My Social Media Marketing Certification Through Hootsuite

Last year, I earned Hootsuite’s Certification in Social Media Marketing. Prior to purchasing it, I did a lot of research to find out what was involved, what others who had gone through it had to say, and if it was worth my time and financial investment.

If you are considering purchasing the exam through Hootsuite, here are my findings, experiences, and the reasons I chose to complete the program.

  • Hootsuite is a household name in the social media world. Hootsuite claims to be the most widely used platform for managing social media, with over 10 million users in over 175 countries. Their website includes case studies from MailChimp (of which I’m also a user), the City of New York, Five Guys, the Rockefeller Foundation, and many others.
  • Hootsuite University. This is their education arm, called Podium, where you can earn certifications on their products and/or the social media marketing certification. But if you don’t want to go this route, you can still download white papers, tool kits, and guides from the resource library on their main site at no charge. To me, this makes them a credible education entity to obtain a certification from.
  • Once you earn it, it’s yours forever. Unlike other certifications that need to be renewed, the social media marketing certification never expires.
  • Credibility for my business. Anyone can say they provide social media services, but the certificate on my website proves to people that I’m credible. It shows that I took the time to go through the program and pass the exam. My hope is that puts me ahead of other business owners who claim they do social media. I hope it shows my potential customers that I care about educating myself, I start what I finish, and I can do what I say I can do.
  • It’s on demand. I didn’t have to commit to a particular class time. I could complete it as my convenience.

What the Program is Like

The program contains six courses (though the first one is an optional intro to social media marketing for true beginners) and the exam.

Each course is divided into five or six sections, each containing between three and six videos, with a mini-quiz at the end of the sections. The topics range from optimizing your social media profiles, building a strategy, growing your followers, to content marketing fundamentals, and social media advertising. The program takes about four hours to complete, not including exam time.

Each course has materials for note taking, and case studies and examples for certain modules.

The exam has 60 questions, you have one hour to take it, and you can take it as many times as needed to pass. Completion of the exam gives you one free year of exclusive membership and a listing on Hootsuite’s certified professional directory.

My suggestions for you

  • You don’t have to watch the course videos to take the exam, but I recommend you do. Many of the exam questions are based on their curriculum. The videos are quick and interesting, and while I had a lot of social media knowledge already, I did learn something new.
  • If you have any experience whatsoever with social media, you can probably start with section 2. I read over the course materials for the first course, and chose to skip the videos.
  • Download the course materials and take additional notes. The course materials are a true overview, and don’t get into a lot of the details.
  • The mini-quizzes at the end of each section are really easy. Let that build your confidence, but don’t think the exam questions are that straight forward.
  • If the program is pricey for you ($199), watch for discounts. I took advantage of a 50 percent off promotion they were offering for a limited time.
  • If you’re not interested in paying for the certification, you can still view all of the video content and download the materials at no charge.

Overall, I felt my investment in the Hootsuite Social Media Marketing Certification was well worth my time and money.

If you’d like to learn more about using social media for your business, please contact me or join my email list below.

Scroll to Top