Last week, we helped you kick-start your very first webinar. Now that you have the tools, we’ll show you how to ensure the webinar is a success and how you can leverage the new content to raise your profile.

The perfect Webinar

• Choose a quiet location from which to stream and make sure the audio is clear.
• Make sure you are visible within the frame of the lens. Most often, head and shoulders, or from the waist up is sufficient.
• Speak slowly and use the correct tone of voice. Imagine you are speaking to just one person, a friend or colleague and use the word ‘you’ to engage your audience.
• Use the twitter hashtag to ask the audience to tweet you with their questions. Have a pair of helping hands to sort through the tweets and read you the most important questions. That way you won’t have to search for questions yourself.
• Engage your audience by asking them questions, encouraging participation and occasionally, using slides and music, where relevant. You may also choose to upload pre-prepared infographics to your Facebook and Twitter pages to engage audiences that may not be able to watch the live stream.
• Make sure you have recorded the webinar, so that you can save it and share it with new audiences at a later stage.
•  Finish with a call to action, for example; ask the audience to like your business on Facebook, ask them to sign up to your newsletter for more events or to register for your next webinar.

Maximise on your data

After the webinar, you will have a valuable database of information and contacts. Springboard PR suggests the following:

• Send those who signed up, but couldn’t attend, an email with a copy of the recorded webinar(via link in email). Include dates of future webinars to encourage them to sign up.

• Send attendees a copy of the recorded webinar. Thank them for their participation and invite them to let others know about your webinar. Include details of future webinars, or ask them to sign up to your newsletter/Facebook page to receive information they may find useful.

• Offer special discounts for those who attended. Include their voucher or offer code in the follow-up email, reminding them that they have until the end of that day to avail of the offer. This may encourage them to sign up to future webinars.

With these tools, your webinar should be hitch free. You can also try Facebook Live for a more informal and easy way to introduce yourself to the concept of live streaming. Get the ‘How-To’ on Facebook Live here.

Post by Susie Horgan

Susie founded Springboard in 2011, and has developed the business into a leading, director-led communications agency. She has worked for over 20 years in senior marketing and public relations roles.