Stand Out in One of the Fastest Growing Professions
The San Francisco Bay Area is home to social commerce giants like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and YouTube, and all companies – local, regional, and national – are hiring social media professionals to assist with the growing online demand from their customers. In fact, job postings for social media positions on LinkedIn have grown a record 1,357% since 2010. The need for professionals specializing in social media is rapidly increasing, and there’s no better time to hone your marketing expertise to meet this emerging market.
Whether you want to jump-start your career in social media or just want to incorporate new marketing techniques and skills into your current position, Cal State East Bay’s Online Social Media Marketing Certificate Program provides you with the necessary training in the practical and strategic components of social media marketing.
Best in the West
Selected as a "Best in the West" college by The Princeton Review
Faculty Excellence
Led by experienced social media and online marketing practitioners
Best Online Colleges
Ranked as No. 3 Among California's Best Online Colleges
Learn Through an Engaging and Dynamic Curriculum
Becoming a social media expert involves active participation and not just theory, and that’s why you’ll receive dynamic training to learn current best practices for using social platforms to market effectively and achieve results for your business, employer, or personal career goals.
By taking advantage of this unique program, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of social media marketing from responding to negative commentary to building your company’s brand and measuring efforts. You’ll enjoy interactive online courses that impart the knowledge, experience, and practical skills you’ll need as a social media professional.
Make a Global Impact in the Social Media Community
You may be familiar with using social media for personal networking, but leveraging it to support business strategy takes formal training and specialized knowledge. As a social media expert, you’ll be in charge of maintaining a social media presence on a global level—implementing social media marketing campaigns, creating engaging and dynamic content, generating web traffic, leads and sales, developing brand awareness, monitoring social media profiles, and analyzing reports.
As a Cal State East Bay graduate, you’ll leave the program equipped to think strategically about social media.
By earning your Certificate in Social Media Marketing, you’ll be prepared for a variety of professional social media roles including social media manager, social media strategist, online community manager, social media marketing coordinator, blogger, copywriter, consultant, analyst, and more.
Occupational Outlook
The top three industries for social media managers include administrative and support and waste management and remediation services; professional, scientific, and technical services; and information.
- QCEW Employees - Emsi
The national median salary for advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales managers is $129,090.
- QCEW Employees - Emsi
86% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their businesses.
-Social Media Examiner, 2020 Social Media Marketing Industry Report
Expand Your Social Network on a Professional Level
Whether you’re pursing your next career or enhancing your current one, Cal State East Bay’s Online Social Media Marketing Certificate Program provides you with the knowledge and skills to take your marketing abilities to the next level by expanding your reach to a whole new audience.
Gain the knowledge and expertise to take your marketing skills to the next level.
As a Cal State East Bay graduate, you’ll leave the program equipped to think strategically about social media, layer social media initiatives into corporate communications, and tie everything back to your company’s bottom line. In fact, at the core of the program’s curriculum is an opportunity to research, develop, and write a social media strategy plan for your current business, start-up idea, or non-profit. With hands-on experience under your belt, you’ll not only boost your resume but also possess the competitive edge to stand out in any organization.
By participating in this program, I have solidified myself as a Social Media Marketing professional by learning best practices and expanding my understanding of various social media platforms.
In the program, we not only look at outside businesses but our own as well. Having that assistance from professionals in the industry was invaluable and truly helped me learn more about my business and how to help others. Completing the program has given me the confidence to apply to social media positions.
Program Objectives
By successfully completing the Social Media Marketing program, you’ll have the skills to:
Build effective online marketing strategies and campaigns, and employ web analytics tools to track and measure success.
Synthesize conflicting points of view through active case discussion.
Apply Web 2.0, social media, mobile, and emerging technologies as marketing and promotional tactics.
Demonstrate advanced knowledge of social media business concepts.
Program Format
The Social Media Marketing Certificate Program is conveniently offered online.
Certificate Requirements
To earn a Certificate in Social Media Marketing, you must complete six required courses.
View the current schedule of available courses here.
| EXTX 301 Creating Social Media Marketing Campaigns |
| EXTX 302 Using Social Media for Public Relations and Marketing |
| EXTX 303 Writing Social Media Content |
| EXTX 304 Measuring and Tracking Social Media Metrics |
| EXTX 305 Reputation Management, Crisis Communications and Legal Issues of Social Media |
| EXTX 306 Social Media Practicum Strategy and Plan Development |
Susan Barnes
I believe in learning through experience and practice. I encourage students to practice what they learn and my classes emphasize practical skills over theory.
Susan Barnes is the president and founder of Susby Digital Marketing, LLC, a consulting firm located in Oakland, California. At Susby, Barnes manages all aspects of digital marketing for her clients including search marketing, social media marketing, website design, and development and analytics reporting. Her eighteen years in the Digital Marketing industry spans many roles including vice president, project manager, developer, designer, instructor, professor, founder, and marketing consultant. Key clients include SAP, PIER 39, Blue & Gold Fleet, E29 Marketing and Village Associates Real Estate.
Barnes teaches classes in Social Media Marketing, Digital Marketing, and Advertising at University of San Francisco, and has taught at San Francisco State University, Hult International Business School, and Notre Dame de Namur University.
Her book: Like, Follow, Share: Awesome, Actionable Social Media Marketing to Maximize Your Online Potential was published in 2015 by Tycho Press.
Barnes received bachelor’s degrees with Pi Kappa Lambda Honors in Music and Studio Art from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and College. She also holds a master’s degree in Clarinet Performance from Northwestern University and a certificate in Internet Design and Technology from San Francisco State University’s Multimedia Studies Program where she was the recipient of the Robert Bell Award for outstanding achievement.
Salina Fountain
Salina Fountain is a local sales and enablement manager at Yelp. Previously joining Yelp, she was a marketing manager for Campus Dining at California State University, East Bay and successfully launched marketing campaigns for brands like Starbucks, Einstein Brothers, and Subway. She has a diverse background in digital advertising, experiential marketing, and event marketing. She specializes in helping brands, companies, and organizations maintain a culture and cohesive brand language. This visionary millennial is results-driven, creative, professional, and has a witty personality.
Fountain graduated from Tennessee State University, one of the top Historically Black Colleges in the United States. Also, she has studied hospitality marketing in places like Paris, Belgium, Amsterdam, Colombia, and Cape Town.
Marguerite Hinrichs
Marguerite Hinrichs, a San Francisco native, currently serves as CSUEB's Director of Student Life and Leadership Programs, where her team is responsible for the successful coordination of New Student and Family Orientation programs, over 100 student clubs and organizations, a variety of student leadership development programs, and campus life events. In addition, Ms. Hinrichs teaches Special Events Management 1 & 2. Ms. Hinrichs is the owner of The PR Lady & Associates - a small PR, marketing, event planning, and social media marketing consulting business. Currently a second year doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership and Social Justice program at CSUEB, Ms. Hinrichs looks forward to earning her Doctorate in May of 2019.
Avery Horzewski
We cannot NOT communicate! Everything we do and don’t do sends a message—and never is that more apparent than in social media. I love helping students learn the value of social media as a communication tool and how to use it in the real world to engage with their audiences.
Avery Horzewski is president of AVE Consulting, a marketing and customer communication consulting organization that helps companies of all sizes develop and refine their communication strategies. Her projects run the gamut of communication vehicles, from print to Web to social. Her eclectic client list includes ACT Medical, Adobe Systems, Aruba Networks, Borland, CareFusion, Cisco Systems, Cooley Godward, Coremetrics, DocuSign, E*Trade, Exordium Group, Logitech, MidPen Housing Services, Netflix, PagerDuty, SAP, and Symantec.
Horzewski began her career as a marketing writer at Hitachi Data Systems, and before leaving to start AVE Consulting, she advanced to the position of director in Web content and design. In this role, she was responsible for creative direction, overall site strategy, and day-to-day management. Since launching AVE, Horzewski has helped several organizations develop and execute their social media strategy, including SAP Analytics, one SAP’s longest-running and most successful product social channels.
She also regularly speaks about social media to groups interested in learning more about this medium, its impact on business, and best practices for implementing; and she served as a social media program advisor and instructor at San Francisco State University where she taught “Social Media Campaigns” and "Social Media in the Real World: Bringing It All Together."
She holds a B.A. and an M.A in Speech Communication from Cal State East Bay.
You’re Invited to Enroll
No application is needed to enter the program. You may enroll in any class at any time. The only exception is the final “Social Media Practicum” class, which requires the successful completion of all other classes to ensure your understanding of social media best practices. Exceptions require instructor approval.
Admission Requirements
Admission to the Online Social Media Marketing Certificate Program is open to any interested student who can satisfactorily complete the program coursework. If you’re not quite ready to commit to the full program, individual courses can be taken without formal admission to the certificate program.
Since this program is held entirely online, you should be comfortable using both a computer and popular social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
At Cal State East Bay, we pride ourselves on putting students first, from the moment you inquire until you graduate. We hope you've found answers to your questions in this support center, but if not, please get in touch.