Leveraging Webinar During Pandemic Times

Starting a webinar during pandemic might be twice as challenging as it was way before Covid happened. But the reason for starting a webinar could be more purposeful now that everyone is at home and are waiting for content that will help them in whatever they are struggling with at the moment.

Why Webinar?

With webinars, you get to deliver your message to your audience as a whole, instead of blog posts where you never know how much of the content your website visitors read. From this vantage point, you have higher chances of persuading your viewers to try out your products by engaging them into a meaningful discussion.

Yet like any marketing strategy out there, webinars take a lot of practice, preparation and polishing to come out successfully.

Let’s crack on and discuss everything you need to know on how to create a webinar that generates a high conversion rate.

 

 

First things first, what is a webinar?

 

A webinar (short for “web-based seminar”) is an online video meeting or presentation that takes place via the Internet in real-time. It connects individuals with viewers across the world. 

Interactivity is the main feature of every webinar as you have the ability to discuss, send and receive information on air.

Majority of the webinars can take 90 up to 120 minutes, while sales webinars usually last for only 60 minutes (including the Q&A portion).

It is crucial that the content of your webinar is convincing enough to keep viewers watching. Thus, you must find out what motivates them, what they like and value, and create a webinar experience they will remember. 

Follow these 6 easy tips on how to make a high converting webinar.

1. Promote your webinar on all social media platforms and anywhere else.

Spread the news! Take advantage of the popularity of social media platforms to invite more participants. Start a Twitter hashtag to drive in additional traffic. Paid Facebook ads is another way to announce your upcoming live event. It doesn’t cost that much but they can be very effective if you provide informative messaging and a call-to-action, as well as an immediate response to the invitation. Include freebies or discounts to webinar viewers so they feel more obliged to participate.

2. Have some quick chat.

Don’t treat the webinar as a pure sales pitch, well at least don’t make it that obvious.

It’s best not to strike right off the bat. Why not build the excitement bit by bit? Talk to your audience casually. Loosen up the tension and start asking them some stimulating questions like, how are they doing, how did they find out about your presentation, what are their expectations and some sort of light questions. 

Once they realize they can actually talk to you, they would pay more attention to the talk and they would feel more comfortable raising their hands (virtually) and ask you a few questions. 

3. Make an effective introduction. 

Now that the attendees are here, you must get them on the same ship. That means they need to know who’s the captain steering the ship’s wheel, that’s you, of course, to start building some trust. In your introduction, it’s good to let them understand that you are an expert on the subject you’re about to discuss. Not everybody knows you well, so you’re sharing vital information to the public. Make it work. Tell them why you should be credited. Infuse your statements with little personality. You can squeeze in some humor or personal stories that can help you connect with the audience.

It’s also good to cover your career milestones, but don’t overdo it, you might come out arrogant. Create a friendly bridge between you and that viewer on the other wall.

4. Make good use of the chatbox.

Take your audience engagement to the next level. Use the live chat function. You can ask questions that trigger interests regarding your service or product. It’d be great if you call them by their names to give that comfort level a kick in.

5. Make a compelling content

Some webinar hosts are carelessly jumping from one topic to another without making sure that they are leaving great content on each element. It’s best to apply a compelling copywriting framework to your webinar presentation. I would personally suggest the ACCA procedure:

 

  • (A)wareness – Describe the situation or problem. 
  • (C)omprehension – Help your audience comprehend how the problem can affect them. Set real life examples then explain that you have the solution. 
  • (C)onviction – Create a desire and conviction in your viewers to choose your solution.
  • (A)ction – Call to action

The framework acts like your blueprint. It helps If you present solutions to make their lives better or other people around them, you can make the sales work. 

The more you engage them to your webinar session, the more compelled they to at least try out your solution.

6. Make a follow through after the webinar

Ultimately, keep the momentum going by reorienting an email campaign once the webinar is done. Some potential customers just needs more push to make up their minds. Offering a free replay within 24 hours is one way to refresh their thoughts about your offer. This is also intended for those who failed to attend the live session. Another way is requesting them to answer a survey on how their overall experience were to gather more insights for future improvements. Or invite them to visit a landing page with exclusive offers for a limited time only.

Analyze your target audience to find out how many emails you can send before and after the session to avoid flooding their inbox.

 

Wrapping it up!

I think Webinars, if done right, could be the most powerful tool in generating traffic and conversion rates that in turn increases your projected product sales.

You can basically sell anything through Webinars. However, what you’re selling must directly match with a critical problem your participant is battling with. If it’s not something they are not directly concerned about, they won’t be there in the first place anyways. So take advantage of their presence.

And if you’re asking if Webinars are still the thing in 2019? The answer is a big yes! Yet usually, consumers would be more interested if you would use other terms to describe your webinars (e.g. masterclass, workshop etc)