Paid social advertising is no longer about mastering a single platform. Successful marketers need to understand where different audiences spend their time and how to choose the right advertising channel for each campaign objective. This course gives digital marketers, paid-media specialists, business owners, freelancers, and aspiring performance marketers a practical approach to advertising across nine major social platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, X, Pinterest, Quora, Reddit, Snapchat, and ShareChat. You will learn how to plan, launch, track, and optimize campaigns while comparing each platform’s approach to targeting, ad formats, conversion tracking, and reporting.
Paid Advertising Across 9 Social Media Platforms
Grow on your schedule with big savings on Coursera Plus. Save 40% for 3 months.
Ask Coursera
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Intermediate level
Recommended experience
2 weeks to complete
at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace
Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.
Intermediate level
Recommended experience
2 weeks to complete
at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace
What you'll learn
Paid social mastery now requires comfort across multiple platforms, not just Meta.
The campaign-building arc is similar across platforms: account setup, audience, creative, tracking, optimization.
Conversion tracking and custom audiences are the operational core of every platform.
Platform choice should follow the audience and objective, not the marketer's habits.
Details to know
Shareable certificate
Add to your LinkedIn profile
Recently updated!
August 2026
Taught in English
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
There are 9 modules in this course
Build a Facebook business presence, grow an engaged community, and run the full range of paid Facebook campaigns. Learners progress from page setup to advanced campaign tactics, custom audiences, pixels, and automated rules.
What's included
65 videos2 readings1 assignment1 peer review2 discussion prompts
65 videos•Total 320 minutes
- Facebook Marketing: What We will Cover•1 minute
- Why to Use Facebook To Market Your Business•6 minutes
- How to Create a Facebook Page•3 minutes
- How to Create a Facebook Profile Image•3 minutes
- How to Design a Facebook Cover Image•3 minutes
- How to Update Your Pages Info and Preferences•4 minutes
- How to Post About On Your Facebook Page•7 minutes
- How to Promote Your Page and Get Likes & Engagement•9 minutes
- What is an Online Community•6 minutes
- Why Should You Start an Online Community•6 minutes
- Recommend Tools and Apps for Creating an Online Community•6 minutes
- How to Grow Your Online Community•4 minutes
- How to Create More Engagement in Your Community•5 minutes
- Quick Tips for Increasing Engagement•4 minutes
- Best Types of Posts to share in Your Community•4 minutes
- Make Consistent Posting Easier•5 minutes
- Content Tools & Apps I Use to Create and Automate Posts•4 minutes
- Make Your Posts Count More and Increase Engagement•3 minutes
- Use Analytics to Grow Your Community•3 minutes
- How Powerful Are Facebook Ads•7 minutes
- How Do Facebook Ads Work: The Auction•5 minutes
- Facebook Ad Structure•3 minutes
- How To Set Up Your Facebook Ads Account•2 minutes
- Facebook Ads Metrics•12 minutes
- Facebook Ads - Account Navigation•19 minutes
- Create Your First Ad: Campaign Objectives•7 minutes
- Budget & Schedule•4 minutes
- Advantage Campaign Budget•4 minutes
- Audience Targeting: Location, Age & Gender•4 minutes
- Detailed Targeting: Demographics•5 minutes
- Detailed Targeting: Interest•3 minutes
- Detailed Targeting: Behaviors and Connections•3 minutes
- Placements + Optimization and Delivery•5 minutes
- Creating Your Facebook Ad Creative•2 minutes
- How To Set Up A Simple A/B Split Test•3 minutes
- Facebook Pixel•7 minutes
- Conversions API in Meta•7 minutes
- Meta Pixel + Shopify•3 minutes
- Facebook Ads Bidding Strategy•5 minutes
- Custom Audiences: Website Visitors•6 minutes
- Custom Audiences: Customer/Email List•5 minutes
- Custom Audiences: Facebook Page•5 minutes
- Custom Audiences - Lookalike Audiences•5 minutes
- Create Facebook Video Ad Campaign•5 minutes
- How To Create Lead Gen Campaign•8 minutes
- App Promotion Campaign•5 minutes
- Brand Awareness Campaign•7 minutes
- Website Traffic Campaign•6 minutes
- Online Sales Campaign•5 minutes
- Facebook Ads Strategy: Target•5 minutes
- Facebook Ads Strategy: Campaign Setup•4 minutes
- Facebook Ads Strategy: Delivery Setup•3 minutes
- Meta Business Suite•3 minutes
- Facebook Ad Policies•5 minutes
- Banned Ads/Accounts•5 minutes
- Tailored Web Traffic Campaign•6 minutes
- Tailored Leads Campaign•8 minutes
- Commerce Manager•3 minutes
- Facebook Ads Automated Rules•7 minutes
- Facebook Ads Experiments•4 minutes
- Facebook Ads Media Library•3 minutes
- Meta Ads With AI•3 minutes
- Facebook Ads Reports•2 minutes
- Facebook Ads Billing•2 minutes
- Facebook Ads Certification•3 minutes
2 readings•Total 10 minutes
- Welcome to the Course: Course Overview•5 minutes
- Meta Business Help Center: Ads Guide•5 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
- Facebook Page, Community, and Ads•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 10 minutes
- Hands-On-Learning: Launch a Facebook Ad Campaign with Custom Audience Targeting•10 minutes
2 discussion prompts•Total 10 minutes
- Choosing a Campaign Objective for a Launch•5 minutes
- Guardrails Against Account Restriction•5 minutes
Run LinkedIn ad campaigns that reach professional audiences with the right ad format, bid strategy, and conversion tracking. Covers all major LinkedIn ad types from single image to dynamic, message, document, and event ads.
What's included
40 videos1 reading1 assignment1 peer review2 discussion prompts
40 videos•Total 155 minutes
- LinkedIn Ads Overview, How LinkedIn Ads Work, LinkedIn Ads Account Setup.•4 minutes
- Linkedin Ads Auction, Bid Price & Relevancy Score•3 minutes
- LinkedIn Ads Account Structure, LinkedIn Ads Metrics, Account Navigation•14 minutes
- Website Visits Campaign Creation•8 minutes
- Single Image Ad•2 minutes
- Carousal Image Ad•2 minutes
- Video Ad•1 minute
- Text Ad•2 minutes
- Spotlight Ad•1 minute
- Document Ad•2 minutes
- Conversation Ad•2 minutes
- Event Ad•2 minutes
- Follower Ad•1 minute
- Job Ad•2 minutes
- Bidding Strategy•4 minutes
- Audiences Overview•4 minutes
- Audiences•3 minutes
- Locations•2 minutes
- Audience Attributes•5 minutes
- Matched Audiences•4 minutes
- What is Conversion Tracking & How to setup Conversion Tracking•3 minutes
- Sitewide Insight Tag Page Load conversion•7 minutes
- Event specific Insight Tag conversion•6 minutes
- Event specific pixel conversion•6 minutes
- Retargeting Overview•3 minutes
- Retargeting Campaign Creation•5 minutes
- LinkedIn Lead Generation Ad Campaigns•8 minutes
- View and Download Leads, Metrics, and Analytics for Lead Gen Form Campaigns•2 minutes
- LinkedIn Dynamic Ad Campaign Creation•5 minutes
- LinkedIn Carousel Image Ad Campaign•6 minutes
- Conversation Ad Campaign•7 minutes
- LinkedIn Message Ad Campaign•5 minutes
- Document Ad Campaign•5 minutes
- LinkedIn Video Ad Campaign•5 minutes
- LinkedIn Event Ad Campaign•4 minutes
- LinkedIn Direct Sponsored Content Single Image Ad Campaign•3 minutes
- How to Use Reports in LinkedIn•3 minutes
- Billing Center•2 minutes
- Business Manager Overview•2 minutes
- LinkedIn Ads Certification•2 minutes
1 reading•Total 5 minutes
- LinkedIn Marketing Solutions: Ads Best Practices•5 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
- LinkedIn Ads for B2B Reach•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 10 minutes
- Hands-On-Learning: Build a LinkedIn Lead-Gen Campaign with Conversion Tracking•10 minutes
2 discussion prompts•Total 10 minutes
- Choosing Between Message and Feed Formats•5 minutes
- Justifying LinkedIn CPMs to Finance•5 minutes
Run TikTok ads from account setup through campaign optimization. Covers TikTok's auction, ad group targeting, creative production, audience and video insights, and AI-driven recommendation tools.
What's included
19 videos1 reading1 assignment1 peer review2 discussion prompts
19 videos•Total 73 minutes
- Section Overview•2 minutes
- Tiktok Ads Overview•2 minutes
- How to Open A TikTok Ads Account•2 minutes
- Auction Basics•2 minutes
- TikTok Ads Manager Overview•7 minutes
- Campaign Structure•2 minutes
- Campaign Level•4 minutes
- Ad Group: Customer Targeting•4 minutes
- Ad Level•3 minutes
- Lead Gen Campaign Creation•12 minutes
- Website Traffic Campaign Creation•4 minutes
- Audience Manager, Comments•7 minutes
- Creative Section•3 minutes
- Automated Rules•4 minutes
- Leads, Recommendation Center,•3 minutes
- Custom Reports•3 minutes
- Audience Insights, Comment Insights, Video Insights•3 minutes
- Attribution Analytics, Creative Inspirations•3 minutes
- Account Setup, Brand Safety Hub, Finance, Documents•4 minutes
1 reading•Total 5 minutes
- TikTok for Business: Ads Manager Guide•5 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
- TikTok Ads for Short-form Video•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 10 minutes
- Hands-On-Learning: Launch a TikTok Lead-Gen Campaign with Custom Targeting•10 minutes
2 discussion prompts•Total 10 minutes
- Creative Quality Versus Tight Targeting•5 minutes
- Briefing a Creative Team from Audience Insights•5 minutes
Run paid campaigns on X (formerly Twitter) to drive traffic, reach, and conversions. Learners cover the X ads structure, audience targeting features, ad creative, conversion tracking, and custom audiences.
What's included
17 videos1 reading1 assignment1 peer review2 discussion prompts
17 videos•Total 73 minutes
- Section Overview•1 minute
- X Ads Overview•3 minutes
- 5 Reasons Why You Should Use X Ads•5 minutes
- X Ads Structure•3 minutes
- How To Set Up Your X Ads Account•3 minutes
- X Campaign Objectives•6 minutes
- Setting Up a X Ad Campaign to Drive Traffic•3 minutes
- Ad Group Details & Bid Types•6 minutes
- Audience Demographics - Gender, Age & Location•4 minutes
- Ad Group - Devices•3 minutes
- Targeting Features•7 minutes
- Placements•3 minutes
- X Ad Creative•3 minutes
- Setting Up A X Ad Campaign To Get More Reach•10 minutes
- How To Set Up X Conversion Tracking•6 minutes
- X Custom Audiences - Lists•4 minutes
- X Custom Audiences - Website Activity•4 minutes
1 reading•Total 5 minutes
- X Business: Advertising Help Center•5 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
- X Ads for Real-time Conversation•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 10 minutes
- Hands-On-Learning: Set Up X Conversion Tracking and a Custom Audience•10 minutes
2 discussion prompts•Total 10 minutes
- Traffic Versus Reach for the Same Brand•5 minutes
- Remarketing Without Exhausting Frequency•5 minutes
Run Pinterest ad campaigns aimed at brand awareness, performance, and video views. Covers account setup, ad group bid types, creative, conversion tracking, custom audiences, analytics, and the Pinterest business manager.
What's included
24 videos1 reading1 assignment1 peer review2 discussion prompts
24 videos•Total 69 minutes
- Section Overview•1 minute
- Pinterest Ads Overview•3 minutes
- Why is Pinterest Advertising Unique?•3 minutes
- Pinterest Ads Account Structure•2 minutes
- How To Set Up Your Pinterest Ads Account•1 minute
- Pinterest Campaign Objectives•2 minutes
- Setting Up A Pinterest Ad Campaign To Drive Brand Awareness•3 minutes
- Ad Group Details & Bid Types•3 minutes
- Targeting Details•6 minutes
- Pinterest Ad Creative•5 minutes
- Performance+ Campaign Creation•3 minutes
- Video Campaign Creation•4 minutes
- Pinterest Conversion Tracking•4 minutes
- Pinterest Custom Audiences•5 minutes
- Pinterest Business Manager•3 minutes
- Pinterest Billing•1 minute
- Pinterest Ad Reports•4 minutes
- Ad Recommendations•2 minutes
- Ad Account History•2 minutes
- Pinterest Analytics•2 minutes
- Audience Insights•3 minutes
- Conversion Insights•2 minutes
- Pinterest Trends•3 minutes
- Bulk Editor•2 minutes
1 reading•Total 5 minutes
- Pinterest Business: Advertising Best Practices•5 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
- Pinterest Ads for Visual Discovery•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 10 minutes
- Hands-On-Learning: Configure Pinterest Conversion Tracking and a Custom Audience•10 minutes
2 discussion prompts•Total 10 minutes
- When Pinterest Outperforms Meta for Discovery•5 minutes
- Planning a Quarterly Calendar from Trends•5 minutes
Reach high-intent audiences on Quora with brand-awareness, traffic, video view, lead-gen, conversion, and app-install campaigns. Covers Quora ad formats, custom audiences, lead-gen forms, and reporting.
What's included
16 videos1 reading1 assignment1 peer review2 discussion prompts
16 videos•Total 53 minutes
- Section Overview•1 minute
- Quora Ads Overview, Quora Ads Formats, Where Quora Ads Appear•2 minutes
- Why Run Ads On Quora•2 minutes
- How To Sign Up For Quora•1 minute
- Structure Of A Quora Ads Campaign•1 minute
- Quora Ads Campaign Objectives•2 minutes
- How to Create Brand Awareness Campaign•6 minutes
- How To Create Website Traffic Campaign•4 minutes
- How To Create Video View Campaigns•3 minutes
- How To Create Lead Gen Campaigns•7 minutes
- How To Create Conversion Campaigns•5 minutes
- How To Create App Installs Campaign•4 minutes
- How To Set Up Conversion Tracking•3 minutes
- Quora Ads Custom Audiences•6 minutes
- Quora Ads Lead Gen Form•2 minutes
- Quora Ads Reporting•2 minutes
1 reading•Total 5 minutes
- Quora for Business: Advertiser Resources•5 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
- Quora Ads for Intent-driven Reach•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 10 minutes
- Hands-On-Learning: Launch a Quora Lead-Gen Campaign•10 minutes
2 discussion prompts•Total 10 minutes
- Intent Targeting Versus Interest Targeting•5 minutes
- Sizing a Quora Budget Against LinkedIn•5 minutes
Run Reddit campaigns that reach engaged subreddits, from brand-awareness through conversion and app-install. Covers Reddit ads structure, account navigation, audience and events managers, AI copywriter, and the Reddit business manager.
What's included
19 videos1 reading1 assignment1 peer review2 discussion prompts
19 videos•Total 72 minutes
- Section Overview•1 minute
- Reddit Ads Overview, Reddit Ads Formats, Where Reddit Ads Appear•3 minutes
- Why Run Ads on Reddit•3 minutes
- How To Sign Up For Reddit Ads•1 minute
- Reddit Ads Structure•1 minute
- Reddit Ads Account Navigation•6 minutes
- Reddit Ads Campaign Objectives•3 minutes
- How to Create Brand Awareness Campaign•7 minutes
- How To Create Website Traffic Campaign•7 minutes
- How To Create Video View Campaigns•4 minutes
- How To Create Conversion Campaigns•5 minutes
- How To Create App Installs Campaign•6 minutes
- Audience Manager•5 minutes
- Events Manager•4 minutes
- Report Manager•3 minutes
- Campaign Import, Bulk Import•3 minutes
- AI Copywriter, Ad Inspiration, Post Library•5 minutes
- History, Brand Safety, Billing•3 minutes
- Business Manager•2 minutes
1 reading•Total 5 minutes
- Reddit Business: Advertising Resources•5 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
- Reddit Ads for Community Marketing•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 10 minutes
- Hands-On-Learning: Run a Reddit Brand-Awareness Campaign with Subreddit Targeting•10 minutes
2 discussion prompts•Total 10 minutes
- Balancing Subreddit Fit and Audience Size•5 minutes
- Where the Reddit AI Copywriter Falls Short•5 minutes
Reach mobile-first audiences with Snapchat ad campaigns across awareness, traffic, leads, app promotion, and sales. Covers Snapchat ads structure, events manager, audiences, pixel, creative library, lens folders, camera kit, and business dashboard.
What's included
19 videos1 reading1 assignment1 peer review2 discussion prompts
19 videos•Total 81 minutes
- Section Overview•2 minutes
- SnapChat Ads Overview, SnapChat Ads Formats, Where SnapChat Ads Appear•3 minutes
- Why Run Ads On SnapChat•3 minutes
- How To Sign Up For SnapChat Ads•1 minute
- SnapChat Ads Structure•1 minute
- SnapChat Ads Account Navigation•9 minutes
- SnapChat Ads Campaign Objectives•3 minutes
- How to Create Brand Awareness Campaign•9 minutes
- How To Create Traffic Campaign•6 minutes
- How To Create Leads Campaign•7 minutes
- How To Create App Promotion Campaign•6 minutes
- How To Create Sales Campaign•4 minutes
- SnapChat Ads Events Manager•3 minutes
- SnapChat Ads Audiences•6 minutes
- SnapChat Ads Pixel, Apps, Catalogs•3 minutes
- Snapchat Creative Library, Lens Folders, Create Lens & Filter•4 minutes
- SnapChat Audience Insights, Reports, Campaign Lab•5 minutes
- SnapChat Camera Kit, Developer Portal•3 minutes
- SnapChat Business Dashboard, Billing, Public Profiles, Lens Creator Marketplace•3 minutes
1 reading•Total 5 minutes
- Snapchat for Business: Advertising Best Practices•5 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
- Snapchat Ads for Mobile Audiences•20 minutes
1 peer review•Total 10 minutes
- Hands-On-Learning: Configure Snapchat Events Tracking and a Sales Campaign•10 minutes
2 discussion prompts•Total 10 minutes
- Judging Lens Production Cost Against Static Creative•5 minutes
- Comparing Snapchat and TikTok App Promotion•5 minutes
Run ShareChat ad campaigns that reach Indian-language audiences across awareness, consideration, and conversion objectives. Covers ShareChat ads structure, account navigation, reports, event manager, and audience targeting.
What's included
11 videos1 reading1 assignment2 peer reviews1 discussion prompt
11 videos•Total 37 minutes
- Section Overview•1 minute
- ShareChat Ads Overview, ShareChat Ads Formats, Where ShareChat Ads Appear•4 minutes
- Why Run Ads on ShareChat•4 minutes
- How To Sign Up For ShareChat Ads•1 minute
- ShareChat Ads Account Navigation•3 minutes
- How to Create Brand Awareness Campaign•9 minutes
- How To Create Consideration Campaign•3 minutes
- How To Create Conversion Campaign•4 minutes
- ShareChat Ads Reports•3 minutes
- ShareChat Ads Event Manager•3 minutes
- ShareChat Ads Target Audience•3 minutes
1 reading•Total 5 minutes
- ShareChat for Business: Advertiser Guide•5 minutes
1 assignment•Total 20 minutes
- ShareChat Ads for Indian-Language Audiences•20 minutes
2 peer reviews•Total 40 minutes
- Hands-On-Learning: Plan a ShareChat Campaign for an Indian-Language Audience•10 minutes
- Project: Multi-Platform Paid Campaign Plan•30 minutes
1 discussion prompt•Total 5 minutes
- Creative Localization Choices on ShareChat•5 minutes
Instructors
Offered by
Why people choose Coursera for their career
Felipe M.
Learner since 2018
"To be able to take courses at my own pace and rhythm has been an amazing experience. I can learn whenever it fits my schedule and mood."
Jennifer J.
Learner since 2020
"I directly applied the concepts and skills I learned from my courses to an exciting new project at work."
Larry W.
Learner since 2021
"When I need courses on topics that my university doesn't offer, Coursera is one of the best places to go."
Chaitanya A.
"Learning isn't just about being better at your job: it's so much more than that. Coursera allows me to learn without limits."
Break down barriers to learning with big savings
Start with easy savings for hard-working teams
Frequently asked questions
To access course materials, assignments, and earn a Certificate, you'll need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. Eligible learners may also have the option to start with a Free Trial. Some courses may also offer a Full Course, No Certificate option. This lets you access course materials, submit required assessments, and receive a final grade, but you won't be able to earn or purchase a Certificate.
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
More questions
Financial aid available,
¹ Some assignments in this course are AI-graded. For these assignments, your data will be used in accordance with Coursera's Privacy Notice.