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Validating your idea before you start building saves time and ensures you create something your audience actually wants. A quick survey on social media can reveal exactly what your network is willing to pay for. Sometimes what you assume your audience might be interested in purchasing might not be what they actually will purchase. Let’s use Shelly as an example. Shelly is a personal trainer looking to start a few online courses for her clients. She regularly teaches her clients about nutrition and weight-bearing exercises. Shelly thinks her clients would like a mini-course about at-home weight-bearing exercises. However, when she talks to her clients, most express interest in meal prepping and fast, healthy recipes. This should be the topic for Shelly’s first course. Shelly’s glad she asked her clients so she could create a course that would be the most helpful and relevant for them.

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Validate an idea with a social media survey

Validating your idea is easier than you think. Post a survey on one social media platform and get feedback in real-time.
  1. Select a social media platform — Choose the social media platform you use the most often and feel most comfortable with. Don’t worry about using a business social media account yet. It will take some time to build up a following of people you don’t know. The best way to validate your idea and get started is to leverage the existing network on your personal platforms.
  2. Choose one social platform where you have the biggest personal audience, such as:
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • X (formerly Twitter)
  3. Post a survey — Many social platforms allow you to include a survey (sometimes called a poll) directly on your post. Using your personal account, post a survey to ask your current audience what mini-course topic they’d be most likely to purchase from you.

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Survey post template

Hi everyone! As some of you know I’m starting my business on [business topic or theme]. I’m currently working on creating my first mini-course and need your help! Which one of the following mini-course topics would you be most likely to purchase?
  • Topic 1
  • Topic 2
  • Topic 3
  • Topic 4
Leave a comment if you have another topic you’d be interested in.

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FAQs

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What if I don’t use any social media?

That’s okay. Create a one-question survey using a free service like Google Forms and email it to your contacts with a note like the one above.

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How do I choose the right topics for a mini-course survey?

A mini-course is a shallow dive into a specific topic. Typically, a mini-course is one module containing no more than 5 lessons. A lesson usually consists of a video anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes long. For a mini-course, don’t include PDF attachments or quizzes unless you feel they’re absolutely necessary. Consider the customer problem you will solve with your mini-course. If the solution is five steps or less, that’s a great topic for a mini-course.

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What are some examples of topics that are specific enough for a mini-course?

Good example: Shelly and her meal-prepping or at-home weight-bearing exercise mini-course topics. Bad example: Using Shelly again, a bad topic (because they’re too broad) would be “improving your food habits” or “how to get fit”.