10 Webinar Promotion Tips: How to Promote a Webinar Effectively (Updated)

Let’s face it. Webinars have become as common as coffee in the morning and for a good reason. They’re an easy way for subject matter experts to distill information to a target audience and increase brand awareness, generate new leads, accelerate leads through marketing and sales pipelines, and retain customers.

In this post, we will share our best practices and favorite tools and technology for promoting a webinar to help you increase the quality of your next event.

10 Ways to Promote a Webinar

Webinars are one of the most versatile tools in a marketer’s toolbox for engaging with a target audience. According to Live Webinar, at least 83% of U.S. marketers find webinars effective. So, it is no surprise that webinars are a vital part of the plan when marketers are planning event strategies. When done correctly, webinars can significantly increase your brand’s visibility and position your organization and personnel as thought leaders in the market. From hosting a presentation to conducting training, webinars are one of the most powerful mechanisms for sharing content and creating connections – not to mention one of the most cost-effective and easy to use.

1. Know your Target Audience

A common mistake when advertising a webinar is failing to understand your target audience’s needs. Before kicking off any marketing campaigns, it’s best to define your target audience and then research the habits and desires of your target audience. Knowing their extrinsic motivations (external drives and rewards) and intrinsic motivations (internal drives and rewards) will help you identify their challenges. Then, you can ensure your campaigns clearly communicate how the content in your webinar will solve these challenges.

Pro tip: use social media platforms such as Sprout or Oktopost and conduct social listening. Identify the words your target audience uses in their digital conversations, such as “anxious” or “excited,” and then incorporate them into your marketing. Make sure your audience knows you can speak their language!

2. Do Social Correctly

One of the most effective ways to promote a webinar is through social media. This goes beyond routine posts on your platforms. To differentiate your webinar on social media, use visuals such as original graphics and teaser videos that clearly communicate the purpose of the webinar. Ensure each post has an easy-to-understand CTA, so your audience knows how to register. 

If the budget allows, consider running paid ads on social media. Paid ads will allow you to retarget people in your CRM and/or have recently visited your website, LinkedIn page, etc. You can also partner with industry influencers and ask them to promote your webinar on their social channels. Both strategies will help you increase and expand your reach.

Be sure to create a branded hashtag for your webinar and use the hashtag in your promotional campaigns. The hashtag will attract attention to your event and help develop a sense of community.

3. Prioritize your Landing Pages

Landing pages should include a catchy headline describing what the attendees will learn or gain from the webinar, an agenda overview that showcases your speakers, and a clear CTA. Ensure not to confuse your audience with too many CTAs. Set one clear CTA that can't be missed. Similar to 

social, create eye-catching graphics and visuals. If you have a teaser video, include it! According to wyzowl, 95% of Marketers said that posting and adding videos into their content strategy helped them generate leads. Check out the latest and informative 6Connex blog post on the five steps to creating a landing page that converts.

It’s also essential to ensure your page is optimized for sharing. Add two to four social share buttons to your page and encourage people to share your webinar’s landing page on their social channels. Another benefit to including share buttons is that they increase social proof. If you display the share counts, landing page visitors will see how often others have shared your page and intuit the experience as valuable. 

4. Consider Hybrid

Traditionally, webinars are held virtually. However, hybrid event solutions are becoming popular, and by incorporating offline attendees, you can up the “wow factor” and increase reach and engagement. Hybrid webinars are also an excellent way to attract hard-to-get speakers since travel isn’t required to participate. Remember, a hybrid webinar is more than just a live-streaming event. This an event that should be run on a platform that is beneficial not only to your in-person attendees but you're online as well.

One of the primary reasons people attend events such as a webinar is to network. When planning your event, identify several “touchpoints” for your online and offline audiences and then leverage state-of-the-art event technology to host your webinar. The right solution will enable online and offline audiences to interact through features such as chats, business card exchanges, Q&As, polls, direct messaging, and more.

Once you’ve planned your hybrid webinar event, market it as a hybrid webinar

event! The webinar’s hybrid format can differentiate your organization by proving your global approach to business and flexibility.  This is especially important after the event. With the right event technology, your in-person attendees can network with your online attendees, extending their networking opportunities globally.

Also, advertise the hybrid webinar format as a buy-one-get-one or value-add, and highlight how your online and offline audiences can connect with each other and network – in addition to consuming the webinar content. This can be extremely helpful if you work for a remote company and your employees are located globally. Some employees can attend in person, while others can attend virtually. It's a win-win!

5. Go Mobile

An overwhelming majority of your target audience, regardless of their location, will most likely have access to a smartphone or tablet. Unfortunately, marketing content such as a landing page can render differently on a mobile device than on a laptop or desktop. If your promotional content isn’t optimized for mobile, you run the risk that your audience might not see the message correctly or interact with the content as intended. Therefore, ensure your email campaigns, landing pages, registration pages, and more are all mobile-optimized. 

For pre-event marketing, you can consider a mobile event app, such as 6connex’s Eventory platform. Mobile event apps like Eventory provide an ecosystem of tools that help you streamline your events management, organization, promotion, reporting, and so much more. Stay ahead of the game with mobile-ready pre-event marketing and registration for your audience. But that's not all! They also offer in-event engagement tools, post-event marketing, and event statistics and reporting – streamlining all your event workflows to ensure event success. The power is at your fingertips, literally!

6. Don’t Overlook Your Blog

The more touchpoints with which your prospects interact, the more likely they will convert and attend your webinar. According to SalesForce, it takes 6-8 touch points to generate a lead, so the more visibility your webinar has, the better chance you can get people to attend. By publishing a high-intent blog post about your webinar, you can use an SEO strategy and website traffic to increase awareness and provide potential attendees with one more touchpoint. 

Your blog post should communicate how the webinar content will relate to the “big picture” and reiterate your event’s value propositions. Be sure to include at least two calls to action in the post that link to the webinar’s landing page and promote the blog post through your regular marketing channels, such as email marketing and social media. You can also consider asking one of your webinar presenters to write a guest blog and encourage them to promote the blog post to their own network.

Remember, too, that once your webinar is over, you can make the event available on demand and use your blog to drive traffic to the webinar content continuously.

7. Encourage Employee Advocacy

It takes teamwork! Ask your employees to promote your webinar. Create different types of content for social media, such as carousel posts, quotes, video teasers, audiograms, infographics, and more, and then ask your employees to share the content on their social media platforms. Make the content available in a company-wide email or post it on a Slack channel to ensure everyone has received the content and instructions for posting.

Some social media tools such as Hailo, Ambassify, Sprout, and Oktopost enable you to create an “Employee Advocacy Board,” where you can place social media content for all channels on one platform and allow employees to log in and share content in a single click. One of the benefits of employee advocacy is that it is easily scalable and increases exposure without requiring ad spending – decreasing your cost-per-registration. Pro tip: If your organization is global, create posts in multiple languages for your employees to share. Your employees will be more likely to share “personalized” posts, and your event reach will grow!    

8. Send Emails

Despite all the new digital tools available, email marketing can still be a cost-effective way to reach your target audience and drive webinar registrations. Remember that because your email reaches an opted-in audience, the reader is likely already familiar with your brand, so the content should be specific and concise. Be sure the email message focuses on the webinar’s value and answers the question, “Why should I attend?” 

Also, give some thought to your email send strategy and create an email send calendar that staggers promotions over a set period of time. This way, you avoid inundating inboxes with a barrage of promotions. Don’t forget to pay attention to sending dates and times as well. If, for example, your target audience is enterprise professionals, they’ll be less likely to open a promotional email on a Monday morning. 

9. Offer Incentives

Promoting a webinar can be a great way to generate leads and grow your business, but it can be challenging to get the word out. One effective strategy for 

promoting a webinar is to offer incentives such as an e-book, webinar checklist, free trial, or registration discount. Offer this magnet in exchange for signing up for your webinar. Just make sure you choose incentives that tie into the theme of your webinar and that your attendees will find valuable. Pro tip: include an incentive for attendance, not just for registration. A live attendee is a higher-quality lead than one who registers and doesn’t attend.  

10. Showcase Speaker Accolades

One of the most overlooked methods of promoting an event is highlighting the speakers’ accolades. Speaker accolades can build trust and credibility with your potential audience, inspiring more registrations. 

Most awards and certifications have branded digital logos and badges. Use these logos and badges in your event marketing: website, social media, email, brochures, etc. Also, include links to media coverage your speakers have received and links to their newsletters, websites, guest blog posts, LinkedIn pages, podcasts, books, and presentations. Pro tip: in addition to logos and digital badges, use pull quotes, video clips, and soundbites if available, especially on social media. 

BONUS TIPS

11. Create Countdown Timers

Countdown timers are one of the best ways to build urgency around your webinar. They visually remind potential attendees that time is running out to register, creating a sense of urgency that can drive more sign-ups. Here's how you can leverage countdown timers effectively:

In Email Campaigns:

• Create an attention-grabbing countdown timer in your email, right at the very top. Emphasize just how little time is remaining until your webinar starts, so they're motivated to act.
• Update that timer for every single one of your email series. This means that for your very first email, the countdown may be in weeks but as the event draws nearer, the sense of urgency will build up with day-to-day reminders.

Landing Pages:

• Showcase a large countdown timer on your registration page, preferably around the call-to-action button. This will visually make up their minds for those who are sitting on the fence.
• Employ dynamic countdown timers, adjusting to the user's time zone, which will make the countdown feel more personal and timely.

In Social Media Posts:

• Include countdown timers in your social media posts and stories, especially where the platforms support it with built-in features, like Instagram and Facebook.
• Include countdown reminders in event posts and update them as the date gets closer to keep the momentum going.

You want to show them at multiple places by integrating countdown timers. That way, you can keep visible reminders of limited time to registrants. This method nurtures FOMO and often leads to more conversions.

12. Retargeting Ads

Retargeting ads allow you to re-engage with the people who have shown interest in your webinar but didn't complete their registration. By placing retargeting ads at strategic places, you remind them of the value of the webinar; hence, increasing your chances of converting those initial visitors into attendees. Here's how you can implement retargeting ads:

Segment Your Audience:

• Utilize website tracking tools, such as Facebook Pixel or Google Ads, to track visitors who land on your webinar registration page but leave without registering. These are the prime candidates for retargeting
• Segment users by the stage of the registration process where they dropped off, such as people who made it to the payment page but never completed it, or those who simply viewed the page.

Create Compelling Ad Copy:

• Dwell on what they are missing. Utilize ad copy in your retargeting ads that convey the value they will gain from attending the webinar: for example, exclusive insights, expert speakers, or actionable takeaways.
• Add social proof like testimonials or statistics of previous successful webinars to help gain trust and build credibility.

Offer Limited-Time Incentives:

• Use scarcity such as a limited-time incentive to prompt these users to sign up through your retargeting ads: "Last chance to register!" or "Only 3 spots left!"; provide some special discount or bonus content if they complete registration within the next 24 hours.

Optimize Ad Frequency:

• Be aware of the frequency at which you show your ads. Running too many ads in a short time may irritate potential registrants, while running too few may not achieve the effect you want. Strike a balance to remind them but not overwhelm them.

Retargeting ads are one sure way to bring users back to the webinar that they already know and to push them toward signing up.

13. Participate in Industry Forums and Groups

There are industry forums and groups on LinkedIn, Reddit, and other niche industry-oriented communities that are goldmines for webinar promotion. It is a platform to elocute directly and share webinars as a resource among customers. Here's how engaging has worked:

Converse on Threads:

• Engage actively in active discussions in groups and forums revolving around your industry. Contribute to the value and share useful insights without directly pitching your webinars.
• The more value you bring into the community, the more your webinar will be viewed as an extension of that value. Position your webinar as a resource to solve specific pain points discussed in the forums.

Mind Community Rules:

• Many groups and forums have strict rules about self-promotion. Before posting about your webinar, familiarize yourself with these rules to avoid appearing spammy.
• Instead of overtly promoting the webinar, try sharing useful content that ties into the theme of your webinar (e.g., blog posts, infographics, or videos). At the end of your post, subtly mention the upcoming webinar as an opportunity for further learning.

Create Custom Posts for Each Platform:

• Share your webinar on private and public groups on LinkedIn, but make sure the message has to be tailored based on group interests. Personal introductions and no generic postings, please.
• On Reddit, join relevant subreddits to your subject matter. Join discussions that have been flowing, and once you gained good credibility, link up to your webinar as one useful resource.
• On niche forums, consider your posts as a part of the ongoing conversation. Share your insights or ask questions that invite others to join in, then reference your webinar as an extension of the conversation.

Offer Exclusive Access or Discounts:

• You can give them special access or a discount on registration as a special incentive for the forum or group members. This creates a sense of being special and builds a sense of exclusivity in the group members.
• When you engage authentically in industry forums and groups, you build trust and credibility in the community, which pays off in not only more attendees but also more recommendations.

Partner with the Right Event Technology Provider

There are many effective ways to increase awareness and drive registrations for your next webinar. The right event technology provider will be able to share best practices and support the marketing with email send tools, mobile-app-enabled registration, and more. 

According to Live Webinar, 78% of hosts used a designated webinar platform over a video platform like Vimeo or YouTube. The 6Connex virtual event platform is the most robust and holistic solution on the market. Through our unique approach to event experiences and with the support of our 24/7 live chat and other tools, you can be sure your next webinar will be successful. Request a virtual event platform demo today to find out why event organizers and their teams are choosing 6Connex.

Case Study: 4.0 

4.0 invests in new, community-centered education models and provides coaching, curriculum, community, and cash to those with the imagination to create a more equitable education ecosystem. Over the last decade, 4.0 has worked with more than 1,500 diverse, inspiring leaders to bring hundreds of education-focused ventures to life. These programs have gone on to benefit more than nine million students across the country.

Challenge: Host Events that Reflect Attendees’ Engagement Needs

The 4.0 Essentials Fellowship is a longstanding program that serves as a gateway into education innovation. The program is geared towards individuals with nascent ideas who have yet to bring them to fruition. The fellowship takes place over four months in a virtual format and guides participants from concept to preliminary prototype development. After the fellowship, fellows organize a small-scale, temporary demonstration of their prototype for families, educators, and students to test and evaluate. Through participation in the Essentials Fellowship, fellows gain a comprehensive understanding of the education landscape, build community, acquire new skills, and learn best practices for kickstarting an education project and measuring its success. 

To facilitate Essentials Fellowship events and activities, 4.0 had previously utilized virtual platforms and experimented with webinars and virtual panels. However, the 4.0 team quickly recognized that a meaningful virtual experience would entail more than live streaming.

Both the Essentials Fellows and 4.0 educators are hands-on, interactive educational professionals who relish meaningful conversations, and virtual presentations alone weren’t providing a satisfactory attendee experience. Therefore, the decision-makers at 4.0 sought virtual event technology capable of hosting meetings and fostering engagement.

How 6Connex Delivers 

6Connex partnered with 4.0 to support the Essentials Fellowship program and create events and activities that fit the audience well. With the 6Connex virtual events platform, 4.0 was able to: 

• Capture event data to measure event engagement and success
• Easily facilitate attendee feedback to improve the fellowship program
• Efficiently train 4.0 staff and fellows to use the technology
• Leverage powerful engagement tools to maximize event participation and accessibility
• Enable in-event interactions between all participants

Read the entire case study here.

The 6Connex Webinar Difference

6Connex is a leading virtual event platform that enables businesses to create and host in-person, hybrid, and virtual events. The platform offers a range of features, such as virtual exhibitor booths, live streaming, and attendee matchmaking for easy networking. It’s widely used in myriad industries for marketing, sales, recruitment, training, HR, communications, event planning, and more.

6Connex empowers you to engage and transform big event ideas into real-world results. Additionally, our company has fantastic customer service, and our clients enjoy a dedicated team always available. Schedule a virtual event platform demo today. It’s on us.

Now on-demand!

"Embracing AI in Events: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges"

Dive into the future of events with our insightful webinar, "Embracing AI in Events: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges,". Join our esteemed speakers: Dahlia El Gazzar - Founder of DAHLIA+ Agency, Stephen Kaufman - Chief Product Officer at Inriver, and Henry Tran - CTO at 6Connex

Explore the transformative potential of AI in event planning, and engagement, and the challenges it may bring. Stay informed and inspired as we navigate the thrilling opportunities and challenges that AI brings to the dynamic world of events.