The World-class Social Media Manager
Yazan Al Tamimi
Ex-Head of Social @ Spotify
Become the social media strategist your career has been waiting for.
You're good at your job. You hit deadlines, the content performs, the team likes you. But the strategy decisions still happen in rooms you're not invited to. Briefs get handed down instead of built with you. Your manager calls you reliable but never strategic. And you know — somewhere underneath the executor everyone sees — that you're capable of much more.
I built this course because I lived that exact gap. I spent years being the person who delivered the work, watching less talented people get promoted because they knew how to talk about strategy, present it, and defend it. The skills aren't mysterious. Nobody just sat me down and taught them. So I'm doing that for you.
This course is for the social media manager with two to five years of experience who is ready to stop being the one who executes someone else's plan and start being the one who builds it. By the end, you won't just be doing better work — you'll be perceived differently by the people who decide who gets promoted, who gets the strategic projects, and who gets taken seriously when they speak.
You already know social media. This course teaches you how to be taken seriously for it.
What you’ll learn
Build, defend, and present a real social strategy that earns buy-in from senior stakeholders and changes how your career moves from here.
Use the same end-to-end framework I used at Spotify and We Are Social to go from business goal to executable plan
Walk through a full worked example — Ember, a fictional coffee brand — applied across every step of the strategy.
Leave the course with your own strategy deck, built on a real brief, that you can show your manager on Monday.
Master the four-layer diagnosis approach so you stop solving symptoms and start solving the actual business problem.
Learn how to push back on briefs that don't make sense, without sounding junior or difficult.
See how senior strategists ask the questions that reframe the entire conversation.
Replace "engagement" and "reach" with the vocabulary marketing and finance leaders actually use.
Practice connecting every social activity to a business metric your CFO would defend.
Use the working vs. non-working media frame, the always-on vs. campaign distinction, and the owns-vs-influences map.
Cut the time on research, audience synthesis, content briefing, measurement, and deck-building by up to 75%.
Learn the six AI accelerator workflows threaded through the strategy module — and the moments judgment must stay human.
Build an operating rhythm where AI handles volume and you handle the calls that actually matter.
Build the seven attributes of a world-class SMM — strategic patience, editorial judgment, political literacy, and more.
Master the Planning, Accountability, and Proactivity operating framework that ties the attributes into a daily rhythm.
Learn how to navigate office politics, manage up, and earn the right to be in strategy conversations.
Use the self-assessment to identify which type of strategist you want to be known as — and the gap to close.
Learn the personal branding moves that change how senior people perceive you, even before your title changes.
Walk away with a 90-day development plan tailored to your role, your context, and your next milestone.
Learn directly from Yazan
Yazan Al Tamimi
Social & Content Marketing Expert. 13+ years driving growth on social media.
Who this course is for
The agency SMM chasing the promotion from Executive to Account Manager or Strategist — or a move from agency to a brand's in-house team.
The in-house SMM ready to step up from Manager to Senior Manager, Strategy Lead, or Head of Social at a more recognizable brand.
The SMM doing five jobs at a small company, ready to specialize and break out of the jack-of-all-trades trap that's stalling their career.
Prerequisites
Hands-on social media experience
You've personally managed at least one brand's social presence. This course assumes you already know the platforms — we go beyond them.
A real brand or brief to work on
You'll build a strategy throughout the course. Bring your current employer's brand, a side project, or a brand you'd love to work with.
Willingness to be challenged
This course will challenge how you think about your role, your work, and your career. Come ready to question how you've been operating.
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Yazan Al Tamimi in a real-time, interactive format.
Exclusive inner-circle Slack community
A private Slack space with me and every alumnus from past and current cohorts. Get feedback on real decks before you present them. Ask the politically tricky questions you can't post on LinkedIn. Find peers in similar roles around the world. Hear about job openings before they get posted. The network alone is worth the price of the course.
The end-to-end social media strategy framework
Eleven parts, taught with a live worked example. Diagnose the business problem, define the audience, build the content system, plan always-on and campaign media, set measurement that holds up in senior rooms, and present the strategy. The same framework I've used at Spotify, We Are Social, and across every brand I've consulted for.
A complete strategy worked example, start to finish
Watch every framework applied to Ember, a fictional specialty coffee brand. Real numbers, real budgets, real trade-offs. You see what a senior strategist actually does at every step — not just the theory. By the end, you have a model for how the work gets done, ready to apply to your own brand or brief.
Case studies from campaigns you already know
Spotify Wrapped, Duolingo's TikTok, Liquid Death, CoverGirl's micro-influencer pivot. Each case study breaks down the strategic thinking behind the work, ties it back to course frameworks, and ends with a "Data Story" exercise so you can apply the same thinking to a campaign at your own company.
Live Q&A sessions on strategy and career growth
Recurring small-group Q&A calls where you bring real situations — a tricky brief, a stalled promotion, a senior stakeholder you can't win over, a strategy you're stuck on — and we work through them together. Half the value is hearing what others are wrestling with. The other half is getting honest answers to the questions you can't ask at work.
The strategist self-assessment and 90-day plan
A real assessment across the seven attributes of a world-class SMM. You'll identify the two attributes most worth developing for your next role, then build a focused 90-day plan to close the gap. Most students tell me this is the exercise that changed how they think about their career, not just the course.
Frameworks and templates you can use immediately
Strategy deck templates, audience research prompts, the four-layer diagnosis tool, the owns-vs-influences map, the always-on vs. campaign budget worksheet, AI accelerator prompts, and a measurement framework that holds up in senior rooms. Battle-tested, not theoretical. Take what works for you and adapt the rest.
Six AI workflows built into the strategy framework
Most courses bolt AI on as a separate module. This one teaches AI exactly where senior strategists actually use it: research, audience synthesis, content briefing, measurement, deck-building, and stakeholder Q&A prep. You learn how AI compresses the volume so you can focus on the calls that actually matter.
Bonus modules: personal branding and working with your agency
Two bonus modules tackle the work most courses ignore. Personal Branding 101 covers how to position yourself online so the right opportunities find you. Working With Your Agency teaches the brand-side SMM how to get more from external partners — what to brief, what to push back on, and how to build a partnership that compounds.
Lifetime access plus all future cohort updates
Once you join, you keep access. As I refine the course based on each new cohort, update the AI workflows, swap in new case studies, and add new templates, you get all of it at no extra cost. Social media changes every six months. The course evolves with it, and so does what you take away from it.
Maven Guarantee
Your purchase is backed by the Maven Guarantee.
Course syllabus
Week 1
May
16
Mastering Social Media Strategy - Session 2
Sat 5/164:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)May
15
Mastering Social Media Strategy
Fri 5/154:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)May
17
Mastering Social Media Strategy - Session 3
Sun 5/174:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)
Mastering Social Media Strategy
Week 2
May
19
The Attributes of a World-class SMM
Tue 5/194:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)May
21
The World-class Frameworks
Thu 5/214:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)May
22
Optional: Personal Branding 101
Fri 5/224:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)OptionalMay
23
Optional: Working With Your Agency
Sat 5/234:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)Optional
The Attributes of a World-class SMM
The World-class Frameworks
Bonus modules
Schedule
Live sessions
1-3 hrs / week
Mon, May 11
4:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)
Wed, May 13
4:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)
Sat, May 16
4:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)
Projects
2-4 hrs / week
Async content
1-3 hrs / week
Testimonials
- I worked with Yazan for three years at Spotify, where he led social media across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. He built high-performing social channels, drove consistent results, and led social listening to keep the team close to the customer. He is strategic, analytical, articulate, collaborative, and a constant learner.
Tamim Fares
Head of Disney+ MENA - Yazan is a huge asset to Spotify. Managing a large, diverse region, he brings clarity, builds smart localized strategies, and makes the brand resonate in every market. He’s raised the bar for creativity with viral, high-engagement moments, and he always ties social to real business impact—balancing strategy, data, culture, and creativity perfectly.
Ruthie Qadan
Head, Strategy & Operations @ Spotify - I’ve worked with Yazan for over four years, and he’s one of the best team members I’ve ever partnered with. He came in strong in digital and social media, but his drive and passion for excellence turned him into a full brand marketer with strategic and storytelling skills. He learns fast, grows constantly, and any company would be lucky to have him
Aurelien Fonteneau
General Manager, We Are Social - Working with Yazan was a pleasure and a huge learning experience. He’s talented, driven, open to feedback, and always focused on helping his whole team grow. As my manager at Socialize, he recognized great work, inspired us, and led by example. He will shine wherever he goes, and I’m excited to see what he does next.
Omar El Alfy
Senior Client Account Manager at X
Frequently asked questions
$79
USD
1 hour left to enroll