Staying Competitive in

Today’s Digital Workforce:

Advanced Social Media
Strategy Certification
 The Story
Today’s widening digital skills gap impacts both
businesses and employees. It has become more
important than ever to empower professionals with
social media education to provide value to business.
The Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification
(ASMS), created by HootSuite and Syracuse
University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public
Communications—two global leaders in digital
communications—provides strategic social media
skills to an evolving digital workforce.

81%
of ASMS participants sur-
78%
of ASMS participants
90%
of ASMS participants surveyed
veyed say the ASMS Certi- surveyed directly applied found the ASMS Certification
fication gave them strategic ASMS Certification skills to to be professionally valuable to
social media skills their current professional role further their career
 The Challenge
Digital Skills Gap for an Evolving Workforce

Businesses are experiencing a serious lack of

candidates with technical competencies.

85%
of companies have
18%
said that their employees’
a corporate social knowledge of social me-
media policy dia usage and policy was
“good” or “very good”

The State of Social Business, Altimeter Report, 2013

As competitive companies scale their social

media across the organization, a majority of their
employees lack the technical skills to support
strategic efforts.
 The Solution
Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification

In a recent survey of 43 countries, the most likely

business solution to alleviate talent shortages was
to train and develop existing staff to meet their
business needs.
The Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification
(ASMS) combines industry knowledge gained
from the world’s most widely used social
relationship platform and the academic excellence
from one of North America’s most prestigious
communication schools.
The course, taught by Newhouse Social Media
Professor Dr. William J. Ward, is comprised of 15
self-paced, comprehensive lessons on social media
strategy and covers the entire social media ecosystem.
 The Results
To showcase the value of Advanced
Social Media Strategy Certification,
we spoke to four enrolled
professionals to hear their insights.
Jason Boucher

The Results
Social Media Manager at
University of New Hampshire
Once a student at the University of New
Hampshire (UNH) and former President of
Social Media Club New Hampshire, Jason
Boucher now manages the growing social
communities of students, prospects, and
alumni for UNH. Jason first introduced the
university to HootSuite, eventually moving
multiple teams online and becoming HootSuite
Certified through HootSuite University.
Recognizing an opportunity to further his
professional skills, expand his career, and relay
advanced strategy back to the university,
Jason pursued ASMS Certification.
Jason Boucher

The Results
Social Media Manager at
University of New Hampshire

Jason’s Top ASMS Takeaways:

• Content Strategy: Jason learned how to turn a content

calendar into a social media strategy for the university.

• Improve the ROI of Social: He learned how to define individual

departmental and organizational social goals to optimize how
success is measured.

• Enhance Career Growth: The certification enabled Jason

to take a more senior look at his role and refine his career
trajectory.

“HootSuite and Syracuse University are both

world renowned. With this additional education,
I’m confident that I can grow my position as I
bring that much more to the table.”
Nick Nunes

The Results
Social Media and Search Manager at
Bell Canada
Nick Nunes is a man of opportunity. Starting
out at Bell Canada as a contractor, he was
soon offered a permanent job as a Marketing
Communications Manager, before eventually
transitioning to his current role building Bell’s
B2B social media strategy. As Social Media and
Search Manger, he ensures messages from Bell
Business are unified to support multiple business
units. Working directly with more than twenty
stakeholders and leaders who encourage him
to grow his knowledge base, Nick took it upon
himself to complete the ASMS Certification to
enhance his career.
Nick Nunes

The Results
Social Media and Search Manager at
Bell Canada

Nick’s Top ASMS Takeaways:

• Strategic Communication Planning: Nick learned how to

scale social across the organization, which is important as he
connects with multiple departments.

• ROI Reporting: He discovered how to measure the ROI of

social messages to prove it’s worth to executives.

• Case Studies: Through teachings from other organizations,

Nick learned successful real world social media strategies
to add more value to his business partnerships.

“Hearing about how these organizations solved their challenges

and capitalized on opportunities from the case studies, provided
me with many key takeaways and motivated me to think outside
the box. That knowledge and motivation ultimately adds value to
my partnerships across Bell.”
Brenna White and Laura Arbuthnot

The Results
Safeway Operations (Canada),
Sobeys Inc.
Two communications professionals at Safeway
Operations (Canada) enrolled in ASMS Certification.
Digital Marketing Specialist, Brenna White’s
main enrolment goal was to educate colleagues,
promote social to the executive team, and develop
strategies for the future. Laura Arbuthnot, Digital
Marketing Supervisor, wanted to find ways to
communicate better across the organization by
advocating for social in every department.
Brenna White and Laura Arbuthnot

The Results
Safeway Operations (Canada),
Sobeys Inc.

Brenna and Laura’s Top ASMS Takeaways:

• Content Strategy & Curation Process: Both Brenna and Laura

found the ideas and strategies useful for brainstorming new
processes as they build out a new content strategy from the
ground up.

• ROI Reporting: They gained added knowledge on how to prove

the ROI of social to secure more buy-in from executive teams.

• Improve Communication: Laura learned how invaluable social

media and social relationship platforms are for collaborating
and communicating among teams and organization-wide.

“Safeway is such a large company under a massive transition into

Sobeys. With that comes silos of information and communication is
critical. The ASMS Certification shed light on some ways to advocate
social across the organization and break down internal barriers.”
Social Media Education for
Professionals and Businesses

The Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification from HootSuite

and Newhouse School benefits businesses as more candidates
and employees are armed with the social skills necessary
in today’s competitive digital landscape. For professionals
looking to increase their knowledge and meet career goals, find
empowerment in social media education.
Learn more at newhouse.hootsuite.com