Even if you are an amazing teacher, this doesn’t mean that your course will make a killing online. You see, your course is a product; regardless of its quality, you need to find an angle to sell it to your audience. It’s like with artists; you always encounter the phrase best-selling author, never a best-writing one. Why? Well, because A) it’s highly subjective and B) it’s not nearly as relevant.
You need to promote your course through the right channel to get as much success as possible. In 2023, there’s no talk about selling anything without the help of social media. With that in mind and without further ado, here are the top five social media strategies to help you promote your online course and ensure its success and a huge number of TikTok likes.
One thing that a lot of guides won’t tell you is that your target audience has their social media platforms of choice based on their demographic. For instance, Pinterest is a predominantly female platform, LinkedIn is preferred by people with a higher education, while platforms like TikTok attract the youngest generations.
Sure,people have personal preferences, but if all of their peers are on one social network, chances are they won’t allow themselves to be left behind. Also, people use social networks to interact with people they know personally and meet others like them. The best way to do so is to find the platform whose demographic fits their profile.
Now, depending on the nature of your course, it may be really easy to single out your target audience. You can also analyze your course’s current attendance (provided you’re not just starting out) or look at similar courses and check for any data available on their demographics.
Either way, once you know who you’re dealing with, you must make a posting schedule. First, you need to check the optimal engagement posting time on each platform. This is well-researched, and it shouldn’t be that hard to find. Then, you may also check the patterns of internet use within that particular demographic and see what the numbers say.
2. Retargeting ads to combat cart abandonment
While email outreach is the most popular way to combat cart abandonment, and there are many good abandoned cart copy examples, you can also do so via retargeting social media ads.
Imagine a scenario where a customer adds an item to the cart or wishlist (or just returns several times to your site to check this specific course) and leaves without enrolling. Then, they’re minding their own business, only to be reminded by an ad on their social media profile.
This is so effective because, although it’s a hard-sell method, it doesn’t feel like it. After all, it’s a course that they’re already interested in. They might not even mind the price; perhaps they just need a slight nudge in the right direction to finally commit to enrolling. The rule of seven states that a customer (or a student in this particular case) must encounter your brand seven times to decide to make a purchase, and this reminder might be one of these seven interactions.
If you don’t think this is enough, you can always sweeten the deal by adding value by including a limited-time offer. This way, they see the item and leave without buying it. Then, tomorrow, while scrolling down the Instagram or Facebook feed, you will see that the item is on sale for the next 24 hours. This is a call to action that’s hard to ignore.
Lastly, this is another opportunity to showcase a unique feature, angle, or advantage they have missed while browsing your site. It’s another shot at making them change their mind and figure out it’s worth it.
3. Make the format mobile-friendly
Most of your ads will be in video format, so you need to make an extra effort to make them mobile-friendly. There are a few things you need here. First, make sure that the length of the video is appropriate to the social media platform in question.
For instance, YouTube videos and even X (formerly Twitter) videos can afford to be longer. Still, people don’t have much time for Instagram or TikTok videos that are of a longer format. Therefore, you need to keep things much shorter.
Second, you must acknowledge that your audience watches videos without sound. This doesn’t mean that the sound is unimportant; it just means that you must ensure that it makes sense even when the sound is off. Since you want to include a sample of your course, you might want to get software to transcribe courses and then use some of this text to create great captions. This will make your content more inclusive and effective.
Ultimately, make sure that the format you’re creating fits all screen sizes. This is much earlier to do early than later on. Ensuring the video fits a vertical screen alignment is also a good idea.
The most important thing to focus on is that some of your course takers may use mobile devices as their primary devices for tuning in. If your mobile videos are off, they’ll automatically assume that the course will be as poorly optimized for mobile users, as well.
4. Come up with great hashtags
First, you need to understand your community. Explore how they communicate. The best way to do so is to directly interact with some of your students, people interested in your courses, or those who generally belong to this demographic.
Second, do some competitor research. Some of their posts are doing better than others. Some of their sponsored videos seem to be more effective. Why is that? Think carefully about how and why all of this is taking place, and try to figure out if you can notice some of the best hashtags and tags that they’re using.
Follow the latest trends. When a trend is new, the majority of the field might not have picked up on it yet. Being an early adopter is hard (you don’t have strong numbers to convince you), but simultaneously, you have a lot less competition. Generally speaking, users are far quicker at adopting these trends than brands are, so monitoring mentions and surveying user behavior can get you ahead.
You also want to cast a wide net. Of course, you should avoid hashtag stuffing, but you want to combine general and specific keywords to get the right audience on your side. Generally, applying keyword research methods to find the right hashtags is a good tip.
Still, finding the right tool for the job is probably best. With the right hashtag tracker, you can find what you’re looking for much easier. There’s always a specialized tool for the job; you can save hard labor hours by finding it.
5. Paid advertisement
Paid ads are incredibly cost-effective; the only reason why many brands avoid them is because of the fallacy that it makes no sense to pay for posting on social media when you can do it for free.
The reach and visibility of these courses are something you’ve never seen before. While it’s different than your organic content, it’s not in contrast with it. People may like your sponsored content, visit your page, and stay for your organic content.
Second, you get far superior data analytics. The platforms have an amazing insight into user interaction with this content, but they might only be willing to share this with those who opt for paid promotion.
Keep in mind that this is not just random. Targeting on these ads is far more precise, and it’s incredibly efficient at retargeting users who have already interacted with your content. This means that you can segment your audience and serve them tailored ads. Since these people are already qualified leads, the response will be amazing.
Since this is so precise, you can also engage in a higher level of cost control. At any given point, you see your spending, and you can easily put a cap on it.
Lastly, there’s an image boost that comes from this. Namely, as an educational institution, you must show that you’re willing to invest money in your promotion. This gives you more legitimacy and makes you appear more professional. Many people are skeptical that virtually anyone can make a course, so they’ll be a bit more cautious when approaching you.
Promoting your course on social media doesn’t have to be that difficult when done right
Unlocking tricks of the trade is always hard work, but the key thing you need to understand is that unless you can promote your course, you won’t be able to make money from it. Sometimes, this means making the right investment, while in other scenarios, it just requires a bit of social media strategy.
Raghav is a talented content writer with a passion to create informative and interesting articles. With a degree in English Literature, Raghav possesses an inquisitive mind and a thirst for learning. Raghav is a fact enthusiast who loves to unearth fascinating facts from a wide range of subjects. He firmly believes that learning is a lifelong journey and he is constantly seeking opportunities to increase his knowledge and discover new facts. So make sure to check out Raghav’s work for a wonderful reading.
