There’s no doubt that webinars are a great way to generate new leads and nurture existing leads. In fact, a whopping 73% of B2B marketers say that webinars are the best way to generate high-quality leads.
However, there’s a huge difference between a webinar that simply generates leads and a webinar that really engages your audience and compels them to take action.
We’ve all been there: You’re 10 minutes into a webinar, and you’re already bored out of your mind. You start to think about all the things you could be doing instead of watching this webinar. You open up your email and start responding to messages. You check your phone. You get up to grab a snack. You even consider taking a quick nap.
In short, you’re completely disengaged from the webinar. You have no idea what the speaker is saying, and there’s no way you’d consider buying anything that they’re selling.
If you’re hosting a webinar, the last thing you want is for your audience to be disengaged. You want to keep your audience on the edge of their seats for the entire webinar, and you want to give them valuable, actionable information that they can use.
1. Choose a Topic That Resonates With Your Audience
The first step to creating a successful webinar is to choose a topic that resonates with your target audience. You can have the best webinar presentation in the world, but if it doesn’t address the needs, wants, or pain points of your audience, it won’t be successful.
To ensure your webinar topic resonates with your audience, consider the following:
• Do keyword research to find out what topics your audience is interested in and asking questions about.
• Check out the content your competitors are producing to see what’s resonating with their audience.
• Send out a survey to your email list or social media followers to ask what topics they’d like to see covered in a webinar.
• Use social media analytics tools to see what topics are trending in your industry.
• Consider the time of year and any current events that might impact your audience.
2. Create an Engaging Title and Description
Your title and description are the first things potential attendees will see about your webinar. Make sure they’re compelling enough to pique interest and drive sign-ups.
Your title should be clear and descriptive. It should also include the main topic or focus of the webinar. You can also experiment with using numbers and action verbs in your title to make it more engaging.
Your description should be a bit longer and provide more detail. Here, you can include a brief overview of what you’ll cover in the webinar, what attendees will learn, and who the target audience is.
3. Promote Your Webinar Across Multiple Channels
If you’re only promoting your webinar on your website, you’re missing out on a large chunk of your audience.
To maximize audience engagement, you need to meet your audience where they are. And, chances are, they’re not all in the same place.
So, make sure you promote your webinar across multiple channels.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
• Write a blog post about your webinar and publish it on your website.
• Share your webinar on social media. You can create a series of posts to promote your webinar on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
• Send an email to your list with a link to your webinar registration page. You can also create an email series to promote your webinar.
• Use your website’s pop-up feature to promote your webinar. You can also create a banner ad to display at the top of your website.
• Create a landing page for your webinar and promote it across the web.
4. Invite Guest Speakers
Inviting guest speakers to join your webinar can add a lot of value and credibility to your presentation. It’s also a great way to tap into your guest’s audience and attract new attendees to your webinar.
You can invite guest speakers to join your webinar remotely or in-person, depending on your and your guest’s location. If you’re hosting a webinar with a remote guest, you can use a platform like Zoom to easily invite them to join your webinar.
When choosing guest speakers for your webinar, look for people who are thought leaders in your industry and have a large and engaged audience. You can also look for people who are experts on the topic you’ll be covering in your webinar.
Before your webinar, make sure to coordinate with your guest speakers to review the content and run through any technical requirements. You should also promote your guest speakers on your webinar registration page and in your marketing materials to help build excitement and attract new attendees.
5. Create a Series of Webinars
Webinar series are a great way to build excitement and anticipation with your audience. It also gives you the opportunity to dive deeper into specific topics and create an ongoing conversation with your audience.
If you choose to do a webinar series, make sure you’re promoting it as such. This means creating a landing page for the series and promoting it on your website, social media, and email marketing channels.
6. Use Polls and Q&A Sessions
Polls are a great way to keep your webinar audience engaged and gather feedback on your presentation. This can be especially helpful if you’re trying to gauge interest in a new product or service.
You can create polls in your webinar software and display them on your webinar landing page. You can also create polls in advance and share them with your audience during your presentation.
Q&A sessions are another great way to keep your audience engaged. You can set aside time at the end of your webinar for a live Q&A, or you can ask your audience to submit questions in advance and answer them during your presentation.
7. Share Useful and Relevant Content
The whole point of webinars is to teach your audience something, so it’s important to ensure your content is useful and relevant to them.
When you’re planning your webinar, consider what kind of content would be most helpful to your audience. What questions do they have? What are their pain points? What are they trying to achieve?
If you’re not sure, you can always ask your audience what they want to learn about. You can do this by sending out a survey, asking them on social media, or even running a poll.
Once you know what kind of content would be most useful to your audience, you can start planning your webinar. Be sure to include plenty of examples and case studies to help illustrate your points, and don’t be afraid to get into the nitty gritty details.
8. Use Interactive Media
Interactive media can be a great way to break up the monotony of a webinar. This type of content is designed to get your audience involved in the conversation, and it can be a great way to keep them engaged.
Some examples of interactive media that you can use in your webinars include polls, quizzes, and surveys. These are a great way to get your audience to think critically about the topic at hand, and they can also be a great way to get some feedback from your audience.
Other examples of interactive media that you can use in your webinars include videos, images, and audio clips. These can be a great way to add some visual interest to your webinar, and they can also be a great way to break up the conversation and keep things moving.
9. Share Customer Case Studies
If you have a customer who is willing to share their experiences with your product or service, a webinar is a great place to do so.
Customer case studies are a great way to build trust with your audience. They show that you have a proven track record of success, and they allow you to position your product or service as a solution to a real problem.
Case studies can be a bit more formal than a typical webinar, but they are still a great way to engage your audience. Make sure to include an interactive Q&A session at the end of the case study to keep things interesting.
10. Create a Sense of Urgency
Urgency is a powerful motivator. When you create a sense of urgency around your webinar, people are more likely to sign up and attend.
You can create a sense of urgency in a number of ways. One of the most common ways is to set a strict start and end time for your webinar. You can also limit the number of people who can attend or offer a special discount or promotion that’s only available to people who attend the webinar.
Whatever you do, make sure to clearly communicate the sense of urgency in all of your promotional materials.
11. Send Automated Webinar Reminders
In the days and hours leading up to your webinar, you should send out automated reminders to your registrants. These reminders can help you maximize the number of people who show up to your webinar.
Most webinar software will have a feature that allows you to schedule automated reminder emails. You can also use the software to schedule reminder text messages if you have your registrants’ phone numbers.
In your reminder emails, you should include the date and time of your webinar, a link to your webinar room, and any other information your audience needs to know. You should also include a call-to-action button that allows registrants to add the webinar to their calendar.
12. Ask for Feedback
Finally, don’t forget to ask your attendees for feedback after your webinar. Their answers can help you understand what went well and what you could improve for next time.
You can also ask for feedback on the webinar itself, as well as the overall experience of attending. This will help you get a better idea of what your audience values and how you can continue to improve your webinar strategy.
Conclusion
Webinars are a great way to connect with your audience, build brand authority, and drive leads. But if you’re not actively engaging your audience, you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity. Use these tips to increase audience participation and make your webinars more memorable.
