interactive webinars for marketing

Image source: Stephan Ridgway via Flickr

Standard PR and marketing tools such as white papers, case studies and thought leadership articles don’t engage audiences.  But webinars do — when done well, said Mark Bornstein, vice president of content marketing at webinar marketing platform ON24. Except for live events like seminars or concerts, which don’t scale, webinars offer the best tool for engaging audiences.

In the recent past, webinars were PowerPoint presentations. The goal was to gather leads to hand off to sales, said Bornstein, ON24’s chief “webinerd” during a recent webinar. That’s “old school” thinking now, said Bornstein, ON24’s chief “webinerd” during a recent webinar. Savvy marketers now incorporate interactive elements into webinars to engage audiences and start conversations with customers as they consider the brand.

Interactive Features

Most webinars now include Q & A sessions, the first and probably most basic interactive webinar feature. “Q & A is not enough,” he said.

Other interactive elements include:

  • Polls.
  • Video.
  • Group chats.
  • Social media integration such as live tweeting.
  • Content downloads.

The ON24 2018 Webinar Benchmarks Report that reviewed 19,400 webinars from over 1,500 companies found that more webinars now include such interactive features. For instance, more than a quarter include polls and some type of social media integration. About two-thirds offer content downloads, and 22 percent include some form of video.  Yet Bornstein said he’s surprised those figures aren’t higher.

Webinar hosts can easily use webcams to create videos, and content downloads present no technology hurdle. Webinars are an excellent time to offer attendees your white papers, case studies and other content. Polls and other interactive elements can provide clues to each attendee’s stage in the purchase cycle.

Recommendations for Creating and Marketing Webinars

The Webinar Benchmarks Report offers these findings and recommendations.

Early promotions. Longer promotions attract larger audiences. In the past marketers typically sent promotional emails only a week or two before the event, but almost a quarter of attendees registered more than 15 days before the event last year. Don’t hesitate to send promotional emails three, four or six weeks before the webinar.

Mid-week is best. Mid-week is the best time to schedule webinars and to send promotional emails; Mondays and Fridays are less effective. People are too busy catching up with work on Mondays and too eager to leave on Fridays.

Best times. The best time to schedule webinars is 11 a.m. Pacific time (2 p.m. Eastern). That avoids the lunch hour on the West Coast and the lunch hour on the East Coast.

Audiences grow. Aim for more attendees. Average attendee numbers have increased. About half of webinars attracted audiences of 100 to 199, but some boasted much more: 10 percent had 500 to 599 and 7 percent had more than 1,000. (Provide incentives to attend in addition to professional education. Some companies have used prize drawings.)

People watch longer. Average view time has increased – possibly due to interactive features. That trend may prompt marketers to opt for hour-long sessions rather than shorter ones.

On-demand videos are in demand. Over a third of viewers say they attend only on-demand webinars. Create an on-demand strategy, Bornstein urges. Build a portal for on-demand webinars. Archive and continue to promote them.

Follow up.  Follow up with webinar attendees by offering access to additional educational materials or sales literature, other experts advise. If the webinar focused on products, a sales representative can follow up with an email or phone call.

Bottom Line: Interactive features add pizazz to webinars to engage with customers. Polls, social media and content downloads in webinars allows marketers to more effectively engage with participants in webinars. The spread of interactive elements may explain why webinars are increasingly popular.