Learn to grow your brand via social media at Elgin Tech Center courses
The Elgin Technology Center, 73 S. Riverside Drive, third floor, offers four educational opportunities in June. For details, visit elgintech.org/classes, email info@elgintech.org or call (224) 325-4382.
The courses will be taught by Marissa Garza. As multimedia manager at Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois, she has successfully grown their social media presence and has run successful social media contests. With a background in education, she looks forward to working with the Elgin Technology Center community showing people how using social media can help spread their message and build their business. She also runs the Elgin Social Media Meetup at the Elgin Technology Center at noon on the second Wednesday of every month. Learn more about Marissa at about.me/marissagarza. Garza has always been interested in how social media can help people tell their stories. She has written about social media and nonprofits on the blog DonorDreams and about.com.
• "Getting Started: How to Get Your Small Business' Facebook Page off the Ground" will be offered from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 17, and again from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 28. The class will show you how to set up a Facebook page for your business, and how to set up the administrators. It will offer a walk-through of basic Facebook page features and show you how to get people to like your page. Students will leave with a basic understanding of how to set up a page and make it work. They will have a reference work sheet with reminders of what they learned and some tips on what to do next. There will be a question-and-answer session at the end of class where students can ask as many questions as time allows. Cost is $25 for members, $50 for nonmembers, or free to premier members.
• "Facebook Next Steps: How to Make the Most of Your Facebook Page" will be offered from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 19, and again from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 28. Students will leave with a solid grasp of how Facebook Insights can give them important information about their audience and how to reach their goals using what Facebook provides.
She will walk you through Facebook's Insights admin. page and the options for ads. You will learn how to define each unit of measurement; how to interpret the statistics to make better posting decisions; how to appropriately respond to negative comments; how to post engaging content; how to engage with users; and how to boost posts.
A reference sheet will also be provided reviewing the information that was presented in class and providing tips on what to do next. There will be a question-and-answer session at the end of class where students can ask as many questions as time allows. Cost is $35 for members, $75 for nonmembers, or free to premier members.
Membership
For the entrepreneur or freelancer looking for an inspirational and collaborative space to call home, Premier membership at $100 per month offers access to everything you need to launch, grow, and evolve your business. It offers an open co-working space, month-to-month membership, 24-hour access, free education, personal or company directory profile, free conference room usage, mentoring office hours, and member-only events, as well as use of private offices at an additional cost.
For the entrepreneur or freelancer who already has an office, but wants to stay connected with the tech community. Standard membership of $35 per month offers access to the network and tools needed to take their business to the next level. The quarterly membership period offers discounted education, personal or company directory profile, discounted conference room rental, mentoring office hours, and member-only events.