“Taking the National Institute for Social Media (NISM) Social Media Strategists (SMS) course not only improved our skills as a marketing/social media professional, but added a wealth of knowledge to our company,” says Christine Melaas of Fourge Social in Dubuque, IA. Mrs. Melaas and her team at Fourge Social became the first agency in Iowa to go through and successfully complete the NISM certification program.

Social media changes rapidly and businesses are finding it can be beneficial to hire individuals and companies who have proven their credibility in the industry by staying current with the strategies and platforms. But how do businesses know who to hire in a world where it seems everyone is a social media “expert”?  That is the question that the National Institute for Social Media helps to make clear through its industry-standardized certification for Social Media Strategists (SMS).

The social media staff at Fourge Social took a customized 6-week online course through NISM.  In addition to preparing for the exam, Christine mentioned that “each week (the team) learned more that we could apply to our current clients and internal process”. Learning and growing as a team, they were able to put their classroom experience into application that very day.

Once the training program was complete, each individual staff member successfully passed a 3-hour, 165 question exam that assessed their competence in the following 6 areas: Strategic Planning, Compliance & Governance, Marketing & Communications, Project Management, Online Community Management, and Research & Analysis.

Fourge Social is a company that uses social media to position companies to move forward and upward in their business market. Offering four key strategies to its clients, Fourge Social is dedicated to using social media to provide their customers expert solutions to their digital marketing needs by simplifying the complicated in order to increase customer base, market presence and revenue.