Webinar – What is a webinar?
The word Webinar arises from a combination between “Seminar” and “Web”. In this way, a webinar consists of a video-seminar or video-conference over the Internet. The main characteristic that defines it is the interaction between the participants and the lecturer. The speaker speaks live to the audience and the audience can intervene by asking questions.
The webinars are held on a specific date and time and live, and since they are online, people from all over the world who have a computer with the specific software and/or the webinar access code can participate.
How to do a webinar?
To carry out a webinar you need an internet connection and a platform to hold the event and for it to be distributed over the internet, some of these platforms may be Google Hangouts, GoToWebinar, Webinars OnAir, among others.
The user who is going to view and participate in a webinar must have internet, install the necessary software and obtain the access code for the webinar, if it is private.
What is a webinar for?
Conducting a webinar can have several objectives, one of them may be to present a new service or product to the public since you can talk about it and describe all its advantages. This is key for your sales since if you present your product well, you leave the public with joy on their lips and encourage them to buy it.
On the other hand, a webinar also serves to promote a paid course. You can do a small demonstration in a free webinar to encourage the public to sign up for paid courses.
Webinars can be key to your sales, take advantage of it and show your products and/or services in them so that participants are tempted to buy. A webinar can be considered a notable element in your content strategy.
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Advantages and disadvantages of doing a webinar
A webinar can be positive for your company, but it also has its bad side, so we are going to see the different advantages and disadvantages of holding a webinar:
Advantages
Cost savings: Since the seminar is not held in a physical location, you will save on travel costs, accommodation, use of the classroom where you hold the conference, etc.
You can give the seminar from wherever you want: having access to the internet you can do the seminar from your home, from your work, from wherever you want and you will reach people who will be miles away from you.
Different types of actions: the software you use will allow you to perform numerous types of actions such as sharing your screen with the public, allowing them to talk to each other, holding a round of questions, etc.
Reuse: there is the possibility of recording the webinar for later use, this content can be uploaded to social networks, the blog, sent a newsletter, etc.
You stand out from the competition: although technology is the order of the day, webinars are not usually common in companies, especially due to lack of knowledge. You can take advantage of this to differentiate yourself from the competition.
Adapts to all devices: a webinar is accessible from any device, so if your audience wants to participate from a mobile phone they can access it without problem.
Disadvantages
Technical problems: technical problems may arise during the live event that force us to cancel the webinar.
Audience distraction: participants are not being observed by the speaker and this can cause them to become distracted more easily.
Audio and video: to hold a webinar you must have a quality microphone and camera so that participants do not have problems hearing and seeing you.
Impact of the conference: since the speaker does not see the participants, he cannot know what impact the webinar is having on the users.
User connection: whether the webinar works well and with quality also depends on the connection speed that the users have.
Tips to increase the quality of a webinar
When carrying out a webinar you can take into account several tips to increase its quality. Some of them are:
Definition
The first thing of all is to perfectly define the main topic, what type of audience the webinar is aimed at and what its objectives are.
Training
The webinar should be aimed at increasing the training of participants, in addition to having a certain degree of formality.
User attention
You must keep the attention of the participants with interesting anecdotes or some examples or practical cases.
Structure
First the general and then the particular, the key concepts must be explained first and then developed.
Duration
A webinar should last between 40-45 minutes in addition to having about 10-15 minutes to answer questions from the participants.
Encourage users
Encourage them to ask questions and interact with you, take the time you see fit to answer each question.
Call to action
You can close the webinar with a call to action, that is, encouraging users to sign up for other webinars, offer them some promotion about your products or services, etc.