Increasingly, organizations of all sizes are leveraging webinars to establish thought leadership, foster lead generation, and interact with their target audiences. The Content Marketing Institute found that 60 percent of marketers are using webinars as part of their content marketing programs. Further, a survey by the research firm Demand Metric, together with Vidyard, found that 74 percent of B2B marketers reported that video converts better than other content types.

Webinars can complement and amplify marketing and sales campaigns – they offer several opportunities to connect with prospects and customers, and the engagement period during a webinar is significantly longer than other types of content. Contrary to the popularity of “bite-sized” content that can be quickly and easily consumed, average live webinar viewing times are on the rise – holding at 56 minutes (up from 38 minutes in 2010) according to ON24’s 2015 “Webinar Benchmarks Report.” When was the last time you spent 56 minutes reading an email newsletter or a direct-mail flyer?

What makes webinars so compelling?

Webinars enable multiple touch-points with prospects. Email or print campaigns leading up to a webinar can span several weeks, encouraging and reminding viewers to register and participate. Thank-you notes and follow-up inquiries are also essential to a webinar’s success, and that too can span several weeks following the webcast. By giving a company several opportunities to connect with and engage their target audience, the likelihood of conversion can be much higher than a “once and done” type of interaction.

Webinars are interactive. A good webinar should offer something more than a talking head reciting a PowerPoint presentation. Get participants active and involved! Webinars offer a level of interactivity that other marketing channels lack. By incorporating real-time feedback and interaction – through polls, surveys, question-and-answer periods and more – content can be tailored on the fly, thereby ensuring that participants are (and remain) engaged with the material and the presenter.

Additionally, webinar participants should be encouraged to share their experiences and feedback through social channels such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more. Assign a hashtag to the webinar that is shared before, during and after the event – this can both foster a sense of community among participants, and encouragement for others to view the content on-demand.

Webinars provide valuable insight on leads. Another key benefit of webinars is that they allow organizations to gather information about interested attendees (i.e., prospects) through an online registration page. This can provide valuable details such as contact information, demographic details such as titles and/or roles, and level of familiarity with the company and its products.

Consider the layout and content of your registration’s landing page and factor in the target audiences for the event. An overly sales-focused landing page can be off-putting to attendees, who may not join for fear of aggressive follow-up. In general, keep landing pages simple, informative and concise – include a few bullets about the takeaways attendees can expect, some background about the presenter(s) and a form to capture registration details.

What type of webinar should I consider?

Thought leadership-focused webinars focus around an industry trend or market driver, and offer perspective and guidance for attendees interested in that area. These types of events shouldn’t be vendor-centric sales pitches – they’re designed to share expertise and educate audiences, thereby establishing the presenter as a credible, go-to source on the topic. Consider having a panel discussion involving different perspectives by inviting an industry analyst, a customer or partner, or an editor of a well-respected publication to moderate the discussion. This approach also elevates the event beyond a standard vendor sales pitch.

Product-specific webinarsfocus on product updates and highlight new features and upgrades; these are often tailored more toward an established customer base. Product webinars have the potential to be more overtly sales-oriented, as they typically require viewers to either be an established customer or have some previous engagement with the product or company.

There’s also an opportunity to do pre-recorded webinars offering product demos or answers to frequently asked questions, which offer the convenience of on-demand viewing, but lack the real-time interaction of a live event.

Measure your results

Companies can gauge the a webinar’s success in several ways, such as number of registered attendees, number of actual participants in the session, level of engagement throughout the webinar through polls, calls to action, etc., and number of archived views following the webinar. ReadyTalk notes that the average webinar attendance rate is 40-50 percent of registered attendants.

While they’re not exactly a brand-new channel for marketing and sales teams, webinars do offer some attractive advantages for educating and engaging with target audiences. Done correctly, they provide a compelling piece of promotable content with a long shelf-life and potential to influence sales decisions.

Is your organization using webinars to engage with its prospects and customers? What type of results have you seen? We’d love to hear about your experience in the comments section – let us know!