Creating a webinar is one of the best ways to engage with potential customers in an increasingly remote world.
Since the rise of remote work, most people rely on technology for education and social interaction more than ever.
This means more Zoom meetings instead of in-person meetings, more walks to a home office instead of commutes to a high-rise, and of course, more webinars instead of live events.
๐ Follow these steps to make a great webinar that works in 2021.
1. ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐ข ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ค๐ฅ๐๐
The topic you choose should answer questions that your audience typically asks and preferably be highly specific. For example, if you’re hosting a webinar on email marketing, you can choose to focus on subject lines in particular.
Overall, your webinar should provide value to your audience. Think about your company as a whole and your unique value proposition. What topics are you an expert on?
What topics can you provide value on? Consider choosing an educational topic, as this type of content performs really well.
2. ๐พ๐๐ค๐ค๐จ๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง ๐๐ค๐ง๐ข๐๐ฉ
When considering how to structure your webinar, you have countless options. Panel discussions, Q&Aโs, single-speaker presentations, and interviews are the four most common types. Other formats include product demos and case studies.
For panel discussions, you can invite industry experts to discuss a niche, current topic within your industry.
For Q&Aโs, you need only the product experts in your team to answer your customersโ questions.
Interviews are also a great choice. You can either choose an industry expert or a current customer to interview them on their experience with your company.
3. ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐ค๐ค๐ก
There are many webinar hosting platforms you can use to create your webinar. Popular platforms include ClickMeeting, GoToWebinar and Zoom.
When you’re researching a tool to use, consider your objectives. How many people do you think will attend?
Do you need a tool that could allow over 1,000 attendees?
How much does it cost? And how easy is it to use?
These are questions that you should look into when deciding on what webinar tool to use.
Additionally, you’ll want to make sure the tool can handle the type of webinar you want to host โ can it handle video chatting for panels or Q&A webinars?
The right tool for you will depend on the overall objectives of your event.
4. ๐๐ง๐ค๐๐ช๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ
Once you find a tool and you know the topic you want to present on, itโs time to create the content depending on the type of webinar you want to host.
Will it be a PowerPoint and talking head presentation? Or perhaps you want to do a live panel Q&A?
Either way, you’ll have to produce the content and prepare for the big day.
For example, if you’re creating a PowerPoint, you’ll need to create your slide deck. Make sure that the slides emphasize your points, but don’t include a script. These slides should be visually appealing and include interesting graphics, such as images or GIFs.
If you’re hosting a discussion-style webinar, plan out your speakers, gather audience questions, and prepare any other questions you might have so you can prioritize your time during the webinar.
5. ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐.
To select a time and date for your webinar, you’ll want to consider where your audience lives. Use tools like Google Analytics to see where people are, so you can choose a convenient day and time zone.
Report revealed that Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to host webinars, with 11 AM being the best time. Another popular time is 10 AM.
Both are great for a wide range of time zones and should avoid most commute times or work hours. Typically, these times avoid conflicts for the greatest number of people.
6. ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐ค๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ
Practice is essential for a successful webinar. Many things can go wrong on the day of the event, but by preparing, you can avoid technological mishaps.
Practising can also help you get acquainted with the platform if youโve never used it before.
We highly encourage creating a fake event on your webinar platform. Publish it, send a link to another one of your team members, and practice as if it was a real webinar.
Your team member would watch it as an attendee, which would tell you what the presentation looks like on the other end.
7. ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง
Practice is essential for a successful webinar. Many things can go wrong on the day of the event, but by preparing, you can avoid technological mishaps.
Practising can also help you get acquainted with the platform if youโve never used it before.
We highly encourage creating a fake event on your webinar platform. Publish it, send a link to another one of your team members, and practice as if it was a real webinar.
Your team member would watch it as an attendee, which would tell you what the presentation looks like on the other end.
Now that you’ve done the backend work, it’s time to ensure you have people who want to attend.
To promote your webinar, you can create a landing page where people can sign up and then distribute and promote that link in several ways.
For example, consider running ads through social media and search engines. Additionally, you’ll want to use free promotion tactics โ you can post on your own accounts, on your website, and send an email to your subscribers. It’s important to use your own follower base to get people interested.
๐ Reminder emails are also helpful. Consider sending “Don’t Miss Out” or “Seats Are Filling Up” emails as the day gets closer.
….. And when people do sign up, you’ll want to remind them leading up to the day. You should send them the webinar link about an hour before so it’s top of mind, and they don’t have to go looking for the link in their registration email.
8. ๐๐ค๐ก๐ก๐ค๐ฌ-๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐๐ช๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐
Webinars are obviously a great sales opportunity, and you don’t want people to leave your webinar and never think of you again.
That’s why you’ll want to send them a thank you email and gather feedback from attendees so you can plan better webinars in the future.
Remember that attendees generally like to have a recording. If you send them a link to the recording afterwards, they don’t have to take fervent notes during the webinar. This also means you can send it to registrants who wanted to attend but weren’t able to.