How to grow your training business through social media ☝🏻

Accessplanit Everest Training Industry Conference

Looking for ways to grow your training business through social media?

Our Managing Director, Matt George shared his expert insight at Accessplanit Everest Training Industry conference last month.

Key Takeaways

🧠 Understand your audience (in detail!) – the best way to increase ROI through paid social ads is to improve your consumer intelligence. “So when you do post you’ll be super relevant. It won’t be a jarring ad that interrupts their life. It’ll be well timed, well targeted, and lead to higher engagement”, Matt says.

🔁 If you’re doing paid ads, make sure you’re supporting with organic content – so that when people see your ads and find your social handles, everything is relevant and up to date with your current paid campaigns.

🪧 Your social media presence is your “digital billboard” – how many times have you driven past a billboard before actually getting out your phone and Googling it, and calling to get the offer? “It might be 3 or 4 times before taking action”, Matt says. And on top of that, it’s impossible to track touch-points prior to action. “Social media promotion is right there at your consumer’s fingertips”, Matt remarks.

The impact of social media on course promotion

Potential reach

Matt notes that social media has a huge audience potential and will help tremendously in boosting your online presence and sales. So why not best utilise them for your own promotion for your business?

In the UK, on average we spend around 110 minutes on social media per day, there are 53 million active social media users, with 98% of those using mobile devices. Social media penetration in the UK is 66% while internet penetration is 94.9%.

Targeting the right audience

Making sure you’re targeting the right audience is key. Have you highlighted your audience and really drilled down on their interests when it comes to promoting your offering?

“For example, if you’re looking to promote apprenticeships for school leavers, platforms that are popular with a younger demographic such as TikTok or Instagram would be best for this”, Matt recommends. “If it’s more of a commercial or B2B post, Linkedin would be better for this”.

Keep posts relevant and consistent

“It’s important that even if you are using paid ads on socials, you still post relevant and regular organic content that keeps your audience engaged in your channels” Matt says. “So that when people see your ads and click on your social handles, everything is relevant and up to date with your current paid campaigns”.

“If you’re doing paid ads and your last organic post was a year ago – it doesn’t look great. There would be little use paying for paid social ads if a consumer clicks on your social handle they’re greeted with nothing to back it up”.

The power of digital ads

Your social media presence and ads are your online “digital billboard”. Comparing social media promotion vs. traditional billboards, Matt remarks “in terms how long will it take for leads to come through and ROI – how many times have you driven past a billboard before actually getting out your phone and Googling it, calling to get the offer, it might be 3 or 4 times before taking action. Social media promotion is far easier as its right there at your consumer’s fingertips”.

What social platform will give you the best ROI?

As most of us will know, social media is now the #1 channel used by marketers and agencies like MTG Digital, so it is important to understand exactly what platform is going to give you the most bang for your buck.

Do your research

Matt notes that the best way to increase ROI through your ads is to improve your consumer intelligence. Get to know your customers through surveys, feedback forms, and what platforms they use.

“Ultimately you can post your campaigns on those pages – so when you do post you’ll be super relevant. It won’t be a jarring ad that interrupts their life. It’ll be well timed, well targeted, and lead to higher engagement”.

Creating eye catching ads and posts

“There are 100s of free apps out there that can help with creating eye-catching ads. Some are easier than others but we would highly recommend Canva“, Matt says. “We use it for new starters as it’s so simple to use. We also use Adobe Suite for the functionality, but for small marketing teams, Canva is amazing”.