Out of all these myriad of components, the frequency of hosting your webinars must absolutely be an important part of your event strategy. It not only helps you determine the total number of webinars the company is aiming to host, but it also enables you to decide the overall budget & manpower you will need going forward.
You can host webinars at a selective frequency or at a mix of frequencies, depending on their business goals and requirements. There are a variety of evaluations one needs to successfully complete, before deciding their ideal webinar frequency range.
In this article, we will discuss the types of webinar frequencies, and the strategies to determine the optimal webinar frequency, and more to help you get the most out of your webinar initiatives.
Types of Webinar Frequency
Webinar frequency simply means the number of webinars you can schedule within a year or within a stipulated range of time. It often varies depending on your business and marketing goals, audience engagement, and content strategy.
From high-frequency webinars, like weekly, to low-frequency ones, such as monthly, quarterly, and seasonal, there are various ways a webinar can be scheduled.
Below, we’ve highlighted widely preferred webinar frequencies:
Weekly Webinars
These webinars are generally hosted once a week and are planned to maintain consistent engagement with the target audience. It helps companies establish a strong connection with their webinar attendees and build a loyal and interactive community.
There are various ways to host weekly webinars, including:
- Introduce a new topic every week
- Have a series of webinars, each focusing on different sub-topics of a broader concept
- Host fireside chat sessions with industry experts
Monthly Webinars
Monthly webinars are hosted on a monthly interval basis, i.e. one webinar per month. These webinars allow for a detailed exploration of topics without continuously overwhelming the audience.
In comparison to weekly ones, monthly webinars have a more manageable schedule, making it easier to plan and execute with ample time for preparation and promotion. Monthly webinars ideas can include:
- Changing industry trends, latest developments & recent discoveries
- Minor product updates
- Customer engagement sessions
Quarterly Webinars
Quarterly webinars are held every three months. These webinars are ideal for sharing significant developments, long-term strategies, or comprehensive training with detailed presentations and comprehensive Q&A sessions.
These webinars can be hosted for:
- Sharing major product and services updates, as well as upcoming developments
- In-depth employee training & L&D sessions
- Educational purposes and community building
- Thought leadership sessions
- Sharing company quarterly updates
Seasonal Webinars
These webinars are held during specific seasons or times of the year. Seasonal webinars capitalize on seasonal interest, holidays, or industry events to attract a wider audience.
There are a number of ideas you can implement for such webinars, like:
- Seasonal industry updates
- Exclusive product updates as well as offers
- Theme-based webinars for your target audience
- Video podcast sessions with influencers & experts
Top 10 Tips to Decide Your Webinar Frequency
In this section, we’ve highlighted the top 10 tips to help you determine the frequency of your webinars.
1. Identify your goals & expectations
It is crucial to understand your expectations, like,
- What do I want to achieve in event marketing, this financial year?
- How many webinars should I host to get this outcome?
- What are the quarterly goals?
For instance, if your goal is lead generation, more frequent webinars might be beneficial.
2. Conduct competitor analysis:
Monitor how often your competitors are hosting webinars, their topics, and their formats. This will help you find the gaps in the market that your webinars could fill, decide the frequency, and identify unique approaches that could set your webinars apart.
3. Pay attention to audience availability:
If your target audience is B2B, hosting weekly or monthly webinars during work hours is ideal. On the other hand, if your target audience is B2C, they might engage more with evening or weekend sessions.
4. Categorize your content strategy:
Weekly webinars might work for shorter, focused topics and frequent updates, while monthly, quarterly, or seasonal webinars would be more suitable for detailed information, comprehensive content, and occasional updates.
5. Consider team’s capacity & capability:
Consider your team’s ability to create content, manage logistics, and follow up with attendees consistently.
In general, a weekly webinar tends to be more demanding in terms of time, effort and resources. Everything needs to be planned and executed to perfection to pull off a successful webinar every single week. On the other hand, monthly, quarterly, and seasonal webinars may require lesser time and effort as you have the luxury of spacing them out. However, some extra resource and effort is required, in this case, to keep your audience connected and involved with your company.
6. Align with other marketing efforts:
To plan the frequency, you can also timely align your webinars to support the company’s marketing efforts and promotions for large-scale events, such as product launches and trade shows.
7. Analyze seasonal factors:
The frequency of your webinars also depends on seasonal trends and holiday factors. It is preferred to increase frequency during peak buying seasons and reduce frequency during holiday periods, when attendance might be lower.
8. Monitor webinar analytics:
Your webinar analytics will be extremely important while evaluating your webinar frequency options. Metrics like attendance rates, engagement scores, feedback surveys, lead quality, and conversion data will help you identify which frequency has suited your marketing efforts the most.
9. Categorize your webinars:
Categorizing webinar themes or topics vis a vis their frequencies will offer you the flexibility to host a variety of webinars throughout the year, serving more than one goal. For example,
- Host weekly webinars for product demos and fireside chats
- Monthly webinars for industry insights and broader concepts
- Quarterly webinars for company updates and thought leadership for all audiences.
10. Try different frequencies:
Another way to decide on the frequency is to host weekly webinars for a month, then switch to monthly and quarterly. This will help you determine the most effective frequency.
Planning Webinar Schedule: Best Days and Time to Host Webinars
Best Days
While individual audiences may vary, research generally suggests that midweek days, specifically Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, are optimal for hosting webinars. These days typically have higher attendance rates as people are settled into their work routine and less likely to be on vacation.
It’s been observed that corporate, business-related, and employee-based webinar registration and attendance are typically very low on weekends, Mondays, and Fridays.
If the webinar is focused on recreational activities and personal hobbies, people might be willing to register for it on Saturdays. In general, Mondays and Fridays are not considered to be the ideal days for hosting any type of webinar.
While Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the most preferred days, it is still very important to consider all the factors, like public holidays, major industry events, time zones, cultural preferences, and target audience interests, before scheduling your webinar.
Optimal Time & Duration
Late morning webinars and early afternoon slots tend to attract the most participants. The most preferred webinar timing is typically between 11 AM and 2 PM, except during the lunch hour, i.e., 12:00-1:00 PM. This works well across different time zones, accommodating both early risers and those who prefer attending sessions later in the day.
Webinars are generally short-duration sessions. To maximize impact, the ideal duration should be 30-45 minutes. If you’re hosting a longer webinar, the maximum duration should be 60-90 minutes, with a short break included.
While targeting a global audience, offering multiple sessions at different times or recording the webinar for on-demand access can be beneficial.
Note: Unlike live webinars, on-demand webinars have pre-recorded content and don’t allow real-time interaction. However, it offers great flexibility to audiences, allowing them to watch the session at their convenience. These webinars are open and accessible to global audiences 24/7, making them a constant source of engagement and lead generation. |
Factors Affecting Webinar Frequency & Scheduling
The following are important factors to take into account when determining your webinar frequency:
Webinar Goals & Objectives
Your webinar frequency should align with the business goals and objectives you aim to achieve.
If your goal is to provide education or announce recent updates, more frequent webinars, such as weekly or monthly, might be suitable. For more in-depth sessions, quarterly or seasonal webinars may be more appropriate.
Target Audience
Consider the preferences and availability of your audience. Busy professionals may prefer less frequent, more impactful sessions, while a learning-focused audience might appreciate regular, shorter ones.
Time Duration
The duration of each webinar can influence how often you should host them. Shorter webinars of 30 minutes duration can be held more frequently without overwhelming participants. Meanwhile, longer, more detailed sessions may require more time between events to keep the audience engaged.
Language
The language in which you present your webinars can affect scheduling, especially for international audiences. If you are aiming to host webinars in multiple languages, you might have to create a different and more flexible schedule to accommodate multi-linguistic groups and their time zones.
Time Zone
Time zones are a critical consideration when planning webinar frequencies for a global audience. To maximize attendance, it is ideal to schedule webinars at times that are convenient for the majority of your audience. This might mean you will have to host the same webinar at different times or on different days to cater to various regions.
Weekends & Holidays
The timing of weekends and holidays can significantly impact webinar attendance and engagement. Be mindful of international holidays, if you have a global audience and avoid scheduling webinars on weekends or public holidays when your potential attendees may be less available or not available at all.
Conclusion
From skill development to lead generation and brand awareness, webinar frequency strategies are planned to serve a variety of objectives. These strategies are crucial in determining the pace of the events, the overall schedule, and marketing initiatives.
While weekly, monthly, quarterly, and seasonal webinars each offer unique benefits, the ideal approach often involves a mix of frequencies.
It is also important to note that there are other factors that can significantly impact the webinar frequency, like whether the webinars are paid or free, the type of content, and if they are live, on-demand or automated.
That being said, having flexibility in your schedule makes a lot of difference and provides stability to your schedule regardless of the challenges. This helps you adjust your strategies, customize webinar frequencies, effectively host successful webinars, and ultimately, achieve your business goals.
FAQs
Monthly webinars are typically the most effective for generating high-quality leads. This allows sufficient time for audiences to engage with the content, ensuring they are not overwhelmed.
It also enables organizers to meticulously plan and promote the webinars, attracting the right audience and maximizing the potential for high-quality lead generation.
Yes, audience demographics, such as age, location, and professional status, significantly impact the best timing for webinars.
To gather valuable competitor analysis insights, you can attend industry webinars and analyze their topics, content, case studies, social media initiatives, and audience engagement strategies.
Yes, pre-recorded webinars can be hosted as live sessions using webinar platforms like Airmeet. These webinar tools allow you to facilitate live interaction and enhance engagement through features like chats, polls, and Q&A while playing pre-recorded content.
On-demand webinars don’t require repeated hosting like live webinars. You can create and upload new on-demand webinars as frequently as needed – daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or at any interval that suits your goals and resources.
