Unless you’ve been disconnected from the news, social media or the internet for that matter, you will have noticed the recent flood of ‘no-make-up-selfies’ for cancer research.

So what does a picture of a lady without make up on have to do with marketing E-Learning you say?

Well, first and foremost, it is an initiative to raise awareness and to inform people about something.

Just because something exists, doesn’t necessarily mean that people will act on it. It doesn’t matter how great your E-Learning programme is, if you don’t make people aware that the programme exists, then learners can’t buy into it, use it and reap the benefits from completing it.

Even if you start raising awareness of your E-Learning programme early, manage to secure buy in and support from managers and staff, you need to ensure that the awareness campaign doesn’t come to a stop. It’s important to have sustained communications to remind everyone of why and when they should complete the programme and in particular promote any success stories.

What the #NoMakeupSelfie campaign does, is remind us of the power of technology and of social media in particular. In only six days, a viral marvel occurred that resulted in £8 million being donated to Cancer Research. What a remarkable achievement for something so simple.

Whilst marketing and raising awareness of E-Learning may not be on par with the sensation of no-make-up-selfies, it illustrates that if you harness the tools that are available, you can help raise awareness, inform and create a positive outcome.

Important lessons:

• Maximise the tools you have available. Ensure you promote your E-Learning programme where your learners are. Your marketing and communications team will be able to advise what the best channels to use are, but with over 1.1bn people using Facebook, it’s a good place to start.
• Engage and encourage interaction. The #nomakeupselfie campaign demonstrates how to share effectively. If you actively engage and encourage learners to share their feedback, results and learning outcomes from the E-Learning programme it helps spread the message and raise awareness.

View our tips on marketing your E-Learning

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