Digital Mums

[mrsvilliers]

Hi everyone, just wondered if anyone has done the Digital Mums course and what their hourly rate when they have got work through them? I'm currently doing freelance social media work through agencies but I find the hourly rate very low. Wondering if it would pick up with a job through Digital Mums.
Thanks

[PottyMouther]

Hi mumworkingfromhome I work for Digital Mums so don't want to give you a hard sell but to answer your question, we train mums in social media skills so they can find flexible work that fits around family life. You can read more about what we do here or happy to chat to you more if you wanted to direct message me. Hope that's helpful

[mumworkingfromhome]

Is DIgital Mums a new freelancer site for Mums? like Upwork or Elance?

[PottyMouther]

Hi JessGG I work for Digital Mums and am a long standing Mumsnetter! Hope you don't mind me coming on but I saw your message and wanted to point you in the direction of some independent blogs that our graduates have written here. These aren't monitored or posted by us and it's a good way to get an understanding of what the training involves. You can also contact graduates direct there for impartial insight on our training. Our co-head of learning has also written a blog which may help answer some of the questions on this thread around the cost of the training and amount of support which you can find here. Also happy to answer any questions if you wanted to direct message me. Very best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

[MyKingdomForACaramel]

Can I point out that something like google squared is 2k and will impress potential clients - so, to me, paying over £1200 for anything that is not going to impress clients is not vfm.

[JessGG]

I was just about to sign up for Digital Mums but am concerned to hear negative feedback - can anyone else who's done the course in 2017 let me know what they think? Thank you x

[SELondonMum]

Like ss134 I would also say that the Digital Mums course is not value for money. I have also finished the course and found the process incredibly frustrating. The quality of materials is not great. The interaction, which is a selling point, is non-existent. And the overall attitude is very much along the lines of "just give us your money". No formal grading, no actual feedback, no proper assessment and the pass criteria appears to be whether you paid them or not. That's not to say that you don't learn anything and the community support is good.

But overall, if you are strapped for cash and need support, I would think very carefully about signing up with DM versus other high quality training available in the same genre. I feel that DM very much prey on vulnerable mums with their mediocre training compared to another more general provider not just targeting mums.

[Melmo1]

Interested to hear more about google squared too. Costs etc
Thanks

[byronicheroine]

Me too, I've signed up for a September start...

[OrangeSunset]

I would be interested in the Google Squares feedback too, corach

[AlwaysOneMissing]

What made you choose the Google Squared course over others available corach?
I have looked at it but it just didn't grab me. It didn't seem very accessible, it looks very techy. I wonder if I have misjudged it.

[Rainie65]

I qualified as a Digital Mum over a year ago after 16 years as a stay at home mum. The course was fantastic and I now have a wonderful client (via Digital Mums) who I've been with since I qualified. The post course support via the DM Collective Facebook group is amazing, I've never experienced anything like it. There's always someone who can help with any questions or issues you may be having.

[corachcymraeg]

Thanks!
I've taken the plunge and am starting the Google Squared course on the 18th July!
I am so excited!

[AlwaysOneMissing]

This is literally the first negative feedback I have read about DM.

It's very hard to get unbiased reviews of it.
Have you managed to get work since the course?
Is the DM Collective as useful as it is claimed to be?

[ss134]

DM offer 2 courses. The basic social media management one where you run a social campaign and the more advanced one where you work with a live client. I did the first but know a few people who have done the second and had similar issues i.e. course content and structure potentially great but poor course materials and little guidance from DM.

Another thing is that, while the course is accredited, there is no final feedback and just a basic grade which means that it's not much use to show potential employers.

It's just a massively frustrating that they don't want to take on board feedback from previous and current students and hearing that the same situations are still going on is a bit infuriating.

Anyway, hope you find the right course for you!

[corachcymraeg]

Thanks for this insight, ss134. I've been looking at this course for a few months and trying to weigh up whether I should apply. They do have excellent PR and I have been looking around online for reviews, as everything I've come across has never been less than glowing, which to me did seem a bit strange.
I'm currently at a bit of a crossroads as my child starts school in September and I have taken somewhat of an extended career break due to my son's medical condition.
My background is in the commercial sphere (business development/client management) in the news/media and SAAS sector, so I've already got a bit of a grounding in social/digital. I've helped brands develop social marketing strategies to harness user-generated content on their sites, so I guess that I'm somewhat of a rusty digital strategist!
Being out of the game for 5 years has given the old confidence a bit of a knock, so I was thinking that doing a course that would offer me a real qualification at the end and some hands-on experience to take with me for job interviews, or to prospective clients, if I do decide to set myself up as a consultant.
I've just been looking at the Google Squared course, based on another comment further up this thread and have to say I'm really interested, plus it's priced competitively. The Google brand is also an added bonus.
Only downside I guess is that there isn't the practical experience you could get with a real life client, which seems to be a big plus with the DM course....
I'm going to do some research and speak to a few different course providers now, before I make a decision.
I'd love to hear about any other courses that people have heard of, or even better - taken.
Ideally I want something that is ongoing - maybe three to six months to complete, that has an industry-recognised qualification at the end of it.

[ss134]

Yes, finished it a while ago.

It's important to realise that it's NOT a digital marketing course. It's about how to run social media accounts. The actual format of the course is live learning which works very well but you need to run a social campaign which is fine if you're in a big city but much more challenging (and you'll get less out of it) if you're rurally based or somewhere people aren't actively on all platforms.

The reason I wrote this post is because the lack of honest reviews about Digital Mums out there. When I started all I could find was glowing reviews but since have been contacted by lots of people who completed before me saying they had the same problems. There are lots of frustrated and unhappy students out there! Also I'm aware that people who are just finishing are still experiencing the same.

Also depending on where you're based, many areas are at DM saturation point so people are finding it hard to find work!

Anyway, just my two pence. Just wanted to encourage people to look into all options before just buying into their great marketing.

Good luck with it all ☺️

[AlwaysOneMissing]

Have you done their course ss134?
Did you complete it, have you been able to start up a career in digital marketing? I have another thread about this at the moment, as I was considering signing up.
Yours is the first negative review I've heard.

[ss134]

If you are thinking of doing the Digital Mums course please look into all available options before parting with your money. Their SM gives the impression of a hands on course but the guidance, feedback, advice and help is little to none. The course materials are poorly put together and the organisation is a shambles. Would hate for anyone else to misguidedly throw away their savings as I have done when there are lots of other options out there. Don't believe the hype!!

[thepianist]

Definitely think the social media landscape is a tough one to keep on top of. Especially as now there is so much automation out there which does the job very cheaply eg. automating blog posts into Tweets, growing followers, reaching out to influencers etc.

As benchmarks I've had agencies quote £50 per month for social media work, though presumably thats really basic stuff.

And others have quoted £3k per month for video and Facebook ads..

There are already a few relevant Facebook groups out there, but none that are geared towards parents who might have other things to do as well as spending 15 hours per day behind a screen ;))

So Facebook group sounds like a great idea FKellett007.

[FKellett007]

I have just moved out of working for an agency and registered my business to go freelance. I have also been thinking of the Digital Mums course but have started forming my own training using facebook for business and Google's Digital Garage sessions. Mostly nothing new and just stuff that i alreay knew but always good to work through it all again and freshen up.

I have not had much luck on the freelancing sites as I think I am aiming my price too high, I generally charge £10-15 per hour as a basic figure?

Perhaps we should set up a facebook group to bounce ideas around? I think one of the most difficult things about being a freelancer is trying to keep on top of all the developments and changes in algorithms - that is where something like Digital Mums works really well as the graduates form a support group for each other to bounce ideas off!
x

[Becks1976]

Hi there, I was wondering if your hourly rate goes up if your more experienced, and if so to what? Also, do you know how they recruit people on to the course? Is there a competitive process? Thanks xx

[annikazam]

Hi Stevie77. Full transparency - I work at Digital Mums.

Google We Are Squared is a great course if you’re looking for a broad overview of the digital marketing landscape. The focus is on giving you a high-level understanding of all the things involved in developing a digital strategy. There’s a bit of practical project work, which you do in groups and is centred around pitching to a client, but the focus is on acquiring a general overview rather than a practical implementation of digital marketing.

Digital Mums is much more narrow - the focus is centred around social media marketing rather than the wider digital landscape - and much more hands-on. We have two programmes, with one being specifically aimed at professional marketeers where they execute a live campaign for an actual business. The idea is to give students an end-to-end understanding of what it takes to implement a social media campaign in the real world, so that by the time they finish they have six months of live experience. This gives them the confidence and skills to go on and find paid work involving it straight after (whether as a social media manager, consulting, etc.). Hope that's helpful, if you've any more questions feel free to PM me, very best of luck!