Social media without strategy is activity without direction. This course builds the capability to step back from platforms and content and design a strategic approach that connects social media to organisational goals. You will learn to evaluate the social media landscape, study what works through case studies of successful approaches, and design a strategy, systems and governance framework for your organisation.
The social media landscape and emerging trends, case studies of successful strategic approaches, social media strategy design, and governance, systems and processes.
Every session runs in a small, boardroom-format group — typically six to eight senior professionals. Your trainer tailors content to the specific industries, organisations and challenges each participant brings, so you work on real situations, not generic examples. The learning combines evidence-based best practice briefings with structured discussions, practical workshops and peer learning. This is training with a coaching and consulting flavour — focused on building skills and producing outputs you can apply in your work immediately.
- Evaluate your organisation’s social media landscape and identify strategic opportunities
- Design a social media strategy aligned with organisational goals and audience needs
- Apply best practice from case studies of successful online communication approaches
- Create systems and processes that enable your organisation to engage consistently and effectively
- Build a governance framework for social media that balances agility with accountability
- Define measurable objectives and success criteria for social media activity
- Integrate social media strategy with broader communication and marketing plans
- Present and justify a social media strategy to senior stakeholders
- Harnessing and aligning online communication to serve business goals
- Letting go: why the illusion of control is more dangerous than the reality of exposure
- Learning to love the messy, distributed, interactive, immersive online environment
- Participatory PR: communicating "with" not "at" in interactive conversation
- "Message as medium": content-driven communication
- Case studies
- International best practice
- Future trends
- Step-by-step guide to creating an online communication strategy
- Integrating online communication with business
- Mapping your online world: identifying the platforms and influencers that matter to you
- Online monitoring: activating your social media radar
- Online media ecosystem: owned, paid and earned
- Systems, policies and processes, resources
- Defining social media roles and responsibilities
- Creating your own social media policy
- Reputational risk assessment
- Rolling out and policing social media policies
This course is for communications, PR and marketing professionals responsible for social media strategy who want to move from reactive posting to a structured, strategic approach. It is designed for professionals who set direction rather than manage day-to-day execution.
- Live Online9–10 November 2026· $950Book
The following are some of the ISOC trainers who regularly lead this course, depending whether you join us in London, Dubai or live online.
Yes. We deliver this course for teams of any size, tailored to your organisation’s context and objectives. Contact us to discuss your requirements.
Social Media Management focuses on day-to-day platform execution — content creation, community building and analytics. This course focuses on the strategic level — evaluating your landscape, designing a strategy aligned with business goals, and building governance and systems for consistent execution.
Yes. The practical exercises are designed so you can apply frameworks directly to your own organisation’s situation, leaving with a strategy you can develop and present to stakeholders.
Nothing specific is required. If you have a current project, challenge or organisational context relevant to the course, bring it along — the practical exercises can incorporate real-world scenarios.