S8E2: Creating Content To Grow Your Learning Community

Teacher and founder of English with Amy Online talks about the different types of content she creates to promote her online teaching business and attract paying students. Whether you own an education business or want to create a community around your school, this episode with provide insight into the type of content you can create and best practices to keep in mind.

---

Key talking points

Content And Business

Amy shares examples of the multi-media content she creates for social media and her website to support students and grow her online teaching business. Amy highlights the importance of creating cohesive, rather than stand-alone content, to provide value to prospective and current students.

Choosing A Platform

Amy reflects on why she focused on Instagram as her social media platform to complement her website. Amy points out that it's important to select a platform that aligns with her goals and her target audience.

Choosing Content

Amy emphasises the value of experimenting with various platforms and content formats to find what works best. She also stresses that with so many content formats, content creation does not require you to be front of camera all of the time to have a positive impact.

Content Creation Tips

Keeping things authentic, focusing on one platform and collaborating with others are among the best practices that Amy shares that have helped her grow as a creator.

---

About Amy

Amy has been teaching English for 9 years. She’s taught English in various schools around the UK, Germany, Italy and Malta. 

After spending several years working in language schools, she decided to take a plunge and start her own online teaching business three years ago, teaching students from around the world in private and small group sessions. Her blog, which can be found on her website English with Amy Online, includes lots of English tips and other collaborations with educators. To learn more about Amy's business, including examples of the type of content she creates, visit her website here.

---

Watch the video with closed captions or refer to the transcript below.

Transcript

00:00:00:01 - 00:00:03:16

Laura

TESOL Pop Season eight Episode two.

00:00:03:17 - 00:00:30:15

Laura

Hello and welcome to TESOL Pop, the mini podcast for busy teachers. My name is Laura and my guest today is Amy from English with Amy Online. Amy will be sharing content that she creates for her business, the type of content she authors and sharing best practices on how to create content that attracts paying students. Now, this is obviously really relevant to you if you run your own business or you're thinking about starting your own business and want to grow a community.

00:00:30:17 - 00:00:57:21

Laura

On that point, if you're interested in starting podcasting to grow a community, then think about joining my Podcast Pathfinder programme, where I help you plan your first podcast mini-series and record up to your first three episodes. All details about my programme are in the show notes, or you can simply go to my business website Communicating for Impact.com Now let's join the conversation with Amy where I asked her about what type of content she creates to support her business.

00:00:57:23 - 00:01:29:09

Amy

So lots of types actually, and trying different platforms. My main one I would say is still Instagram where it reels mainly and they could be from pronunciation to other types of vocabulary and also some tips for improving English. I forgot to mention is though other content as well I'm doing is I'm really pushing for my website blog at the moment, so I'm creating a few posts per week on that and that's kind of linked into my Instagram as well.

00:01:29:10 - 00:01:42:18

Amy

I kind of I'm trying to connect it all together, so that means any Instagram reel I post will be on the blog post as well, mainly to build up some reading content for my English learners, not just videos and listening.

00:01:42:20 - 00:01:46:02

Laura

That's brilliant and it's great that these things coexist rather than being separate.

00:01:46:04 - 00:01:49:24

Amy

Exactly. Exactly. Trying to link it all together is really useful.

00:01:50:01 - 00:02:08:22

Laura

That sounds fantastic. What made you decide to pick Instagram? Because when I often speak to teachers and they’re wanting to explore creating content, it could feel a bit intimidating with the various platforms that we have to choose from. But it sounds like to me you've made quite a decisive move to focus on Instagram purely. Could you share a bit about what led to that decision?

00:02:08:24 - 00:02:41:05

Amy

Sure. I think times are changing and I don't know if I would have originally chosen Instagram three years later, but three years ago when I started this, it seemed to be one of the most booming platforms, particularly for videos and video content for students. And I saw a lot of other online English teachers doing the same, so kind of took inspiration from them and followed suit, let's say, and I think, I don't know, I just like the structure and the format of Instagram.

00:02:41:05 - 00:02:56:21

Amy

I think it's it's got the right target audience. Tik Tok for me seems almost too young, whereas Instagram's quite a nice like working professionals, kind of thirties, that slightly older audience, let's say. So that was about the reason.

00:02:56:23 - 00:03:14:16

Laura

Like you say, we have to kind of think about where our audience is hanging out, don’t we? And pick the platform based on where we're going to best reach them. And I completely agree with you. With Tik Tok, it's the younger audience that tends to be there and maybe the type of content people are consuming there, at least a few years ago tended to be more entertainment based.

00:03:14:16 - 00:03:21:15

Laura

I know things do change quite quickly, but still it does tend to be more of a younger profile that are on there.

00:03:21:20 - 00:03:23:07

Amy

Absolutely.

00:03:23:09 - 00:03:36:13

Laura

So it sounds like content for your business and provides a way to promote your work for people to find you, for your clients to find you. What would you say is the main purpose behind content creation?

00:03:36:15 - 00:04:04:13

Amy

Yeah, I think it's a huge role in my business. Content, I think really is the main way to build trust. So for any student looking for an online English teacher, they don't know anything about you personally. They can see personality through the content you make. That's the only way now to kind of stand out, I guess, rather than these maybe, say, big platforms full of tutors, full of choice.

00:04:04:15 - 00:04:09:03

Amy

The way to like, individualise and personalise that is through personal content.

00:04:09:05 - 00:04:28:07

Laura

You've mentioned short videos such as Reels on Instagram. You mentioned your blog there. I've seen lots of different forms of content that we can create, such as podcasts that we're creating today. What other choices are there for educators in terms of the content that they can create and what they feel will really align with them, their skills and their audience?

00:04:28:13 - 00:04:55:15

Amy

The list now, I would say, is almost endless. There are so many platforms. It's growing every year, every month. It's really about trial and error. So I really, more than anything, I advise teachers to try a few different ones and see what they feel most comfortable with. I've spoken to other online educators and teachers who don't feel comfortable making videos but really enjoy podcasts like yourself.

00:04:55:17 - 00:05:25:00

Amy

Something maybe a bit more not rehearsed per se, but definitely a little more planned. You could say that maybe I'm going to make a reel about this this week or tonight, sometimes very spontaneously. Really try a few different platforms. It doesn't have to be Instagram. It doesn't have to be a podcast. YouTube is a very good one. I'm hearing a lot about Telegram these days, Facebook as well, like Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups with students and building like online.

00:05:25:00 - 00:05:28:12

Amy

More personal community is really nice as well.

00:05:28:14 - 00:05:47:19

Laura

That's a relief to hear that we don't always have to be on camera to create content like you say, it could be audio only and like you say, with the new platforms that are coming to the forefront, Threads being one a competitor to X, of course, that could be just text and pictures or just text..

00:05:47:19 - 00:05:58:21

Amy

Absolutely. So it doesn't need to be your face on every like every platform all the time if you're not confident in that way. There are so many alternatives.

00:05:58:23 - 00:06:14:21

Laura

So you thinking about when we creating content, I know you have some rules that you live by when you're creating content for your blog and for your Instagram account, would you mind sharing your top things that you look out for as your authoring this content?

00:06:15:02 - 00:06:40:07

Amy

Absolutely. So I think key word here key ideas obviously keep it as personalised as possible. There's a lot of content I see that's kind of samey, quite monotonous, and doesn't stand out. An example could be like, I don’t know, taking extracting a Cambridge dictionary definition with a picture and that's it. Like it is nothing like that new or that exciting.

00:06:40:07 - 00:07:07:11

Amy

So personalise it as much as possible. Again, that doesn't come quickly or easily for a lot of people, but play with it. See what works. Try, try different ideas first, but keep it as personal as possible. That again goes to like authenticity. So keep it as authentic as you can as well. I think students really look out for authenticity when there's so many online teachers, so much competition.

00:07:07:11 - 00:07:30:19

Amy

Now, at the beginning especially, I would recommend focusing on one format. Like I said, it can be quite overwhelming when you first start. ‘Oh my gosh, there's all these platforms I've got to dive into all of them. I've got so much to do.’ No, like try to organically grow just one at the beginning and focus on that one and see how much you can push that first.

00:07:30:21 - 00:07:57:10

Amy

And I think a really top tip I have is collaborations like we're doing now. I think it can be quite isolating if you decide to create your own business, you may be gone from a language school between ten and twenty teachers to yourself. No manager, no senior teacher to lead you. It's just you. That can be very intimidating and scary at the beginning.

00:07:57:12 - 00:08:19:13

Amy

So if a teacher or a content creator reaches out to you, take that collaboration. Unless it really doesn't suit you and you can't see any benefit, generally try and say yes to that because it's a way to share ideas and to work together and to help you grow as well. You never know from that what could gain for you.

00:08:19:15 - 00:08:39:14

Laura

I agree with you 100% because I really enjoyed the process of writing about some of the books I enjoyed for your blog. When you asked me to be a guest writer, I really relished in that I haven't written anything like that before, so I was stepping outside my comfort zone. Yeah, doing something that I enjoy because I love reading fiction and sharing in a format that spoke to your audience.

00:08:39:14 - 00:08:43:15

Laura

And I really appreciate that opportunity. I wouldn't have thought of doing that had you not asked me.

00:08:43:17 - 00:08:47:03

Amy

Good. I'm happy that you enjoyed it.

00:08:47:05 - 00:08:55:09

Laura

Amy. It's been absolutely fantastic talking to you today. Thank you so much for sharing an insight into your business and what role content plays and your top tips. Really appreciate it.

00:08:55:11 - 00:08:57:03

Amy

Thanks so much. Thanks for having me.

00:08:57:05 - 00:09:18:19

Laura

To find out more about Amy's work, including the blog that she mentioned, then go to English with Amy online.com or check out her Instagram Again, the same name English with Amy online. As always, I've included the links in the show notes. You can find those easily If you have a question that you'd like us to answer or you have an idea to pitch for the podcast, then you can contact us via Facebook, Instagram or the website.

00:09:18:19 - 00:09:33:04

Laura

TESOL Pop.com Finally, you can support the work we do at support by leaving a rating and review wherever you listen to the podcast, by sharing today's episode with your community or by even buying as a coffee, at ko-fo.com/tesolpop

You might also like

---

Good to know

This blog space and its associated multimedia content contain affiliate links. To learn more about how affiliate links work, please read our disclaimer here.