A webinar or video stream can be a great way to engage with your target audience. However, deciding to host a webinar is the easy part–successful execution requires careful planning and attention to detail.
From setting goals to marketing your event and following up with attendees, here are our tips for setting up a webinar that drives results.
Start by Setting Goals
To start, ask yourself why you want to hold a webinar. Are you looking for a short-term income boost from participants paying for access, or are you looking to increase your revenue in the long term by generating new leads or building stronger relationships with customers? These goals should be measurable. Once the event is through, how will you know if it was successful? You need to establish quantifiable key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you evaluate whether or not you have met your goals. Goals might include a certain number of attendees or the gross revenue from ticket sales.
Planning Your Webinar
You should devote at least 6 weeks to planning your webinar. Once you've defined your goals and KPIs, your next step is identifying your target audience. Knowing your target audience will help you select the best platform to host your webinar and marketing channels to raise awareness. In addition, knowing your audience's persona will help you narrow down the topic most appealing to them. At this point, you should also set a date and time.
A month before the webinar, start getting the word out. You should have worked out all the details– what you will call the event, who will be presenting, the agenda for the day, what platform you will use to host your event, how attendees will register, and how much it will cost to attend, if applicable. At this time, you should also build a landing page for the event and create an event on social media.
By 3 weeks out, you should have drafted a series of marketing emails announcing and promoting the event written and scheduled. In addition to the initial announcement, you should send a copy of the agenda and a few reminders encouraging people to register. Now is also a good time to schedule a thank you email that will go out after the event. In addition, you should keep posting about the event regularly on your social media channels, especially Facebook and LinkedIn.
You should maintain consistent communications with both attendees and hosts in the week leading up to the webinar. Post consistently on social media, and send out emails reminding people about the event. For those who have not yet registered, send out a "last call" email 3 days before the webinar. It would be best if you also asked your hosts for copies of their presentations to review a few days before the actual event. If you have any feedback or concerns, this gives them time to make adjustments.
The Day of Your Webinar
On the day of the webinar, try to work in a dry run of the day's events before you are scheduled to start. Have someone log in from the audience side to ensure that all technical elements are running smoothly. Also, keep updating your social media to drum up excitement about the event. If it is a free event, include the link to join in the description of your social media page to make sure it is one of the first things people see when they view your profile. It is also good to send out an email and put up a post with the link around 30 minutes before you start. If applicable, set up and moderate a Q&A forum for attendees to use throughout the event.
Following Up
The day after the event, you should send out an email thanking everyone who attended for participating in your event. Now is also a great time to collect feedback. Include the link to a survey to learn what went well and what needs improvement for future webinars. Within a few days, you should create an infographic highlighting the success of your webinar to post on social media. If you have any other files or materials from the event you would like to share with participants, send them out via email or private social group about 3 days after the webinar.
Hosting a Successful Webinar Event
While it is possible to produce and present a webinar on your own, the technology aspect alone is often out of the realms of most individuals. A professional virtual event streaming provider, like Parasol Video, can help you create a world class webinar that engages your attendees and builds your brand. Our virtual presentation platform will take the majority of the technical and production tasks off your plate, enabling you to spend time on the content of the presentation. We ensure you have a high quality webinar event that adds value for you and your viewers.
Book a meeting with us now.