Read the guide below on BigMarker's recommendations and best practices for promoting your webinar
BigMarker wants you to become a successful webinar host. This guide is intended to be an honest and helpful document for promoting your webinars. If you ever have any questions about hosting, please email Support@BigMarker.com for assistance.
Challenges:
Hosting webinars are not as easy. For hosts that have a focused topic, specific audience, popular website, social media presence, and a large newsletter subscriber list, webinar hosting is a breeze. However, most of us don't have all of these things, and that means hosting events is going to be more difficult. We are not looking to dissuade you from hosting events (you can be very successful in doing so). We just want to be honest with you. You CANNOT schedule an event, do very little marketing, and then expect hundreds of people to register. It won't happen. You actively need to make the event successful. We believe you can do it!
Getting started:
You should ask yourself these questions:
1. What is this webinar going to be about?
2. Who specifically is going to attend it?
3. Why would they attend it?
4. What would you consider a successful webinar? Attendance?
These answers will help drive how you market your event.
Webinar setup:
First, make sure that you get into your attendee's mindset. Always be thinking, "Is this something my attendee would pay for?"
Webinar page
Make sure to fill out everything on your conference page. Be specific. This is your selling page, and you need to make sure that it sells the webinar.
You need to fill out:
~ About the conference. Include: What is this webinar going to be about? Who specifically is going to attend it? Why would they attend it? And something about why you are the host.
~ Your host bio, including a photo. Again, be specific.
~ Your community's bio, including a photo.
~ Add a conference image and background image. This will make it look professional.
~ Check out the URL to make sure that it is specific compared to generic.
Proper Scheduling
You want to schedule your webinar at least two weeks out. Two weeks gives you the proper amount of time to make your marketing effort a success.
Think about the time of the day, and how it would affect your attendees. Business webinars are great during business hours. Self-help webinars are great in the evening (after dinner). Don't schedule webinars for early in the AM or right at 4-to-5 PM.
Promotion tactics:
Audience
Your promotional tactics will be dictated by your specific audience. Reaching Mom Bloggers is much different than reaching Accountants. Below, the tactics will be focused on a more general audience. But, you need to research and look for ways to promote to your desired niche. Note: "Everyone" is not a specific audience.
Email Marketing
Email is by far the most effective way to market your webinar. You will want to send out a newsletter to your contact list, inviting them to attend and share your webinar. You can send invites through BigMarker if you would like. These people already know you so they are more likely to register than a stranger.
The more registrants you want, the more people you should email. It is a numbers game.
You should send your invites during business hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Those are the best days for open and click-through rates.
For those that do not accept your invitation at first, send them a reminder 7 days before the webinar, 48 hours, and 24 hours. Sometimes people forget to register when they are first invited.
Your website/blog
People are on your website or reading your blog. These people already have more interest in you and your topic than someone who is randomly looking at a hashtag stream on Twitter. Take advantage of your traffic and funnel it into your webinar.
Write a blog about the event. Add sections to your site that heavily promote it.
Most hosts neglect to put anything on their website that mentions they have an upcoming webinar, and they end up losing out on qualified traffic.
Journalists/bloggers
Journalists and bloggers are always looking for interesting content to write about. Your webinar is the perfect content to write about. It's a live, topically event, and you are an expert. Why wouldn't they want to write about you?
Research bloggers/journalists in your niche and contact them. Let them know about your event and why it would make an interesting post.
Social Media
When promoting webinars, most hosts rely too heavily on spreading the word on social media. Social media is great for reaching people, but it's only a small piece to the puzzle. It should be part of your marketing plan, not the whole thing.
When you do post, make sure to use the correct techniques for each platform. For example, on Twitter try adding the hashtag #webinar or whatever your main topic is. Also, make sure you post way more than once per platform.
Post on Facebook, Twitter (X), LinkedIn, and Instagram
Event listing sites
There are some event listing websites that you can post your webinar on. They do not generate a lot of traffic, but it's another place to put your name and webinar.
Where are your attendees
Your attendees are already somewhere online. You need to go out and find them. Here are some suggestions on where to look:
Meetup
LinkedIn groups
Facebook groups
Work networks/associations
Download your email list, and ask attendees to invite people
Other random ideas
Get creative with your promotional tactics. Sometimes your best traffic can come from the most random sources. Here are some ideas:
Email signature
Slideshare.net
Slideshare.net is a place to post your presentations. Great way to funnel traffic back to your webinars.
Other BigMarker hosts.
Ask your fellow hosts if they can help promote your webinars.
Day of the webinar:
Checklist:
- One last social media push
- Send final reminders to attendees
- Enter your webinar early
- Enjoy your event!
After the webinar:
Checklist:
- Create your next event
- Start promoting your event
- Download your attendee's/registrant's emails