A lot of work goes into creating an effective elearning course. But, to grow your business creating a great product is only half the battle. You’ve got all that fantastic content but unless you put a bit of time into marketing the course it will simply hang around, waiting to be discovered – or worse, fade into obscurity entirely.
Once your content goes online how will you ensure that people sign up?
Step 1: Get your course found
Consider your audience. Where do people searching for online courses go? Well, the clue lies in the question itself. People searching for content – especially online content – turn to the search engines, which invariably means Google.
In recent years Google has been placing more and more emphasis on blended search results, displaying videos more prominently near the top of the page. Check the stats:
- Forrester Research found that videos were 53 times more likely to receive a first page organic ranking
- Marketing Week found that video appeared in 70 of the top 100 search engine results
- Econsultancy report that video search results have a 41% higher click through rate than plain text results
Embed video on your site and you’ll increase your chances of getting your course in front of the people who are actively looking for one just like it.
But couldn’t you just upload your video to YouTube for the same results?
Absolutely – YouTube videos show up in the search engine results, but what happens once your potential subscriber is done watching?
Distracting links are, well, distracting. By embedding directly on-site you have more control over where your viewer clicks next. A strong call to action sitting along side the video will keep those subscribers rolling in.
Step 2: Get people talking about it
Word of mouth can be a really powerful way to raise awareness for your course and convince people to check it out. Nielsen report that 90% of people trust recommendations from people they know, while 70% trusted consumer opinions posted online.
Social media is word of mouth for the digital age. You can reach a tremendous amount of people through your student’s extended networks. But don’t forget that the key word here is “social”. Reflect that in the types of content you post for best results.
So, once you have your social profiles set up – what type of things should you post?
People tune out overt sales-pitches – or worse remove you from their network entirely. Instead, try and add value in the content you post – give your fans a reason to hit the like button or share with a friend.
And remember, video sees around a 100% more engagement than just text posts (Facebook Best Practice Guide)
Step 3: Keep people coming back for more
We’re faced with a new generation of students. They’re tech savvy, they’re connected and they consume video. Did you know, for instance, that in the last two years the mobile share of web traffic has almost tripled?
Given the popularity of video you should consider using it within your course itself. It’s a medium students are familiar with, that they like and that they are coming to expect. The challenge as learning professionals is how to use it effectively to deliver their course’s learning outcomes (check out this post for some ideas).
Whether you use video for promotion or to deliver the course itself it’s a great way to create a buzz and generate interest. It combines audio, visual and written information making it an engaging way to tell your story. By hitting students on multiple levels no matter how they process information you’ll encourage effective learning to keep them happy, satisfied and recommending you to their friends (remember the power of word of mouth?)
Above all, though, if you’re going to be utilising video (and why wouldn’t you?), remember it’s important to deliver it reliably. Buffering issues are a big no-no and will ultimately lead to student frustration and dissatisfaction meaning all your hard promotional work goes down the drain. There’s a few considerations you’ll need to take into account of before you can fully utilise the awesome power of video.
