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Even the most excellent courses aren’t worth a penny if they don’t sell seats, and social media is one of your biggest and best tools for selling your courses.

Here we’ve put together our very best tips on how to maximise your sales through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

1. Use the right platform

When it comes to picking the right platform for marketing your business, it’s crucial that you know and understand who your audience is.

For example, if your courses are intended for large businesses and staff training, LinkedIn should be your first port of call. Alternatively, if your courses are intended to be undertaken by individuals looking for self-improvement, Twitter and Facebook will be your go-to platforms.

It may not be as clean cut as the above examples, so it’s really worth taking some time to get to know your audience inside and out – including the social media platforms they use. If you have existing customers, reach out to them and find out how they find you, or what social media platforms they would be most likely to use. This is a great starting point to understand where you’re going to market your courses and how you are going to go about it.

2. Give your profiles some TLC

From Twitter bios to Facebook pages, each one is an opportunity to make an impact with your training business and showcase what you have to offer. So it’s time to stop treating them like placeholders, or middle men to redirect customers to your website.

Facebook offers a plethora of features you can utilise to maximise engagement and lead generation. This includes ‘call-to-action’ buttons and custom tabs that can be switched up to capture information that will help you to sell, sell, sell.

3. Listen to feedback

Social media isn’t a one way street, and you should be paying attention to what people are saying about you on social media. Twitter offers a unique insight into this by allowing you to track mentions of your company name, industry related keywords, even mentions of your competitors.

By keeping a close eye out to the conversations people are having in relation to your business you have the opportunity to get involved, respond, and ultimately generate sales by capitalising on even just a passing interest in your training courses.

4. Hold a (Virtual) event

Events needn’t be time and money consuming endeavours. Holding a Twitter chat or Open Day event on your Facebook page can be really useful for generating leads.

The key to a successful virtual event is ensuring it is related to your industry but not directly about your company. Like the majority of your social media, it is value focused rather than a sales pitch. It’s an opportunity to deploy your expertise in a timely way that’s almost guaranteed to drum up interest in your business that has the potential to convert into concrete sales.

5. Content marketing

Cold calling and advertising certainly aren’t dead, but inbound marketing is where the money is at, so it’s time to capitalise on that.

LinkedIn’s Publishing platform is the perfect place for showcasing your business, your expertise and sharing your experiences and unique insights.

By posting up 2 to 3 quality articles on LinkedIn per week, you can position yourself as a thought leader in the training industry. You can demonstrate to potential customers the value you can add to their business by sharing case studies and stories, and offer information about the industry that fellow professionals can engage with.

6. Keep on engaging

Across social media platforms engagement is key.

Likes, comments and shares are individually valued according to the platform, but your aim is to get maximum engagement from your followers. And that doesn’t happen in a vacuums.

If you don’t’ respond whenever you’re mentioned, or ignore all the comments on your Instagram photographs, potential customers will vote with their feet and go elsewhere.

By engaging in the comments, following up and providing an excellent level of customer service through your social media pages, you show your audience that you care about them, which makes them more likely to sign up for one of your courses in the future.

7. Use Videos

Videos are prioritised on most social media sites just to how engaging they are. Creative and entertaining videos that inform get your business noticed.

What are you waiting for, grab that camera.

Social media may seem an unlikely tool for lead generation and sales but it’s actually your biggest asset. By ignoring it, you’re neglected a huge audience with thousands of potential customers. But your strategies need to be robust and encompass a range of techniques to make it work.