It's nothing new to say that the popularity of webinars is on the rise. Studies show that video content is one of the most attractive forms of brand communication. As many as 89% of hosts choose webinar marketing as the best method to showcase their business. Considering this tremendously high number, it seems that clients must find watching such content entertaining. But sometimes, reaching the right audience is not a bed of roses. Each person is unique and has different preferences, which you, as a businessperson, have to accommodate.
So the question is, how to increase webinar audience? Read these methods to get inspired and reach people who are skeptical about online videos.
How to reach an audience who doesn't like webinars?
It's a difficult question how to increase webinar attendance, but I will try to figure it out! As surprising as it might seem, people from many different professions use webinars for learning or entertainment purposes. Even the ratio of dentists who participate in such events has increased recently, growing from 17% at the beginning of 2020 to 64% in just six weeks! What's more, a whopping 92% of the surveyed people stated they would attend a webinar in the future, as they believe it delivers high educational value. This indicates that by creating content tailored to one's needs and tastes, you can reach people who you hadn't even dreamed of targeting.
The first step: know your audience and its tastes
You're not making video content for yourself. Before taking any action, you should think about the preferences that are characteristic for your clients. What you have to take into account first of all sounds quite obvious, yet is still crucial. That is, carrying out research in order to get to know your audience. Thanks to that, you can learn what needs to be done to live up to their expectations.
If you want to know exactly what your clients would like to watch, you can ask them about it directly by creating a survey on your social media channels.
Keep experimenting
Another tip on how to increase webinar attendance is to experiment. If you're aware of any issues that create boundaries between you and your potential customers, you can ask yourself what could be improved. It might vary from the length of your webinar to the format of running a presentation. Some might expect just a brief introduction to a topic as a starting point for their own actions, which would last only a few minutes. Others may seek a longer video in which an entrepreneur dives deep into a topic and provides viewers with an array of insights.
If that's not the case, you can think of other solutions and get off the beaten track. This might sound challenging, but don't feel discouraged. Here are some ready to implement ideas that you can try out.
Change the length of your webinar
The research found that the perfect length of a webinar varies from 30 to 45 minutes. Keep in mind that these are only estimated numbers and might not be reflected in your particular case. Almost no one fits the lifestyle evaluated by averaging the scientific data. Likewise, there's no universally valid law that guarantees that a webinar lasting 40 minutes would give a great conversion rate.
The concept of lightning talks
Have you ever dreamt of getting to know a particular topic without spending hours on it? Or maybe you just don't have much time to spare and need quick solutions? If these questions might be asked by your customers, you should familiarize yourself with the concept of the lightning talks.
We know that trying to find the best ways to find out how to increase webinar attendance may be difficult. But then comes lightning talks. It is a short presentation that typically lasts for about five minutes. This condensed amount of time allows an entrepreneur to give just a brief overview of a subject. Such a limitation might be either a blessing or a curse. No delaying and no skirting around the topic, so if you want to give a successful speech then you have to get straight to the point and grab attendees' attention within a minute.
It’s a great solution to reach those who only seek inspiration and have minimal leisure time. It's also perfectly correlated with the average attention span!
A long video for meticulous ones
Although statistics might be a great source of information, often they are too generic. Depending on the study, the results might differ. For example, according to this research, you can read that a so-called perfect webinar should last not even 90 minutes rather than 45.
This different finding shows that the length should vary depending on the topic and the audience's preferences. Some studies say that 60-minute videos attract more attendees than shorter ones. While the general belief is that a perfect webinar duration exists, it's simply not true. If you need to dive deeper into the subject, don't hesitate to make your video longer. People who register for that kind of event are mostly keen on broadening their knowledge and are willing to use their leisure time to focus on the topic.
Create an extended version of the materials
If you’re wondering how to increase the size of your webinar audience and reach those who don’t like watching video content, you should provide them with something extra. Preparing unique materials that viewers can use during the broadcast, and after it, would be a smart move. It’s also a great way to promote your company by creating a branded set of files. When your attendees use them, it’s likely that they will remember your company’s logotype and colours.
Here are a few proposals for bonus supplies that you can create and add to your webinar.
Upload the agenda in advance
When you think about how to increase webinar attendance, don't forget about the agenda long before the event. This tip is especially useful when running a webinar that’s planned to be longer than 30 minutes. By providing your audience with a presentation plan, you can show them that you respect their free time. Besides the courteous nature of this action, it may also help you gain new participants who are key to your marketing activities.
Some people might want to participate in your event, but they don't want to listen to the whole performance. They might be looking for an answer to a particular problem, but a 60-minutes webinar could seem too long for them. If you create a special agenda and send it to the participants, you can increase the size of your webinar audience by enabling people to view certain parts they’re most interested in. Such leads may not spend a whole hour listening to your speech, but they might turn out to be valuable leads because they know what they want.
No matter at what point people might want to participate in your webinar, if you have them on your contact list you can send them a reminder. You can use email testing tools (or other email apps, as LiveWebinar has integrations with 17) or even sms marketing. It’s handy from users’ perspective to receive an email or a message, as we live in a constant rush.
Mockups and templates
Most of us aren't designers, yet we still have to run social media profiles to generate profit. We seek simple solutions that don't require investing much time, but still give satisfying results. That's why creating simple mockups and templates might be a useful gift for your participants, which you can send them after the webinar straight to their email inboxes.
What is a mockup? It's a full-size model of a design or product that can be used in a presentation and adjusted for personal purposes to fit your brand's image.
Visuals are essential to attract users in the digital world. Mockups and templates deliver an appealing look of a product, and they can be easily edited and adapted to your needs.
Why is it so helpful to work on such templates? They are often relatively easy to understand and use. In general, mockups tend to be more intuitive than sketches and wireframes, which require clarification and are less visually appealing (as they're mostly created as the first design proposal).
Extended presentations
Some people prefer to acquire their knowledge through reading or writing. How to increase the size of your webinar audience when your core clients aren't fans of video content at all?
To meet such a target group's expectations, you should create an extended version of your presentation that you will send to participants after the webinar. You can add more information to the basic slides that were shown during the webinar and thus create a compendium or a script. If you wonder what an engaging presentation should consist of, we've prepared a cheat sheet that can help you to create an outstanding project.
Cheatsheets and checklists
No matter if your webinar is dedicated to business people or to those who have a different work-life, materials that they can use daily will always be welcome. Think about what fits the topic of your presentation and create a handy asset that can simplify your participants' lives.
You don't need any design skills to create such a file. It can even be a pdf of a slide you've prepared in the tool you use for making presentations. It could also just be a link to the asset, where one can download a copy and use it for their purposes. It could be a ready checklist on Google Sheets, for example, where a participant can schedule their social media posts. If your webinar is dedicated to time management, you might consider making a simple "to-do list" that every attendee can print at home and use on a daily basis. You can also gather the process documentation from group work that happened during the webinar. Combine them into one file and share it with participants as a souvenir. Consider using process documentation software to streamline content creation and management for your participants, enhancing the webinar experience. The possibilities are truly endless.
If you decide to create and share content like this, you might consider implementing PDF tracking for safety. It might be a cost-effective solution to find the right software asset management tool and having every important facet under control.
Tricks to increase webinar attendance rate in a nutshell
To sum up our tips on how to increase webinar attendance: reaching an audience who is skeptical about webinars is a real challenge, but the outcome might be unexpectedly profitable. Getting creative with your video content and considering the bigger picture of your marketing strategy can help you stand out from the crowd.
According to this research, webinar marketing doesn't require much financial contribution. Although video marketing can cost even a few hundred dollars, if you're a smaller company with a tight budget then you can start by choosing a robust software system before thinking about making further investments. LiveWebinar is a tool that has your back at every stage of creating video content - from promotion, through running a webinar, to evaluating the whole project by analyzing reports.
Let’s also not forget about the customer service importance, as well as media monitoring, which is key for the success of digital marketing.
Thanks to integrations with the most popular email automation software systems, you can easily schedule messages. You can upload extra files in advance and be sure that the system will send them to participants after the webinar. Thanks to growth marketing hacks, the only thing you have to focus on is hosting a video and giving an outstanding performance.
How to Maximize Audience Engagement in Virtual Webinars
1. Use a live or on-demand webinar format
Due to its solemnity, webinars can be an effective option for your business. It's a great way to engage potential clients and cultivate relationships with them before they make any decision about investing in you.
In addition, because every aspect of the webinar is recorded, you can review what transpired during the presentation and even take questions from participants after it ends - all without needing to appear in person. This approach provides greater flexibility while still providing high levels of interaction and audience engagement!
To determine which format is best suited for your business, consider asking yourself some simple questions: How much would I invest in a traditional training video? How long do I want to keep this content up for access? How many people should be able to view it at once?
You can easily create videos using Renderforest video maker to create visually appealing and professionally edited videos.
If you plan on sharing this recording through other channels, such as YouTube or LinkedIn, then utilizing an online-based webinar is definitely the way to go!
2. Emphasize the importance of your webinar
To ensure that your virtual webinar stands out and attracts attention, it must be clearly differentiated from other events and activities. This could mean devising a unique tag line or placing emphasis on the subject of your webinar; we even have a dedicated blog post all about crafty ways to garner interest in your event!
Utilize our online promotional tools and design templates to showcase your expertise and entice potential participants who can reach out to you at any time with inquiries about your sessions.
3. Provide value in advance
At its core, a webinar is simply an opportunity to provide value to your audience. If you don't have something useful to impart, then what would be the point in inviting them?
You can offer materials such as presentation slide decks or blog posts to enrich discussions during your virtual conferencing sessions; make sure that such offerings are presented in advance so that potential attendees know about them before taking action.
4. Provide real-time interaction
Your audience will undoubtedly be enticed by the novelty of uninhibited, real-time engagement in webinars - but it cannot compare to the thrill of actually speaking with one another.
With a virtual environment, you can easily capitalize on this feature by providing interactions between participants while they are still present. Utilized effectively, this option gives an added dimension to your webinar; its unique nature can draw guests from across the globe to become part of your virtual community!
5. Offer special incentives
Offering any sort of incentive for audience participation or engagement can be an effective strategy to increase their involvement level during your virtual webinar. These incentives may take the form of rewards, discount codes, additional resources like free PDF books or even discussions regarding how they could take advantage of it themselves. Provide a webinar quiz or assessment that participants can take and provide them with personalized feedback. Respondents will have a tangible, personal report to hold on to after your webinar.
By utilizing the power of AI ad maker, businesses can effortlessly design captivating and eye-catching advertisements that not only convey their brand message effectively, but also offer exclusive and enticing incentives to enthrall and engage their target audience, ultimately driving higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.
By offering various ways to obtain extra value, you'll encourage them to participate more actively and gain a deeper understanding of your topics.
6. Share testimonials before and after the webinar
Providing users with real testimonials before and after a webinar is not only an effective strategy for increasing engagement but also an essential step toward creating trust between you and your audience. This approach affords them the opportunity to see firsthand what others have experienced when engaging with their brand, providing reassurance that it won't be any different than if they personally engaged in those activities themselves.
By sharing testimonials before and after your webinars, potential participants will gain a sense of self-confidence that they are opting into an 'approved' activity - one which they may consider significant or worthy enough to both attend and share online afterwards with other audiences.
7. Create a follow-up email series
To satisfy your audience's curiosity and ensure they remember your webinar, create a series of follow-up emails that can be sent directly following the event.
In this scenario, you could send in-depth questions to attendees with prior knowledge of the subject matter. Alternatively, you can proactively reach out to those who have yet to participate and prompt them to take action right after their session ends!
By sending out a series of follow-up emails with answers to previously posed queries and offering opportunities for engagement, it will be easy to reignite interest in all those who attended your virtual seminar. Don’t miss the chance to nurture your relationship with your audience in these moments as well by tailoring the emails to each attendee. As you must know, this can be time consuming, so take advantage of the automation tools and approaches out there (i.e. the simple steps of the mail merge process).
8. Make it social
For the ultimate webinar experience, why not leverage the power of social media?
Utilize platforms like Facebook Live and Periscope to broadcast your webinar content in real-time.
You can also use special tools such as Live Messenger or Camtasia Live to provide a more conversational feel for your attendees - perfect for keeping them engaged!
Plus, if you can’t find a plan that suits your needs, don't hesitate to contact us and ask for a customized version. Choose an option tailored to your needs and never worry about how to increase the size of your webinar’s audience again. Finding the right ways to know how to increase webinar attendance can be hard when you don't know where to search. If it will happen so, don't forget about this article ;)