Understanding your target customers

Step two in building a successful social media marketing strategy

We are passionate about supporting small businesses and charities to nail their social media, which is why we have distilled some of our key learnings into handy blog posts. In our previous blogs we learned about social media algorithms, how they work and how they prioritise quality conversations, content and relationships. In this blog, we will cover the most important strategic piece of the puzzle to tick these boxes - understanding your target customers.

Understanding social media algorithms

Step one in building a successful social media marketing strategy

You can't start building and executing a social media marketing strategy for a business or charity without understanding social media algorithms and how they work.

Top tips on nailing an interview on the day

In this blog series in collaboration with awesome Life and Career Coach Gemma Bartlett you’ll find tips & insights to increase your chances of success when applying to and interviewing for, a new job. In this blog, we'll explore what you need to do to nail your interview on the day.

Top tips on creating a killer CV and cover letter

In this blog series in collaboration with awesome Life and Career Coach Gemma Bartlett, you’ll find tips & insights to increase your chances of success when applying to and interviewing for, a new job. First up, how to write a compelling CV and cover letter.

Top tips on prepping for an interview

In this blog series in collaboration with awesome Life and Career Coach Gemma Bartlett you’ll find tips & insights to increase your chances of success when applying to and interviewing for, a new job. Here we'll explore the best ways to prepare for your interview so you are fully equipped with everything you need to succeed.

Free resources to help you nail your social media marketing

We are committed to helping small businesses to make 2020 the year they nail social media. If you are at the stage where you’re managing your own social media then you’ve come to the right place. There are loads of ways to learn, from joining a free Masterclass, downloading our free white paper to listening to an audio lesson or enrolling on a free short course. Read on to find out more.

“I had been feeling for years that I hadn’t caught up with the fast-moving digital world''

Chrissy Stonebridge, 59, has two children aged 24 and 25 and lives in Morden, Surrey with her husband. ​Chrissy Stonebridge carved out a successful career in PR in the 1980s and 1990s but after taking time out to raise her family realised the digital world had left her behind. Thankfully a free spot on our Future Skills Bootcamps sorted her out.

“I thought I had found a dream job but then Covid hit and travel was one of the worst industries to be in."

Lizzie Shanahan lives in Leeds with her nine-year-old daughter. After going through a divorce, Lizzie Shanahan found herself thrust back into the job market and then Covid hit. Find out how a free space on our Future Skills course helped her gain confidence and in-demand skills to help her navigate the post-pandemic job market.

"I hadn’t done any learning for a long time and doubted myself but after the first live lesson I felt much more comfortable and realised the course was for me."

Emma Dorgan, mum to a four-year-old daughter and lives in Crystal Palace, South London with her husband. After dropping out of college twice, Emma had convinced herself that learning just wasn’t for her. The fun and practical design of our Future Skills Bootcamp changed her mind.

"I was petrified on the first day of the course but I needn't have worried"

Dana Bradley, is a children's swimming instructor and lives with her husband and two children aged 8 and 10. She went from feeling physically sick at the thought of learning to being a passionate learner in just a few weeks thanks to a free space on our Future Skills course. She's already feeling more confident about the future.

5 skills to make yourself more employable

Building in-demand employability skills is a potential solution for women made redundant or at risk of redundancy due to the Coronavirus. Read on to find out how you can learn more about these in-demand areas for free, including free spaces on our online Future Skills Bootcamps.

Foundation in Social Media Marketing: October 2020 Admissions Open!

We have officially opened up admissions for our next Foundation in Social Media Marketing course, starting in October. This course is designed around the needs of busy mothers and women, offering maximum flexibility through online study and bite-size lessons.

5 common design mistakes and how to avoid them

Visual content is so important for brands and businesses, but not everyone can afford a professional graphic designer. Find out some of the most common mistakes people make and how you can fix them.

Free Digital Bootcamps for mothers

We are delighted to announce free spaces on our Digital Bootcamp for mothers.

Our alumni have gone on to work with some of the biggest brands in world

We followed up with our alumnae 6 years on to find out more about the wide variety of brands that our alumni members have worked with since becoming social media experts. We were blown away by the breadth of their expertise and some of the big name brands they have worked for.

"I can’t say that the journey has been easy, and I still have a long way to go, but I’m loving every single minute of the adventure."

We celebrate some of the amazing businesses set up by our alumni members, from fashion to lifestyle.

"I very much enjoy running my own business and wish I had done it years before.”

Cathy studied on our Advanced Diploma in Social Media Marketing in 2016 and before she'd even finished she had set up her own social media business. She has grown several businesses and organisations from scratch, ranging from a digital agency to a subscription box for anxious teenagers.

"I really enjoy working in social media and the fact that no two days are the same with platforms that change every day, keeping me on my toes"

Maria studied on our Advanced Diploma in 2016 like many alumni members joining us when her daughter started school. She now runs Four31 Digital, an award winning social media and Facebook ads consultancy which she set up in 2017.

"I have genuinely found my passion with this line of work, I love social media marketing, both organic and paid and I love teaching others."

In 2008 Emel walked away from a very unhappy career in Property Management and 7 years later had no idea what to do next. Thankfully she joined our Advanced Diploma in Social Media Marketing and now runs a successful social media agency as well as sharing her knowledge teaching social media to others, including as a tutor for Digital Mums.

Make learning manageable with our range of not-for-profit short courses

Accessible short courses at not-for-profit prices to help you upskill in in-demand areas.

Coronavirus Crisis Announcement

There is no such thing as “business as usual” at the moment. There is nothing “usual” about the unprecedented crisis our society is in. However, we wanted to reach out to our community to let you know that we will be active throughout the Coronavirus crisis period and to update you on what we are doing.

Our new partnership with That Works For Me

We are excited to announce our partnership with That Works For Me, the platform that matches businesses to talented, flexible freelancers.

5 top tips for collaborating with remote teams

At Digital Mums we all work 100% remotely. So we know a thing or two about collaborating with colleagues that aren't in the same place. As you can imagine we have a lot of learnings about the things that work and the things that don't work when collaborating with colleagues remotely, so we're sharing our top tips.

10 reasons social media isn't working for your business

The question our team gets asked the most is “Why isn’t social working for my brand?” We have supported over 800 businesses to get the most out of social media, so we thought we’d compile this blog to share our insights on what we have learned from the mistakes they were making.

The ten commandments for working with a social media freelancer

So you’re ready to hire a freelancer to support you with your social media? Follow our advice on what to do, and what to avoid doing, to build a great working relationship.

What our alumni are doing now | Running their own e-commerce businesses

We are following our alumni members to see what they are doing with their lives and how they've been using the knowledge, skills and confidence they gained through learning with us. In this blog, we are showcasing women that have set up their dream business.

"We have really enjoyed the course and it has delivered what we wanted and more."

Klara Akerstrom, 39 and Mel Booth, 43, are the founders of Marketing Lab a friendly Marketing Consultancy offering practical and tailored advice and support to a diverse range of clients based in the Surrey Hills. They jointly completed our Foundation in Social Media Marketing course and are looking forward to sharing their newfound social media expertise with their clients.

"I have seen my confidence improve and the tweaks that I’ve started implementing are already showing results on the business accounts."

Keri Mason, 40, completed the Foundation in Social Media Marketing to support her move to freelancing, so she can weave social media into her portfolio of content creation services.

"Be the one doing it properly, not the one playing at it!”

Emma MacFarlane, 48, is a successful marketing freelancer and lives in Thames Ditton, Surrey, with her husband and family. She completed the Foundation in Social Media Marketing to expand her social media knowledge and to offer another marketing avenue to her clients.

"I now have a much better understanding of how social media enables businesses and charities to engage with their target audience."

Heather Paton works as a Programme Coordinator for Link UP London’s ReLaunch Programme who funded her place on our Foundation in Social Media Marketing course. She lives in Clapham with her family.

"The course has enabled me to plan my social media strategy for my new business with a lot more confidence."

Meet Helen Robinson, founder of Gifted Local. Helen completed our Foundation in Social Media Marketing course and is now excited about applying her learnings to grow her new business which connects people to creative businesses in their local area helping them to shop more sustainably.

How to use data to drive social media success

Step six in building a successful social media marketing strategy

We are passionate about supporting small businesses and charities to nail their social media, which is why we have distilled some of our key learnings into handy blog posts. While it's crucial to understand your customers, to have a sociable brand and to craft a content strategy if you aren't using data effectively you can't learn over time what works and what doesn't. So this blog is all about using data.

"I knew it was time to sharpen up my skills with a view to propelling myself forward into something more exciting."

Rose Crabb was a marketing insights specialist on a three-year career break when she realised she needed to update her digital skills after taking some freelance work. She is now a Strategist at a small Artifical Intelligence startup and credits the course for giving her the skills and confidence to get this job.

The course gave me the confidence to say; “Yes, I can do that”

Victoria was a stay at home mother when she started the course but with her oldest starting school was keen to start working again. She decided to update her skills to support her move back into the workplace. Here’s her story.

“I now feel in a good place in my career. Studying with Digital Mums helped me massively.”

Kelly Jacobson Collins is 46 and has two boys aged 8 and 6. She lost her job and was in a career rut when she chose to study with us, having lost a lot of confidence. Thankfully the Bootcamp gave her the boost she needed and she is now loving her job as a Compliance Product Director for Unruly and even managed to negotiate a higher salary.

“I went from a Digital Dinosaur to Digital Dudette”

Denise Harman lives in Wandsworth, South West London, with her husband and five year-old twin girls. Previously a management consultant, Denise took five years out to look after her children. Find out more about Denise's journey from digital dinosaur, to digital dudette and how this improved her career prospects.

Skills, Learning and the Future of Work

The internet has transformed the world of work. Find out what happened, how things have changed and what you can do to ensure you don't let this new digital world leave you behind.

Back to Work Bootcamp: 2020 Admissions Open!

If you are on a career break and are looking to walk back into the workplace with confidence, then look no further. Our Digital Retox course has been renamed, reworked and rebooted specifically for women on a career break.

Too Scared For Study

Have you ever thought that you weren’t good enough? When you look at courses do you think you won’t be able to do them? That they’ll be too hard? You’ll fail? You’ll make a fool of yourself by trying? It turns out... you're not the only one.

Too Stressed For Study

Mothers are often time poor, and if they can find a few hours for study, they're juggling a number of spinning plates and learning something new requires the mental focus that many feel they simply don’t have. One of the biggest barriers to learning that comes up in our conversations with mothers is a lack of time and critically, a lack of headspace to take advantage of learning opportunities.

Too Old To Learn

Our latest research found that confidence issues were hardest felt by older mothers, with 25% of mothers over the age of 51 lacking the confidence to learn something new. 28% said they felt they were too old to learn. But is it true you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Read on for the finding from our new "Locked out of Learning" report.

Too Skint For Study

Our new research has shown that outdated skills and knowledge are really holding mothers back in their careers and keeping them out of the workforce. The solution is to engage in adult learning but 1 in 2 of the mothers we surveyed had not engaged in any formal learning within the last 3 years. Given mothers are concerned about their skills and knowledge dating and how this could impact their career, why is this? Read on to find out...

From 'Career Break' to 'Career Broken'

Taking time out from work can mean it’s difficult to re-enter the job market but 'career break' shouldn't mean 'career broken'. Today we are launching our new report "Locked out of Learning" which builds on our previous research into maternal unemployment, but now focuses on the potential of adult learning as a solution to support mothers back into rewarding work. Read on to learn more about the findings from our latest research and to review our recommendations.

The rise of the over 50 freelancer

Freelancer stereotypes might be all millennial creatives, but that’s certainly not the reality. You might be surprised to find that it’s actually the over 50s that are dominating the freelance workforce in 2019. Read on for some of the reasons behind this trend and to learn how we're supporting those who are looking to make a move into freelancing in their 50s and beyond.

10 Top Tips to Becoming a Successful Freelancer

Learn more about our new “Becoming a Successful Freelancer” course which has been designed to help parents and parents-to-be get more flex in their lives.

The Importance of Personal Branding for Freelancers

Having a strong personal brand has become increasingly important for a successful career in today’s competitive jobs market but, given freelancers can succeed or fail on the basis of their reputation, having a compelling personal brand has now become a necessity.

5 tips to help you look after your mental health as a freelancer

There are numerous benefits of freelancing, particularly when it comes to your emotional wellbeing are many. But how do you overcome some of the challenges that ditching the ‘9 to 5’ can bring?

Freelancing your way into a flexible, rewarding career

We have launched a brand new course designed to help and support parents in overcoming all the potential barriers they face, so that they can build a successful freelance career.

Back To School For Mums

Never mind back to school for the kids - it’s time that mums leaned into #LearnIn

8 tips for freelancing in the school holidays

Freelancing during the summer holidays? Read on to learn how to manage the juggle!

"Learning has given me an incredible network and lifelong friends"

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” – or so the saying goes. I think the reality is that both are important, but since I graduated from Digital Mums just over a year ago, I have really learnt the value of having a good network.

Can leaning into learning really transform your life?

When people think about the benefits of learning they traditionally think of employment benefits such as improved employment prospects, increased earnings and job satisfaction. However, learning can deliver far more powerful emotional and psychological benefits that are often surprising and unexpected.

Benefits of learning: Employment

The benefits of learning are broad and far-reaching. In this blog, we will focus on the employment benefits that adult learning delivers.

Why you need to “lean in” to learning

In our new campaign #LearnIn - why women need to lean into learning - we will be talking a lot about the importance of lifelong learning and in this blog, we explore why.

Forget Lean In here’s why you need to Learn In

Digital Mums run awareness-raising campaigns designed around our core mission to reduce maternal unemployment and to improve the maternal experience in the workplace. Find out about our NEW campaign: #LearnIn

Digital Mums launch our brand new podcast

In celebration of our 5 year anniversary of delivering social impact, we have launched our very own Digital Mums podcast!

The secret to our social impact

If you are intrigued by how we manage to get such great results from our online courses, our CoFounder, Kathryn Tyler, shares some of the secrets to our success.

Social impact report 2019

We've hit the 5th anniversary of our first ever Digital Mums graduates and because social impact is at the core of our business we wanted to measure the social impact of our learning experiences. Read on to find out how we are performing at delivering these benefits.

5 years of social impact

It's five years since our very first Digital Mums' students graduated, so what better time to reflect on our journey, our original mission and look at the impact our Social Media vocational training has had on the 1500 mums who have studied with us.

Finding the time to study

Finding the time to do our 6 month vocational training is easily one of the biggest areas of consideration for our prospective trainees. So to help anyone wanting to find out more about how to manage it, this blog shares top tips from students and graduates.

Lights, camera, action - shining a spotlight on Digital Mums’ training

Take a look behind the scenes of our Digital Mums' training

Introducing our new training course: Foundation in Social Media Marketing

We are so excited to launch our first ever non-vocational social media marketing training course and hope that this will help us get closer to our mission of supporting millions of mothers to find the rewarding career they deserve.

Why we stand by Avon’s stand4her campaign

As the world’s largest women’s network, Avon is committed to understanding the issues around women's economic participation and supporting women to overcome the challenges they face.

Digital Mums helped me build a global business from my bed

Hear the inspirational story of how one of our Digital Mums graduates built a global business while she was on bed rest

What sets us apart from the online crowd?

Want a taste of what it's like to study with Digital Mums? Read on for some sample lessons and an overview of our vocational training that gets you job-ready like no other online training can.

A Day in the Life of a Social Media Manager

One of our amazing graduates Emel Rizwani​ hosted a webinar recently to talk about her journey to becoming a Social Media Manager and what a typical day in her life looks like.

"I felt empowered as soon as I started the course."

Find out how one of our Advanced Diploma Graduates got the job of her dreams before she had even graduated our training!

We're on a mission to help more mums!

Our vocational Diploma in Social Media Marketing training has come to an end whilst we develop a new course aimed at helping more mums find #WorkThatWorks. Here we look back at the unique training that helped many mums ditch the 9-5 and work flexibly around their families.

Reflecting on the last five years and planning the future of Digital Mums

Our Co-Founders take time to reflect on five years of training and the future of Digital Mums.

Time to invest in you with our new-look Digital Retox course

Our new-look Digital Retox course is here! Check out how you can keep up with the evolving modern workplace and build the career you deserve in just seven weeks.

The Do The Hustle Toolkit!

Check out our Do The Hustle toolkit - a free resource bank to help our social media graduates build a successful and sustainable freelancer career.

Future-proof your career with Digital Retox - our next-generation digital skills building course

Find out more about our Digital Retox course designed to fast-track students' understanding of the key digital technologies and skills crucial to the 21st Century modern workplace.

Grab a seat - and the popcorn - for the launch of our Digital Retox #Talkshowtaxi

Following two successful pilots, we're opening up admissions for our first all-singing, all-dancing Digital Retox course! If you want to reboot your digital skills and give your career confidence a boost, read on!

“The race against the clock to get to the office for 9am is finally over”

Read about this Advanced Diploma Digital Mum and how she has launched her own business since graduating

Making friends with Imposter Syndrome

Business and life coach, Nicky Raby, shares her top tips to tackling Imposter Syndrome on a day to day basis

“Forget overqualified and underpaid - there is a flexible career option for mums that actually works.”

Sarah gives us an honest and in-depth look at the Digital Mums' Diploma in Social Media Management Course and how she now has #WorkThatWorks

Happiness is ... women supporting women

Learn how to find the clients and money you really want from The Happiness Explorer, Lydia Kimmerling

'After 20 years of corporate 9-5, I now have the flexibility to choose when I work'

Graduates of our Advanced Diploma in Social Media Marketing share the brilliant jobs they have landed since graduating

“I can finally see a more flexible future as a working mum”

Find out how students on the pilot of our 12 month Social Media Manager 3.0 Course are getting on

7 Top Tips To Help Your Freelance Career Fly

We show you how to boss it as a freelancer and achieve the #WorkThatWorks dream

"I can't believe how far I have come after being 'just a mum' for the last six years"

Find out how Kerry got on doing our Advanced Diploma in Social Media Marketing and why it has completely changed her life

How Much Does a Digital Mum Earn?

Find out exactly what our graduates are earning after they have completed our training

Sun, Sea and Social Media - do our courses abroad!

Hear about how you can do our training from Europe and the brilliant Digital Mums that have found amazing flexible careers as a result

Why retraining with Digital Mums is like having a baby

Find out how Helen found completing our Advanced Diploma in Social Media Marketing and what she has been doing since graduating.

"We have flexible work - no experience necessary!"

We spoke to graduates of our Social Media Managament Course about their experiences finding work after finishing the Course.

The Digital Mum Guide to Asking for Flexible Working

Our Co-Founders Nikki and Kathryn break down exactly what the process for asking for flexible work should look like.

Becoming a Digital Mum (the good, the bad and the downright fugly)

Beth gives us a behind the scenes look at the Digital Mums Social Media Management Course

Calling all full time working mums looking for flex!

It’s been five months since we launched our pilot training programme for full time working mums and we’re really excited to say that word from our early adopters is that it’s working well! So well in fact that we’re ready to roll out our next two pilots.

IWD: 12 Awesome Women who inspire us at Digital Mums

To mark International Women's Day we celebrate just some of the awesome women that inspire us every day