15 Best Online Coaching Platforms for Cohorts, Communities, & Marketing in 2023

nline coaching has become a very lucrative option for tutors, and it is set to grow further with record revenues projected. According to Statista, E-learning platforms are expected to generate $57.42 billion in 2023. This figure will grow at a CAGR of 2.9% between 2023 and 2027 to reach $64.5 billion in 2027.

More tutors and course creators are moving online to connect with students. According to a survey by the University of Potomac, 77% of educators believe online coaching to be better than traditional teaching. The convenience of online tutoring makes it a no-brainer. They can comfortably schedule classes for their learners, and track their progress using data analytics. For students, it gives them the chance to learn with peers or at their pace. Online coaching platforms provide opportunities for tutors to reach a higher number of learners and earn money in the process.

Several coaching methods are common in the digital ecosystem, such as cohort-based coaching, where the tutor simply guides the students to learn in groups and encourages collaborative learning. There is one-on-one coaching where the tutor teaches one student per time. Another method is MOOCs, where the knowledge provider trains many people. Whichever one you prefer, you must know the best platforms for it.

Therefore, the choice of a virtual coaching platform plays a critical role in scaling the course and revenue generation. In this piece, the EducateMe team looks at several platforms for tutors to create cohort-based courses, coach one-on-one, live stream classes, build a community around their courses and sell these courses.

Platforms for Cohort-Based Courses

Cohort-Based courses are geared towards encouraging peer learning and learner group discussion on the courses. According to estimates, cohort-based learning has become more popular due to its higher completion rates, up to 90%. It is a sharp contrast to MOOC methods with a measly 3% completion rate.

Let's see some of these coaching platforms online that offer cohort-based courses.

EducateMe

EducateMe remains one of the best platforms for tutors and course creators to host cohort-based learning. The platform has all the toolbox to build courses, design and scale LMS, and analytics to track completion rates and assignment completion, among others. EducateMe is a one-stop shop for digital academies, online boot camps, and internet-based tutors.

EducateMe's platform can help you triple down on income while offering high-quality cohort-based courses. One of the advantages of Cohort based learning is that it is highly scalable, and the tutor can charge a premium for the services rendered. The tutor is very much involved as a facilitator, unlike in MOOCs, where teaching is mostly based on pre-recorded videos available on demand.

For instance, if you have a cohort of 20 students at $500 per student for 8 weeks, you can increase the access fees if the completion and success rate is high. Furthermore, the educator has time to sell courses to other students, and for one-on-one coaching. Cohort-based coaching allows you to combine all the three learning methods, and you can make money in all three. The good thing about cohort-based courses is that learners have a set period to start and complete the course, unlike self-paced learning.

Features of EducateMe

Data analytics to track metrics like assignment completion
Chatting features for students and mentors to interact
Integration with Zoom and Jitsi for video conferencing and webinars.
A comprehensive course design tool to create your courses
In-app notification to keep track of schedules and events etc.

Pros

All in one platform to create and manage courses and learning communities.
Communication tools to foster collaboration between learners.
Data Analytics to help you track the success of your courses and learners' engagement with the course.
The EducateMe platform is great for one-on-one coaching, corporate training, and cohort-based learning.
The trial period lets you enjoy all the benefits in the trial window.
Lessons on EducateMe are fun due to the utilization of Kanban boards, which helps collaboration.
You can create courses with all the visuals and styles to make them attractive to students.

Cons

Lacks a native app for now

Pricing

After the free trial period, EducateMe bills you a monthly $2.5 per student in the cohort.

Maven

The Maven platform hosts courses for learners around the world. It is an ensuite platform with tools for creating and managing courses. Maven is perfect for popular experts with large followers on social media. Maven features time-based learning settings, self-paced classes with goals, and tracking completion rates.

Pros

Maven has great community-focused learning tools to help students learn in a conducive environment.
The platform helps you publicize your course, so you don't have to bother about marketing.
The platform provides all the tools for creating and managing a digital learning experience.

Cons

As noted earlier, a beginner tutor will find it hard to thrive on Maven
Lacks a white-label option; hence customization is very limited on the platform.
Maven is unavailable on mobile platforms

Teachfloor

This coaching online platform is used mostly by corporate trainers to conduct company-wide training exercises. Companies are adopting online coaching to upskill employees. Research.com reports that 80% of organizations do some compliance training online, and 29% do all training online.

Teachfloor has all the useful tools of a corporate training platform, including analytics for tracking participation level, performance, and assignment completion. Teachfloor has Zoom integration for seamless video lessons. The video feature helps mentors teach a large audience, increasing revenue.

Pros

Zoom integration makes it perfect for a large class
Teachfloor helps tutors receive payment seamlessly through Stripe integration
Data Analytics gives you clear insight into the performance of your course.

Cons

Teachfloor as yet has no mobile application
The platform could be better for one-on-one coaching.

Pricing

For a maximum of 50 students, you have to pay $79 per month.

Bottom line: EducateMe has lots more to offer than the other coaching platforms. You can thrive as a beginner tutor on EducateMe, unlike Maven. Also, EducateMe is more flexible because you can do cohort-based and one-on-one training, unlike Teachfloor.

Platforms for 1-on-1 Coaching, Memberships, and Communities

Not all students do well in a mass coaching environment. On the other hand, some learners prefer learning in a community. To cater to these individual needs, there are platforms perfect for these learners.

Zoom

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It is one of the best-known platforms for video conferencing and webinars. In April 2021, Zoom recorded 300 million daily users in meetings on the platform.

For tutors, Zoom offers you the chance to conduct synchronized coaching for students at a time. You can engage with learners on the app by asking them to turn on their cameras, so everyone is visible.

Zoom meetings can support up to 100 participants on the free plan. This should be fine if you only engage in one-on-one coaching. Students joining the Zoom class can be on your contact list. The meeting code and ID are enough for them to link up.

You can add the Zoom integration to your online coaching platform to take advantage of these features.

Pros

High-quality video and audio make it one of the best video conferencing platforms.
The free plan supports unlimited one-on-one sessions and 40 minutes long group meetings.
Zoom allows 1000 participants in an interactive session and 10000 view-only participants.
Zoom's encryption system provides security for calls.
The app works across all platforms.

Cons

You need to pay for a subscription to host interactive classes larger than 100 persons.
Possible unauthorized access to Zoom meetings by uninvited persons.

Pricing

If you have a large class and need to accommodate more than 100 students, you would need a Zoom Pro package of about $14.9 a month. The business plan will set you back $199 per annum and allows you to host about 300 students.

Google Meet

Google Meet is a Cloud-based conferencing app from Google. It is part of the Google suite and helps team members to carry out their duties without glitches. Google Meet helps you track meeting details by collecting data on the number of participants. This feature helps the tutor know who attended the class.

Pricing

The app is free to download, but if you want to record and store videos, you must pay at least $6 for 30GB of cloud storage for a basic plan. Other pricing plans include monthly costs of $12 for business and $25 for enterprise plans.

Pros

Allows up to 150 participants on a video call
Has an integration with other Google software like Drive, Docs, Calendar, etc.
Google Meet's free version works well and helps you cut costs
Available on all platforms.
Google's security infrastructure means calls are encrypted from end to end.

Cons

Requires a Gmail account to use.
Limits call to only 25 minutes on the free plan.
Users can't record the video call.
Integrations are limited to Google products making it less flexible.

Mighty Networks

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Building a community around your courses is a sure way to improve engagement. Stats show that 76% of internet users participate in at least one online community. However, gathering learners from around the world into a shared learning community is quite a complex process. With the right platform and tools, it is relatively easy.

Mighty Network is famed for being one of the best online coaching websites for community learning, where tutors can host courses. It helps you manage a large community with an in-built dashboard for members' profiles, activity feeds, polls, and a forum for discussion.

All these features help your students stay informed and in touch with each other for effective peer learning.

Pros

Possesses great features of a community platform for Course building.
Course creation and posts are easy on Mighty Network.
Slack is fully integrated as a communication tool.
You can charge fees for membership and access to your courses.
Clean and effective UI
Its native app works for all platforms

Cons

Course builder lacks features like quizzes and certificates to reward hard work.
Lacks native video feature
The payment options do not include PayPal

Circle

Circle has all the community tools, such as live streaming, chats, events, and memberships. Course creators can forge a community of learners to engage with their courses and earn revenue from paid memberships. The platform discussion feature has public and private spaces for general and direct messaging.

Pros

Circle allows you customization to tally with your brand image.
You can incorporate the Circle platform into your website if you have one already.
Circle engenders discussion through live streams, chats, and live rooms for smaller groups to discuss

Cons

The platform is pricey, with high fees plus transaction fees
Limited space to create more courses
Has no free plan

Podia

Podia is a digital platform to create and sell courses and digital products. Podia also allows creators to build an online community and monetize it by selling access and paid memberships. Podia has email features to help you with email marketing and publicize courses on your online coaching platforms. You can also sell access to Webinars hosted on Zoom or YouTube Live on Podia.

Pros

Podia's free plan has many features to help create an online community.
Podia keeps you on schedule through integrations with Calendly and Acuity.
Podia helps you create an online course with a comprehensive curriculum
The email marketing option takes care of marketing for your courses

Cons

Lacks a mobile version
The customization tool is limited in features

Slack

Slack is a software communication tool integrated into some of the best coaching websites. Unlike email, Slack enables a quick and organized exchange of ideas and information among members of large teams.

Slack organizes communication into channels for public interaction and sub-groups. Members can use private chat to message themselves on the app.

Slack has lots of integrations to help you use the app effectively. Some of these integrations include OneDrive, GitHub, etc. The app also enhances collaboration through the file and screen sharing.

Pros

Simplifies onboarding by making available archived messages and information
Screen sharing improves collaboration among team members
The free version can accommodate an unlimited number of members
Contains voice and video chat option
Available on all platforms
Has intuitive UI

Cons

Poor video call quality
Limited storage except if you upgrade to a paid plan
Lacks read receipts on messages.

Pricing

Slack has three pricing tiers-free, standard, and plus. Standard attracts $8 monthly, while Plus starts at $15 monthly.

Discord

Discord is a communication built around communities of video game enthusiasts to discuss and have fun. Discord has video and voice call options as well as file sharing. Members can peek into each other's work by sharing their screens publicly. Activities and topics are subdivided on Discord, making it easy to search and discuss particular topics. It makes the platform organized.

Pros

High-quality video streaming for screen sharing.
Has a free version
Although built with gamers in mind, it is available to other online communities.
Divisions of channels make meetings and discussions easy and organized.

Cons

Takes a fair share of ram space
Has very few integrations to make it top notch

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Pricing

There are three pricing tiers: free, nitro classic, and nitro. Nitro classic attracts a fee of $4.99 per month, while Nitro is $9.99.

Marketplaces for Selling and Creating Online Courses

How do you design a course and make money off it? That's a question most renowned online tutors had to answer in their formative years. The process is much easier now, especially when you know where to create and market your courses.

We will provide a rundown of some of these platforms to help you.

Udemy

The internet is awash with Udemy courses, and it is no surprise. It is one of the largest digital learning platforms, with over 57 million students and about 74000 tutors. To begin creating your paid course on Udemy, you must register as a premium instructor. Then you make at least half an hour-long videos for all your courses. If you need help making a video or general course creation, Udemy has a great support feature to help you with all the information you need.

After you are done creating, the course is marketed by Udemy through affiliate marketing and email campaigns. Udemy provides Analytics to help you discover top-selling courses and most searched topics, allowing you to design profitable courses.

For all these benefits, the platform charges a 3% revenue share on each course viewed by people you brought to the platform. However, if learners find the course on Udemy, the creator only keeps 37% of the revenue.

Skillshare

Skillshare is another popular online learning platform with over 800,000 members. It is a major marketplace, and there are over 30,000 courses in different fields like photography, technology, graphic design, etc. Skillshare uses a monthly subscription model, allowing students to watch any video for 30 days.

This makes Skillshare noticeably cheaper as charges are not levied on each course. Skillshare has a project feature on each course, which helps students put into practice what they learned on the course.

While Skillshare is great for selling your course, you will likely earn less money due to its monthly subscription model.

Coursera

Coursera is unique because it doesn't have original courses but simply partners with educational institutions like universities and private tutors to bring their courses to an online audience. In effect, Coursera takes a course and brings it to the mainstream.

The platform has over 275 educational institutions and other organizations as partners, with more than 7000 courses available.

Launching your course on Coursera opens it to its 97 million+ learners worldwide. The signature track feature on Coursera enables learners to earn certificates after completing a course. It has a grading system that checks assignments and examinations done by the learner.

Coursera charges users depending on the kind of course they want, from as little as $9.99 for a 2-hour course to $9,000 for a University level degree course.

Kajabi

Unlike the other platforms mentioned, Kajabi works as a website builder to sell courses and a course marketplace. Whichever one you choose, Kajabi got you sorted. More to this is the integration with payment platforms like Stripe and Paypal to process payments for your courses. Users can link their credit cards to the gateway, and you make revenues from your courses.

Kajabi is great for building an online community with features like Live chat and video, news feeds, Direct Messaging for private conversations, etc. To market your courses, Kajabi supports you with email customization to begin a marketing campaign. You also enjoy the benefits of Analytics to track sales and CRM to engage your customers.

On the downside, Kajabi is quite expensive. You have to pay $149 to use the basic version of the platform and up to $399 for the Pro version.

Live Streaming, Webinars, and Group Hosting Platforms

Webinars are a great way to reach a large class simultaneously and to get feedback on the lectures. Live streaming grabs people's attention up to 20 times longer than pre-recorded content. A Statista survey found that more than 20% of US adults between ages 18 and 34 watched live-stream events regularly. A major factor in choosing a live-streaming platform is video quality. Research shows that half of the viewers are put off a live event due to poor video quality.

Let's look at some of these platforms.

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WebinarNinja

Tutors can set up classes on WebinarNinja without much hassle. It is an all-inclusive webinar software with all the relevant features like slide templates, tools to engage with viewers, and email sequences to send out invites and reminders of events automatically.

WebinarNinja also provides you with data monitoring for tutors to keep track of the attendance rate.

WebinarNinja also allows your lectures to be more interactive. It creates a question-and-answer space on the live stream and a live poll during streaming.

Join.me

Join.me is a wonderful solution for enterprises to meet and collaborate with staff members in remote locations. You enjoy several benefits from the software's features with many collaborative tools, including screen sharing, chat options, presentation features, interactive whiteboards, etc. The app also allows you to schedule meetings with automated reminders and to record meetings.

Another benefit you enjoy is the opportunity to brand the app to suit your brand. From the meeting link to the themes and background of the meeting setup, you can customize it to your taste.

Vimeo Live

Vimeo has approximately 260 million users and is one of the top recommended software for live streaming a class or meeting. Vimeo performs well in the high-quality video segment, offering 1080p Full HD video quality. Vimeo makes live streaming fun on your online coaching platform by adding question and answer, live polls, and audience chat to keep viewers engaged on the live stream.

There is no limit to the number of events you can stream on Vimeo, and your videos are automatically archived for future reference. You can also redesign your stream on Vimeo to fit your brand image. On the advanced plan, you can access analytics to track participants. You can also invite up to 100 participants with automated email notifications and more than five guest speakers on a live stream.

Facebook live

Live streaming on a social media app is a popular way to reach a large audience. A survey by Statista shows that 23.8% of users prefer social media for live streams. Facebook is the best exponent of this strategy. With over 2.9 billion users worldwide, it is not an exaggeration to say Facebook live is the most cost-effective way to reach a global audience.

Facebook live lets you stream classes to the learners in your group. The option for comments and likes makes you aware of what the viewers think of the class. Comments can be moderated or even disabled to avoid negative comments. You can use the "Live with" tab to share the stream with another guest and add links to your website on the stream.

Facebook helps record the video and is available on demand to anyone. Being the most popular social media app, Facebook live is available on all platforms.

YouTube Live

Remember we said Facebook is the largest social media platform, and YouTube is the second largest. With an average of 2.5 billion monthly viewers, YouTube is the world's biggest video-sharing platform. YouTube Live has features that take your virtual coaching platform to the next level. You can create clips from your live stream to post on your YouTube channel.

YouTube data analytics lets you measure the live stream's real-time quality and participation level. To create a buzz on an upcoming live stream, YouTube allows you to create a trailer of the event and post it on your channel.

Conclusion

As we recap, we have seen the different learning models available: one-on-one, cohort-based, MOOCs, and Community-Based Models. We also looked at the different online coaching platforms for any of these models to thrive.

Utilizing this review, you can easily decide the best coaching platforms for any model you choose and where to launch your courses.

Depending on your coaching style, you must factor in the best platforms that guarantee a lucrative return on your course. You should also consider customizable platforms for creative designs. A more aesthetically pleasing virtual coaching platform with cool features like emojis, Gifs, etc., will draw more learners, especially for a community-based model.

The good news is that you don't have to worry about all this. EducateMe has got you, and with our experience in building scalable learning platforms can rest assured that your coaching platform will scale.