Social Media Course Schedule

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We’re in the process of finalizing our August/September lineup of classes, and have scheduled our Skype-taught online classes already:

• Blogging for Writers Online begins Tuesday, August 17th at 7pm-8:30pm Pacific (Vancouver/LA) time, runs weekly to October 5th; $250

Learn how to get the most out of blogs for promotion, sales, networking and (unexpectedly) to improve your writing.

In this hands-on workshop we’ll  cover setting up a blog, connecting with and managing an audience, using the blog for promotion and sales, and how a blog can make you a better writer, working our way through writers’ exercises and gathering feedback from the class. Be prepared to participate! You’ll be introduced to time-saving, inspirational tools like Zemanta, Flickr, Plinky Prompts, podcasting, and other geeky things that can make your writing life both easier and more creative.

The discipline of a daily blogger is a prerequisite to developing a body of work that functions as your online portfolio. Use your blogging as a tool to develop a powerful, confident voice and tackle writing challenges in a supportive, low-pressure environment. Includes weekly writing and technical exercises and benchmarks to help you analyze your progress and keep your work growing after the class ends.

To register, email bloggingclasses at gmail dot com to ensure there’s room for you, then prepay via the secure Paypal link.

• Getting Started in Social Media Online begins Tuesday, August 17th at 2pm-3:30pm Pacific (Vancouver/LA) time, runs weekly to October 5th; $250

This is a thorough, intensive introduction to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Friendfeed, and other popular social media platforms. We cover social media practices and ethics, the etiquette unique to each platform (and how not to go wrong!), how to set up your personal profile, privacy concerns, how to promote your events, product, and self via social media, and how to turn online connections into an offline social and business life. This workshop is a hands-on, lets-get-you-signed-up course. It will also allow you to make informed choices about your participation in the social media space in the future.

To register, email bloggingclasses at gmail dot com to ensure there’s room for you, then prepay via the secure Paypal link.

• Social Media for Business Online begins Thursday, August 19th at 2pm-3:30pm Pacific (Vancouver/LA) time, runs weekly to October 7th: $350

Social media can be difficult to navigate while maintaining a professional level of presentation. The goal of this course is to demystify each of the popular social media platforms, and to give you the skills you need to represent yourself, your company, and your profession authentically, ethically, and effectively online. You will be introduced to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other popular social media platforms. We will cover the etiquette unique to each platform, setting up both personal and business profiles, delegation, trust and authenticity in social media for companies, how to promote your events, product, and self via social media, and how to translate online connections into actual dollars. We will walk you through the process of signing up on each of the recommended platforms, and give you tips on how to use them most effectively, including an introduction to metrics.

To register, email bloggingclasses at gmail dot com to ensure there’s room for you, then prepay via the secure Paypal link.

These classes are taught online via Skype, so a good internet connection and microphone/headset are required. Payment is via the secure Paypal button at the top right-hand corner of the blog; Paypal will send you a receipt and I will send one as well. Please email bloggingclasses at gmail dot com to ensure there is room for you prior to registering.

All Skype classes are limited to an absolute maximum of 10 participant students; if the class fills up and there is a waiting list, we may make arrangements for extra people to listen in on the calls, but not participate in the Q&A.

We’ll also be teaching classes in person in the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown:

• Social Media for Non-Profits, Wednesday, August 18th with Wesley Regan of Building Opportunities for Business, Thirdi and Techvibes.com. Wes gave a short presentation on the topic to the Shebeen Club, and the enthusiastic response was such that we HAD to book him to teach a full-day course for us. Social Media for Non-Profits will run all day Wednesday, August 18th, from 9am through to 4:30pm with a break for lunch (provided; please let us know if you are vegetarian or vegan). Class size is limited to 12 to ensure personal attention. This is a hands-on workshop, so please bring a laptop, preferably the one you do your work on: $350

When it comes to social media no one is an expert, and everyone is an expert. The effectiveness of social media tools to create lasting social change has become the gorilla in the room to social media advocates eager to pronounce a new age in communications. The jury is still out. In fact, the jury is also the defendant, judge, media, lawyers and plaintiff.  But there have been some proven benefits and some tricks discovered in the brief time social media has been adopted into mainstream communications strategies. Wes aims to bring the mystique and hyperbole of social media down to earth, exploring its practical uses for environmental, political and social activism, and recounts some of his personal experiences on the social media frontier.

Wesley Regan has worked in marketing and communications since 2004, primarily in health and wellness and community economic development. He is currently the Communications Liaison at Building Opportunities with Business, a community economic development non-profit group active in Vancouver’s inner-city since 2005, and is the Industry Trends Blogger for Thirdi Software, a Yaletown based internet marketing and eCommerce firm. His commentary on technology, social media and economic development in Vancouver has also been featured in Techvibes.

To register, email bloggingclasses at gmail dot com to ensure there’s room for you, then prepay via the secure Paypal link.

• Blogging for Beginners, our foundation course. This course runs from 10am-2pm Saturday, August 21st, and class size is limited to 8. This is a hands-on workshop, so please bring a laptop: $150

Start from scratch and learn to post text, video, audio, and images. This workshop covers basic copyright and blog etiquette, intro to sidebar widgets, categories and tags, custom headers and design, and what on Earth to put IN the blog, as well as where to find technical help if you get stuck. By the end of the workshop you’ll have a fully-functioning WordPress.com blog with several blog posts already up. This course is particularly suited for writers, professionals looking for a low-cost online presence, family or social bloggers, and recreational bloggers.

To register, email bloggingclasses at gmail dot com to ensure there’s room for you, then prepay via the secure Paypal link.

• Social Media for the Confused. This course runs from 1pm-5pm Saturday, August 28th, and class size is limited to 8. This is a hands-on workshop, so please bring a laptop: $150

This class is a hands-on introduction to Flickr, YouTube, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other popular social media platforms. It covers the etiquette unique to each, pitfalls and opportunities, how to set up your profile, privacy concerns, how to reach out via social media, and how to connect with real friends. This course is not a lets-get-you-signed-up-on-everything course; we just don’t have time in four hours! It will, however, educate you about the different services available, and give you the perspective you need to make an informed choice about your participation in the social media space.

To register, email bloggingclasses at gmail dot com to ensure there’s room for you, then prepay via the secure Paypal link.

To register for any of these courses (or to suggest a different workshop) please email bloggingclasses at gmail dot com to ensure there’s space for you, then prepay via the secure paypal link at the top right-hand corner of the blog.