During our recent webinar, 2022 Benchmark Data: The Latest and Greatest in Virtual Events and Webinars, we shared notable changes in the webinar space:
- Average promotion time of a webinar has increased from 39 days in 2019, to 44 days in 2022
- Live webinar attendance increased from 39% in 2019, to 65% in 2022
- The number of webinars that use live video increased from 61% in 2019, to 77% in 2022
The data showed that registrants are attending webinars live in greater numbers and engaging with the content more. What does this mean? It means, we must be more creative and flexible when designing digital experiences.
Here are some of our favorite tips from our webinar attendees on how to design more engaging experiences.
Event Registration
One third of all attendees register over 7 days in advance of the live webinar. And the average promotion time of a webinar has increased from 39 days in 2019, to 44 days in 2022. What does this mean and why should you care you ask? It means marketers have the opportunity to engage with their audience farther in advance to get them excited about attending the live session.
Best Practices According to Our Attendees!
• Send out speaker promo videos.
• Send direct email invites to attendees – make them personalized!
• Reach out to registrants prior to the event, answer questions and hype up the event.
• Have your speakers and panelists do social media takeovers.
• Provide exclusive content available with codes for those who attend vs. standard on demand content for all registrants.
• Ask questions starting on the registration page to help drive the conversation right at the point of registration. You can present the answers periodically on social prior to the live event.
Live Engagement
65% of registrants attended webinars live in 2022, that is almost a 66% increase since 2019. Our data has shown that viewers are embracing the nature of live events in greater numbers. The audience is seeking a dialogue between event participants, speakers, and sponsors. Events are not only about knowledge transfer, but also about meeting other people, collaborating, and growing together.
Best Practices According to Our Attendees!
• Share exclusive content.
• Bring attendees closer to the content by having speakers address people by name when answering questions.
• Look for ways to give them new and interesting information.
Content and Programming
The data you collect before, during, and after your webinar, helps you build better content that is audience and experience driven. Your webinar should have a singular goal and every event’s goal will be different based on your audiences needs and attention span. People will stay engaged if the content is great.
Best Practices According to Our Attendees!
• Make sure speakers are competent, engaging, and knowledgeable.
• Combat video fatigue with ENGAGING video content.
• Incorporate engaging activities such as a virtual chair yoga, live DJ, and friendly competitions.
• Slot in short video clips from other sources to change up the pacing.
• If you have an in-person audience, add QR codes to bring them into virtual chat and Q&A.
Post-Event Follow Up
It is easy to wrap up a webinar and jump on to the next. There are tons of opportunities to repurpose content and maximize the impact of webinar content.
Those who registered but didn’t attend are interested in the topic but not necessarily the format. Offer the content in different format so they get the most out of your session. Here are some ideas from you guys:
Best Practices According to Our Experts!
• Turn audience questions into a blog post, a series of social posts, or an FAQ document that can be shared externally.
• Write white papers, articles, or repurpose video clips.
• Add it to your marketing nurture and sales outreach.
• Encourage stakeholders to attend the webinar on-demand.
Watch the On-Demand Webinar
We hope you enjoyed some of these best practices shared for you guys, by you guys! To access all the data points that were shared during the webinar and get access to more best practices and top trends, download our 2022 Benchmark Report for Webinars and Virtual Events.
