Creating a successful webinar process is an excellent source to generate targeted and qualified leads. Though, a lot of organizations refrain from producing webinars because of the amount of work it takes to organize them. It’s difficult to nail down a process, especially if you are inexperienced and unfamiliar with the right requirements.
You will likely know when you have nailed down a process when you are reaching the right audience, continuously giving massive value, and generating qualified leads. We all know that speakers are important and a killer deck is a must, but high performing webinars are not an easy task. Let’s look at the five essential components you need to master your webinar process.
1. Technology
Before anything, you must select a platform that includes the necessary features and functionality to deliver a high-quality webinar. Whatever technology you use should be simple for the end user or your engagement will be minimal.
After testing many platforms, I have found GoToWebinar and Zoom Video Conferencing as the two top webinar platforms. Both have great features and functionality from a user and end user experience. The features that I require for webinars include video conferencing, screen share, meeting controls, Q&A, recording, and reporting.
2. Optimized Landing Page
It’s imperative that you have a customized landing page if you want to drive high registrations. In addition, your landing page software has to have an A/B testing tool. A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a method that involves testing two different versions of a landing page against each other to see which performs better.
In order to maximize the success of your webinar registrations, you need to consistently A/B test. Increasing your conversion rate can be a minor tweak to your topic or content. However, it may include a lot more testing with the layout, images, buttons, etc.
The more you test, the better. I recommend using a landing page platform like Instapage to get started.
3. Content
The key to having a successful webinar starts with the right topic and content. You want to ensure you’re delivering value to your audience and not delivering a demo or a sales pitch.
If it sounds anything like an infomercial or sales pitch, then you’ll lose engagement and attendees will drop off the webinar. The sessions should be educational around actionable tactics and strategies.
You should always think of yourself as the viewer when creating the content, “would I get value out of this personally and/or professionally?” If the answer is no, then brainstorm and start over.
4. Visual Assets
Visual assets are vital to the success of promoting your webinar on social media. They must stand out amongst all the noise! The easiest way to do this is by using speaker images, clear messaging, and colors that pop. According to Buffer, tweets with images receive 150% more retweets. Posts that include images receive the highest engagement across all social channels. Visual assets are a requirement to promote your webinar and increase registrations. You should be leveraging all social channels where your target audience lives.
5. Format
Many people think of a webinar as an educational session with slides. A slide presentation is good if it’s a well-designed deck with images. Unfortunately, a simple deck that lacks design, images, animations, or a little wit becomes long and boring.
Keep in mind that you want attendees to continue coming back because they look at you as the trusted advisor for delivering valuable content.
Conversation is the key to keeping your audience engaged. I recommend testing video conferencing with a panel of 2 or more people. It’s easier to connect with a panel if the attendees can see the faces of the people talking.
Utilize the Q&A section to get the audience involved. If you need to share slides as examples, then you can test using both video and screen sharing at the same time.
Conclusion
Anything good takes time.
In the beginning, your first webinars won’t turn out the way you expected. It takes time to build and optimize a webinar process that generates quality results.
If you follow these five essential components, then you could cut down tremendously on the time it takes to achieve the results you are looking for.
The most important thing is your audience.
Your audience will tell you what topics are important to them, what questions they need answering, and more importantly what you are doing right and wrong. If you listen to them, they will keep coming back for more!
