This is how you organise a webinar that helps you achieve your goals
This time of social distancing and the one-and-a-half meter society demands alternative ways of getting and staying in touch with each other. For example, it is important for companies to stay in touch with their employees. And they look for ways to get and stay in touch with customers and prospects. That becomes difficult without the cosy Friday afternoon drink or that trade fair or event where you wanted to meet your customer.
Webinar - hype or here to stay?
I am currently receiving many invitations to follow webinars on a wide range of topics. Webinars have been organised for a very long time but somehow it wasn't a tool that first came to my mind as a marketer when setting up a campaign. Now that I've followed a number of them, I certainly see the added value. And also the pitfalls of the current hype.
Because even though it seems as if 'everyone' is now organising a webinar, it's good to keep realising that it shouldn't be a goal in itself. You use this tool to achieve your goal, just as much as your other means of communication serve a purpose. Still, I have become curious enough to find out when you use it and for what purpose it is suitable.
This is what my search for a plan of action has yielded
Online you will find a lot of information about what a webinar is 'functional' and step-by-step plans for its organisation. But when do you choose to organise a webinar instead of using another means of communication? And what is involved if you are going to organize this? In this blog I'll go into that.
What is a webinar and what can I do with it?
A webinar is a lecture, workshop, lecture or similar presentation or form of knowledge transfer that takes place via the internet, according to
Wikipedia.
These are the characteristics of a webinar:
- Scalable: the number of participants is practically unlimited.
- Low-threshold: registration is simple and the participant can view it on their own device.
- Limited investment: no costs for location, catering or parking. Only an investment in technology is needed.
- Interactivity: is possible through chat, polls or the use of call to action buttons.
- Retrospective insight into user data, interactivity and questions asked via the chat.
- Personalized follow-up based on user statistics.
The advantages of a webinar
- Inform many people at the same time (one-to-many communication).
- Sessions can be recorded and can be viewed and shared afterwards.
- Gain insights and record data for possible after sales/ follow-up actions.
- Respond directly to questions in the chat or come back to the questioner later.
- Possibility to launch offers and add call to action buttons during the webinar.
Which topics can you use a webinar for?
The subject of your webinar determines its success. So it is very important to give it time and attention. Always think about the participants when choosing your topic. It should provide added value for them. That is the first and most decisive factor for a potential participant to register or not. And once they have registered, the content of the webinar should also match their expectations. Otherwise, they still drop out while watching.
In principle, you can organize a seminar for any topic you want. Please respect the conditions below:
- It must be interesting and relevant to your target group.
- There must be enough content to tell about it.
- Make it as concrete as possible. Preferably organize one topic per seminar and several seminars if you want to talk about more topics. Then touch on 5 topics at the same time in one seminar.
The three main stages to take into account when organising your webinar
You can roughly divide the organisation of a webinar into three phases:
- The preparation
- The day of the webinar
- Evaluation and follow-up
As with so many things, the success of your webinar largely depends on your preparation. With good preparation, you can anticipate possible disruptive factors in advance. This way you make sure that you are well prepared during the webinar and that you can provide your participants with the desired information as well as possible. So take plenty of time for this phase!
Follow us on social media
In my next blog I'll give you tips to take into account per stage of the process. Follow us on Facebook and Linkedin for these and other tips on what's involved in organizing a webinar.
