8 Tips To Promote Corporate eLearning Within Your Organization

8 Tips To Promote Corporate eLearning Within Your Organization
ESB Professional/Shutterstock.com
Summary: Are your employees REALLY on board with your corporate eLearning program? Do they look forward to building their skills, or dread the next online training session? In this article, I'll share 8 tips for promoting corporate eLearning within your organization.

How To Promote Corporate eLearning Within Your Organization

Active participation is one of the key ingredients of effective online training. Employees have to be fully engaged and motivated to learn if you want to improve your corporate eLearning ROI. As such, they must be aware of the benefits your online training brings and how it can improve their productivity and performance. But how do you promote your corporate eLearning program within your organization, especially on a tight eLearning budget? Here are 8 tips to market your online training in-house.

1. Host A Company-Wide Webinar

Webinars are interactive and engaging. Employees have the opportunity to ask questions and share ideas, while online instructors and developers can spread the word about upcoming corporate eLearning courses and events. It's a win-win. If you want to achieve a more personal atmosphere, divide your distributed workforce into smaller groups and host multiple webinars. This gives everyone the opportunity to speak their mind in a more private forum. For best results, provide employees with as much information as possible before the eLearning event. Mention the online discussion topics, benefits, and distribute a general outline that helps them prepare questions in advance.

2. Create A Social Media Group

Social media groups are an ongoing marketing strategy that keeps your employees in-the-loop. For example, a closed Facebook group is a great place to upload online training course notifications, event invites, and online training tips. Employees are also able to post resource links and discuss upcoming online training events. Just make sure that you set some netiquette rules so that group-members stay on-topic and avoid conflicts. In addition, choose social media platforms that employees are already familiar with to boost participation. Surveys and polls can reveal the most popular sites, which allows you to personalize your marketing approach.

3. Develop A Corporate eLearning Blog

Post regular blog updates, questions, and prompts to get your employees talking about the online training program. You can also use your corporate eLearning blog to share informative resources, tools, and advice for your employees. There are a variety of free blogging platforms that feature eLearning templates, themes, and built-in apps. For example, integrated calendars and polling tools. The key to a successful corporate eLearning blog is to be consistent and offer readers real value. In addition, post thought-provoking questions to encourage employee participation and peer-to-peer interaction.

4. Start A Corporate eLearning Newsletter

Create a monthly corporate newsletter that features tips, tricks, and corporate eLearning updates. Shine the spotlight on a different online training course or topic for each edition. As an example, the January newsletter focuses on health and safety compliance. You can include important tasks, the benefits of compliance online training, and an FAQ section. Grab employees' attention with a compelling headline and a brief overview of the topics you cover. Include images, multimedia links, and bold colors to make your newsletters even more engaging. You can also use a template to save yourself time and ensure that every edition is cohesive and brand-centered.

5. Spark Online Discussions Through A Corporate eLearning Forum

Online forums are ideal for social learning. However, they can also help you promote corporate eLearning within your organization. The trick is sparking lively online discussions and debates that center on online training topics. For example, ask questions, post prompts, and invite employees to share their ideas. Make it a place where your staff feels comfortable voicing their opinions and collaborating with colleagues. You can even invite industry experts to guest host Q&A sessions on the forum. For instance, your HR manager fields questions about compliance issues and company policies.

6. Give Your Employees A Sneak Peek

Employees like the idea of exclusivity, even if it pertains to corporate eLearning. Give a select few the chance to see an online training activity or module before its official launch. Then invite them to complete a survey or questionnaire. Your employees get the opportunity to preview the online training materials, and your organization receives vital feedback. For best results, invite a diverse range of employees to test out the online training content. For instance, 2 or 3 top performers from every department. If you're looking for more detailed feedback, schedule a focus group to determine the strengths and weakness of your corporate eLearning course.

7. Create A Catchy Hashtag

Hashtags are all the rage, and for good reason. They generate interest in the topic and centralize communications. All of the tweets that feature your unique hashtag automatically show up in one search thread, which is why it's crucial to choose a tag that's easy to remember. It should also align with your brand image and the subject matter. Avoid long tags that are difficult to spell or contain special characters. In addition, don't forget to put your hashtag on all marketing materials, including your corporate eLearning course, website, and newsletter. Lastly, use hashtags to promote your live webinars so that employees can discuss important topics during the event.

8. Welcome Feedback

Employees want their voices to be heard. More importantly, they need to know that their thoughts and ideas actually matter. Which is why you must translate employee feedback into actionable goals. Feedback in corporate eLearning gives you the rare opportunity to step into their shoes and identify areas for improvement without any bias. Invite employees to complete surveys, social media polls, or conduct focus groups. Welcoming their input helps to improve motivation and engagement, which will build the buzz for your corporate eLearning course.

These 8 tips can help you market your corporate eLearning program and get employees actively involved in the process. They also happen to be free or low-cost, which is great for tight corporate eLearning budgets. To build the excitement and engage your employees, start your marketing campaign early and use a variety of techniques.

LinkedIn Groups are ideal for promoting corporate eLearning, as well as online collaboration. Read the article 7 Tips To Use LinkedIn Groups In Corporate eLearning to discover helpful tips for using LinkedIn Groups in your corporate eLearning strategy.