9 Ways to Promote an Online Course Using Social Media

Promoting an online course is no easy feat as the market continues to grow. Many course creators have turned to social media as their primary marketing tool. With billions of users on social media, course creators have found success in using social media to promote their online course. Today, we’ll be sharing 9 ways you can promote an online course using social media.

9 ways to Promote an Online Course Using Social Media

If you want your online course to be successful, you need to have a good marketing campaign in place. There are many ways you can approach this, but social media has proved to be an effective tool to promote an online course. Below are 9 social media ideas broken down into four categories: interactive, experience, informative, and special promotions/advertisements.

Let’s take a closer look!

Interactive

Interactive social media posts allow you, as the creator, to engage with your audience on a deeper level. Create social media posts and stories that are designed to generate interaction, you’ll be able to share more about your online course and what you have to offer.

1. “Ask Me Anything” in your Instagram stories

People love to ask questions and want to learn as much as they can about something before making any decisions. You can offer an “Ask me anything” question box in your Instagram Stories for anyone who may have questions about your online course.

This is a great way to engage with your current audience and let them freely (and anonymously) ask you questions. You can share these answers anonymously right in your stories for everyone to see. Once the Q&A is over, add all of the stories into your Instagram Story Highlights. That way if anyone misses the Q&A or needs to go back to look at them, they can!

2. Go Live on Facebook or Instagram

Set aside time to go live on Facebook or Instagram before and after your online course launches. Going live before the launch informs your audience of your new product and peaks interest. After the launch of your course, host lives or webinars every month or every other month to generate new interest in your course.

According to Social Media Today, on average, people watch live videos three times longer than pre-recorded videos. When you go live, you can interact with your audience, give them some sneak peaks, and answer questions. We recommend creating an outline of what you want to share so when you go live there is a structure, but allows you to improvise and engage with your audience.

Experience

Before people commit to making a purchase, they want to know what others’ experienced using a product or service. Try the tips below on how you can use the stories and experiences from your previous students to share with prospective students.

3. Share Course Reviews

A great way to prompt an online course is with course reviews from your previous students. If you want your audience to take action, you need to be able to show them real people who have taken your course and found it helpful. According to Search Engine Watch, 72% of consumers will take action only after reading a positive review.

The best way to collect course reviews is right after the student has completed your online course. It’s up to you how you collect these reviews, but having some type of form is extremely helpful. We recommend using a tool built for collecting, managing, and sharing your customer reviews, like Boast.

4. Share Testimonials from your students

Similar to course reviews, you’ll want to share testimonials from your students. The difference between customer reviews and testimonials is that testimonials dive deeper into the experience a student had. They tell a story and can be captured in written or video format.

Video testimonials are powerful and can boost online course sales. In fact, 2/3 of people are more likely to make a purchase after watching a video testimonial of someone who had a positive experience with the product or service. Additionally, people are twice as likely to share video content, over images, with friends and family, which would increase your engagement and viewers. With these striking numbers, we’d recommend sharing testimonial videos on your social media to reach a larger audience.

As with online course reviews, you’ll need a system in place to collect, manage and share your testimonials. We’ve put together a guide that provides a step-by-step process for course creators, that can be implemented in as little as an hour, to collecting and sharing testimonials.

Featured Resource: Creator's Guide to Collecting & Sharing Testimonials

Download the Testimonial Guide for Creators!

Informative

People want to know exactly what they’re about to get by signing up for your course. You can help them out by providing tips and resources from inside your course.

5. Share Mini-Tips related to the course topic

A great campaign idea for your social media is to include mini-tips related to your course topic. Think about the content from your course and select tips from each of your modules. You want to be strategic in what you share as the tips should be informative, but leaves your audience wanting more.

6. Share resources from inside your course

Do you have any resources in your course that could be shared as a freebie? The resource could be a short guide, infographic, or worksheet. Essentially, you want the resource to be a stand-alone item with just enough information to make your audience crave more. This is a great opportunity to give your audience a taste of what you can offer and what information they could learn from your online course.

Special Promotions/Advertisements

Promoting an online course through social media can be done organically or through paid advertising. The ideas below offer ways you can create organic content, offer special discounts, and leverage paid advertising.

7. Short Video Introduction

Offering a short introduction video to your online course can help give prospective students an overview of what’s inside the course. The intro video should be short, 2-3 minutes, and include the basic information of what you’ll learn from the course. You’ll also want to make sure the video is scalable so it can be shared easily across multiple social media platforms. This often means creating a video in ratios of 1:1, 4:5, and 9:16.

8. Special Offer to followers

You may already have a large following on your social media channels – that’s great! This means you already have a loyal audience who engage with your content and genuinely like what you have to offer. If you’re just starting out, that’s okay too! We still recommend this option as you continue to grow your following.

No matter the size of your following, you can show your appreciation by offering a discount to buy your online course. The amount of the discount will vary, but we generally see anywhere between 10-30% off. Sharing a special promotional code to your followers will make them feel appreciated and could jump-start your sales with your biggest fans!

9. Facebook Ads

Facebook Advertisements have been effective for over 8 million small- to medium-sized businesses and could be effective for you as well – if done right. With over 2.6 billion monthly users, Facebook is an excellent place to promote an online course. You’ll not only reach a larger audience, but you’ll build your brand and community.

The key to advertising through Facebook is to really understand your audience and their demographics. You want to make sure your ads are targeting the right people for the best ROI. You can create Facebook ads right in the Facebook Ads Manager tool or you can boost a Facebook post you’ve already created.

Featured Resource: Creator's Guide to Collecting & Sharing Testimonials

Download the Testimonial Guide for Creators!

The tips and examples listed above are a good place to start to promote your online course. Keep your audience and business goals in mind as you build out your marketing campaign plan.