In this article, you will find a few ideas on how to promote online courses on social media.
Today there are plenty of ways you can promote your online courses. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, TikTok and you name it are all great choices. And if you are not using them already, it’s time to reconsider.
Why?
Considering the fact that it’s the 21st century and social media marketing remains powerful as ever is a fair reason.
With over 3.6 billion active users on social media in 2020 and an even higher number of 4.41 billion that is expected in 2025, online course creators stand a real good chance of getting their products in front of a huge pool of potential customers.
With all this exposure, course sales and success are easy to come.
If you are not using social media as part of your digital marketing strategy, in this article, you will find a few ideas on how to get started.
Let’s dive in!
1) Use community groups
Don’t take Facebook or LinkedIn groups for granted. They exist for a reason and that is to bring together people who are sharing a common interest together. What you can do is become a member of a group that relates to the topic of your online course. Or better yet, create one!
For example, if you are teaching coding you can search for ‘coding’, ‘coding for beginners’ or ‘coding community’ to find people interested in coding, know about coding or want to learn more about it.
Don’t forget, each group comes with its own rules though so make sure they allow promotional information. Once you are in post relevant and useful content to help members, answer inquiries, and make yourself known as an expert.
After that, gradually encourage them to check out your website sending them to a dedicated landing page or straight to your courses page. You can also offer an introductory course sample for free to help them understand what they could be learning.
The Blueprint Training - an SEO and marketing course seller, is doing this effectively through their website while promoting their Slack channel to more people who are interested in joining their community.
They also have a dedicated group of experts that are ready to offer their help to those who are just starting out.
2) Launch a YouTube channel
Video is king and 92 percent of marketers admit that is an essential tool of their marketing strategy. When it comes to online courses though, the video becomes even more essential. That is because it’s a huge component of interactive teaching.
Whether the teaching technique you are using is animation, screencasts, or whiteboards, it’s always a great idea to include videos in your online courses but also as a way to promote them.
Consider creating a YouTube channel to share a series of videos to help your students learn how to use your course, create a course outline, or offer glimpses of your work.
3) Make stories on Instagram
Instagram stories offer a great opportunity to get people to know you and showcase your product. As an engagement tool, it allows you to share behind-the-scenes images, screenshots, post questions, and polls directly to your audience.
By sharing stories you are inviting your audience to take a call-to-action and engage with you either while answering a question related to the subject of your course or about them. There are hundreds of ideas and ways you can present information using the winning features of the platform.
Start by telling your story and how it all started, revealing the journey behind your online course, or by encouraging them to check out a new post or product:
On Kicksta there are many ideas on how this can work to suit the industry of your business.
4) Go Live on a social network
Hearing your voice is different from seeing your face, and I have to tell you, your audience is going to like the latter the most. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube allow you to ‘go live’ so use this feature to your advantage.
If you are a life coach selling courses, you can schedule to go live at a specific time of day or once a week. This kind of communication allows you to interact directly with your followers, nurturing them with spot-on tips and advice, or a few words of encouragement. Most times, that’s exactly what your people need.
At the end of each of your live-action, you can encourage them to check out your course to help them decide if they want to take part.
5) Create a Facebook page for your school
Having an online presence on social media, especially on Facebook is important because it can help your brand get found easily. Once you set up a Facebook page on this network - which continues to be the most popular, you can have the audience searching for you and ultimately following what you are doing.
A dedicated place where you can post content related to your online course, including blog posts on your subject is going to build up engagement and gradually bring you more sales.
On top of that, a Facebook page can reveal insightful information about how your target audience is engaging with you, how often, and why. It can tell you which type of posts get the most engagement and then create more similar content that people like to see.
What should a student of your course expect to see on your social profiles? The answer is meaningful content. This includes user-generated content, tips, and advice, inspirational quotes, testimonials, and case studies from your customers.
Apart from these, however, they should also be able to see some samples of your courses or an introductory mini-course that helps them understand what your online course is all about. Consider giving out resources for free to entice them to check out your product.
6) Share useful and inspirational content
The HubSpot Academy is doing an excellent job with the content they share both on Facebook and Instagram, gathering a lot of attention and engagement:
On Facebook, they are sharing insights on what people can learn from a course and they provide a direct link to their course page. Also, on their official page, they are asking people questions directly to reach out to their audience.
On Instagram, they are sharing inspiring content, creating Stories, and saving them as Highlights whenever there is a big event taking place.
While on it, they are engaging people in the best ways possible: using polls, questions, and hashtags.
Take some inspiration from these marketing strategies HubSpot uses to learn how to promote your business and online courses effectively.
7) Optimize your school’s social media profiles
It’s the digital era, and when a potential customer is interested in your products the first thing they do is search for you on Google. Having a dedicated page for your course business can ultimately increase the chances of them contacting you because it comes first on search results.
For this to happen though, you need to ensure that your social media profiles are complete and have every piece of information customers will need to reach out to.
Come up with a company description that tells people who you are and what you do within 1-2 sentences. Then edit your About section - if you are using Facebook for example, and make sure you provide at least one contact point - email, telephone number, or customer support line.
It’s important to direct people to the social media channel that you use the most and then encourage them to take further action through a CTA button like ‘Contact Us’, ‘Send Message’ ‘Learn More’ or ‘Sign Up’.
8) Use video as much as possible
It goes without saying that video should be part of your social media marketing strategy. Video is highly effective - not only in terms of getting the right message across immediately but also increasing customer engagement.
Many successful online course creators and businesses, like to use videos to either introduce themselves to their target audience like they do on their website, or share video testimonials, featuring happy customers who enrolled in a course.
However, these are not the only types of videos you can feature on your social media profiles.
You can create videos exclusively for social media use and post video tutorials, how-to videos, interviews, and Q&As, behind-the-scenes videos, event videos, user-generated videos, or even promotional offers.
Need help with your social media marketing efforts? You can always hire a social media virtual assistant. Here’s why you should consider having one on your team.
Ready to promote your online courses on social media?
There is no doubt that social media offers the most cost-efficient, quickest, and powerful way to spread the word about your online course to your audience.
These powerful social media tips can ultimately help you sell your online course to those who are serious about learning more about your course subject. Once you get started, what you will need is to show some dedication and consistency to keep your audience coming back!
Kyriaki is a Content Writer for the LearnWorlds team writing about marketing and e-learning, helping course creators on their journey to create, market, and sell their online courses. Equipped with a degree in Career Guidance, she has a strong background in education management and career success. In her free time, she is crafty and musical.