How to Promote Online Courses on Social Media

The eLearning industry is projected to hit 400 billion US dollars by 2026, reflecting the massive demand for online courses. But, with demand comes competition, which makes promoting and selling your course challenging. So, how do you ensure your course reaches the right audience and drives enrollments? The answer lies in a solid social media strategy. 

Social media offers unparalleled opportunities to promote your courses. However, navigating through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, and more can feel overwhelming. 

This guide breaks down 10 powerful strategies to help you learn how to promote online courses on social media. From boosting visibility and engagement to enhancing sales, here’s everything you need to know. 

How to Promote Online Courses on Social Media? Top 10 Marketing Strategies  

Promoting online courses on social media requires more than just random posts. It’s about strategy, engagement, and consistency. By implementing these 10 social media strategies, you can boost your enrollments and build a loyal brand base. 

1. Identify and Know Your Audience 

Before you learn how to market an online course, take a step back and define exactly who you’re trying to reach. Your marketing efforts will only work if they resonate with the right audience. Start by asking yourself questions like:

• Who needs your course?
• What are their pain points?
• What social media platform do they use the most? 

Conducting thorough market research can provide valuable insights into industry trends, competitor strategies, and market gaps. Fortunately, most social media platforms offer analytic tools, such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and Instagram Audience Insights, allowing you to gather data on your audience. 

To refine your targeting, you can group your audience based on demographics, location, interest, and intent. Don't forget to analyze your competitors. By conducting an audit of their target audience, you can gain insights into their audience, content strategy, and engagement tactics. 

2. Create High-Impact Content 

While having a high-value course is essential, posting high-quality content on your social media is equally important. Your content should do more than just sell; it should entertain, educate, and spark meaningful interaction with your audience. A well-rounded content strategy includes different content formats, such as short videos, infographics, and behind-the-scenes of your course creation process.  

Video content, in particular, is a game-changer. Studies show that 82% of consumers are more likely to invest in a product or service after watching a video. Given this impact, focusing on video content according to the content format of each platform can significantly enhance your social media presence. 

For example, short-form vertical videos are dominating Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and X. You can use AI-powered tools to create short (3-7-minute) videos that answer common questions that potential students might have. Make sure to strategically link and advertise your course in these videos. You can learn further about how AI is changing the marketing of online courses and implement the knowledge in promoting your course. 

3. Leverage Influencer Marketing

If you’re wondering how to promote online courses on social media and establish credibility, influencer marketing is the way to go. Research shows that 69% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations, making them a powerful asset for promoting your online course. By leveraging their loyal audience, you can reach potential students who might not have discovered your course otherwise. 

To get started, collaborate with influencers or industry experts who have an engaged following within your niche. You can offer them free access to your course or an affiliate partnership in exchange for a shoutout, review, or testimonial. However, make sure their audience aligns with your target market so you don’t waste resources on exposure that doesn’t convert. 

Another great approach to market your paid online course is through guest appearances in niche-specific podcasts. It allows you to discuss your course details and showcase your expertise in a long format to build trust with potential students. 

4. Maximize Visibility with Paid Advertising 

While organic social media strategies are important, paid advertising can significantly amplify your reach. Investing in targeted ads across platforms can increase your course's visibility. To truly maximize success, consider A/B testing to see what works best. 

You can also integrate Google Ad campaigns with social media strategies to retarget the audience. This way, when someone interacts with your course-related content on social media, they are served tailored ads when browsing Google. Additionally, you can use retargeting campaigns to offer special discounts to users who showed interest on social media but haven’t purchased yet, pushing them to enroll sooner. 

For better results, focus on enticing visuals, strong ad copy, and clear call-to-actions (CTAs) that encourage immediate action. Most platforms offer advanced analytic tools to track engagement, ad performance, and conversions, which helps fine-tune your strategy. 

5. Utilize Compelling Storytelling Skills

Psychologist Jerome Bruner found that humans are 22 times more likely to remember a fact when presented as a story. This makes storytelling a powerful tool in marketing because it makes your content more relatable and memorable. 

Instead of simply listing your course benefits, craft a compelling narrative that resonates with your audience’s struggles and aspirations. Start by sharing your own learning journey to help potential students connect and relate to your story. You can explain why you created the course, what challenges you faced, and how you overcame those challenges. 

Personal touch builds trust and emotional connection while making your audience see the value in your course. At the end of your story, add a strong CTA, stressing how your course can help students achieve similar success. 

Make Your Story More Impactful: 

Use Multiple Formats: Present your story in multiple formats, such as long-form videos on YouTube, written posts on LinkedIn, or quick, engaging snippets on Instagram and Facebook stories for a more personal touch. 

Share Real Success Stories: Leverage user-generated content by showcasing testimonials and success stories from past students. When potential students see others succeeding, they’ll be more inclined to enroll, knowing your course has already made a difference.

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6. Use Pinterest to Generate Leads

When thinking about how to promote online courses on social media, Pinterest is often overlooked, leading to missed opportunities. This visual search engine is a goldmine for driving traffic to your products and services. Its potential can be judged by the fact that it drives 33% more traffic to websites than Facebook. 

Pinterest Shopping Ads also show a 2x higher return on ad spend (ROAS). To maximize its potential, create eye-catching, attractive pins that highlight key takeaways from your course. You also need to optimize your pins with relevant keywords to ensure they rank on Pinterest searches, driving consistent, long-term traffic. 

7. Build a Community and Engage With your Audience

Connecting with your audience is essential, whether you’re conducting virtual instructor-led training, or marketing for it. Interestingly, one of the best ways to market an online course is by building a strong community. A thriving community boosts enrollments majorly through word-of-mouth marketing, which is far more powerful than any ad campaign. 

The easiest way to build a community is to create a dedicated Facebook group for your course. This allows students to connect, ask questions, and share their experiences, fostering a sense of belonging. 

If building a community from scratch feels overwhelming, you can leverage existing ones. Join relevant Facebook groups, Reddit threads, and LinkedIn groups where your target audience is active, and participate in discussions. You can subtly promote your course in these communities while offering insights and answering questions. The key is to establish yourself as a helpful resource rather than just pushing for sales. 

8. Offer Exclusive Discounts 

Limited-time offers and exclusive discounts create urgency and encourage users to take action. Introducing early-bird discounts and promotional prices during the course launches attracts leads while encouraging hesitant buyers to commit. 

Referral programs are another highly effective strategy. By incentivizing current students to promote your course, you can tap into their social network and expand your reach. The best part is you don’t have to bear high advertising costs. You can offer commission for every successful referral, motivating students to promote your course on their profiles, creating a win-win situation. 

Create FOMO with Countdown Timers: 

Create countdown timers on Instagram stories or Facebook posts to amplify the urgency factor. When users see the timer going down each day, they fear missing out, which makes potential students feel like they need to enroll before the opportunity passes. 

9. Live Streaming and Q&A Sessions

With 52% of people worldwide watching live-streaming on social platforms, it is a golden opportunity to promote your online course. Unlike pre-recorded content, live videos create a sense of urgency, which boosts your reach and engagement. These include live Q&A, mini-tutorials, collaborations, and much more.

Hosting a live Q&A allows you to address any doubts potential students may have before enrolling directly. You can also offer a mini-tutorial or sneak peek into your course, demonstrating its value upfront. Platforms like Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and YouTube Live make it easy to broadcast a live audience and interact instantly. 

Collaborate with industry experts or invite previous students to join your live session. Their insights and testimonials offer a positive learning environment and add credibility, making it easier for prospective students to trust your course and join. 

10. Showcase Social Proof to Build Trust

Alt text: Importance of online reviews for promotion

Source: wisernotify

88% of the customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, highlighting the importance of social proof. But, how to promote online courses on social media through reviews? The easiest way is to leverage genuine testimonials and student success stories. When potential students see others benefitting from your course, they are more likely to enroll. 

Showcasing screenshots of positive feedback and video testimonials builds credibility and reinforces the value of your course. You should encourage past students to leave public ratings and reviews on Facebook and LinkedIn by offering discounts or exclusive offers. This allows potential students to see exactly what they can achieve by joining your course. 

Increase Your Sales With Smart Marketing 

There’s overwhelming information on the internet, and social media feeds are constantly flooded with content. Your course promotions can easily get lost in this crowded space. That’s why understanding how to promote online courses on social media is important. Using strategic, engagement-driven marketing allows you to connect with the right audience.

But course promotion is already challenging enough—why add the stress of designing and creating a training course? This is where Coursebox, an advanced training platform, comes into play. 

It is an AI-powered training platform that offers a wide range of supportive features, such as an AI quiz generator, an AI course creator, and interactive elements. Coursebox helps you create high-quality training courses without the hassle, giving you more time to focus on the actual task—marketing. 

Start using Coursebox AI today and take the hassle out of course creation!

FAQs

How do you advertise an online course?

The most effective strategies for advertising an online course include social media ads, influencer collaborations, and engaging content across leading social media platforms. Additionally, publishing high-value content on your website and community-building efforts help expand your reach and attract potential students.  

How do you promote a course on Facebook?

Running targeted ads, posting engaging content, and leveraging niche-specific groups are effective ways to promote your course on Facebook. You can also build your own community on Facebook, hosting live Q&A sessions while sharing success stories to establish trust.  

How do you sell an online course with no followers?

If you have no followers, start optimizing your content, running paid ads, and collaborating with influencers to market your product. Post consistently across all social media platforms, focusing on short-form video content since they tend to convert more leads. 

How can I increase sales of training?

Conduct thorough research to understand your target audience and engage with them through high-quality content to increase training course sales. You should also leverage paid advertisements and share positive reviews and testimonials to build trust and improve the conversion rate.