Office of Marketing and Communications

SFMC | Training Details

Below are details about the Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) training process. All users of SFMC require an individual license. The details below are to assist in planning your team's onboarding to SFMC. To gain access to SFMC complete the training process and sign the SFMC user agreement. The assigned BuckeyeLearn SFMC training modules are video and presentation content. This training is subject to change. Most training is assigned by OMC Email and Automation team based on use cases.

Onboarding for Salesforce Marketing Cloud and additional courses detailed below.

Please direct questions about SFMC training to the OMC Email and Automation Team. All users must complete the assigned training and sign the SFMC user agreement before access can be granted to the university's instance of SFMC. Ohio State's audience data is complex and part of this training is to provide direction and protection for proper use of the audience data.

 

Support for email execution within SFMC needs to be discussed before planning to move your bulk email communications to the SFMC platform.

Onboarding and training for SFMC is around 4 hours of BuckeyeLearn courses. There is an assignment to build an email within the tool with limited access. After this email build assignment is reviewed a determination will be made about full access to the tool.

It is important to consider the other email needs of your college or unit. Not all requests will warrant a new SFMC license.

  • Are members of your team already using SFMC?
  • Can these users support your email build and sending?
  • Do you need a process for content creation outside of the tool?

 

Salesforce Marketing Cloud training overview:

  • Each user of SFMC will be sent the SFMC User Agreement from Docusign, please review the check box sections and sign at your earliest convenience
  • Each user will be assigned the same standard courses in BuckeyeLearn.
    • Complete these courses close to the time of building and sending an email in SFMC
  • Each user will be assigned an email to build and edit in SFMC. Access will be granted as a student user for the assigment
    • Complete this assignment as soon as possible after completing the BuckeyeLearn courses
    • The email build will be evaluated and a determination will be made concerning full access to the tool
  • All SFMC users are added to the Email Community of Practice meetings, emails and Teams channel

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - Introduction to Email – BuckeyeLearn and available to all (45 min)

Step 1

The Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - Introduction to Email > This content is an overview of general email knowledge. Anyone can access this training module, we recommend this training to all marketers and content creators. This course can be found by searching SFMC in BuckeyeLearn and can also be assigned with the other SFMC courses. 

User Agreement and Assignment

Important - Complete before access is granted to Salesforce Marketing Cloud

The email team will send the user agreement during your training process from Docusign. 

  • User agreement: Salesforce Marketing Cloud is the approved email bulk-sending platform for The Ohio State University. The SFMC user agreement contains important information for all users to abide by while working with the tool. Please read the document carefully when checking the boxes required and sign the agreement sent via Docusign. 
    1. After 90 days of inactivity in the tool your access will be removed automatically from SFMC
    2. Comply with the data guidelines, so as not to export lists for other uses. Exports from SFMC are for analytics purposes only
    3. No purchased lists are not to be used as a best practice and to align with the Salesforce Marketing Cloud user agreement 
    4. The OMC email team audits SFMC quarterly and will be in touch if anything needs to be addressed in the use of the tool

The email assignment will be sent at a point in your training that aligns with your use case and you will be granted access to SFMC but will not be able to send an email. 

  • Email build assignment: The assignment is to build an email in SFMC to ensure users can find their way around the tool and locate the branded modules/components. Instructions and sample content will be provided to you for the assignment. The details are evolving, a Word document or a link to the assignment details will be provided. Once complete submit to the SFMC email and automation team as instructed. After this assignment is completed and approved, user access will be updated. 
  • New user email assignment

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - New User Onboarding – as assigned in BuckeyeLearn

Step 2

An introductory course for the university instance of SFMC. This online curriculum is for Ohio State marketers with approved use cases to learn about sending emails through Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC). The curriculum includes a series of short videos. After completing this course, additional training is required to receive full access to SFMC. Keep the completion certificate to send to the email and automation team. 

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - Email Overview & Templates – as assigned in BuckeyeLearn

Step 3

After the Introduction to Email and New User Onboarding BuckeyeLearn training courses, learning about branded email templates is the next step in the SFMC training curriculum. Users such as designers or content creators who will not be sending emails or building audiences will focus on this session. All SFMC users will take this course.

This video course is a recorded session of Salesforce Marketing Cloud demonstration for Ohio State University email senders. See how to navigate SFMC while revisiting important concepts from the Introduction to Email video series. Watch the steps to build an on-brand email template, then learn how to make an email from the template.

Video training content and resources for building emails that align to the Ohio State brand. 

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - Audience specific training – as assigned in BuckeyeLearn – as assigned in BuckeyeLearn

Step 4

The OMC Email and Automation Team to assign you to the specific audience training  session(s) that align with your use case. (Ex: advancement, internal communications, recruiting, subscriptions, etc.)

  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - Alumni, Donors & Friends Audience (Advancement audience) [Recorded Session] - This video course will introduce email marketers to the Alumni, Donors & Friends (ADF) area of SFMC. This course will introduce details for building and sending emails to this commercial audience. There are specific audience use cases for ADF. Only audience data pulled from The Advancement System (TAS) apply here.
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - University Community [Recorded Session] - This video course introduces email marketers to the University Community (UC) area of SFMC. This course will introduce details for building and sending emails. There are specific audience use cases for UC. This area is for internal communications within Ohio State. Internal communications are messages to faculty, staff and/or current students. Emails sent from this business unit are considered transactional and are a condition of active employment or enrollment.
    • Coming Soon > Connected Data is a pilot project for automated audience data extensions (lists). This style of data extension requires a specific send method that is different than the the recorded training sessions discusses. This method of sending from SFMC called “Single Journey Sends” provides confirmation that the email is sending to a specific list of recipients, based on the email address field within the data extension (list). Subscription is a perfect use case for this email execution method. 
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - Recruiting audience training is provided by Strategic Enrollment Marketing, we will connect you with the Strategic Enrollment Management team after the basic training for SFMC is complete. This audience requires SFMC Journey Builder training. 
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - Subscription audience training includes the Single Journey Send process. This method of sending from SFMC called “Single Journey Sends” confirms that the email is sending to a specific list of recipients, based on the email address field within the data extension (list). Subscription is a perfect use case for this email execution method. 
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - Ohio State Online (OSO) audience training is provided by Ohio State Online for new OSO team members. Other partners of OSO will need to contact the Ohio State Online team for more information about Ohio State Online as SFMC is not the tool for partners in this space, you will need Salesforce Sales Cloud to have your potential students' information added to OSO's audience.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) – Journey Builder Basics – as assigned in BuckeyeLearn and Salesforce Trailhead

Step 5

Specific use cases will require Journey Builder training in Salesforce Marketing Cloud's training portal - Trailhead and the assigned BuckeyeLearn Journey Builder Basics. This additional training is for users of Salesforce with strategies that include automation for email (and SMS where applicable). Recruiting, Subscription and University Community use cases align to this step of training. Strategic Enrollment Marketing partners assist with recruitment training details. 

Note, the data driving a journey will need discussed with a larger group to align to proper strategy and implementation. We suggest the data aspect of the journey be the first step in planning. See the preflight email checklist for more details on email and journey planning. 

Single Journey Sends (Audiences: Recruiting, Subscription, University Community)

Step 6

Within Salesforce Marketing Cloud there are varying bulk email send methods. Sending with a single Journey allows emails to be sent to a specific set of email addresses. Ohio State's audience data comes from many sources. It is important to consider the email recipients' opt-in preferences by only sending to the email addresses provided for each email communication.

Single Journey Send instructions

Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) - Intro to Dynamic Content - available via search in BuckeyeLearn

Optional advanced course

Dynamic content in email can be beneficial and allows for one email to contain multiple content options aligned to subscribers' personal data and interests. This strategy involves detailed data support and using SFMC's Amp Script language to instruct the platform on content and data-driven modules.

Support for SFMC from the Office of Marketing and Communications

The OMC Email and Automation team provides ongoing support as needed.  Please search the SFMC tools webpage for support via video and documentation. There is also a bi-monthly Email Community of Practice (ECOP) meeting. This regular meeting provides updates on the email industry and Ohio State email use cases among other topics. There is also an ECOP Team's Channel for general questions or announcements. Be sure to review the team's channel or ECOP archives for past content.