How to scale webinar attendees is one of the most common questions among those who organize these events. The year 2020 brought a boom of webinars, lives, and other virtual events. So, fighting for the public’s attention is more intense than ever.
We know how frustrating it can be when you dedicate time and put effort into something that doesn’t reach as many people as possible.
However, you can use a few tricks and techniques to attract a broader audience to your webinar:
Tips to attract a broader audience to your webinar
Know the numbers/set some goals
It’s not enough to say you want to increase attendance. Get specific about your objectives and create actual goals for yourself. Create both a registration goal and an actual attendance goal. You should begin to notice trends in the number of registrants who eventually attend your session. Use this to gauge how many registrants you will need for future webinars to ensure you hit the number of webinar attendees you’re striving for.
Choose your topic wisely
One of the best ways to get people plugged into your webinar is to deliver a topic your prospective attendees are interested in hearing and learning about. Don’t automatically assume you know what your targeted audience wants to hear. Ask them. Before putting together your presentation, send surveys with specific questions regarding the topic. You can also send post-webinar polls to ask about ideas not originally discussed to gain insight on future focus areas.
The time and day of the week are important
According to a Big Marker study, you can have a good audience by scheduling your webinar at 11 am, 1 pm or even at 2 pm. Nevertheless, while you want to select a time that accommodates all necessary time zones, shifting your schedule, even by an hour or two, can instantly free up enough bandwidth for listeners to actively tune in.
However, not only the time of the day can make an impact on the number of webinar attendees you get, but also the actual day itself matters. Wednesday and Thursday are the best days of the week to host a webinar because they have the highest attendance rates.
Here’s a tip: Check your Google Analytics data to see which day of the week your audience is more engaged on your site.
Create an attention-grabbing incentive
You have to give registrants every reason possible not to miss out on what you have to offer…and it can start with an enticing participation incentive. Think about what motivates your target audience. Now develop a giveaway they will appreciate and use. For instance, you can include a free gift, product promotions, an eBook, a guide, and even discounts on future services. You can also offer access to various “members only” pages and reports on your website to generate interest in attending your webinar.
Leverage the blogosphere and other SEO channels
Use SEO content to promote an upcoming webinar. Blogs, online articles and even press releases can all use optimized copy to get your message out to people looking for what you do. Choose the channel you want, but always provide links to your registration page to drive attendance numbers.
Promote on your website and social media
First of all, create a specialized landing page on your website. It must include the who, what, where, when and, most importantly, why. On this landing page, you can also give details on the specific problem you will solve and the advantages offered by attending your webinar. Moreover, you can also inform about the giveaways you are going to provide.
On the other hand, your social media accounts are an excellent method to consistently market to both existing and prospective webinar attendees, without fear of them feeling “spammed.” You have to include relevant hashtags and more importantly, images. Graphics can quickly grab attention as followers scroll through their feeds, making a bigger impact. Additionally, tag presenters and participating brands to optimize the reach.
Advertise Q&A opportunities
The Q&A sessions should be marketed as the distinctive opportunity they are. Get specific about the access the audience will have with all of the speakers. Knowing that there’s an opportunity for genuine dialogue and exchange of information can prove enough to not only get listeners to log in, but also keep them until the very end.
Showcase panel experts
Nothing mandates webinars must be run as “one-person-shows.” However, many presenters do exactly that; they manage the entire process alone, relying on their own marketing efforts and internal networking capabilities to generate webinar attendees. So take this opportunity and ask your presenter to post information about the webinar for an added promotional push. The speaker will increase the reach of your message within their specific networks to grow your attendee numbers.
Send customized reminders
Email reminders are great to keep your conference on registrants’ radars. It’s not enough to merely blast out the date and times. The reason? They may have forgotten why they registered in the first place. Customize your reminder to include information on the value your event lends and why they won’t want to miss out on your message.
Follow-up with future sessions
Pre-webinar promotions can help you develop an attendance upswing for future events. Follow-up emails can build marketing momentum within your existing network of listeners and scale webinar attendees exponentially for noticeable results at your next webinar.
If you want to know about creating webinars with Watchity, send us a message or request a demo.