How to Launch an Online Video Education Platform

Don't know what step to take next? Here is a short how-to guide for you.

Find your niche

Which niche in online education does attract you the most? There are many niches out there, and you should choose the one you have competence in.

Are you an expert in preschool education, higher education, leadership and management, language learning, or other fields? Use your skills and knowledge to create a high-quality digital product. In case if you have no previous education-related experience, find a professional who can help you.

Define your target audience

The next step you should take is to research your target audience. Who will be your students? Who will use your video platform for education, when, and with what purpose?

Answer these questions and define the demographics:

• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Employment
• Current education level
• Income level
• Marital status

Further, you will use this information to enhance the design of your video platform, create more appealing content, and boost your marketing efforts.

Imagine you want to launch a language learning platform. Your target audience is travelers who don't aim to become fluent – they just want to learn some basics of a foreign language to ensure that their next trip will go smoothly.

What video content will you create, and how will you promote your platform? You will make short videos to help your students learn common phrases in a hassle-free way. And you will be likely to advertise your platform on travel blogs and with the help of travel social media influencers.

Hire qualified video content creators

Now you need to decide who will be responsible for video content production.

Well, if you operate on a tight budget, you can try to do it all by yourself – starting from lighting setting to video editing and production. In this case, your talents and your dedication will define the success of your project.

Naturally, if you want to create high-quality educational content and make your video platform stand out from the pack, you should work with qualified content creators. You can choose to hire experts who live in your city, collaborate with freelancers, or find another way to get professional assistance.

Content quality is the thing that matters the most. So you should invest in video content production as much as you can afford.

Choose a reliable online video platform

The next important decision you should make is to choose a suitable video platform for streaming your content.

You should ensure that your students will not experience technical glitches and disruptions while watching online classes.

What options do you have here?

• You can upload video files directly to your website. In this case, you will risk facing bandwidth issues as well as storage and hosting issues.
• You can opt for free, open-source solutions. However, in this case, the user experience will not be as smooth and enjoyable as it could possibly be, and you will have to set up your own infrastructure; encoding, CDN, storage and all that good stuff. Besides, there is a ton of maintenance (+ potential issues) involved in self-hosting an open-source player for videos.
• You can start using Flowplayer. It will allow you to enhance the user experience and attract more students to your platform. You will not need to worry so much about the technicalities of streaming, and you can focus on the growing your business.

The competition among online education platforms is getting more and more intense. So if you want to make your project a success, you should minimize risks related to streaming issues and content theft. You should choose a reliable video streaming solution that will help you meet the expectations of highly demanding users.

Build a monetization strategy

Do you launch your video platform for commercial purposes? If so, you should build a monetization strategy and define your revenue streams.

Here are a few popular monetization strategies you can apply to your video platform for education:

• Pay-per-course or pay-per-video strategy. Students will pay you a fee per every video/course they want to watch.
• Subscription services. Students will pay you a fee to get access to all courses/materials available on your platform.
• Advertising model. You can enable ads on your website and offer your students to watch your videos for free. In such a way, you will get money from advertisers ( in this case it could be other education-related businesses that want to partner with you).

All of the above options will be easy to implement with a solid online video platform.

You should analyze monetization strategies used by your competitors to figure out what strategies work the best in your niche. Also, you should define an optimal fee per video/course/subscription. The amount of fee should be neither too high nor too low. It should reflect the value of your video content and make your platform look competitive.

Write a marketing plan

Finally, let's talk about marketing.

Do you want to make your video platform visible online? Build a marketing strategy and decide when and how you will advertise your digital business.

Here are a few tactics you can use to get your education platform noticed:

• Optimize your website for SEO. Help students to find you on Google.
• Run a social media marketing campaign. Reach out to your prospective customers on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
• Collaborate with influencers. Draw the social media users' attention to your video platform.
• Use a link building strategy. Write articles for blogs in your niche to direct traffic to your platform and improve your website ranking.

Wrapping up

Do you feel enthusiastic about launching your very own video platform for education? Don't hesitate to take the first step and bring your ideas to life. Start making money from helping people learn new skills and knowledge – follow your passion, and you will build a successful business.

If you are interested in learning more about what Flowplayer can do for your online learning business, please reach out to us. Flowplayer offers a ton of tools to help you get started.

Kristin Savage is a student counselor and education writer. Currently, she works for Subjecto, a platform designed to assist college students with studying and writing research papers. Kristin believes in the digital future of education and promotes innovations in public schooling.