While many of us hoped webinars would be a trend that stayed in 2020, they’re still a necessity in the upcoming year. There are many benefits to holding webinars, though. Such as educating your audience, proving your industry expertise and increasing overall sales of your product or service. 

If you’re going to continue to run webinars in 2021 and are looking to increase your registrants and improve its overall success, follow these simple tips. 

1. Create Lead Gen Campaigns to Secure Registrants

Besides the webinar itself, a lead generation campaign is the most essential step in the overall process. To run a lead gen campaign you need an effective landing page with an easy-to-complete form and clear copy that lists: 

• The topic and main talking points of the webinar 
• The date and time 
• Who will be the speaker and their expertise 

Once your landing page has been created, you can begin leveraging it to secure registrants. Here are some strategies to reach your target audience and getting them to register: 

• Create Google Ads and paid social campaigns using targeted keywords aimed at your demographic. 
• Run an email campaign. 
• Link your landing page in any newsletters. 
• Write a blog on the same topic of your webinar and use a CTA that links to your landing page. 
• Create an organic social media campaign. 

2. Perform Lead Nurturing 

Your strategy should include a lead nurturing campaign as well. This should consist of a series of 3-4 emails or text messages that remind registrants of the event and include links to different content assets related to the topic. 

Since you already have your registrants contact info, the link to whatever content assets you include should be un-gated whenever possible. It’s important to balance your lead gen efforts with user experience. The best way to ensure this is to collect information slowly over time and by providing valuable content that keeps your users engaged. 

It’s also important to remember to not send too many nurturing emails or texts. You don’t want to bombard your audience with too many messages and motivate them to unsubscribe before the webinar even takes place.

3. Utilize Polls During the Webinar

Now that you’ve secured your registrants and the webinar is taking place, it’s time to figure out how to keep them engaged. The best way to do this is by posting questions throughout the webinar to keep attendees engaged and collect valuable information along the way. Many of your attendees might be reluctant to use the Q&A portion of the webinar as well. So polling them throughout the event is a great strategy for learning more about your audience in real time. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating your webinar questions: 

• Ask one question at a time to avoid confusion. 
• Use simple language to get the most accurate answers. 
• Introduce the question before asking them and show your attendees where to respond. 
• Show the results to keep your audience invested. 

4. Create and Distribute an On-Demand Version of the Webinar

Creating an on-demand version of your webinar allows you to get the most out of these online events. By being able to post a recorded version of the event, you can exceed your registrant totals and market to a new audience. These recordings should be gated, as they’re premium content and are likely being viewed by users who did not originally sign up for it.

5. Create Automated Programs to Follow-Up with Attendees 

Since you have already established a relationship with those who attended the webinar, you should set up an automated email campaign to communicate with them. This campaign should be a series of 4-5 messages that include details about your products or services and how they can solve the recipients’ pain points. 

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