There are a variety of well-curated internet and social media marketing blogs and websites that offer great free webinars about social media. Regularly listing to webinars or podcasts from experts in the field that you are trying to improve on can help increase your expertise while keeping you up-to-date with the best marketing practices. Below are some great webinar resources for marketers looking to keep their skills sharp.
Hubspot: You can’t fault Hubspot for following their own advice when it comes to offering free resources to customers and users. Their Internet Marketing Webinar section of Hubspot.com has several free webinars about social media and internet marketing. You can view a live webinar or view all of their past webinars on demand.
Social Media Today: Social Media Today has a occasional webinars that tie in to current news and events. As these webinars are live, it’s important to check the webinar pages often to see a schedule of upcoming webinars.
Buddy Media/Salesforce: Buddy Media is a company owned by Salesforce.com, and has a great list of on-demand Social Media Webinars. They also offer free white papers.
HootSuite: If you use HootSuite for your social media marketing, they offer related webinars that show users how to use their products to improve their social media marketing.
VerticalReponse: VerticalResponse has a list of their past recorded webinars that can be listened to at any time. Each webinar focuses on a different expert and their take or expertise on a particular topic.
It is important to note that many of these webinars are viewable once you fill out a form giving the company your information. While free webinars are definitely a resource that can help your marketing strategy, it is OK to be wary about what information you give to companies. Each of the above mentioned are reputable, but be sure to make sure that the company is legitimate and practices the same methods they preach.
Other free resources that can help you increase your social media marketing knowledge include podcasts, audiobooks (if you check them out from the library), and white papers. In addition, subscribing to social media marketing blogs is an easy way to stay updated. SoundGecko is a free service that will transcribe articles into MP3s (and then email them to you) so you can also listen to them while driving, working, or exercising. For many, listening to information can help them retain it much better.