Case Study Week 4: 12/28/2015 The Power of Social Proof & Giving Your Courses Away For Free!

Case Study Week 4: 12/28/2015 The Power of Social Proof & Giving Your Courses Away For Free!

In this weeks case study I am going to be discussing the power of social proof and why giving your courses away for free is very powerful, especially if you are just starting out here on Udemy!

I decided to create this case study because I get a lot of students asking me about this topic in my own Udemy courses! I hope this helps everyone!

1) First, we must define what social proof is. wikipedia tells us that "Social Proof a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation." -dictionary.com

What this means is that people are more likely to choose what is "popular" than what is "unpopular". Let me give you an example. If you wanted to learn about how to teach online video courses and there was a course with 11,000+ students (like this one) and another course with only 100+ students in it, which one would you be more likely to choose? Most would chose this course because it is more popular, has more students, and is "bigger".

My bestselling courses all have in access of 5,000+ students! Here they are with their ratings and number of students!

2) So How was I able to have thousands of students enroll in my courses? Excellent question and here is my answer:

The Power of Giving Your Courses Away For Free:

When the course is first launched I give my existing students that chance to enroll for free for a limited time! This get students in the door, allows them to try it, and then shows me and Udemy if there is a big need for this subject. If there is a lot of free students enrolling, this tells me that there are a lot of students interested in learning about this subject.

I then begin to sell the course and Udemy itself will begin promoting the course if there is a lot of engagement (which comes from free and paid students). This strategy has worked very well for not only me, but for many other top instructors here on Udemy.

**Bonus**

Also, when you give you course away for free to start, it allows students to sample your work! If they really enjoy it, they will want to learn more from you and be willing to pay for your next course! This is the power of giving your courses away for free to start!

In conclusion, I hope you can see why it is so important to GIVE GIVE GIVE and why social proof as a strategy is very effective. If you have any questions please feel free to msg me or add on to this discussion!

Sincerely,

Joe Parys