In a time of lockdown and self-isolation, webinars are the hottest new development in the world of presenting, offering attendees easy access to the latest news and engagement with experts while lowering travel costs and engaging with participants from all around the world!

Just about every marketer is hosting webinars these days. Using webinar software is undoubtedly one of the best ways to interact with your leads, engage with them, and move them further down the sales funnel.

Let’s get you started:

While webinars themselves are a great way to combine web conferencing and marketing automation, the devil is in the details:

  • What is the waiting room experience for your viewers?
  • How easy is it for viewers to download the plugin and join the meeting?
  • How many presenters can you have at one time?
  • How high-quality is the audio?
  • How many viewers can you present to at one time?

These factors all matter.

WHAT IS THE BEST WEBINAR SOFTWARE?

An excellent webinar tool for small a business should help you deliver live high-quality video. This can help you automate your sales process and engage with your MQLs with live training, product demos, and more.

ZOOM

Zoom is one of the best webinar software platforms available in the market today. It is intuitive, entirely cloud-based, and has a user-friendly interface that makes things simpler for its users.

It performs a wide array of activities that make it an asset to any company. Zoom offers HD video and audio, screen sharing, desktop, and app sharing options.

Moreover, it allows you to host the scheduled and unscheduled meetings, and keeps a backup of every session in the cloud for ready and instant access at a later time.

The best part is that it allows private and public chats so that the audience does not necessarily have to interrupt the speaker while he or she is making a point.

It also integrates with Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook, which allows its users to schedule meetings and send emails, seamlessly. Zoom is a one-stop shop for everything when it comes to hosting a webinar event.

KEY FEATURES:

  • Exquisite HD video and audio, along with screens sharing facility
  • Desktop and app sharing options
  • Backup of every meeting in the cloud
  • Allows private and public chats, which lets your viewers communicate during the event without any interruption
  • Provides free access to up to 100 participants and 40 mins limit on group meetings
  • Efficient host controls and virtual whiteboards
  • User-friendly and easily navigable dashboard
  • There are no one-time fees and it’s free to sign up

WEBINARJAM

WebinarJam is the best webinar software currently available. If you have little to no technical knowledge regarding how to set up a webinar, then this easy-to-use webinar platform has you covered. It’s perfect if you want to host webinars in an automated fashion to a large audience.

Moreover, it allows you to stream directly to a YouTube page, and have a secure, password-protected meeting with your target audience online.

It also offers some distinct advantages over other tools, such as:

  • Providing pop-ups to your audience during the webinar session itself, which allows them to buy your product or service right from the webinar
  • Offering excellent two-way communication via advanced Live Chat which pulls a video of the participant for 1:1 video communication

WebinarJam employs a unique and distinct Broadcast Distribution Technology which creates a universal signal. Besides, it uses all the latest technology, like RTMP, WebRTC, HLS, and Flash, which makes it compatible with almost all web browsers and devices.

You also get other impressive features, such as HD video, customer-facing interfaces, user-friendly dashboards, and the option of multiple presenters.

Every recording is automatically recorded so that the replay can be sent to your audience. Additionally, the tools are extremely easy to use and they have training videos to help every step of the way.

KEY FEATURES:

  • Automatic recording
  • Offers great customer support
  • Built-in autoresponder
  • Social media integrations
  • Has the ability to handle multiple attendants easily
  • Compatibility with various browsers and operating systems
  • Allows you to incorporate polls and surveys with your webinar
  • Extremely easy to use, with user-friendly dashboards and interfaces
  • Quick set up process; it takes about 60 seconds to get up and running

CLICKMEETING

ClickMeeting is one of the most popular webinar software platforms on this list, with an impressive and user-friendly interface.

ClickMeeting makes it easier for you to reach out to your customers for training, product sales and marketing, and other aspects. All in all, it is a well-integrated, intuitive platform that provides options for automated webinars and customised invites.

Best suited for small and medium-sized businesses, ClickMeeting provides clear instructions to set up the event effortlessly, without worrying over any technical stuff. It also offers analytical insights regarding the past webinars and the audience of the upcoming webinar.

KEY FEATURES:

  • Offers polls and surveys for feedback
  • Chat options and interactive sessions
  • Can be connected to Facebook and YouTube to enhance engagement
  • You can record the entire audio and video of the live sessions, which are then stored in clouds, and can be downloaded easily
  • Multiple presenters can present with HD video

HOW TO MAKE A WEBINAR

Brainstorm the right topic.

Before you can get started on making your webinar, you’ll have to decide the topic you want to speak about.

The topic you choose should answer questions that your audience typically asks and preferably be highly specific. For example, if you’re hosting a webinar on email marketing, you can choose to focus on subject lines in particular.

Overall, your webinar should provide value to your audience. Think about your company as a whole and your unique value proposition. What topics are you an expert on? What topics can you provide value on? Those are the topics you’ll want to use for a webinar.

Choose a webinar tool.

There are many webinar services you can use to create your webinar.

When you’re researching a tool to use, consider your objectives. How many people do you think will attend? Do you need a tool that could allow over 1,000 attendees? How much does it cost? And how easy is it to use? These are questions that you should look in to when you’re deciding on what webinar tool to use.

Additionally, you’ll want to make sure the tool can handle the type of webinar you want to host — can it handle video chatting for panel or Q&A webinars? The right tool for you will depend on the overall objectives of your webinar.

Produce the content.

Once you find a tool and you know the topic you want to present on, you’ll have to decide what type of webinar you want to host. Will it be a PowerPoint and talking head presentation? Or perhaps you want to do a live panel Q&A? Either way, you’ll have to produce the content and prepare for the big day.

For example, if you’re creating a PowerPoint, you’ll need to create your slide deck. Make sure that the slides emphasize your points, but don’t include a script. These slides should be visually appealing and include interesting graphics, such as images or GIFs.

If you’re hosting a discussion-style webinar, plan out your speakers, gather audience questions, and prepare any other questions you might have so you can prioritize your time during the webinar.

Select the right day and time.

You’ll want to consider where your audience lives. Use tools like Google Analytics to see where people are, so you can choose a convenient day and time zone.

According to ON24, Tuesday from 10-11 a.m. GMT is the best day to host a webinar. This is because it’s great for a wide range of time zones, and should avoid most commute times or work hours. Typically, this time avoids conflicts with the most amount of people.

Promote your webinar.

Now that you’ve done the backend work, it’s time to ensure you have people who want to attend.

To promote your webinar, you can create a landing page where people can sign up and then distribute and promote that link in several ways.

For example, you can consider running ads through social media and search engines. Additionally, you’ll want to use free promotion tactics as well — you can post on your own accounts, on your website, and send an email to your subscribers. It’s important to use your own follower base to get people interested.

Additionally, reminder emails are also helpful. Consider sending “Don’t Miss Out” or “Seats Are Filling Up” emails as the day gets closer.

And when people do sign up, you’ll want to remind them leading up to the day. You should send them the webinar link about an hour before so it’s top of mind and they don’t have to go looking for the link in their registration email.

Follow up with your audience.

Webinars are obviously a great sales opportunity, and you don’t want people to leave your webinar and never think of you again.

That’s why you’ll want to send them a thank you email and gather feedback from attendees so you can plan better webinars in the future.

Additionally, attendees generally like to have a recording, so you can send them a link to the recording afterward so they don’t have to take fervent notes during the webinar. This also means you can send it to registrants who wanted to attend but weren’t able to.