Ever wonder how successful online courses are able to grow their community of learners and earn money year after year? Find out the best practices that online course creators use to successfully promote their courses and how you can apply them to your own work.

1. Create compelling content.

To succeed as an online course creator, you need to be able to offer students compelling content that will keep them coming back for more. The most successful creators understand the importance of delivering high-quality content that is relevant to their audience. They create content that is detailed, well-researched, and engaging.

2. Use popular social media platforms.

If you’re a creator who mainly focuses on delivery of content rather than marketing the course itself, you might be tempted to skip this step. However, social media is an essential part of successfully marketing an online course. It allows you to reach tens of thousands of interested students, and help them discover the value of your course.

You can choose from multiple social media platforms, each with their own benefits. For instance, if you’re looking to market a creative writing course, you might want to opt for a blogging platform like WordPress or Medium. Both of these platforms can be used to their full extent to promote your creative writing courses, and you’ll be able to take advantage of their massive reach.

3. Use keywords in your content.

To ensure your content is easily discoverable by potential students, you need to incorporate keywords into the content. When someone searches for a specific key phrase, your content will appear higher in the search results.

4. Build a community.

To create a successful online course, you need to embrace the power of community. A large part of the learning process for a typical student is being a part of a community of others who are either learning or teaching the material. When you promote a course with the goal of generating students, you are creating a space for like-minded people to come together and learn or teach each other.

The more you can do to encourage community within your student base, the more successful you will be. You can use a number of platforms to create a thriving online community, such as Slack, Discord, and even Facebook groups. The most successful creators dedicate a lot of time to establishing this community, often reaching out to students personally to get them to join.

5. Incorporate multimedia.

Today’s students are more likely to gain knowledge via interactive learning activities rather than traditional lectures. Incorporating multimedia such as videos, infographics, or even interactive elements like quizzes or exercises into your content can help to make a big difference in terms of engagement. The most successful creators make use of all available multimedia platforms to engage their audiences with content spanning across various platforms.

6. Create downloadable assets.

If you have an iTunes U or a similar platform like a SlideRoom, you can create downloadable assets that you can use to promote your course. Create a handout that will be a useful resource for students. Incorporating a handout into your course is a guaranteed way to generate more engagement and participation from your students. The more they have to hold on to, the more they’ll be inclined to engage with you and the content you provide.

7. Measure the success of your efforts.

Measuring the effectiveness of your online course marketing efforts is crucial in order to determine what is and isn’t working. You can use a number of platforms to track the traffic and engagement generated from your various marketing tactics. There are free tools like Google Analytics that can be used to measure the effectiveness of all marketing efforts, including SEO, content, and social media campaigns. The data will then be used to determine what strategies are and aren’t working, and whether or not you should change anything about your approach moving forward.

The key takeaway from this article is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to marketing an online course. Each course is going to require a different strategy, but following these seven tips will give you a good start.