How to Create Engaging Webinar Content

Webinars offer tremendous opportunities to build your sales funnel and your reputation within your industry. With webinars, you can speak directly to your audience. It means you can answer their questions in real-time, tailor the material you create to address their needs, and build yourself up as a trusted resource. This personal interaction is a key reason why over a third of marketers say that webinars produce better quality leads than other lead generation strategies. To accomplish these goals, however, you need excellent webinar content. Creating a compelling webinar doesn't require complex narratives, but it necessitates the use of informed, engaging, and dynamic content that captivates the audience throughout the session.

Creating great webinar content becomes significant when it aligns with the objectives of both the business and the audience. Your content helps you achieve your webinar objectives. Presenting content that aligns well with your customer interests will allow you to generate more leads. You also want people to enter your webinar sales funnel, engage further with your brand, and even become customers. Fortunately, there are some strategies you can use to uncover the topics that will resonate most with your audience. You can also use our tips to create outstanding webinar presentations that keep the audience interested and engaged. Here is what you need to know.

Why does webinar content matter?

Some individuals within a company may argue that webinar content is unimportant. After all, they reason that obtaining the lead has already accomplished the mission, right? Well, not exactly.

There is a distinction between the company's demand generation goals, such as acquiring leads, building pipelines, and driving conversions, and the goals of the audience, which revolve around solving problems and gaining knowledge about specific issues. Great webinar content lies at the intersection of these goals, aligning the company's expected outcomes with the audience's desires. Once we have acquired the lead, it becomes our responsibility as marketers to assist our customers in resolving the problem that led them to provide their email addresses in the first place.

How to create great webinar content

Selecting a topic and a plan for a webinar cannot be done randomly. You need to methodically determine how you want to identify your topics and what you want to focus on as you build your presentation.

Download Hubilo's Essential Guide to Repurposing Webinar Content

Here are the steps to walk you through creating webinar content.

Get to know your audience

One of the most common mistakes marketers make when planning a webinar is neglecting to consider their audience's demographic. Instead, they often forge ahead with their ideas, only to be disappointed by poor audience engagement.

Here's a question: Would you employ the same email marketing strategy for a lawyer as you would for a graphic designer? Most likely not. So why should webinar content be treated any differently?

Investing some time to identify your target demographic and then tailoring the subject and content of your webinar specifically to them is crucial. This approach not only pleases your audience but also makes creating relevant and compelling content easier.

By understanding your audience's needs, preferences, and characteristics, you can deliver a webinar experience that resonates with them and provides genuine value. This level of personalization fosters engagement, enhances the overall webinar experience, and increases the likelihood of achieving your desired outcomes.

As you narrow down the particular audience you want to target, consider the topics that interest them the most.

• Look at the types of webinars you put on in the past, including the audience they drew and the success you saw from them. 
• See what topics have begun to dominate the conversation within your industry. Consider recent announcements, controversial topics, or new developments that will likely interest people.
• Speak with your sales representatives to learn what live interactions might benefit their leads. For example, they want to engage mature leads with product demonstrations or Q&A sessions.

Choosing topics for your webinars

Choosing an excellent webinar topic for a presentation can be a simple process. Here are four effective approaches to finding a superb webinar topic:

• Look at your best-performing content: Review your existing content marketing efforts, such as blogs, white papers, case studies, and customer surveys. Identify the topics that have received positive feedback and engagement from your audience.
• Analyze your most engaging organic and paid social posts: Consult with your social media lead to identifying organic posts that generate significant comments and shares. Additionally, collaborate with your lead-generation team to determine which paid ads have received the highest click-through rates.
• Interview your customer success team: Your customer success team interacts with customers daily and possesses valuable insights into their pain points, challenges, and needs. Tap into their expertise to uncover potential webinar topics that address these concerns and resonate with your prospects.
• Directly ask your audience: Engage with your existing webinar participants by requesting their input through short surveys at the end of webinars. Alternatively, leverage social media platforms to ask your audience about the topics they want you to cover. A quick tweet or a LinkedIn poll can provide valuable insights from your target audience.

Organizers often need to correct a significant mistake by selecting a generic topic due to their enthusiasm for sharing knowledge. As a result, they attempt to cram everything they know into a limited time frame. Instead, choose a topic or a specific area that is narrow enough to address key points effectively and provide tangible benefits to your audience. Focus on progressing in a particular direction with that chosen topic, ensuring your attendees a more focused and valuable webinar experience.

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Finding the proper webinar format

Webinars can take various formats, depending on the topic you want to cover and how you want to structure your webinar. Let's explore a few of the most common options. 

Interviews

For an interview webinar, you can interview an influential expert in your industry using methods such as phone, on-screen, or screen share. This webinar format is highly engaging but allows the guest to go off-script. To prepare for the interview, provide the expert with a list of questions a few weeks before the webinar. Ask them to prepare their answers in advance, giving you an idea of what they will discuss. Take the time to review the questions together and discuss your needs and expectations before the live session.

Q&A 

In a Q&A webinar, questions from the audience drive the discussion, resulting in a high level of engagement. Collect the questions ahead of time to review and select the most relevant ones. This pre-selection process helps ensure that the webinar stays within its designated duration. An expert from the industry or your organization is well-suited for this format. It provides a valuable opportunity for your audience to directly address your company's executives and gain insights from their expertise.

Panel discussion

Panel discussion webinars involve bringing together experts to discuss a specific topic, offering diverse perspectives to the audience. It is an effective way to provide valuable insights and foster engaging conversations. To ensure a successful panel discussion webinar, properly preparing the panelists for the format is essential. They should be knowledgeable about the topic and have a good rapport with each other. Additionally, having a skilled moderator can help facilitate and keep the discussion on track. Organizing a panel discussion webinar can offer your audience a well-rounded and dynamic exploration of the subject matter.

Presentations

Presentation webinars are widely used in various industries and involve a speaker delivering a PowerPoint presentation while delivering a pre-written speech. This format is popular because it is relatively easy to create and allows for structured content delivery. However, it's important to note that the engagement level of presentation webinars can vary depending on the enthusiasm and experience of the presenter. If the presenter lacks enthusiasm or is inexperienced with the format, the webinar may not be as engaging as desired.

Presenters should strive to deliver content enthusiastically and incorporate interactive elements such as polls, quizzes, or audience participation to make presentation webinars more engaging. Additionally, visuals, storytelling techniques, and real-life examples can captivate the audience's attention and enhance the webinar experience.

Develop a captivating story

Craft a compelling narrative for your webinar. Use storytelling techniques to engage your audience and keep them interested throughout the session. Structure your content with a clear introduction, main points, supporting examples, and a memorable conclusion. The value and effectiveness of your webinar rely on the relevance and emotional relatability of your story to your audience. To deliver a clear and engaging webinar, you need to have a single, specific premise that you can summarize in one sentence. 

The structure of your webinar story is vital, and you can take inspiration from the narrative structure used by literary giants. By dividing your webinar into Acts, you can guide your audience through your ideas while keeping them focused on your central premise.

Here's a webinar template structured with Acts:

Act 1: Introduce and establish the problem

Act 2: Build the significance of solving or not solving the problem

Act 3: Provide a resolution to the problem

Crafting a compelling webinar story is akin to telling a joke. The sequence and timing of critical elements are crucial, and any misstep can lead to awkwardness. When determining the length of your webinar content, consider the amount of valuable content you have. If you can address and resolve an audience's pain point in 20 minutes, there's no need to stretch it to 60 minutes. Avoid filler content, as it can detract from the overall quality and engagement of the webinar.

Read and Learn: How to Add Energy, Impact, and Results at Every Stage of Your Webinar

Create a webinar structure

You must avoid relying on improvisation alone to ensure a well-structured and focused webinar. Instead, clearly define the session to ensure you head in the right direction. Even in formats such as interviews or Q&A sessions where a detailed script may not be feasible, crafting a road map to follow is essential. 92% of your attendees say they want to see a Q&A session at the end of webinars. Every webinar should incorporate the following elements: include a compelling introduction, establish a logical order of main points, deliver a motivating conclusion, and, in many cases, provide a relevant call to action. These elements help maintain the session's coherence and prevent it from deviating off-topic. 

Consider creating an outline or plan that clearly outlines the critical points of discussion, similar to a roadmap. By providing your audience with this structure, they will clearly understand what will be covered and when enhancing their engagement and comprehension of the webinar content.

Write a compelling webinar script

Develop a powerful and interesting script to create an engaging webinar. While incorporating facts and statistics can be compelling, ensure the tone resonates with your target audience. Keeping an audience engaged for more than 30 minutes can be challenging, so crafting a compelling story is essential to capture their attention and maintain their interest throughout the session.

Using examples to illustrate the critical points in the script can enhance the audience's understanding of the information. Whenever possible, involve the audience in these examples to demonstrate how they can directly benefit from the webinar content. By crafting a captivating script and incorporating relevant examples, you can create a webinar experience that educates, engages, and resonates with your audience.

Remember, as you create the script, you want to keep the entire presentation interesting for your target audience. Note where you can create polls, surveys, or breakout rooms to encourage interaction among the audience members. Keep your presentation personable, and do not make it seem like you are reading off a series of slides. After you create your script, doing run-throughs of the presentation can help you cement your pacing and ensure that you know how everything will run to keep the presentation moving effectively.

Create great webinar slides

Create webinar slides that will draw people's eyes and their attention. Including interesting images that apply to your presentation, highlighting key facts, or using video and sound clips that accentuate different topics in your webinar can make your presentation more interesting and interactive for your target audience. Choosing slides in a webinar depends on the format best suits your story. Here are some situations where slides can be beneficial:

• Audio-only webinars: Slides can provide visual support and help keep the audience engaged when there is no video component.
• Complex information: Slides can help present intricate or data-driven content, making it easier for the audience to understand and follow along.
• Instructional content: Slides can serve as visual aids to guide participants through step-by-step instructions or demonstrations.
• Visual reference points: When the topic relies on visual elements or examples, using slides can effectively reinforce and illustrate key points.

It's important to remember that slides should complement and enhance the story rather than overshadow it. The primary focus should be on the presenter delivering engaging content.

How to Make Great Slides

Creating impactful slides involves following a few essential guidelines. Here's how to make great slides for your webinar:

• Start with the story, not the slides: Avoid hastily assembling a deck by reusing old, disconnected slides from previous webinars. Instead, begin by developing a cohesive narrative that aligns with your topic.
• Begin with a blank slide: Utilize a blank slide to outline your entire webinar using bullet points. Organize these points into Acts or sections. Each bullet point becomes the basis for its slide, providing a visual framework for your story.
• Engage your audience in the story: Craft a compelling and relevant narrative that resonates with your audience emotionally. Use your slides to create interactive moments throughout the webinar, such as polls and questions. These engagement opportunities will keep your audience connected and involved. Don't reserve Q&A solely for the end; encourage participation throughout the session.

The Dos and Don'ts of Great Slide

Follow these dos and don'ts to create great slides for your webinar:

Dos:

• Use images to evoke emotional connections, even in unexpected contexts. Cute puppies and kittens are universally appealing.
• Emphasize the main points using bullet points to make them clear and memorable.
• Utilize screen share to provide real-time demonstrations, which are highly engaging.
• Include supplemental resources such as links, downloads, other webinars, and landing pages to provide added value to your audience.
• Incorporate video to convey your story and enhance the visual experience effectively.

Don'ts:

• Avoid overdesigning your slides, considering the screen size of your audience.
• Refrain from including excessive details on your slides due to limited screen space.
• Minimize animations and transitions, as they can be distracting on various screen sizes.
• Refrain from overloading your slides with excessive text. If your topic is better suited for a book format, reconsider using a webinar.
• Only pitch your products or services at the appropriate time. Maintain the trust of your audience throughout the presentation.

Use video and multimedia in your webinars

Consider how you can use video and multimedia in the webinar. These visuals can draw audience members and help them feel more connected to the presenters and your brand. Video offers numerous opportunities to enhance webinars, providing a multimedia experience beyond screen shares or slides. It allows presenters to introduce interesting concepts that may require more effective conveyance through other means. Here are some ideas for incorporating video into your webinars:

• Conduct special guest interviews: You can pre-record interviews with experts or guests and include them in your webinar. By setting up the interview with slides and playing relevant portions during the live event, you can expand the presenter's format without the complexities of coordinating a live panel.
• Integrate video clips throughout the webinar: Enhance each act of your webinar story by incorporating short videos. Particularly for audiences in the awareness stage, videos evoke more robust emotional responses than static slides, fostering engagement.

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Reuse webinar content

Repurposing webinar content can be a simple operation. There are several effective methods for repurposing old webinar content for new digital experiences:

• Deliver a new webinar using existing content: Minor updates to the copy may be necessary, but overall, this method allows you to present the same content to a new audience, similar to experiencing a beloved Disneyland ride.
• Present an old webinar as a simulive event: This involves promoting and presenting a previously-recorded webinar as a live event. However, it's essential to ensure that audience-interactive elements, such as dated polls, do not undermine the simulive illusion.
• Create a new live webinar or webcast incorporating elements of old material: Rather than piecing together segments from different webinars, and this method focuses on building a new narrative while utilizing valuable content from the past.
• Transform pre-recorded webinars into "always-on" content: Particularly suitable for evergreen webinar topics, the always-on content offers your audience continuous access to self-serve educational material, similar to videos on your website.

Regardless of the chosen repurposing method, successful marketing is crucial. Promoting the event through inbound channels should commence at least two weeks before the scheduled date. The material you have created for and during your webinar can present various opportunities for your brand if you know where to look.

Some great ideas for reusing your webinar content include the following:

• Use the questions and topics inspired during the presentation as excellent subjects for blog posts.
• Use your recorded webinar as a gated, on-demand webinar that more people can register to watch on their own time.
• Use the webinar recording in a 'thank you' email that you can send to your participants to encourage them to rewatch the presentation and remain engaged with your brand.
• Create an email funnel based on webinar participation to nurture more potential leads and encourage people to purchase.

Create better webinars

Building an effective webinar takes dedication and perseverance. You must ensure you fully understand your audience's interests and content needs. Then you must design the presentation structure and script based on the targeted topic and format. When you put all this work into creating a webinar, you want the highest possible ROI from your efforts. Planning, empathizing with your audience, utilizing a high-quality webinar platform, and effectively employing storytelling techniques to create great webinar content are essential. Storytelling techniques play a vital role in creating engaging webinar content. Crafting a compelling narrative that captivates your audience's attention and evokes emotions will make your webinar more memorable and impactful.With its easy branding options and effective webinar platform, Hubilo can help you create webinars that fill your sales funnel and keep your audience engaged throughout the session. By leveraging Hubilo's features and capabilities, you can deliver a seamless and interactive webinar experience that leaves a lasting impression on your attendees. Ready to take your webinars to the next level? Request a demo of Hubilo today and see how it can empower you to create outstanding webinars that drive results.