Wednesday, March 4, 2020
How to Do a Webinar The Effective Way [Free Planner]
How to Do a Webinar The Effective Way [Free Planner] There are so many amazing ways of connecting content with your audience: video shows, podcasts, epic list posts, free resources, and yes, webinars. But when your workload is already full (and whose isnââ¬â¢t?), how do you add another marketing channel into the mix? In this post, Iââ¬â¢m going to show you how to do a webinar the smart way when you already have heaps of work on your plate. But before you invest more time reading this, answer two questions (especially if you lead a marketing team): ââ¬Å"Will webinars really increase sales and should my team invest in them?â⬠I canââ¬â¢t answer that for you. But I can present a few stats to help you decide if theyââ¬â¢re a worthy investment. How To Do A Webinar The Effective Way (Free Planner)Webinar Statistics Highlights According to a 2016 studyà that analyzed 12,780 webinars: Webinars attractà an average of 233 attendees. Webinar viewers watch an average of 50 minutes. Watchtime has increased by 31.5 percent since 2010. ââ¬Å"Question and answerâ⬠time is the most popular- and expected- form of interactivity. Of global attendees, 20 percent downloaded content, 7 percent submitted questions, and 31 percent responded to polls. Those numbers are a virtual all-you-can-eat buffet for marketersâ⬠¦ Naturally, we want in. Whether this is your first, or fiftieth, webinar, youââ¬â¢ll find value in the path-of-smartestà resistance weââ¬â¢re about to travel. Hereââ¬â¢s whatââ¬â¢s ahead. Youââ¬â¢re going to: Learn how to host a webinar like a seasoned pro. Choose the best webinar software and tools for you. Learn how to record a webinar and promote the replay. Obliterate the technical barriers with step-by-step instructions + visuals. Get our free Webinar Plannerà + Webinar Talking-Points Template + Email Follow-Up Template so you can work our proven process for hosting efficient, effective, and engaging webinars. Grab your free planner and templates so you can follow along. Weââ¬â¢ll be using them throughout the post. Now, letââ¬â¢s crank out a crazy-good webinar, shall we? Use The MVP Approach To Knockout Your Next Webinar Our approach is dead simple; and weââ¬â¢ve written about it before. Itââ¬â¢s called the ââ¬Å"minimum viable projectâ⬠(MVP) approach. Itââ¬â¢s a play on the famed ââ¬Å"minimum viable productâ⬠of The Lean Startupà fame. An MVPââ¬â¢s goal is to get you through a loop of ââ¬Å"idea ââ â ship ââ â analyzeâ⬠as quickly as possible. Our own Nathan Elleringà says it like this: ââ¬Å"The idea behind a minimum viable project is to eliminate risk by helping you: Create and publish quickly, Measure your success, Learn to improve.â⬠Our aim is to make your webinar an MVP. Itââ¬â¢s to find the baseline that will produce the largest return from theà smallest amount of effort. Sounds nice, right? To do this, youââ¬â¢re going to do one of two things: Repurpose a piece of high-performing contentà you already have; Or, repurpose a piece of content youââ¬â¢re going to create. For our purposes, weââ¬â¢re going to repurpose an existing piece of content. But if youââ¬â¢re going to opt for path number two and create something fresh, check out this post so you know exactly what your audience is dying to knowà from you (itââ¬â¢s called your ââ¬Å"content coreâ⬠). Now, if you donââ¬â¢t know your top-performing pieces of content, you should start there. To snoop out your winners, you can of course use Google Analytics. One of my favorite ways, though, is using the analytics dashboard right inside of . à Itââ¬â¢s a quick way to run a report of what content has performed the best on social media. To generate this report, start by logging into your calendar. Then, click on the ââ¬Å"Analyticsâ⬠icon on the left sidebar: From here you can run one of three reports. In this case, weââ¬â¢ll run the ââ¬Å"Top Contentâ⬠report: After our digital elves crunch your numbers, it will generate a report like the one below. In this case, you can see that our post, ââ¬Å"How to Write Emotional Headlines That Get More Sharesâ⬠has resonated well: Now, after 15 seconds of clicking, I have an incredible candidate for an MVP webinar topic. My audience is interested in this content. And even better, they believe theirà audiences are interested too. I know this because they shared it with them. To further corroborate this, I can check out this postââ¬â¢s 30-day traffic in Google Analytics: Now, with just a few more seconds, I see that this post got 2,084 page views in the last 30 days and 1,126 unique visits- not bad for a post thatââ¬â¢s over 6 months old. After 30 seconds of clicking around, Iââ¬â¢m sold! (I know, easy sell right?) However, Iââ¬â¢m really confident this topic will play well because not only do I have the traffic data on my site- but I see the social side as well. As you narrow down your webinar topic, I urge taking social stats into account alongside traffic to your article or blog post. Recommended Reading: The Best 30-Minute Content Marketing Brainstorming Process How To Do A Webinar: Our 4-Stage Approach Once youââ¬â¢ve landed on a subject, the rest is a matter of process. So weââ¬â¢re going to walk through the 4-stage approach we use for webinars at . Weââ¬â¢ll cover each in detail, below. The stages are: Adaptation:à Adapt your top-performing content into a webinar. Promotion:à Get the word out so you have as many registrants as possible. Delivery:à Itââ¬â¢s showtime- smile big, use the right tools, and have fun! Nurture:à Follow up, thank your new friends, give them gifts, and use their feedback to optimize for next time. Notice that this is exactly how your free MVP Webinar Plannerà is organized. So make sure you download it and follow along! Stage 1: Adaptation There are five steps to adapting your content for a webinar: Decide what content you will repurpose as your MVP. Choose a webinar format. Adapt your content into a script. Create beautiful visuals. Craft a giveaway resource as an incentive to stick around, come back for more, and put your ideas to work. We can already cross step one off the list! Weââ¬â¢re going to host a webinar on writing emotional headlines that people want to share. Boom. Step One: âÅ"⦠Format Now, we need to decide which format will work best for this webinar. Chances are youââ¬â¢ve attended a webinar or twelve and already have an idea. Search Engine Journalà has a nice roundup of webinar formats and explanations: Presentation:à This is one of the most common formats where a presenter shares a PowerPoint presentation and gives a rehearsed speech. Itââ¬â¢s easy to create, but is also less engaging. Interview:à You can interview an expert either together on-screen, over the phone, or with a screen share. This format is engaging, but make sure youââ¬â¢re familiar with the guest in case they go off-script. QA:à This is similar to an interview, except the questions are coming from the audience, which will boost engagement. You can have guests submit questions beforehand so thereââ¬â¢s enough content to fill the allotted time scheduled for the webinar. Panel:à Just like a live a panel, this is where you have several speakers discuss a certain topic. Panels are great for offering different perspectives and opinions from experts. Just make sure the panel members get along. Product demo:à If you have a product or service, this is a great format to increase leads and reach customers who are interested in making a purchase since youââ¬â¢re showcasing your product. In our case, a presentation or interview makes the most sense. Also, we can add QA breaks throughout and at the end. So, I could either interview the original author, our CEO Garrett Moon, or have him present. Alternatively, I can adapt his content into a presentation of my own. To keep things (and schedules) simple, Iââ¬â¢ll take the risk of being a bore and prep a webinar where I present the content myself. To keep things engaging, I will also have opportunities for QA with my attendees. Otherwise... Step Two: âÅ"⦠Script Next, itââ¬â¢s time to adapt the actual content into my script, or talking points. The key here is to pull the main points and simply bullet-point them. Youââ¬â¢re not creating a manuscript to read from. Youââ¬â¢re creating an outline to talk from. In this case, itââ¬â¢s also worth revisiting the social media stats for insight into what people loved most about it. This post got CRAZY love on Pinterest- which is of course all about pics. As I read through the post to begin writing my script, I see some beautifully designed + highly informative images. Especially this one, with 180+ power words for writing emotional headlines (which you should share/download and start using in your work immediately!): I know that this needs to be a centerpiece to my presentation and will certainly become a part of my slide deck (more on that in the next step). Hereââ¬â¢s where the ââ¬Å"MVP Webinar Talking Points Templateâ⬠comes in: This template is setup to map your existing content straight into a presentation webinar format. When you open it up, youââ¬â¢ll notice introductory content, and then five sections for each slide. We like to layout our content color coded like this: [Purple] = slide title [Black] = talking points [Blue] = links to copy/paste into webinar chat window [Green] = reminder to pause for questions (this can be every few slides) [Red] = transition statement so you can move seamlessly from one slide to the next From here, simply open up the template and use its structure to map your content into talking points, links to pertinent resources you want to mention, and transition statements. A great way to adapt your post into a script is to think about structure. For instance, the post Iââ¬â¢m adaptingà in this example breaks down into this structure: Hook:à After analyzing 5,556,914 headlines, we found the secret to writing headlines that spread like wildfire. The common denominator of the top-performing headlines was surprising. But numbers never lie: itââ¬â¢s all about a nerdy metric called the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) score. ââ¬Å"Whatââ¬â¢s in it for me?â⬠statement:à The findings of our research allows you to predict the success of your headline before you ever hit publish. After implementing our findings, you can have complete confidence your headlines will get attention amidst the flurry of content online. You can be sure of this because we built a free tool called the Headline Analyzerà that scores your headlines and helps you improve them via empirical data. Thesis:à The key to effective headlines is in their emotional resonance- a metric called the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) score. Body: Our findings:à We know this is true because we crunched the numbers and learned that posts with higher EMV get more shares every time. Why we trust our findings: We calculate a headlineââ¬â¢s EMV based on accepted research dating back to the ââ¬Ë60s and ââ¬Ë70s- research corroborated across multiple languages. How the measurement works: There are three layers of emotional resonance: intellectual, empathetic, and spiritual. How to write better headlines: To start, use our free tool that will break your headlines down and show you exactly where to improve them. How sentiment impacts performance: Youââ¬â¢ll notice positive headlines consistently outperform negative ones. Examples (before/after): Seven examples of poor headlines, how to rewrite them for optimal performance, and why. A process for writing emotional headlines: Write 25 headlines Calculate the EMV for each Cull the poor performers Amp up the emotion Publish, test your work, and evaluate to optimize Conclusion: An overview of what we covered. A succinct explanation of how it will help you. A clear call-to-action so the audience understands their next step. From this outline I can add bullet-points below each item to explain it. Those become my talking points and, as youââ¬â¢ll see in the next step, each point becomes a slide. Easy as pie because the hard work has already been done. ^Thatââ¬â¢s why this qualifies as an MVP project :) Your content will then drive the slide deck you design. And when you move through the process this way, your slide deck will be much easier because youââ¬â¢ll know exactly how many slides you need and whatââ¬â¢s going to be on them. Recommended Reading: How to Repurpose Content And Make the Most of Your Marketing Step Three: âÅ"⦠Design Slide Deck Next, we like to actually sit down with Ashton, our designer, and walk through the outline with her. This is also a frictionless process because sheââ¬â¢s the one who designed the post graphics. Now, we simply need to cover the content that needs to be on each slide and the presentationââ¬â¢s flow. If you donââ¬â¢t have the benefit of a professional designer, though, no problem! Itââ¬â¢ll take a bit longer, but you can still use excellent tools like services like Slidesmashà or Canvaà for free Powerpoint, Keynote, or Google Slidesà templates, or Graphic Riverà for paid templates. If youââ¬â¢re doing this yourself, make sure to work through a guide like Canvaââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"Presentation Design 101.â⬠This article is an excellent primer on things like how much info to include per slide, how to choose great fonts, color palette choices, and more. This article walks through ten principles with an example slide presentation to illustrate each. Another helpful article is ââ¬Å"The Know It All Guide To Color Psychology In Marketing.â⬠This post walks you through the nuts-and-bolts of which colors go well together and why it matters. Step Four: âÅ"⦠Create A Free Giveaway Finally, itââ¬â¢s time to create a free giveaway for your webinar viewers. You can get pretty wild here- however, remember the reason behind this step. Your giveaway simply needs to help your viewers put what you taught them into action. Obviously, the format of your giveaway resource is largely dependent upon your content. In my example post, I would create a 3-part giveaway bundle like this. First, Iââ¬â¢d include the ââ¬Å"180+ Power Words For Writing Emotional Headlinesâ⬠graphic I embedded above. Itââ¬â¢s incredibly actionable andà easy to reference. So it will add value to anyone who wants to write shareable headlines. Second, Iââ¬â¢d create a headline writing template in either Excelà or Google Sheets. The most helpful way to do this would be to take the five steps to writing emotional headlines (listed in the talking-points outline above) and give the viewers a place to work through each. It could look something like this: It covers the five steps working from left-to-right. This way, it gives the user an option of either using our tool (notice the link at the top of the sheet) or of working the process manually. Either way, it eliminates any additional prep work on their part. This allows them to simply fill in the blanks following a proven formula for success. When you create resources, the sure-fire way to make sure theyââ¬â¢re helpful is to ask this question: ââ¬Å"How can I help my audience implement the advice Iââ¬â¢ve given?â⬠Your giveaway resources should answer that question. Notice also that this example resource also serves a business purpose for . It offers them a simpler way to accomplish the task- using our tool- without forcing them to use it. They can get the same results using this resource, but it helps them see how much legwork our tool saves them. Now that my giveaway resources are finished, I can drop them into a file and then compress them into a .zip file. To do this, I simply right click on the desktop file and choose ââ¬Å"Compressâ⬠(Mac) or ââ¬Å"Send to Compressedâ⬠(Windows): Voila. I now have a solid 2-piece giveaway resource for my webinar viewers. And because itââ¬â¢s compressed, itââ¬â¢s ready to be emailed out or easily downloaded via a link. Step Five: à âÅ"⦠Stage 2: Promotion Now that weââ¬â¢ve adapted existing content into a webinar format, itââ¬â¢s time to make sure we get people to register! Your strategy on this is highly dependent upon three factors: What size audience do you currently have? What segment of your current (or prospective) audience do you want to register? What budget can you allocate toward advertising your webinar? To get eyeballs on the screen, this stage has three steps: Create a landing page. Setup the webinar in your chosen software. Write and schedule your promotional emails (or messages). For our example, weââ¬â¢ll look at promoting to an existing audience. However, hereââ¬â¢s a quick note on whether or not to invest in advertising your webinar. To decide if spending money on advertising, you obviously need to forecast what kind of return to expect- also called ââ¬Å"Return on Ad Spendâ⬠(ROAS). ROAS is straightforward. To calculate it, simply divide the gross revenue your ad campaign generated by what it cost. So, if your campaign generated $5,000 in gross revenue and you invested $1,000 in ad spend, your ROAS = $5. [] This could also be expressed as 500 percent or a 5:1 ratio. You can also calculate this as revenue minus spend divided by spend. (e.g. $5,000-$1,000 = $4,000 ââ â $4,000/$1,000 = $4 or 4:1.) Of course, if this is your first webinar, you donââ¬â¢t have the benefit of past metrics! As a guideline, when we test advertising on a new channel at , we set a budget of about $20 per day. Then we measure impressions, CTR, and ROAS before investing more heavily. Create A Landing Page Creating landing pages has become something of an art. But their core function is simply to act as a clear signpost and vehicle for conversions. For an in-depth strategy behind creating landing pages, check out this articleà we published. For our purposes in this post, weââ¬â¢re going to cover how to set one up using a service like Unbounceà (though there are plenty others to choose from, including Leadpagesà or Launchrock). The first thing to understand is that a landing page must include three basic elements: Headline Body Call-to-action Create an Unbounce account, then sign in. Once youââ¬â¢re in, itââ¬â¢s time to click on ââ¬Å"Create New Pageâ⬠to launch your first landing page: Next, you can opt to design a landing page from scratch- or easier- work from a template. In this case, Unbounce has magical templates designed specifically for webinar promotion. Choose ââ¬Å"Webinarâ⬠in the templates column: Next, youââ¬â¢ll find a few pre-designed templates. Click on the one you like (I just went with the first one) from the selection. Then, enter the name of your landing page on the right-hand column of the interface. Then click ââ¬Å"Start With This Template.â⬠Now weââ¬â¢re into the fun stage- designing your page and writing your copy! Unbounce uses a standard WYSIWYGà interface thatââ¬â¢s pretty straightforward. You can go as wild as you want hereâ⬠¦Ã But the bones are adding your headline, your body copy, and creating your CTA. Your flow will depend on your copywriting style. Maybe like youââ¬â¢re like the folks at Copyhackersà and believe you should start with the buttonà and write backwards from thereâ⬠¦ Or dive headlong into writing an appetizing headlineà like the Copybloggerà team suggests. Whatever your cup-o-tea, knock out your landing page content, then move onto the geeky integrations stuff so your CTA button has a place to send form info. Next, you can integrate your email service with Unbounce. Here are the directions for integrating with four major providers: Campaign Monitor Mailchimp Infusionsoft Constant Contact Now, everyone who opts-in via your landing page can be neatly organized into an email list ready to receive more info about the upcoming show! (If you can also go further in your analytical snooping with a Google Analytics integrationà if you want more insight into your visitors.) Step One: âÅ"⦠Webinar Setup At this stage, we have our webinar content ready to roll. We have a sweet slide deck and a killer landing page hooked into our email service. Now itââ¬â¢s time to setup the webinar itself so you can officially begin promotion. However, this is where people often get hung up. Why? Because there are so many webinar platforms to choose from! In this example, Iââ¬â¢ll be using Zoom, the platform we at use. Though there are plenty of solid choices like Livestormà that you can test run for free. The big deal here is to stick to your basic needs and then jump into the tool. When youââ¬â¢re hosting a webinar, the main technical considerations you need to make are: How many viewers do I need to make room for? Will I be sharing my screen + a webcam feed of myself/presenters? Do I want the ability to record and replay the webinar? Will my viewers want the opportunity to chat, ask questions, and follow links? There are a bunch of other details to think through, but these are the main questions you need to answer so you adequately prep for showtime! Letââ¬â¢s walk through setting up a webinar in Zoom. To start, make sure to grab yourself an account by clicking on the ââ¬Å"Sign upâ⬠button in the upper-right. Once youââ¬â¢re in, click ââ¬Å"My Webinarsâ⬠in the column at left, then the ââ¬Å"Schedule a Webinarâ⬠tab at the top of the dashboard. From here, enter the deets like the webinar title, description, date/time, duration, timezone, whether you require viewers to register, and your video settings (these control whether or not viewers can see you and/or your co-hosts). When you scroll down, youââ¬â¢ll see more settings. Select your preferred audio and whether or not your viewers need a password to view (we like to let ââ¬Ëem view as easily as possible). Also, notice you can choose to have the webinar start recording automatically- this is a really good idea so you donââ¬â¢t accidentally forget to record it. If itââ¬â¢s your first go ââ¬Ëround, youââ¬â¢ll be surprised at how easy this is to do because youââ¬â¢re focused on so many different things at once. So make it easy on yourself and tick this radio button. And now, polish it off by choosing ââ¬Å"Schedule.â⬠Once scheduled, youââ¬â¢ll see your webinarââ¬â¢s rap sheet. This dashboard displays the info you input as well as your webinar ID (which youââ¬â¢ll want to keep handy for sharing and organization). Additionally, if you plan to reuse these settings, go ahead and select ââ¬Å"Save this Webinar as a Templateâ⬠for efficiencyââ¬â¢s sake. Step Two: âÅ"⦠Sending Promotional Messages Next, there are two more essential tabs: ââ¬Å"Invite Attendeesâ⬠and ââ¬Å"Email Settings.â⬠And these bring us into the next stepâ⬠¦ Sending those promo messages! The important item in the invitation tab is the ââ¬Å"Registration URL.â⬠Youââ¬â¢ll want to grab this to share with your email list, on your website, and on your social channels. (And remember, if you selected the setting that requires individuals to register, theyââ¬â¢ll need to visit this link to gain access.) The next tab to note is ââ¬Å"Email Settings.â⬠Here you can set reminder emails for everyone who registers. (Or, if youââ¬â¢ve added them to a segmented list via your email tool- like we do- make sure to schedule them now!) This is a great idea because it takes one more detail off your plate- and an important detail at that. So choose your settings using the ââ¬Å"Editâ⬠text to the right of each option. Once your webinar is set up and scheduled, itââ¬â¢s time to roll out the digital red carpet and promote it. Because your webinar may be outside of the norm for your content, I recommend approaching it as its own marketing project. If youââ¬â¢re a r, hereââ¬â¢s how to painlessly setup and automate the entire thing! Recommended Reading: The Complete 16-Step Marketing Project Management Process (If youââ¬â¢re not a user, snag a free 14-day trialà to promote the heck out of your webinar and get as many eyeballs on the screen as possible ðŸââ¬) Now, the promotional channels we use arenââ¬â¢t surprising: Landing page, Website, Email, Social media, Ads, And webinar partners. Landing page: We covered how to set up your landing page- now itââ¬â¢s time to make sure your registration link or email opt-in is correct. This is important because youââ¬â¢ll be sending all of your traffic here to convert traffic into an audience with your stellar CTA! Website: This is one of those, ââ¬Å"Duhâ⬠¦ Of course weââ¬â¢ll post about it on our siteâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ line items. However, in the flurry of promotion, it can be easy to forget about this one until the last minute instead of posting ahead of time. Email: Get the word out through your email list- and get even more effective by listening to our conversation on getting bigger email marketing resultsà with Kim Courvoisierà from Campaign Monitor. Social media: As with all social media marketing, if you marry solid strategyà with awesome content, you can expect results. Our two favorite tools to make sure we get this right every time are: The free social message optimizer, which optimizes your messages for engagement and traffic. And the best time schedulingà feature, which uses a data-based algorithm to share pre-written social messages at peak-traffic times customized for every network. Ads: If you anticipate your webinar will drive business (which if youââ¬â¢re investing the time, I hope you do!)- test some ads on Google Adwordsà or Facebook. Or whichever channel you get the most traction on. If youââ¬â¢re torn on where to allocate budget, hereââ¬â¢s a nice breakdown of the difference between Adwords and Facebook ads. Webinar partners: Finally, if youââ¬â¢re co-hosting a webinar with an industry influencer, make sure to give them all relevant details so they can promote it on their channels as well. Also, if you play your cards right, you can use guest bloggingà as a promo strategy. Alright, now that youââ¬â¢ve promoted your webinar like a pro, itââ¬â¢s time to execute. Recommended Reading: How to Promote Your Blog With 107 Content Promotion Tactics Step Three: âÅ"⦠Stage 3: Delivery As with any skill, practice makes perfect. To deliver the best webinar you can, itââ¬â¢s important to rehearse and prepare. To help you prepare well, this stage has five steps: Perform a dry run with your chosen webinar software. Account for show details. Show up early to say hello + press record. Invite questions and prioritize answering them. Log all feedback or unique questions for future use. There are a million articlesà and tipsà to become a great presenterà out thereâ⬠¦ However, my favorite thing to do when I want to sharpen my presentation skills (which is always) is to watch phenomenal presenters and learn by example. For example, hereââ¬â¢s one of my favorite Seth Godinà talks: Dry Run Once youââ¬â¢re sufficiently inspired, itââ¬â¢s time to login and test out your webinar tool. Weââ¬â¢ll continue with Zoom. I suggest creating a test webinar using the steps outlined above. This way you have a pressure-free opportunity to test all of the buttons, features, and potential kinks. When your webinar window launches, youââ¬â¢ll see an interface like this (except with your face instead of mine): Hereââ¬â¢s a quick rundown of the controls: Record toggle: This is the button you can select to start, pause, or stop your webinar recording. Mute mic:à This icon will mute your selected audio input- meaning viewers can see you, but they canââ¬â¢t hear you. Video stream control:à If you stop sharing video, a profile picture will be displayed and your audience can still hear you. Essentially, this is like ââ¬Å"mutingâ⬠video for an audio-only stream. Participant count:à This is the total number of viewers and panelists. (This number includes hosts and co-hosts.) QA box:à The question and answer function allows viewers to ask questions privately, outside of public chat. You then have the option to answer the question ââ¬Å"on airâ⬠or privately via ââ¬Å"text.â⬠After the webinar is finished, you can download a log of these questions- which can be super helpful for analyzing how things went! Share screen:à This feature allows you to share your screen rather than your webcam. Remember, this means your audience sees exactly what you see. So ensure any private information like passwords or proprietary information isnââ¬â¢t open. Webinar chat:à This is the public chat available to everyone on the webinar. Additional options:à You will find additional options by clicking on the ââ¬Å"Moreâ⬠icon. These include streaming live on Facebook or YouTube, and sending individual invitations to the webinar-in-progress. Once youââ¬â¢re comfortable with the interface, hit record and run through your presentation. This will allow you to practice your talking points, switch from being on-camera to narrating your slide deck, and then ending the webinar with style. (If youââ¬â¢re really hard core, record your run through and watch it back to make improvements or notes of sticky spots.) Step One: âÅ"⦠Account For Show Details Now that youââ¬â¢re comfortable in the tool, spend a few minutes double-checking the details. These may include: Recruiting help for chat and QA moderation during the webinar. Setting up your gear in a quiet and well-lit room. Exhibit A: li Have your earbuds or headphones handy to avoid an echo on the webinar audio. Mute your phone and onscreen computer notifications to avoid interruptions. Have your mic ready and plugged in. (You can use the built-in mic or upgrade to something a little nicer like a Samson C01Uà like we use at .) If you decide to opt for an external mic, simply select the ââ¬Å"Caretâ⬠icon next to ââ¬Å"Muteâ⬠and choose your preference beneath the ââ¬Å"Select a Microphoneâ⬠title. Congrats- youââ¬â¢re ready to webinar with the best of them! PS: Donââ¬â¢t forget hair and makeup 🠤 ¡ Are you ready to webinar with the best of 'em? Get started here:Step Two: âÅ"⦠Show Up Early + Press Record Our rule of thumb is to log on 15 to 20 minutes early- especially when weââ¬â¢re co-hosting with multiple panelists. This gives us all the ability to ask final questions and ensure everyoneââ¬â¢s equipment is working. Then, we take the webinar live about 5 minutes early for some banter with the early comers! This is where you can ask classic webinar questions like: ââ¬Å"Whereââ¬â¢s everyone from?â⬠ââ¬Å"Howââ¬â¢s the weather where youââ¬â¢re at?â⬠ââ¬Å"What are you hoping to learn today?â⬠ââ¬Å"Can everyone see/hear us okay?â⬠ââ¬Å"What is the meaning of life?â⬠^ You know, to keep it light. This helps you warm up and connect with your audience while also giving you a final technical check to make sure all systems are go. Just donââ¬â¢t forget to press ââ¬Å"Recordâ⬠when you officially kick off the webinar. Now, itââ¬â¢ll be (mostly) smooth sailing to the end! Step Three: âÅ"⦠Invite Questions And Prioritize Answering Them When youââ¬â¢re live in a webinar, you naturally want to watch the clock and make sure youââ¬â¢re getting through your content quickly enough. However, as noted in the talking points template, make sure to give your viewers every chance to ask questions as you can. Itââ¬â¢s tempting to plow through your content- especially if youââ¬â¢re running behind. However, webinars give you a unique opportunity to connect directly with your audience. So take it. If people are asking you relevant questions, answer them! (The QA pauses are color coded in green.) Our webinars are untraditional because weââ¬â¢ll even jump out of the deck to answer questions- especially when they're about our product. Never be afraid to rock an impromptu product demo when it makes sense and directly answers your viewersââ¬â¢ questions! Sometimes off-script moments are the best! A framework we use to present content is to always begin with the content our audience most wants to talk about ââ âà then move to the intersection between our desires and theirs ââ âà and finish with what we want to talk about. This way, if youââ¬â¢re going to do a product demo (whether planned or impromptu), it can act as the bridge. This way, you can show how to apply your advice using your product. So your talking points move from left to right over the course of the webinar. This way, you donââ¬â¢t end with a product demo- which often sends drop-off rates through the roof! Pro Tip: If youââ¬â¢re simply overwhelmed with questions and out of time, share your Twitter handle or email address and direct further questions there. In the case of Twitter, you can also have questioners use a unique hashtag (e.g. ââ¬Å"#[webinarname]?â⬠) so everyone interested can search for and find the questions. Step Four: âÅ"⦠Log Feedback Finally, webinars are a great way to gather feedback for specific content. You can use viewersââ¬â¢ questions and comments for this. And you can also use the ââ¬Å"Pollâ⬠feature. This is also a nice way to encourage interactivity midway through your presentation. To use it, click on the ââ¬Å"Pollâ⬠icon at the bottom of your presentation window. This will launch a dialog box that allows you to add questions on-the-fly, or select from a pre-made poll. Once you click on ââ¬Å"Add Questions,â⬠a poll-creation page will load in your browser. You can name your poll, write questions, select single or multiple-choice formats, and craft answers for your audience to select from. Once youââ¬â¢re finished, choose ââ¬Å"Save.â⬠Your poll will now be available in your webinar window. And when youââ¬â¢re ready to use it, simply click ââ¬Å"Launch Pollâ⬠to collect the data. Anytime you have the chance to gain real-time feedback from your audience, take it. The more insight you have on your audienceââ¬â¢s problems, thought processes, and buying motives, the better you can help them- and in turn, position your product or service. Step Five: âÅ"⦠Way to go! You just knocked out your first (or fiftieth) webinar! Now, do a little dance to celebrate before wrapping up this MVP ðŸâÆ'🠽ðŸ⢠ºÃ°Å¸ ¾ Stage 4: Nurture The final stage of your MVP webinar is short and sweet. Itââ¬â¢s all about three things: Following up with a recap email + THANK YOU! Publishing + promoting your webinar replay. Leveraging fresh ideas into new content, projects, and features.
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