In today’s connected world, there are more ways than ever before to engage with customers, or prospects, to generate leads and inform them of your offerings. One such tactic is hosting a webinar. Webinars are gaining in popularity and are a great way to showcase a product, show thought leadership and engage with your target audience. However, getting it right can often be a difficult task.
There are many blunders organisations make when they host a webinar. The top three webinar fails are:
- Not properly identifying your target audience
- Emailing the wrong people at the wrong time
- Ineffectively using social media
Here are a few tips that can lead you down the road to success when it comes to hosting your own webinar.
- Know your Audience
Probably the single most important piece to the entire promotional process. Businesses must determine the common demographic and product use cases of your customers. You can do this through leveraging Google Analytics demographic and interest-based information on converting site visitors to find out what it is that gets people across the line. You can also mine your Google Analytics data to find out your organic search queries. This enables you to identify high-volume terms that demonstrate common patterns of interest.
Another technique is to utilise an inexpensive survey program, such as Survey Monkey, to poll your existing customer base to find out what they are interested in. For example, you could poll your customer base for feedback on proposed topics, helping you to ensure the topic you pick will provide value.
By knowing what your customers want to hear about and the topics that matter to them, your webinar is already going down the path to success. Your customer base is an extremely useful tool – so use it to find out what will work and you’ll find prospects will also be keen to join the party.
Top tip: Look for search terms where visitors have been looking for a solution to a problem. These will be the most engaging topics.
- How to Not Mess Up Your Emails
The key to this is to not send the wrong number of emails, to the wrong people, with the wrong message at the wrong time.
Let’s start with the number. Three is known as the magic number and this is no different for webinar emails. Send one to announce, providing an introduction and an overview. One to put a spotlight on the key speaker and highlight what attendees will take away. And a final one as a reminder email.
The reminder email is one of the most important and should be sent the week before the event, as 64% of people register for a webinar the week of the live event. As such, start your email campaign three weeks out and stick to the middle of the week to ensure your emails aren’t ignored or deleted. Avoid holidays and don’t forget to remove registrants from your promotional emails. For registrants, send out a reminder email the morning of the event to increase attendance.
The next step is to write the email. First off, the subject line. Be specific. Ensure the subject line showcases the value to attendees in participating in the webinar. Be engaging. Reference the number of things they will learn to peak interest – odd numbers will get more attention than even. People also pay more attention to what NOT to do more than what TO do, so don’t be afraid to be negative. Consider doing an A/B test on a portion of your list (5-10%) to pick the best subject lines.
Now to write your email. Be relevant and targeted. Include at least 3 relevant takeaways sharing “value add” around what attendees can expect to learn from the webinar. Consider breaking your list into multiple lists with targeted content if your topic appeals to multiple groups. Provide a bio of your speaker and include the date, day, time and time zone of your webinar.
Top Tip: Increase attendance by including an “add to calendar” feature to your registration confirmation email.
- Selective Social Media
Social media is another great tool you can use to promote attendance to your webinar but getting it right can be a challenge.
Firstly, create a microsite for your webinar, which you can link back to, use to record registrations and a hub for relevant content. Once you have your ‘webinar hub’, publish, post and share it on Facebook or LinkedIn (choose the best one for your audience). The great thing is that some webinar platforms come with this inbuilt, at no additional cost, which will save you heaps of time and hassle. Then, invite all your followers or connections from your company page to attend the event. This will alert all your followers of the upcoming webinar and direct them straight to the relevant information.
Once you have invited all your contacts to attend, you can then promote the event using the different social platforms. Think about creating event-specific hashtags for Twitter and Facebook. Be sure to check to ensure someone else isn’t using the same hashtag and incorporate it into event reminders and follow up communications.
Top Tip: Try and create forums for debate around the subject of your webinar across platforms. Ask attendees their thoughts on the topic through engaging questions to increase interaction. Include the hashtag wherever possible so people can track the conversation and encourage them to use it themselves.
Planning and preparation are the key to your promotional success. If you effectively define your target audience and promote your event in the correct manner, the odds of your webinar being a success will greatly improve.
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About Author
As Managing Director of InterCall Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of West Corporation and the largest service provider in the world specialising in conference communications, Joe Ingegneri is responsible for the company’s overall business growth and operations in the region. Founded in 1991, InterCall offers telephony, messaging, conferencing and collaboration tools for businesses of all sizes, from large global enterprises to small or regional companies.
