HubSpot Social Media Marketing Certification study plan
HubSpot Social Media Marketing Certification · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Social Media Marketing
Define social media marketing's role in the inbound methodology and explain how it feeds each stage of the buyer's journey
Map the major platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest) to audience types and content formats
Draft a one-page glossary of core HubSpot social terms: social monitoring, social publishing, social reporting, and social inbox
Audit two real brand accounts and note which platform each uses as its primary channel and why
Your checkpoint
A one-page platform-to-audience reference sheet with a 150-word justification for the two brands you audited
Social Media Marketing
Build a documented social media strategy outline covering goals, audience personas, channel mix, and success metrics
Translate business objectives into SMART social goals with numeric targets
Select three key performance indicators per channel and explain what each measures
Identify the difference between vanity metrics and metrics tied to revenue
Your checkpoint
A two-page social strategy outline for a fictional or real business with SMART goals and a KPI table
Social Media Marketing
Write three audience personas including demographics, pain points, and preferred platforms
Explain how to conduct a competitive social audit and what to compare
Determine content pillars that map to persona interests and funnel stages
Choose the primary channel for each persona and defend the choice
Your checkpoint
Three complete personas plus a content-pillar matrix mapping each pillar to a persona and funnel stage
Social Media Marketing
Create a two-week content calendar with post types, captions, and publishing times
Repurpose one long-form asset into at least four platform-native social posts
Apply platform-specific formatting rules such as character limits, hashtag norms, and image ratios
Draft captions with clear calls to action matched to funnel stage
Your checkpoint
A two-week content calendar plus four finished repurposed posts ready to schedule
Social Media Marketing
Explain how a social publishing tool schedules, queues, and cross-posts content
Describe how to set up a social monitoring stream and what keywords or mentions to track
Outline a response workflow for comments, direct messages, and negative sentiment
Distinguish between social listening and social monitoring with examples
Your checkpoint
A written publishing and monitoring workflow covering scheduling steps, tracked keywords, and a response-time standard
Social Media Marketing
Set up a reporting view that ties social activity to website traffic and lead conversion
Calculate engagement rate, click-through rate, and cost per lead from sample data
Run a simple A/B test on post copy or creative and interpret the result
Explain attribution limits when connecting social to closed deals
Your checkpoint
A sample social report with calculated metrics, one A/B test result, and a short interpretation paragraph
Social Media Marketing
Build a paid social campaign plan including objective, budget, targeting, and creative
Explain how organic and paid social support each other in a full-funnel plan
Describe how to grow an audience through employee advocacy and influencer collaboration
Identify compliance and brand-safety considerations for user-generated content
Your checkpoint
A one-page paid social campaign brief with budget split, targeting rationale, and creative direction
Social Media Marketing
Review all prior deliverables and consolidate weak areas into a one-page gap list
Answer 40 practice questions across the full domain and log every miss with a reason
Re-explain the inbound social methodology and the reporting workflow from memory
Simulate exam timing with a full-length timed practice run
Your checkpoint
A scored practice test log with a corrected gap list and a final one-page summary sheet
Milestones
Week 2: You can state a SMART social goal and its matching KPI without notes, and your strategy outline names a primary channel with a reason
Week 4: Your content calendar covers two full weeks, every post maps to a persona and funnel stage, and at least four repurposed posts are publish-ready
Week 6: You can calculate engagement rate and click-through rate from raw numbers and explain what each metric does and does not prove
Week 8: You score at least 80 percent on a timed 40-question practice set and can explain every missed item in your own words