How to Promote Your Cooking Classes on Social Media
Whether you’re offering cooking classes, karate lessons, or piano tutorials, this post is for you.
This straightforward action plan to build a basic sales funnel for your business will work whether you teach pilates, yoga, personal training, art, photography or pretty much ANY kind of class.
Teaching a class, whether online or in-person, is a great business you can launch either full-time or as a side-hustle.
Here’s how to promote your cooking classes on social media…
1. Create a lead magnet
Design your lead magnet with your ideal client or customer in mind. The purpose of your lead magnet is to appeal to and attract your perfect paying customer.
Your lead magnet should give your audience a taste of the experience of what it’s like to attend one of your classes (whether it’s a live class or online).
Best way to re-create this experience is with a video. Shoot a short lesson you are comfortable giving away for free. YES, for FREE.
Perhaps you can demonstrate a simple recipe, or how to chop a fruit or vegetable in an efficient and decorative way.
Post your video on YouTube and mark it private, so that only people with a specific link can access it.
You can use Canva to edit your video. Sign up for a free Canva account here.
2. Create a List in Constant Contact
This is where you will gather your audience data. Everyone who signs up for your lead magnet will automatically be added to this list.
You really only need their name and email address, but if you want more information (company name, birthday, street address, etc.), that is entirely up to you.
Try Constant Contact for free here.
3. Create a sign-up form in Constant Contact
Fill out a few parameters and let Constant Contact design a simple but effective sign-up form for your lead magnet.
Constant Contact will generate a code you can use to embed the form on your company website.
If you don’t have a website, or your website doesn’t allow embedded form, you can get Constant Contact to generate a link to a form and use that instead.
4. Assign an automated email response for your sign-up form
Set up your sign-up form so that anyone who signs up for your lead magnet using this form will automatically get added to the appropriate list AND receive an automated email response containing a link to their free gift (your lead magnet, or giveaway class).
5. Promote your lead magnet on social media
Use Canva to create eye-catching graphics and videos to promote your amazing free giveaway.
Write compelling text with a strong call-to-action asking your audience to click on a link that will take them to your lead magnet sign-up form.
Schedule your posts in Publer so that you can be strategic and consistent with your content and save yourself a ton of time.
6. Stay in touch with an ongoing email campaign
As you build your list of qualified leads, you will want to touch base with your audience from time to time.
Once or twice a month, send out an email offering them advice and value on the subject they have already shown interest in. Make sure to consistently offer value so that they look forward to your emails and want to open them.
You can also take this opportunity to promote your upcoming classes, events, or any products or services you want to sell.
Your email list consists of warm/hot leads (no longer cold) because your lead magnet has qualified them. So, you can assume they are at least somewhat interested in what you have to offer.
7. Maintain a social media content calendar
Create new content every month and promote it on social media, along with your lead magnet, and repurpose your content on your email newsletter.
Your content should teach, inspire, and entertain. Always keep your target audience in mind. Remember, these are your future students, so position yourself as their valuable mentor or guide.
End every piece of content with a firm call-to-action to sign up for your lead magnet.
Use Publer to stay organized and consistent with your content publishing calendar.
8. Hire a social media manager
Once your marketing funnel has been working for a while, and you find yourself wishing you could delegate these tasks, consider hiring a social media manager (like me!). Get in touch to discuss the possibilities.
If you’d like to learn more about launching a small business or side hustle, check out my book, “Solopreneur: An Introvert’s Guide to Launching a New Income Stream”.