The Dos and Don’ts to Create a Perfect Webinar

 

At least 20% of those who attend your webinar will become a qualified lead.

Yes, webinars are that powerful of an inbound marketing approach.

But for them to truly deliver, webinars need to tick a few boxes.
And, just as importantly, they need to be devoid of certain elements audiences view as nuisances.

So without further ado, here is everything you should and shouldn’t do when creating and going live with your webinar:

 

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The Dos of creating a great webinar

Pick engaging topics

The first step en route to creating a successful, engaging  webinar is extremely elementary and essential :

Research.

You may be thinking that this is trivial.  Given the desired length of a webinar, however, this becomes crucial (more on this later). If you come off as unprepared even during a really short section of a half an hour webinar, it will not go unregistered by your listeners.

 

Try to tread new ground as much as possible. If you choose a random or overdone topic, your webinar won’t draw viewers. And, even if it does, it likely won’t result in the high-quality lead conversion you hope for.

 

When picking a topic, it’s essential to liaise with your content and sales teams. Set up meetings to find out what kinds of problems viewers and visitors are facing and do your own research into it. This way, you’re able to keep the visitors engaged during the video and you’ll be able to follow up once it’s all said and done.

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Use positive reinforcement

People are a far more likely to do something  if they believe they are going to get some additional value from it. You know those dubious ‘buy one get one free’ marketing campaigns that have been around since forever? Webinars are much the same.

The reward doesn’t have to be anything over the top – something as simple as promising your viewers a custom-made sticker, t-shirt or hoodie can work wonders for your average view time.

 

Experiment with different formats

Contrary to popular belief, there are a lot of ways to do webinars. Different audiences and topics require different levels of formality and experimentation. The format you choose depends on the way you wish your viewers to perceive you or your brand during and following the webinar.

Panel webinars, for example, usually consist of a panel of 2-3 experts discussing a specific topic, generally speaking extemporaneously. The person hosting the webinar might have a set of questions he or she initially intend to ask, but can steer it in any way he or she find to be the most effective.

This creates a feeling of familiarity due to its informal nature. It can be highly engaging if the panel resonates properly with its audience.
On the other hand, this looser format might not be suited for webinars tackling topics such as trading stocks.

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Partner with influencers

The word ‘influencer’ has been muddied of late, and people would rather go by any number of titles, such as ‘thought leader.’ Regardless of what they call themselves, influencers could make or break your webinar.

Let’s harken back to panel webinars for a moment.
It is inadvisable to just invite any person to discuss complex topics, in spite of how knowledgeable you may think they are. Recognized professionals in your field are more likely to draw eyes and engagement. A few companies that occasionally host professionals on their stream include Slack and Intercom, to much fanfare.

Collect information from viewers

Webinars usually are carried out on platforms developed specifically for webinar hosting , and that allow for live video streaming. Such platforms come with built-in features that collect pertinent data regarding participants, and will enable you to interact with viewers by posing relevant questions. These platforms enable your viewers to be more engaged and significantly increase the likelihood of them seeing the webinar through.

 

Make sure to end your webinar with a Q&A session. 92% of webinar attendees expect the session to commence with one.

 

Use this as an opportunity to collect valuable information from your audience. Of course, make sure first to provide a learned, satisfying answer. But you will also be able to learn about your potential prospects by the questions they ask. These will  indicate organizational needs. That might be your ticket in.

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The Don’ts of creating a webinar

DON’T make it too long

Our collective attention span is at a historic low.
The fact that people tune in to a long-form, educational presentation should not be taken for granted.

According to a survey carried out by BigMarker, 41% of viewers prefer videos that are 30 minutes long while a further 44% prefer videos that are 45 minutes long.
Therefore, you should aim for that 30-45 minute sweet spot.
This should allow you to go into specific detail without resorting to needless, tedious filler.

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DON’T release too many webinars

No matter how good something is, there is such a thing as too much. Imagine sending a brand-new marketing email to potential buyers every two hours. Rather than generating interest, you’re likely to be reported as spam or see a massive unsubscribing movement by members of your email list.

It’s not the marketing team didn’t do a good job phrasing and stylizing the emails. It’s just that the marketing approach was too aggressive.

The same goes for webinars.

If you overwhelm your contact base with webinars, you are going to lose people’s interest, fast. People will only attend one webinar per week. Therefore, focus on quality over quantity.

 

 

DON’T pick the wrong platform

An essential component of putting your webinar together is choosing the right platform to host it on. There are over a dozen different hosts out there, each of them with offering a variety of features.

GoToWebinar, for example, is a popular choice because of the number of features it hosts and their competitive pricing. However, they have a hard limit of 1,000 viewers per stream. Don’t gloss over such details when looking for a platform. It may be tempting to stick to free options like Facebook and Twitter, for example, but these don’t have useful features like collecting emails and other user information.

Digital asset management platforms, such as Cincopa, can be an interesting approach. They offer a wide breadth of media hosting solutions, including webinars.

 

DON’T be discouraged by low attendance numbers

The average number of webinar attendees Is 148.
So, even if you sent out thousands of emails, there’s no reason you should feel let down if the amount of people who tune in are in and around that number.

Additionally, do not get too excited about the total number of registrants. Webinar registration is similar to email open rate. It’s nice to see a high percentage, but  what you’re really looking for is click through rate; or, in our case, attendance. 

 

About 35% to 45% of those who register to a webinar will end up attending it. As long as you’re within that range, you’re on the right track.

 

Finally, if you find yourself panicking that your webinar is quickly-approaching and you have a record-low number of registrants, fear not.

About 29% of your attendees won’t register for your presentation until the day the webinar takes place. You can expect to see a bump on the day of the webinar itself.

 

Originally published on October 3rd, 2019, updated on June 15th, 2020
The Blog

The Dos and Don’ts to Create a Perfect Webinar

by Austin Jesse Mitchell time to read: 5 min
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