As the world becomes more digital, events have taken a shift in how they operate. Webinars are now becoming a common event model that also acts as a marketing tool.
What is a webinar?
A webinar is a virtual event that is attended by online audiences. These audiences can join in from anywhere on the globe. It is usually an interactive event where the host communicates with the participants through chats, Q& sessions, and polls.
How to Create Great Webinars?
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Decide on Topic and Theme
The most vital factor of your webinar will be in deciding a trending topic that fits your niche and will attract your potential market. Rather than hosting a generic themed webinar, create your webinar around a high-volume topic.
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Build your content
After deciding on your topic and theme, start looking up and creating content that you will share in your session. The content should offer new insights on the theme to make them relevant and successful. Having media to back up your content is always a great addition. These can be slides, videos, or images.
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Choose your date and time
Pick a date and time that will suit all of the interested parties. This will ensure that you have a wide reach for your event. Also, make sure that no other rival has a similar webinar or event at your chosen time and date.
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Focus on your branding
Webinars have become very common nowadays. To stand out, one should create memorable branding for their event. This could include a catchy hashtag or a promo video.
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Roll out your invites
To receive the maximum reach and interaction with your webinar, send out invites to your prospect audiences in a timely fashion. These can be in the form of personalized emails, social media DM‘s, or open invites on your social profiles. It is also suggested that you send a reminder invitation close to your webinar.
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Do a practice run
After you have created and managed all your details for the webinar, do a run-through to check all the technical aspects of your webinar. This can include your chosen virtual platform, presentations, and audio. This also allows you to understand how engaging your content is.
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Host your webinar
On the day of the event, have contingency plans in place for any difficulty that might arise. Make sure that the host is engaging and well-versed with the content for a smooth flow of events.
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Feedback
After hosting your webinar, send feedback emails to all attendees to understand what worked well and what can be improved upon.
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Record and share your webinar
It is considered a great practice to record and share your session with the public who wasn’t able to attend due to other commitments. this also increases your reach and engagement.
( Also Read: Ways To Maximize Webinar Attendance )
What Are the Benefits of Hosting a Webinar?
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Cost-Effective
A webinar allows you to reach multiple people at the same thus reducing your cost of reach. This allows you to reach and qualify for more leads in a short duration.
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Streamline marketing efforts
As webinars allow you to reach a wide audience, you can discover and develop relationships with your target audience in a value-driven manner. The potential of conversion is also higher.
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Increase brand awareness
As the audience is watching your content for a long duration and getting exposed to your brand offerings through the webinar, the chances of building your brand awareness and recall are higher.
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Reusable content
As you can record your webinar, you can repurpose the content for future use in HD formats. This allows you to get the best ROI on your costs for the webinar.
( Also Read: Webinar Marketing 101 )
What Can You Do to Host a Successful Webinar?
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Timely and frequent promotions
Your event is as successful as the number of people that turn up and engage with it. To ensure a decent turnaround, promote your event on all relevant platforms. For eg, if you have a career guidance session planned, spend more time and budgets on platforms such as LinkedIn and YouTube over Instagram and Facebook. Also, focus on retargeting to ensure a higher conversion rate on your promotional materials.
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Showcase your panelists and hosts
Creating short bios that give a brief insight into the panelists’ background can help create more interest in the event. It also prompts the audience to think of questions beforehand, thus making it more interactive!
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Add audience engagement features
Nowadays, virtual meet platforms offer various engagement features like live chats, polls, Q&A, and reactions. This can make your webinar more dynamic and successful.
From streamlining your marketing to directly engaging with your prospects, webinars can be a win-win idea for your brand. What do you think?