital Revolution presented by Aspen Ideas Festival
- Social Media and Technology presented by Appalachian State University
- Engage: Social Media Talks presented by Oxford University
Comments