Best Free MOOCs In Business For April

Content Strategy For Professionals: Managing Content

School: Northwestern University

Platform: Coursera

Registration Link: REGISTER HERE

Start Date: April 3, 2017

Workload: 2-4 Hours Per Week

Instructors: John Lavine and Candy Lee

Credentials: Lavine is the founder director of the media management center at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications. He has taught at Medill since 1989 – and served as the school’s dean from 2005-2012. He is also the president and chair of the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism. Prior to entering academia, he spent 25 years as the publisher and editor of four daily and four weekly newspapers in Wisconsin. During that time, his editorials were also syndicated to over 250 daily newspapers.

Lee earned Medill’s Teacher of the Year Award at Medill in 2012, in just her second year at the school. Before entering academia, she served as the vice president of marketing at The Washington Post – after running two publishers and the loyalty programs for United Airlines. She holds a doctorate in organizational leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.

Graded: Students can receive a verified certificate for successfully completing the course (for $49). To do this, students “must watch the MOOC’s videos, answer the Learning Questions that accompany each video, participate in the discussion forums, develop and complete a case study, and evaluate the cases of three other MOOC participants.”

Description: Your content is an extension your culture. It reflects what you value, along with the time and care you put into producing something of value. A customer touchpoint, content is another vehicle to build awareness and drive business. As a result, it requires a strategy, planning for creating, delivering, measuring, and even recycling. Even more, it should offer a consistent stream, with a theme or purpose that differentiates it from more generic competitors.

In this course, students will learn about the platforms, such as social media, that are used to disseminate content. It will also cover how organizations can target readers and better brand their “story” and frame their value to them. In addition, students will receive a toolkit from the course that will help them evaluate their content and its distribution.

Review: “I really like the concise and informative way in which this course is organized. Thank you for developing relevant, cutting-edge content and delivering it the wide world audience! I think you really contribute to the better world.” For additional reviews, click here.

Additional Note:  This is the second of a three part specialization, Content Strategy for Professionals, where students can earn a credential in content strategy. It requires students to meet all normal requirements for receiving a verified certificate, along with completing a final project. To learn more about this specialization and register for it, click here.