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What is a webinar and how can you set one up?

Webinars have transformed the way that businesses offer guidance, training and support to audiences across the globe.

Over time, this has become an effective way of generating high-quality leads, as professionals show an active interest in a business by tuning in, more and more companies are demonstrating their power and influence through webinars.

What is a webinar?

Essentially, a webinar is a live video conference. Hosted via the internet on a specifically chosen platform, a webinar allows individuals from any location to view, interact and listen to a presentation or demonstration by one or multiple hosts.

Whilst technology has made it much more accessible to host and attend webinars over the past decade, their history can be dated back to the 1980s when early concepts of this type of communication (e.g. real-time messaging) were developed.

These days, webinars are utilised by businesses for all kinds of purposes; from workshops to seminars, Q&As to demonstrations and many more in between. Webinars are a chance to interact freely with an engaged target audience, share knowledge and ultimately encourage leads.

Setting up your webinar

The right team

Hosting a successful webinar is a team effort. If you try and organise it alone, you run the risk of stretching yourself too thin and losing the quality necessary for it to be a success. Experts recommend you have three key people within your webinar team. Responsibilities for each will vary depending on the skills of your team, but overall the following tasks should be delegated:

  • The development of the content
  • Promotion and liaising with attendees
  • Setting up the webinar
  • Handling any technical issues before and during the webinar
  • And, of course, someone to present.
 Research your platform

The market is inundated with webinar tools which will provide the platform on which it is hosted, choosing the right one is really down to personal preference and its fit for your content. Notable webinar services include GoToWebinar, WebEx, GetResponse, and many others. We recommend shopping around and request demos, if available, to ensure you feel comfortable in navigating the software.

Choose an engaging topic

No matter what your end goals are, when it comes to hosting a webinar you need to ensure that the topic you cover is something that your target audience will be interested in and that it highlights your knowledge, and allows you to connect with your audience. Some of the most successful webinars utilise more than one presenter and discuss different aspects of a particular topic; either in a Q&A format or as a panel discussion.

Content

Of course, the actual content of your webinar is key to its success. One of the best webinar tips is to have well-designed slides and visuals will work effectively in engaging your audience. Don’t forget to also introduce the host/s with some relevant background and contact information to make it as easy as possible to get in touch following the webinar.

Some other questions you may wish to ask whilst developing content is whether or not your webinar will have a question and answer section, how users will interact, and whether you should record the webinar (this will provide even further opportunities for lead generation, so we would highly recommend that you do).

Launching your webinar

Select your time wisely

Choosing the ideal date and time could mean the difference between a webinar succeeding and failing. Research has found that webinars hosted on Wednesday or Thursdays, at 10am or 11am, attract the most registrations. If you want to attract audiences from around the world, you must also take into account the varying time zones.

Promotion

Quality webinar content means nothing if you don’t have the attendees to appreciate it, so using effective promotional tactics to encourage registrations is vital. Send invitations to your email lists, create a landing page, share and invite on your social media platforms, advertise on your own and other relevant websites, and don’t forget to follow up. According to data, 59% of registrations happen less than a week before the webinar, so don’t panic if your attendees are looking a little sparse, boost your promotion in the weeks leading up and you should see registrations rise.

Practice with your team

A practice run is vital to ensure that you are not only comfortable with presenting in this format, but to iron out any technical glitches before the big day. We would recommend running through your entire webinar and recording this so that you can view it as if you were an attendee and make any changes necessary.

After your webinar

Success! You’ve completed your webinar and all your hard work and preparation has paid off. But the work doesn’t end here. Following up with your attendees and gaining feedback on how they found your webinar will work to greatly enhance your future webinars. At this stage, you can now put your webinar recording to work, using it as a tool for lead generation on your website by allowing visitors to download it.

Once you get the hang of setting up, creating and running your own webinars, they can be a truly valuable asset for your sales and marketing efforts, not to mention a great way to add value to resources for your existing clients.

Introducing Moneypenny Webinars 

At Moneypenny, we host a series of webinars – live from our Treehouse – covering a whole range of insightful tips and secrets to boosting your business and transforming workplace culture! Open to all, and completely free, all you have to do is keep your eye on our Facebook page and Blog to register.

You can listen again to our latest webinars on The Culture Gap: Embracing Employee Engagement and an Intro to Live Chat, to learn more about tactics for improving company culture and the benefits Live Chat can bring to your business.

We give you amazing people and technology:

Telephone
Answering

Your own Moneypenny PA to answer calls exactly as if based in your office.

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Live Chat

Amazing people, briefed by you to manage chats whenever you can't.

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Pocket Phone System

All the functions and support of an office phone system, minus the hardware.

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