New Month New Theme - Social Media

RyanJaress · 2025-07-01T21:38:33+00:00

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Hey instructors! 👋

It’s already July, and that means we have a new theme - Social Media!

If you've been wondering how other instructors are navigating the social media world, or if you're curious about different strategies and approaches, you're in for a treat. This month is going to be packed with great discussions!

Let's kick things off with a question I'm genuinely curious about:

How often do you actually use social media in your role as an online instructor?

Whether you're posting daily, once in a blue moon, or somewhere in between, we'd love to hear about your experience!

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!

Can't wait to see what everyone shares!

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Comments

SoyMarketer

😑

Kamil

I feel like we are prompted to discuss social media every other month and nothing useful ever comes out of this.

Does Udemy have some proven strategies to share with us?

SoyMarketer

@Kamil right on point.

PuneetGupta453

Udemy as a platform should evolve to allow students to consume content from Social Media platforms like Tiktok,WhatsApp, Facebook etc, without ever leaving these platforms.

It is time that Udemy should integrate deep within these social media sites rather than just "directing" traffic from these social media sites.

Another point is , Just like they did with Indeed, they should do with LinkedIn and other professional sites.

RonErez

I mainly use Reddit to offer solutions to problems and at times I gently mention my course if it is related to the context. For example if a given problem was solved in one of my free preview videos. Additionally if someone asks where can I learn SwiftUI and my course focuses on that topic then I mention 2-3 other free resources and at the end I mention my course (I usually recommend to check out reviews, course content, Q&A, etc).

I don’t get many students through Reddit but I do get some.

Outside of Reddit and some posts on YouTube I’m not really active on social media. As usual my general expectation is that Udemy will market my courses. This is one of the main reasons I’m on Udemy. Of course learning to market myself is a great skill.

RyanJaress

Hey there @Kamil, we appreciate your feedback about this particular theme.

I understand that for more experienced and tenured instructors in the community, it may seem redundant, but we aim to have this topic once a year. There are new instructors coming in every day eager to learn more about this subject and we want to help facilitate that.

For these themes, we want to cover many aspects of the instructor journey and social media is one of the most low barrier to entry topics for instructors to join into! We encourage instructors to share their experiences and discuss what has and hasn't worked for them in the past.

Again, we appreciate the feedback and we'll keep this in mind when discussing this topic.

-Ryan

ChrisBankes120

I enrolled in a discussion group on Reddit. The group is for Art Therapists. The discussion got a little heated as some people were moaning - quite rightly - that they studied for 4 years and yet there were courses elsewhere that promised you Art Therapy status in a few hours. Without posting, I agreed with their posts. Often in my art therapy courses (when not stressing the courses do not make you an art therapist) I include snippets of films I've been in to illustrate or add to a point in the lectures. Then I saw the latest post: " I've just come across an art therapy courses and do you know!!! It's run by an ACTOR!"

I decided to stop observing. :-)

Col (Dr) Shabbar Shahid (Veteran)

The only social media I use to market my courses is LinkedIn but I don't think I ever got any sales out of it. Probably I am not good at marketing and I never tried it seriously. So practically, no marketing from my side. I totally rely on Udemy's marketing.

My honest opinion is - that is how it should be. As a qualified person to teach and also having a passion for teaching I should focus all my attention and efforts on teaching and leave marketing to those who are good at it, that is Udemy. As of now this belief is working Okay for me, though sales are declining.

I don't think as an instructor I will ever take on social media marketing myself. The day Udemy becomes unviable for my efforts, I may switch to "off line teaching" or some other platform but not marketing. And "Viability for my efforts" does not mean only revenue for me-it means my courses reaching global audience. (Revenue matters but for me it is secondary).

As of now, Udemy is doing a great job in spreading my courses across the globe. But to remain afloat, it must think about motivating instructors. To remain afloat, instructors must be the top priority and not the students. Instructors are the raw material-your final product can never be good if the raw material is not of required quality.

If Udemy Sinks-my time, efforts and hard work given to Udemy sinks. I will still remain afloat with whatever humble knowledge I possess. But it will be sad and painful, if ever, I have to switch to another ship.

PhilEbiner

I've tried a lot of different experiments on social media to try to 1) engage with students from Udemys, 2) drive sales to my courses. While I've never seen a lot of success in using social media as purely a promotional tool (i.e. posting course promotions to social media), I have seen some success building a deeper relationship with my students beyond the Udemy platform.

Both Instagram & Facebook Groups were initially a decent place where I could run student challenges, host livestreams, run contests. The Facebook Group was a really great, interactive place with my photography students - but I've moved away from Facebook over the past few years and run my own community platform using Circle now. However, I think slack & discord offer instructors a similar space for that 'student community' that can really be beneficial to students.

All that being said, in terms of an investment of my time - the time I've spent on social media has never been close to as worthwhile as spending the same time creating new courses, updating existing courses, working on partnerships with other Udemy instructors, etc. So as a new instructor, those are still the areas I'd focus my time & energy on.

AlexHorea785

Since it's social media time again, maybe we can finally get an answer to this question:

Is an instructor allowed to post social media links in text lectures in the beginning of the course? Or anywhere else except the last lecture?

I've asked Trust and Safety this question and their answer is: NO.

HOWEVER, I've seen countless established instructors who have a lot of social links right in the second or third lecture of the course, some of them even ending up in pages that collect email addresses.

So is this rule for all, or once you get big enough as instructor, you can bend the rules?

ritusangal

Posts on social media have not generated any genuine enrollments for me. I would like to know how to reach the right audience. I am an art educater with over five decades of experience. My color theory course is indepth for learning and understanding the nuances of color. I have a lot to share and would like to interact with genuine students who can benifit from my knowledge. Navigating social media by myself and spending time is not leading to positive results. So I definitely need help!

RyanJaress

Thanks for sharing Ron!

Reddit is a powerhouse of knowledge and is filled with like-minded individuals, especially within the subreddits. So there could be some people interested in your courses. I agree though, it may not be the best for getting new enrolls, but establishing yourself as a thought leader there can be beneficial in the long run.

RyanJaress

Sometimes it's best to walk away 😅

MarinaT

Hi Alex,

Thank you for checking in! You may include your website, social media profiles, or contact information as a small watermark on your video throughout the lecture or briefly at the beginning or end of a lecture. However, when it comes to sharing links to your social media posts, the only place you’re allowed to do so is in the bonus lecture. These rules apply to all instructors on the platform, with no exceptions. On a side note: there’s also a dedicated section for your social media on your instructor profile.

If you come across a course that may be violating these policies, I recommend either emailing policy@udemy.com or scrolling to the bottom of the course landing page and clicking "Report Abuse." This will ensure the policy team is directly informed and can take a closer look.

If you have more specific questions, I recommend reaching out to our Policy team directly. They’re best equipped to provide detailed guidance.

Thank you so much! I Please let me know if you have any other questions.