Webinars are one of those methods of delivering content that have been here ever since digitalization came into picture. Unlike other kinds of virtual events, webinars are those tried and tested methods of connecting with the world, and delivering content that people didn’t find it challenging to deal with. Hosted on the webinar platform, webinars are the oldest of them all, yet, they haven’t still lost their relevance. The reason is the convenience they come with and the advantages they provide to the users.
But, do you know what webinars actually are? Let us find out in this guide to hosting successful webinars on the best webinar platforms.
What is a Webinar?
Without going into complicated terminology, you can understand webinars as ‘web seminars’ or simply the seminars hosted on webinar platforms using the internet. Also known as webcasts, webinars are generally informative. In a webinar, the speaker or the presenters share content with the attendees through tools such as PowerPoint presentations, screen-sharing videos, graphics, etc.
Webinars are hosted on webinar platforms, which come with several advanced features, including audience engagement tools, networking features, recording, and data analytics. All these tools help the organizers bring their events closer to real life and deliver an immersive experience to the attendees.
Webinars and their in-person counterparts, Seminar, share the same intent or objective and follow the same procedure. The only difference between them is that while the seminars are hosted in-person, webinars are hosted virtually on webinar platforms, using the internet.
Research suggests that attendees pay attention to webinars from start to finish. (Source: Make Social Media Sell)
What are the Advantages of Hosting Webinars?
1. Expand Audience Reach
Webinar Meetings are hosted virtually, and hence, they eliminate travel for the attendees, speakers, and hosts. It gives an excellent opportunity to the organizers to tap into a global audience, which allows them to significantly grow their brand.
2. Cost-Efficient
Webinars, like other virtual events, allow the organizers to save money they would have spent on ‘n’ number of things in case of seminars. Webinar Meetings are inexpensive and a beneficial deal for the organizers. Not only this, the attendees get to save money as well as webinars don’t require the attendees to travel and spend money on accommodation and other things.
3. Content Repurposing
Several online webinar platforms provide the recording feature that allows the organizers to record the entire webinar meeting. The organizers can use these recordings according to their convenience and needs.
4. Real-Time Analysis
One of the most amazing features that some online webinar platforms come with is real-time analytics. This feature allows the webinar meeting organizers to get an insight into the real-time attendee activities on the online webinar platform.
What is the Purpose of Hosting Webinars?
Different organizations host webinar meetings to fulfill different purposes. Right from knowledge sharing to directing more leads, there are many reasons organizers prefer hosting host webinars.
Here are a few most common usages of webinars across different industries:
1. Introduce New Product or Service
If you are looking forward to introducing a new product or service in the market, webinars will help you do that quite smoothly. The reason webinar meetings are a great way to introduce a new product in the market is that online webinar platforms come with immersive features that make knowledge sharing seamless between the organizers and the attendees.
2. Set-Up Authority
You can host knowledge-sharing webinars. Various attendees would attend the webinar to listen to you. These webinars allow you to set up authority and place yourself as an expert among the masses.
3. Engage With the Audience
There are various kinds of webinars, like on-demand webinars and live webinars. However, when it comes to audience engagement, live webinars are more efficient than on-demand webinars. Hence, one can host live webinars to engage with their audience.
4. Expand Brand’s Leads
Virtual events come with endless opportunities for the organizations to expand their brand reach and tap into a wider audience. Likewise, webinars, too, allow the organizers to tap into a wider audience, generate more leads, and expand the reach of their brand.
What Are the Features of Webinars?
1. Attendees Connect Virtually
As mentioned earlier, Webinar Meetings allow attendees to connect from all corners of the world without leaving their comfort zones. There is nothing such as geographical barriers in the case of webinars, and the organizers can tap into a global audience.
2. Webinars Allow Attendee Interaction
Webinars and social webinar platforms come with immersive audience engagement tools such as live chat, live polls, live comments, etc. Other than this, online webinar platforms boost connectivity among the attendees with tools such as audio and video chats. These tools promote interactivity among the attendees. Expert webinar platforms like Webinar Plus come with tools such as live polls, live chat, video conferencing, networking tables, etc. All these tools make communication between the attendees feasible and seamless.
3. Webinars are Informative
As we have mentioned earlier, the nature of webinars is informative. Generally, in a webinar, a speaker addresses the audience and shares information with the audience. A webinar revolves around a certain topic where discourses and keynote sessions take place.
4. Speakers Use Visualization Tools
To make the webinars impactful, the speakers or hosts use visualization tools such as pictures, graphics, videos, slideshows, etc. All these tools help the speakers in making the delivery of the content easy yet engaging.
5. Webinars are Hosted on Webinar Platforms
Organizers conduct webinars on webinar platforms. With these webinar platforms, the organizers can tap into a wider audience, as they completely eliminate the need of traveling and stepping out of their comfort zones.
What are the Different Types of Webinars?
1. Educational Webinars
As the name suggests, the objective of educational webinars is to educate the audience on a particular subject. In this webinar, the speaker shares knowledge on a particular topic, which is followed by a discussion session.
2. Product Webinars
These kinds of webinars are hosted to introduce a product or service to the audience. In these webinars, the organizers include a slideshow to give the audience a brief about the product. Later, these presentations are followed by Q&A sessions. Apart from introducing a product or service, the intent behind hosting these webinars is to convert positive leads into customers.
3. Employee Training Webinars
The objective behind these webinars is to inculcate practical skills among the employees. Since most organizations are working remotely these days, employee training webinars help the organizers in making employee training easy and seamless.
4. Lead Generation Webinars
The objective of these webinars is to generate positive and organic leads for the brand. When the organizers promote the webinars on a particular platform, it helps them build relationships with the attendees and gain their trust, which allows them to gain leads for their brand.
5. Customer-Retention Webinars
The next type of webinars allows the organizers to retain their existing customers. With customer-retention webinars, businesses can keep their audience updated about their products and services. Not only this, but they can also interact and engage with their audience.
Most webinars registrants like to register 8 days before the webinar meeting. (Source: Blogging X)
How to Host a Webinar?
Here, we have shared a detailed guide on how you can host immersive and successful webinars:
1. Pick Your Team Members
The first thing you need to do to host successful webinars is to select a team that will help you in the smooth execution of your ideas. Pick your team of experts, and distribute all the roles and responsibilities wisely. A team of reliable and efficient people by your side will make the job easier for you and give your plan success.
2. Select the Format for Your Webinar
The next step in the process is to select the format of the webinar plan to host. Along with it, select the topic of the webinar. While planning both things, ensure you keep your audience’s preference in mind. Not only this, go with the trending format and topic of the webinar.
Here are the few formats you can select one from:
- Single Speaker Webinars focus on one speaker interacting with the audience and guiding them through one topic. These kinds of webinar meetings are the best option if you are targeting a small audience.
- In Q&A Based Webinars, the speaker or the expert answers the audience’s doubts.
- A moderator asks questions from the panelist or the speaker in an Interview-Based Webinar.
- Another kind of webinar that is quite popular these days are Panel Discussions. In these webinars, a panel of experts comes together to have a discussion on a topic.
3. Schedule Your Webinar
Now that you have selected a format for your webinar, schedule your webinar carefully. While you are selecting a date and time for your webinar, ensure you consider a few things before doing so. Consider your target audience before making a choice, and pick a date when you think the maximum number of people will show up.
4. Select a Webinar Platform
The most significant step in order to host a successful webinar is to pick a suitable webinar meeting platform. Go through a few options and select the best webinar platform among them. Since there are a plethora of options available, it might get confusing for you to pick one name. Hence, there are a few factors that you should consider. Consider audience engagement tools, networking opportunities, security, budget, user-friendliness, etc. Webinar Plus is an efficient online webinar platform that comes with all these features and lets you host the best webinars.
5. Promote the Webinar Efficiently
The next thing you should do to make your webinar successful is to promote it efficiently. Use techniques such as paid media strategy, email marketing, social media marketing, etc. The intent behind promoting the webinar is the fact that only promotions will help you attract an audience to your webinar.
6. Rehearse
The next thing you need to do is practice before the webinar. Practicing webinars once or twice before the actual webinar will help you get used to the online webinar platform, and get all the checks done.
7. Collect Post-Event Reviews
Now that the webinar is over, it’s time for you to send post-event feedback forms and collect their reviews. This step will help you analyze your event and create a bond with the attendees.
Closing Lines
This is all about webinar meetings. We hope you find this guide helpful. To host social webinars, on-demand webinars, live webinars, or basically any kind of webinar for your brand in the most seamless and efficient way, contact the best webinar platform, Webinar Plus, today.
A: Webinars are a powerful tool for reaching a wide audience, interacting with participants remotely, exchanging expertise or information, showcasing goods or services, and promoting brands. They can create leads or help with consumer education, and they make it convenient to attend from anywhere with an internet connection.
A: Webinar Plus, Zoom, and other online platforms are only a few of the ones that are accessible for holding webinars. The platform you choose will rely on your unique needs, financial constraints, target audience, desired features, and integration potential.
A: Engagement is essential to a webinar’s success, so answer. Using interactive elements like polls, Q&A sessions, chat boxes, and live quizzes can help you engage your audience. Urge attendees to engage fully and to ask questions. To keep people interested, use images, movies, and examples from real life. To facilitate group talks or networking events, think about employing breakout rooms.
