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Not every business can afford to add staff to look after their social media needs. Getting your organization the training it needs to leverage the power of social media is a matter of selecting the appropriate learning opportunities to round-out your team’s experience. Fortunately, there are plenty of options, both in Alberta and online, to upgrade your talent-level in a range of core social media competencies.

Click here to find our Twitter list of all the people featured in our suite of social media related stories in this month’s issue of Alberta Venture.

You Have: The 20-year-old Facebook wonder-kid
Check out: register.ecampusalberta.ca
eCampus Alberta offers a range of courses to help shape your inexperienced 20-year-old Facebook wonder-kid into a polished business communicator. A variety of affordable courses start regularly online
and at campuses throughout Alberta.

Options include:

• Business Communications
  Bow Valley, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, others $369+
  Typical courses include grammar and spelling, punctuation, correct word usage, proofreading skills, letter- and memo-writing and etiquette, concise written expressions, sentence clarity and variety, effective research strategies and more.
• Marketing Essentials
  Grande Prairie Regional College, Grant MacEwan, others $355+
  Develop business problem solving skills. Learn the case method. Study buyer decision process analysis. Get acquainted with techniques used in defining and selecting target markets. Survey the components of marketing mix and how they apply to solving marketing problems.

You Have: The old-school marketing dogs
Check out: www.ulistic.com
If your old-school marketing dogs could stand to learn some new media tricks, a handful of reputable local companies, including Calgary-based consultants Ulistic.com, offer services and training in all things social media. Ulistic’s search engine optimization and online marketing workshops draw good reviews and there’s a nice-looking introductory seminar to get you networking on LinkedIn. Online, Marketwire has recently launched sm10×30.com, a free series of 30-minute, email-based social media “workouts” that are a great choice for technical neophytes and intermediate-level PR types.

You Have: The Executive
Check out: www.usanfranonline.com (USD$2,480)
A great online option for executives is available through the University of San Francisco, which offers a well-rounded, though not inexpensive program, that includes study in social media fundamentals, content creation and management, key metrics and measurement, social media ethics and legal considerations. Whatever training option you pursue, remember to thoroughly check-out your potential service provider.

Remember:
15,000 “social media experts” on Twitter and zero university-accredited social media programs – You do the math.

July 2010 Contents