As we stepped into the new world where everything is digital nowadays, so do business events and meetings. You must have desired an event that keeps audiences hooked throughout the event thus boosting interactions, improved brand awareness, generating more leads, improved conversion rates, and resulting in more revenues. If yes, the thought seems to be impossible due to the widespread of our potential audiences, business partners, clients, stakeholders, etc. across the globe. Online events and webinar services are unique solutions that evoke a sense of fun to the entire event and reach potential audiences without any geographical constraints.
Video content became immensely popular with time than any other form of marketing be it blog posts or graphic illustrations that hook the audiences with its presence. With the rise and growing popularity of video content, webinar solutions came to the aid and help you in organizing virtual meetings and virtual events in a digital space.
If you have not yet opted for webinar webcast services, now is the time to get started. In this article, we will share a complete guide to online webinar services.
Let’s have a look!
What is Webinar?
A webinar is an interactive online seminar conducted over the internet. Video presentations, virtual meetings, virtual conferences, workshops, lectures, etc. which are hosted online over the internet via webinar software is known as webinars. A live webinar allows you to share your knowledge about the topic virtually and interact with your audiences from the various corners of the world via the internet.
Anyone with a strong internet connection, a laptop, and webinar software can host a webinar. The presenter speaks about a topic for a defined timeline along with sharing slideshows and presentations to support the content. A host can organize a Q&A session that allows audiences to ask any questions and queries when the presentation is over.
Webinars for Businesses
Webinars help in building strong business relationships from the comfort of your own home and are even used to connect with the employees of an organization residing in different remote locations. Webinar services offer an on-demand webinar that allows you to catch the glimpse and highlights of a missed event which is not possible in a physical event. Webinar solutions offer endless possibilities allowing any business to leverage, thus you may get the advantages of webinars. You can opt for a live webinar that allows you to interact with your audiences in real-time or you can record the webinar before sharing it with your audience virtually. Here is a guide to setup quality webinar streaming for businesses.
Whether you select live webinar or opt for webinar services for recorded sessions, an interactive feature must be added to your webinar which allows users to participate, comment, and ask questions.
Webinars are a cost-effective and time-efficient measure to host a pool of audiences without any geographical barrier resulting in better engagement and revenue generation than physical events. The restrictions of place, capacity, location, etc. imposed on in-person events get completely resolved with webinar services. It allows you to invite people from all corners of the world and interact in real-time in a virtual environment. If you missed the webinar due to busy schedules, on-demand webinar services allow you to catch the missed webinar later. If you are planning for a professional webinar, select the best webinar service providers available as per your business needs.
Why Host a Webinar?
Webinar services are used for several purposes right from hosting online lectures for students around the world to organize virtual meetings with office employees located in varied remote locations. It allows businesses to host an interactive event and expand their reach globally. As a result, business revenue and brand awareness increases. Let’s have a look at some of the reasons to host a webinar:
1. Educational Purposes
Webinar webcast services can be used for educational purposes to host an online lecture or offer distance courses virtually and reach your target audience around the globe. Some students want to pursue a course or attend a lecture on the topic that holds their interest but fails due to geographical constraints.
Online webinar services are one of the most effective ways that allow you to host a live webinar of a lecture and offer online courses to educate the students from around the world who would like to join in. If you are selecting webinar services for educational purposes, you can support your online lectures by sharing visual slides and whiteboard video presentations to your audiences that appeal to the eyes, and a lecture does not seem to be monotonous. Students can ask for on-demand webinar recorded sessions of the lectures if they miss some. Moreover, they can even access the recorded versions of the lessons for better clarity and revisions.
2. To Showcase the Product or Services
Webinar solutions are used to showcase the brilliant features of the products you offer with a large pool of audiences. Live webinar allows you to explain the details of the product or service you offer and answer the questions asked by audiences. A webinar helps you to reach a wide audiences and catches their attention with the products and services you offer. You also get feedback from the audience and know their insight, thus resulting in better engagement, leads, and conversions.
3. For Onboarding Purposes
An organization can opt for webinar software for onboarding purposes. It allows you to invite the newbies for orientation programs and educate them about the rules and policies of an organization. You can even share slides during a live webinar.
4. To Conduct Virtual Meetings and Virtual Conferences
Webinars are used for conducting virtual conferences with business delicates, partners, clients, and stakeholders residing worldwide to grow your business. Webinars are also used for conducting virtual events and meetings with team members if you hold a remote team residing in different locations. Webinar solutions bring all the members of an organization together under the same roof virtually.
5. To Increase Lead Generation
Webinar solutions help in increasing lead generations and improved conversion rates. You can promote your webinar on different channels thus boosting your presence and reaching maximum people. Maximized reach results in increased leads that later converts.
6. To Boost the Relationship with Your Existing Customers
Hosting a webinar for a product may even result in attracting new audiences towards your brand but some brands use webinar solutions to nurture the personal relationship with existing customers. It helps in boosting customer loyalty and strengthens customer-brand relationships as it offers the opportunity to interact with the brand directly and ask relevant questions. It allows the audience to keep track of the new products offered, thus boosting brand-customer relationship.
What are the Benefits of Hosting a Webinar?
By now, you must be clear what is a webinar and for what purposes it can be used. Webinar solutions come with various merits that give you a reason to host one. Let’s have a look at some of the major benefits of online webinar services:
1. Expanded Reach
Webinar solutions allow you to reach a wider segment of audiences residing in any corner of the world without any geographical constraint. In short, you can expand your reach by setting up an interesting and engaging live webinar.
2. Better Engagement
The webinar allows you to boost better audience engagements by sharing slides and presentations that enhance the virtual event. Moreover, it even allow businesses to interact with their audiences through interactive activities, chats, Q&A sessions, surveys, etc. and clear their doubts and queries.
3. Cost Effective
Webinars are cost-effective alternatives for organizing an event. Hosting an in-person event requires you to rent out a place, select location, organize food & drinks, accommodation, hire staff for cleaning, and so on. Whereas webinars are a budget-friendly option and do not require any of these.
4. Time Efficient
Webinar solutions are time efficient when compared to in-person events. You can contact webinar service providers for professional webinar webcast services. They take up to a month for pre preparations whereas in the physical event you need to get started to plan six months before the actual event.
5. Educate Audiences Virtually
Webinar services allow you to demonstrate the brilliant features of the product or services and educate the audiences about how it’s beneficial for them and serve their purpose.
6. Webinars for Training Purposes
Organizations can use webinar services for training purposes. Live webinar training sessions organized by the company allow new employees to become familiar with the environment of an organization and how it works. In other words, it help employees in knowing the organization’s core strength at a deeper level.
7. Boost Revenue
Webinar helps in boosting lead generation with its maximized reach, resulting in better conversion rates thus boosting revenue.
8. Increased Brand Awareness
Webinar solutions help in boosting brand awareness and help your industry establish as a leader in your domain. Above all, it connects your audience in the most engaging way at their convenience. Therefore, it not just boosts brand awareness but also build brand relations with your consumers.
9. Trackability
Webinars are easily trackable right from the registration, login, several queries asked, number of views, and the total number of active participants during the live webinar webcast.
10. On Demand Webinar
Live webinars are recorded during the live sessions. If you missed a webinar due to busy schedule, you can watch on-demand webinar to gain valuable insight.
How to Host a Webinar?
If you are planning to host a webinar, you need to plan a webinar strategy to get started. We have shared a list of steps you need to take to run a webinar:
1. Determine the Purpose of a Webinar
When you plan to host a webinar, firstly the purpose of hosting and opting for webinar services should be clear in the mind whether you want to increase a list, demonstrate product features, organize a virtual conference with business delegates, and so on.
accordingly share the valuable insights. Be clear and precise in your webinar, it will help in boosting audience engagement and drive traffic to your website. Once you decide on the topic for your webinar select the webinar format suiting your needs.
2. Select a Speaker and Team
You need to select a confident speaker for your webinar that can keep the audience engaged throughout by sharing valuable information and knowledge on the topic. Select a speaker that is not afraid of answering a difficult question and handle them with ease during a session. You can opt for more than one speaker for your webinar.
3. Create Compelling Content
Content is the king, to create an engaging webinar from the start to finish line a compelling content is a must to keep the audience engaged throughout. Interesting content delivers memorable experiences, therefore create an outline of a webinar beforehand.
4. Watch for Any Technical Requirements
Make sure you have all the necessary technical requirements met before you run a webinar. Right from a strong network connection to a working laptop, good quality camera, and a microphone.
5. Select a Webinar Software
Once you are all set to host a live webinar, selecting a webinar software comes next that suits your requirements. You can even opt for a webinar software but it is recommended to contact a webinar service provider for professional webinar services.
6. Schedule Webinar According to Target Audience
If your target audiences involve audiences from different time zones, keep that in mind while selecting a date and time for your webinar and select a slot that accommodates the majority.
7. Promote Your Webinar
Promote your webinar across various channels to reach maximum audiences that help in generating better leads. In other words, the more you promote your webinar, the more engagement and participation you will receive.
8. Invite Your Audiences to Attend a Virtual Event
You need to invite your potential audience to register themselves to attend a webinar. Mention the date and time of the event while inviting them to keep them notified.
9. Send Reminders to Attendees
Once the attendees register for a webinar, make it a point to send reminders via email to the attendees before the webcast of a live webinar. Moreover, you may send reminders via alternative means like SMS, customized emailers, personalised calls etc.
10. Run the Webinar
You are now all set to host a webinar. Provide your attendees with a link to join or watch the webinar. If you are streaming a live webinar provide a link to join in and if you are hosting a recorded webinar give them a link to access the same. Provide a brief guideline of what a webinar holds and what to expect from it in the very beginning. For example, you may provide informations like session timings, speaker details, step by step guide to access webinar etc.
11. Follow Up Attendees
Follow up is the crucial step once the webinar ends. Following up on the attendees of a webinar is necessary to track the success of the webinar and any further inquiries by them.
Webinar services help you excel in your industry with improved brand awareness and maximized reach thus boosting conversions and revenues. If you have not yet planned to host a webinar, now is the time. Select the best webinar platform that suits the needs of your business and get started.
