retraining in social media management / digital marketing

[misszbee]

I am going to be offered redundancy either tomorrow or early next week, I don't have to take it voluntarily and can throw my hat in with the rest of my dept and whoever scores lowest on a number of criteria will be the one to go. It probably won't be me, so feel that my job is safe.
However, I recently returned to work full time after 12 months mat leave and I'm finding it hard to balance life and work. I really feel like I want the flexibility of working freelance and a career change.
I have been looking at the Digital Mums Associate Program and wondering if anyone has any feedback about it that is current? All the relevant threads on here are a bit old and I really need to hear from someone who has completed the course recently.
Or are there any other social media management or digital marketing training courses that you can recommend?
I am about to start the Google Digital Garage training as it is free and as good a place as any to start I suppose.
Any insight greatly appreciated!

SMM and Digital is a very well-populated field. I have recently been involved in recruiting in that field and we were spoilt for choice.

Q1. Are you willing/able to start at the very bottom once you have got some basic qualifications? Like 15-20k junior gruntwork roles?
Q2. Is your (professional) social networking already absolutely on point? By its nature the people in these roles have very strong presences and networks and often get jobs through them (ditto about knowing about all the different channels available, and how to understand if they are the right ones for an particular company to be on)
Q3. Without being too nosey, are you the right person? Rightly or wrongly, a large proportion of SM types are quite youthful, with fingers on industry pulses and the ability to be highly flexible and adaptive. Being unable to attend and live tweet an event (for random example) because it's out of hours, would not be well received.

@BuzzShitbagBobbly that's quite an aggressive response, and doesn't actually address my question about a particular training course provided by Digital Mums.
You also seem to assume I have no knowledge of the industry, but actually I currently work for an international multimedia company, and in fact, I am looking to move away from that type of environment and would like to help smaller businesses get their brands seen out there.

I'd love to hear from anyone who does actually have experience with the Digital Mums training. Was your experience a positive one? I've been having a bit of difficulty getting some responses from them in regards to the training I'm interested in and feel reluctant to hand over my hard earned if they turn out to be a bit rubbish with communication.

I was going to post what Buzz said. If you are looking at training I would still say those concerns are justified as you don't have the right skills if you need training.

Huh? It wasn't meant to be aggressive, but sorry you read it that way.

I was just giving my immediate thoughts having been hiring digital/social roles very recently and trying to help you with "any insight" in retraining for that.

I shan't trouble you again for fear of offering the wrong type of information though.

Hi I did the digital mums course a few years ago so it may not be the up to date info I know you are looking for. (my experience wasn't brilliant at all) but I know others are more enthusiastic!) I have also been lucky enough to sit on a panel last month recruiting a social media/ digital marketing person and it was noticeable that some of the really good candidates had either done IDM/CIM Digital Marketing Courses, they definitely gave more thoughtful answers about when to use different channels and how. For the role we were recruiting for we wanted people to have an idea of digital strategy and were looking for more than someone who could attend an event and live tweet say. I

Licia thank you This is really helpful. I have actually now heard back from DMs and it seems they have changed the Associate Program to something more comprehensive so I will likely still look into it. I believe there are graduates who have been reluctant to be too honest about their experiences as the reputation that comes with being a Digital Mum is seen as a big plus.

Hi yes it may be that if your focus is small businesses then Digital Mums may work for you. I have to say that with the small businesses I was trying to get work with after the course, very few had heard of Digital Mums..But I know the people that were successful had thought of a real niche in terms of targeting e. G particular types of businesses. Good luck!

I don't think @BuzzShitbagBobbly was being aggressive - I think that was a very well thought out and honest answer.

I work in this area - and all those points were valid. It's a highly competitive area now, every dog and his dick have seemed to turn their hand to 'social media management' or 'digital marketing' especially those who want to work for themselves.

I've known some people do the Digital Mums stuff and it generally seems to be the ones that fall into that category or run other small businesses of their own.

As an employer and an employee, I've never known anyone give that much weight to it and personally, I'd go down the IDM/CIM route and get a proper qualification as that's what a lot of companies are automatically looking for, and will help to get past the initial CV sift.

Again as @BuzzShitbagBobbly said - make sure your social media accounts are on point - if you want to work in this area, potential employers or clients probably will want to see how you are online.

@misszbeemisszbee i was wondering which course you went with in the end and if you would recommend it? I'm in a similar position to you and think sharpening my digital skills would really help my job search, but dont want to make the wrong course choice. Any feedback would be great, thanks!

I'm about to star the IDM Social Media course. They have an offer on. This seems to be a more recognised course.
Like you, I am wanting to do something more flexible and be home based.
I am worried though, that it will be hard to get employment and I'd have to start at the bottom.
I do have volunteer experience in social media and also a Journalism qualification (not degree level although I have degrees in other subjects).
It would be good to hear from those in the marketing/social media fields as to where to look for such jobs, especially home based or remote.

Sorry to hijack thread OP, but I am also intrigued with the prospect of getting into a similar line of work and actually felt the advice from @BuzzShitbagBobbly was incredibly honest and realistic; spot on really so thanks for starting this thread. I wish @BuzzShitbagBobbly would come back with more advice and wish OP the best of luck. It is tough out there but if you are prepared and ready for it, you stand a good chance of success.

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