And retaining webinar audience’s interest through the session and also after it concludes is important because only then will you be able to provide value to them and push them further along your sales funnel. Not just that, but it also helps build brand image, credibility, boost word-of-mouth marketing, create high-quality leads and more. In fact, this report states that webinars have helped to increase customer retention and loyalty by 69%.
To help you maximize webinar audience retention, we’ve put together five powerful strategies. Read to find out all about them.
Webinar Audience Retention – 5 Effective Strategies
Here are 5 effective strategies for retaining your webinar audience:
1. Craft your webinar content strategically
Webinars are primarily hosted to provide information or spread awareness on a particular topic.So, while working on the webinar topic, craft the content carefully such that it addresses the audience’s problems and provides them with practical tips to resolve those issues.
Content is a powerful tool that can drive people to take any desired action. And as long as you provide value with your webinar content, you can be assured that your webinar will have an impact on your audience.
Here are some practical tips you can use to curate stellar webinar content:
- Include Customer Success Stories: People are social creatures and are eager to know how other people have experienced a particular brand before investing in it. Your webinar audience will appreciate case study takeaways that they can relate with. Not only will they engage with your content, but will also look forward to understanding your product/service better, which helps retain them for longer.
- Focus on Quality not Quantity: When it comes to retaining audiences with webinar content, it is paramount to deliver high-quality content throughout the session. Play around with the format, induce a casual Q&A session, icebreakers, etc – but make sure that you don’t force content just to fill time. A 20-minute power packed session will have a much bigger impact than a 45-minute session that offers no real value to attendees.
- Allow Attendee Engagement: Delivering quality content without permitting participants to ask questions or clarify their doubts is counter-productive. You can welcome audiences to ask questions at the end of each segment of the webinar. Alternatively, you can also schedule an elaborate one-on-one Q&A session at the end of the session to enable this.
Also Read – Master Webinar Content: Creation and Planning
2. Invite Speakers with Extensive Knowledge
The main reason for a webinar’s success is its content and the speakers delivering the content. Webinar guest speakers are typically specialized professionals who help keep the virtual audience engaged throughout the live event and wow them with their insights. So, while selecting guest speakers for your webinar, it is advisable to invite someone who is experienced in delivering content to a virtual audience, alongside being exceptionally good at what they do.
The quality of speakers can have a direct impact on your audience retention rate, as attendees tend to be more invested in a session which is valuable, unique and super engaging. So pick a speaker who can ensure these and inspire audiences.
Also Read – Airmeet’s comprehensive guide for speakers
3. Conduct a Webinar Series for your Customers
Conducting a recurring webinar series is a great way to retain your webinar audience. Every time you conduct a successful webinar and your audience likes it, they will tend to come back for the next one, helping you build brand trust and loyalty.
Here are some tips to put together a stellar webinar series:
- Identify the ideal topic: Picking a topic that has been spoken about a million times on the internet is not going to help with a webinar series no matter how curated your content is. Think of topics that are important but often ignored, and can be built upon, episode after episode, in a comprehensive way. The idea is to leave the audiences wanting for more, so they keep coming back.
- Be mindful of the format and timing: Simply putting together a webinar series without a proper strategy could backfire. It is important to ensure that every single episode of the series leaves audiences with a substantial amount of knowledge or value – too much quality content per session can overwhelm them, and too little can lead to drop-offs. So make sure to pick the right format and duration for your series such that it has the desired effect on your audiences.
4. Repurpose your Webinar Content
Repurposing your webinar content to create multiple other resources can be a game-changer for those looking to establish continued engagement with audiences. Content that was used in a 40-minute webinar can be used to engage with no-show registrants, shared with attendees to help them revisit sections they wish to go through again, and also to reach out to new audiences on social media. The possibilities and potential presented by content repurposing is endless.
Here are some ways you can repurpose your webinar content:
- Webinar Recordings – Every reliable webinar platform offers a recording feature. Record your webinar so you can use it for later use. Post-webinar, edit the recording with relevant intros, outros, etc and create a marketable resource that you can then send out to attendees and no-shows, as part of your follow-up campaign. You can also make bite-sized clips of this longer video to use on social media as teasers to the on-demand version of the webinar that you will host on your website.
- Blog Post – Transcribe the webinar session, structure the content flow to make it blog-friendly and create one or a few blogs that are based on the webinar content. This will help you deliver high-impact content without going through the hassles of researching material from scratch, and also allow your website visitors access to exclusive content which can boost traffic. You can also link the on-demand version of the webinar towards the end of the blog post to provide more value to readers..
- Create Video Reels – As mentioned, once you have the recording of your webinar, you can then create smaller clips to post on social media. These can include unique perspectives from the speakers, some fun moments from the session or anything else that might help you gain traction on your posts.
- Share the Webinar Presentation Slides – You can also repurpose your webinar content by making necessary edits to the webinar presentation slides and sharing them with your attendees post-webinar. This will help provide extended value to attendees,which is critical to retaining their interest in your brand and will inspire them to attend subsequent events.
By using all these repurposing strategies, you can eventually build a webinar library from which people can have access to your webinar content in multiple formats. Offering exclusive content for free to audiences helps in building trust and in creating a lasting impression among your target audience, and retaining your existing webinar audience.
Bottom Line
Event marketers organize webinars to reach a wider audience and grow their businesses. However, this is not as easy as one might hope unless you invest in audience retention strategies. By following the tips shared in this blog post, you will be able to retain your webinar audiences and build an army of loyal, enthusiastic attendees.
FAQs
Partner with industry experts to attract their followers and collaborate with organizations for cross-promotion. Co-hosting webinars with partners can also help you reach a broader audience and enhance the event’s appeal.
Analyze engagement metrics such as attendance rates, engagement rates, drop-off rates, etc. Use feedback from attendees to make improvements for future webinars. Tracking the ratio of registrants to actual attendees can also provide valuable insights.
