Webinar

What is a Webinar?

The term “Webinar” stands for “Web Seminar”, a kind of online education strategy often built to include video presentations, lectures, and workshops hosted online. These online events are usually interactive and allow various educators to share knowledge either on-demand, (through pre-recorded sessions), or live.

Webinars are frequently used as a highly effective form of content marketing, but they can also be delivered as part of an online course, training, or event experience. Some webinars are also effective for building thought leadership, establishing brand/customer relationships, and improving customer experience.

Related: Best Webinar Software Platforms 2022

What Types of Content are Included in a Webinar?

There are many different kinds of content which can be implemented into a “web seminar” to create the full educational experience. Most presenters or educators will use a variety of mediums to share information and engage the audience. Common content types include:

• Slideshows: Educational videos often shown with accompanying insights from the lecturer.
• Live videos: Live streamed videos where presenters can engage in Q&A sessions with customers and show the “human” side of a business.
• Text chat: Some seminars include chat components for students to talk among themselves or submit questions.
• Polls and quizzes: Questionnaires, quizzes, and other “testing” content can be used to engage students and track their progress.
• Screen sharing: Content producers can share their screen to help explain something they’re doing in real-time.

What are Webinars Used For?

Whether live or pre-recorded, webinars can be suitable for a wide range of purposes. The most common type of webinar is the “educational” web seminar, where a presenter educates an audience on a field, they have expertise in. Other options include:

• Product webinars: These webinars are usually intended to demonstrate the abilities of a product or present a new product to shareholders and clients.
• Onboarding webinars: Intended for human resources purposes, onboarding webinars can help to welcome a team member into an environment where they’re going to be working.
• User onboarding webinars: Similar to standard onboarding webinars, user onboarding webinars can introduce a customer to a service or product, to help them learn how to use it.
• Employee training webinars: Employee training webinars are designed to share specific skills with groups of staff members in a business environment.

Many educational webinars are used as a way of capturing leads for long-term nurturing strategies, whereas product and user onboarding webinars are intended more for customer retention and support. Both of the above use-cases usually require a dedicated webinar software platform with in-built features to streamline the recording and sharing processes.

What are the Benefits of a Webinar?

Webinars have a lot of benefits to offer. Depending on the kind of webinar you run, you can use your educational experience to attract, nurture, and retain customers, engage employees, or simply establish your position as a thought leader. Some of the biggest benefits of webinars include:

• Thought leadership: When you deliver engaging, factual, and interesting content in the form of a webinar, you’re more likely to appear as an industry expert.
• Content creation: Recording your webinars gives you valuable content you can share to help convert customers in the future, through social media, email, and even your blog.
• Lead generation: Offered as part of a lead magnet, a webinar can help you collect the email addresses of customers who might be interested in your product or service.
• Employee retention: Webinars can help with training, onboarding, and supporting employees in a fun and engaging way.
• Brand reach: Webinars can be a great way to attract the attention of a wide range of new customers, particularly if you partner with other thought leaders on your lessons.