Hosting a webinar can be a great way to connect with customers or promote your brand. However, there are some basic things to keep in mind to make sure your webinars are as successful as they can be. Here’s a brief rundown of some things to consider before you host your next webinar.
Have a clear vision
If you don’t know exactly why you’re conducting the webinar, neither will your audience. Develop a goal and clarify why you’re having the webinar and what you (and your audience) might get out of it.
- Know your marketing goals.
- Set parameters.
- Don’t conduct a webinar just because it’s a trend. What kind of promotion does your business require?
Be prepared for the webinar
Before conducting your webinar, be sure to do your research and answer the following questions:
- Who is your audience?
- What kind of content do they prefer?
- How you can help your audience and your company grow with the information provided by your webinar?
- Do you need to add additional content to your webinar to make it more valuable to your audience?
Make sure the equipment you’re using is functioning properly.
- Before the webinar, check your internet connection.
- Use a good quality microphone and camera so your audience can have a better experience.
Make sure your topics are interesting
Want to hold your audience’s attention? Want to keep them coming back for more? Make sure your topics are intriguing.
- Establish a focused and compelling topic that will resonate with your target audience.
- Want to know what your target audience really wants? Conduct a survey! With the help of Sogolytics’s templates, you can gain powerful insights to create appealing topics.
- After you’ve created an interesting topic, focus on sharing useful and interesting data to increase your credibility.
Make sure your speakers are engaging
No one wants to sit through a boring webinar. The right speaker can make or break a webinar, so make sure your speaker is skilled at delivering information in an entertaining way.
- Try working on developing an interesting webinar persona if you’re delivering the webinar yourself, or enlist the help of someone with a talent for performing. Having knowledge is not enough, you need to convey it in an interesting, cheerful manner.
- Holding an audience’s attention for a good hour or more requires effort. Make sure you know what you’re getting in to.
- With Sogolytics, you can spice up your live interaction with quizzes, or you can design a fun game or a giveaway to keep things interesting.
Don’t forget to collect feedback after the event
You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. Gather feedback after the webinar to determine where improvements can be made. Nobody’s perfect!
- With Sogolytics, you can create interactive polls or a short survey to collect feedback after the webinar.
- Collecting feedback will help you to improve your content for future webinars.
Put serious effort into post-webinar nurture
Don’t let all that effort go to waste. Follow up and follow through to reap the rewards of the webinar.
- Segregate the mailing list: those who attended, those who registered but did not attend, or even those who raised hands during the conversation. Tailor your follow-up messages to each group.
- With Sogolytics, you can add a survey to your emails to sharpen personalization for these different groups.
- Keep sharing content to each group according to their behavior or interest.
- Nurture these potential leads. One good CTA, one good offer, or one good piece of post-webinar collateral (like an eBook or infographic) can change a prospect to a client.
Optimize social media
Don’t keep the good news to yourself. Advertise that webinar on social media!
- Utilize all your social media channels to promote your webinar. Provide regular reminders about webinar registration.
- Utilize customer forums, podcasts, or your own website to creatively promote the webinar.
Take a risk
Get creative. Try new ways to promote the webinar, or shake things up with something new, like an hour-long Q&A session with a well-known figure in your industry.
- Don’t be afraid to go all out: Send multiple emails, make countdown posts, and more.
- Ask “celebrities” in your industry or influencers to co-host, and use their promotional channels to spread the word.
- Try different designs, content types, or promotional channels.
This is very short laundry list of tips for conducting a webinar, but the sky’s the limit! Try to incorporate a few of these ideas, and your next webinar is sure to be a hit.
Ready for some inspiration? Kick back with our on-demand webinars!
