2023 Webinar Best Practices

Webinars have been proven to be very profitable to businesses today. This is evident in the increasing number of corporations and organizations utilizing it to generate leads and convert. Profitable as it can be, it also poses different challenges as in the case of in-person seminars.

Because of its value, as an event planner, it is a must that you are aware of webinar best practices to be able to implement them in your next online event. If you’re still hesitant about the value of webinars, let’s take a look at statistics.

On the report of LLC on Webinar Statistics 2023, 89% of hosts say webinars are the top medium for showcasing and expanding their businesses, 89% of remote workers feel more engaged with teams and projects when utilizing video conferencing, and 95% of respondents said using webinars to generate leads and advance their marketing strategies was essential.

Therefore, webinars are very valuable to businesses, corporations, and organizations and not just for education.

What is a Webinar?

According to Company Webcast; the word “webinar” is a blend of “web” and “seminar”. A webinar is an event held virtually that is attended exclusively by an online audience. This distinguishes it from a webcast, which also includes the presence of a physical audience. Other terms used as alternatives for a webinar are web event, online seminar, webcast, web lecture, and virtual event.

In the past, webinars were featureless and passive with little to no interaction at all between speakers, presenters, and attendees. There was no identity and it lacked personality, it was more of a lecture through the web. It was effective then, but since technology has evolved and more and more distraction has come, attendees’ needs and expectations have also changed.

Today webinars are more interactive. Furthermore, webinars can be strategically used as an experiential marketing strategy. Webinar participants are more engaged and because of this, they are more invested. This makes webinars a powerful tool to reach out to potential customers or clients and to establish an organization or business as a thought leader and innovator in the trade.

The 7Ps That Make a Webinar Successful

Plan

As event planners, we know and understand the importance of giving sufficient time to planning an event. The same goes for webinars. If you want yours to be successful and effective, you must give ample time to plan it.

Purpose

When planning for a webinar, it is critically important to identify the purpose of your webinar because a webinar is not just a tool for lead generation. It can also be a sales mechanism when audiences are engaged. Therefore recognizing the purpose of your webinar is crucial to maximizing attendee engagement.

It is also important to bear in mind, as an event planner, that your major purpose for the webinar or any online event, or even live event is to manifest long-term value and to drive thought leadership and industry development and growth.

Promote

Part of the event planning process is the marketing of events, in this case, your webinar. A good webinar is wasted if you can’t reach or entice your target audience. Webinar promotion will determine if you’ll hit the target number of attendees of your webinar.

For your webinar promotion, you should have a multi-channel communication or webinar marketing strategy. Some options include a landing page, social media, email, text, blog post, etc. When using these channels provide a CTA that leads to your webinar registration. Make it clear to potential webinar audiences how to register.

For ease and smooth registration of webinar attendees, you may partner with Event Smart, the leading event registration, and ticketing software in the market. A webinar registrant will receive an email as registration confirmation when they register through Event Smart, making the process easier for you and your attendees.

It is also best that you schedule an automated email to remind registrants of the upcoming event or inform them of the necessary event details.

Presenter or Webinar Host

A great webinar must have an expert and skilled person in the industry as a host. Or else the webinar will not be as credible. Plus, how will the questions be answered if there’s no credible expert?

Thus, make sure that you pick a presenter or host who has knowledge of every nook and cranny of the topic and is comfortable in front of the camera.

On the other hand, if you are hosting the webinar, you also need to be equally knowledgeable! Make a thorough research about the topic. Study and don’t get caught up with all the planning and the hype of hosting. You also need to schedule the topic and subtopics accordingly within the given time frame. Plan what you are going to say and how you are going to explain it to avoid looking unorganized and unreliable. In webinars, every second matters.

Participants and Potential Customers

Defining your target audience is one of the crucial things you need to keep in mind as an event planner. A successful webinar has the target webinar participant in attendance. And your participants should be able to interact and engage with the host or presenter.

Audience engagement can be gauged if participants are asking questions and sharing their takeaways about the webinar content. For your audience to fully engage, give them what they came for. Understand what their challenges or problems are and guide them to the solution. Determine what their goals are and let them see how your webinar helps them. Use the questions you get during one webinar as inspiration and content for the next webinar.

Aside from that, your webinar should be a little less conversation, and instead, be a little more action. Make a fun, full of learning, and engaging webinar by varying the way you present. To vary your content and hold your audience’s attention; use short videos, and related stories to illustrate, ask questions or let them throw a question to the panelists, etc.

The key is to let the audience experience different content styles to keep them participating.

Pick the Right Webinar Platform

One of the challenges as an event planner is choosing the right platform for your webinar. A webinar platform facilitates the effectiveness of your virtual event.

With the many platforms (I have a few suggestions as you continue to read on) to choose from, selecting the best is not enough. You should select a platform that is suitable for the kind of webinar you are having, whether it is a zoom webinar, a pre-recorded webinar, a live webinar, or a marketing webinar. Because not all webinars are created equal.

Webinars have different characteristics. The platform choice should also align with its unique character and content strategy. To help you make sound decisions, you need to consider the pros and cons of each platform.

Provide a Direct Call-To-Action (CTA)

Whatever kind of webinar you are having and whatever platform you choose, provide a clear call to action at the end of your webinar. Your call to action is a way to direct your webinar attendee to make the desired response.

A call to action may also be done during the webinar presentation as part of your webinar slide. Strategically set up your CTA during your webinar and lead your webinar audience to purchase a product or avail of a service, or enroll in your next virtual event or even live event.

Whatever the intention of your call to action, whether it is to avail of a limited free product or service, enrolment in your future webinars, or avail of your discounted service, always make your audience feel a sense of urgency and exclusivity in your CTA.

Some examples of a good CTA are download your free ebook now, buy now and save 50%, register now and get 25% off on your next enrollment, try our free demo now, and avail now for a limited offer only!

Webinar Best Practices

Choose a Relevant and Valuable Topic

Look up possible webinar topics using Google Analytics, get performance cookies, and understand the process of purchasing a product or choosing a service for your target webinar audience. Observe what are the most outstanding pages to measure preference and relevant webinar topics.

A webinar topic should resonate with your target audience to ensure webinar success. Be sure then to research and study the topic, including what are its best practices and tips to be able to not just share information but be able to assist participants to practically apply the webinar learnings.

Another thing to note is to make your webinar title catchy and appealing. This is an opportunity to catch the attention of your target audience and make a good impression on your possible participants. Be sure also that your title communicates the webinar content and value of your event.

Brand Your Webinar

Branding is a way for your audience to distinguish your organization, service, company, or product from your competition. It is more than just giving you identity through your logos. Branding adds color and personality to your webinar.

Besides personality, consider also visual branding. This will make your webinar slide and other visuals appealing and more put together. Logos on your slide alongside the font style, visuals, and colors on your webinar presentation may be tiny details on your webinar but it will create a great impact on the overall attendee experience.

It is also best to have a branded hashtag for your promotion that can also be an engagement tool in the course of your webinar.

Practice Makes Perfect

Planning and practicing ahead gives you enough time to prepare for possible errors. Have a practice session to assess if you get the webinar atmosphere you want, see if sessions fit the designated time, and allow guests and speakers to get used to the setup. It is even better to have a practice webinar recording so you have something to review.

It is also best to do a dry run to test and practice how to register for the event. Practice the webinar link if they are indeed working especially on the audience’s end. Do a test on how the audience will engage. Lastly, test out slides, presentations, and equipment that will be used.

Plot the Webinar’s Date and Time

Proper scheduling is necessary to ensure that guests, hosts and participants are available to join the event. It will determine the attendance of your target audience. According to webinar scheduling secrets, the best time for hosting webinars is 11 AM and the best day is Thursdays, but take proper consideration of different time zones.

Another thing to consider with time is the length of the webinar. According to a study by WorkCast, the optimal webinar length is 60 minutes. When the webinar takes too long to finish, participants (especially if not engaged) will probably drop off or lose interest.

Have a Webinar Strategy

For event managers, designing and planning the webinar is not enough. You need to develop a strategy on how to execute the plans you have. Most event planners don’t have any problem with planning. However, they fall short with executions. That’s why a webinar strategy is beyond important.

Just like in the NBA, having the best players, and the best coach is not enough. An excellent game plan makes the difference. Simply put, a webinar strategy is your webinar game plan.

Choose a Webinar Format

Before going further with creating webinar slides, questions, engaging activities, etc. you need to determine your webinar format. The right webinar format should align with your webinar topic and purpose. Some of the common formats for a webinar are as follows:

Course/ class format – an expert or a person of authority discusses a specific topic.
Keynotes (with breakout sessions) – a professional or an expert educates audiences and gives best practices or advice.
Featured speakers or highlights – two or more presenters share their knowledge about the webinar topic and encourage participants to engage to maximum learning.
Panels – a lineup of experts discussing a specified topic
Q&A sessions – a resource person or persons answers the questions asked by attendees. This format is great for attendee engagement.
Interview discussions – have a guest speaker; an expert or an influencer for a question and answer about the webinar topic.
Product demonstrations – a company representative or product ambassador promotes their product through demos.
Showcases – to exhibit, display, or present a specific topic or product, or a business or an organization.

Practical Tips for a Great Webinar

Secure an excellent internet connection – Ensure that you have an excellent connection to provide a good webinar.
Pick the right spot – Choose a place that is silent and free from distraction.
Create questions beforehand – If you want to gauge attendee learning, prepare questions beforehand.
Be wary of time – Be conscious of time. Start the webinar 2 mins after the announced time. This should be long enough for everyone to settle while not making everyone wait.
Catch attendees’ attention as soon as the webinar starts – Be jolly, friendly, and approachable.
Prepare visuals – Visuals are an effective way of getting your message across without too many words. It also helps in audience attention retention.
Always interact with the webinar audience – Avoid making your webinar look more like a broadcast. Be interactive as much as possible, and encourage attendee engagement. This is what separates a webinar from a broadcast.
Specific topic – Avoid broad and vague topics. Create targeted solutions to specific topics for your target audience.
Encourage participants to keep their cameras on. This way, you can see their reactions and you can literally check if they’re still listening or dozing off.
Boost webinar attendance through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. Be as loud and visible as you can.
Use storytelling to engage audiences.
Give enough time for attendees to ask questions and be prepared to answer them.
Always summarize sub-topics before moving on to the next one.
Be careful of body language.
Invest in an excellent-performing headset or microphone.

Webinar Software Platforms

Choosing the right online tools and platforms for your webinar impacts greatly its effectiveness. Thus, choosing the right platform is critical. Choose a platform that suits your topic and format.

Here are a few examples:

Wrapping Up Your Webinar

Conclude your webinar not just by summarizing the important points, but instead, by wrapping up with an explanation of what to expect next from the attendees. Hence, the use of a call to action.

When using a call to action, do so with clear instructions and make sure that your offer is irresistible and that the offer is for a limited time only to encourage immediate action.

It is also best that you survey attendees on topics that interest them and take note of them for future webinars to keep them coming back. Use the time also to announce your upcoming webinar.

Then send attendees (including those who register but did not show up) on-demand recording or additional content. Attendees love a variety of content and it will help with engaging and converting them.

Lastly, track your result to truly identify if the webinar was indeed a success through your predetermined KPIs.

Take Your Webinar from Good to Great with the Right Event Management Software

A perfect webinar is far from possible as there are unavoidable circumstances along the way. But an excellent webinar is achievable when you follow these webinar best practices. An excellent webinar not only generates leads for your organization or company. It is also a great marketing strategy to boost sales.

Establish your company or organization as a thought leader in the industry by partnering with Event Smart for your webinars and future events. Event Smart is the best event management and ticket sales software. You can plan unlimited events without commission and hidden ticket fees.

Discover more of the enumerable benefits of Event Smart when you start your free trial today! And share your experience and how this blog was able to help you by commenting below.