After the Webinar: 7 Strategies for Keeping Your Audience Engaged

Webinars are an excellent way to educate your audience about a topic at the exact moment they want the information. But now that your webinar is over and your audience has moved on to other things, how can you continue to engage them?

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that will be successful for every company or industry, and the best technique depends on the content you presented and the needs of your audience. But no matter what, it’s important to keep the momentum going after a webinar has ended.

Engaging your customers in a discussion about what they learned allows them to actively retain the information instead of passively watching a screen as a presenter speaks. After all, many people attending your webinar may not have even heard of you before, so it’s critical to present educational content that makes an impact—and keeps them coming back for more.

Here are the top 7 tips on how you can accomplish this:

#1. Try Live Q&A Sessions

Live Q&A sessions are beneficial because they offer real-time interaction with attendees who can ask questions or comment on a topic.

By answering their inquiries via Twitter or Facebook, you can actively engage them in a discussion instead of them passively watching as the presenter speaks—a win-win situation. You never know what type of inspiration might strike your customers as they’re learning about your product!

You can also use live Q&A sessions to answer questions from attendees that you didn’t have time to address during the webinar or ask questions attendees can answer via text or on social media sites.

You can use a tool like the webinar platform by Vimeo to host a live Q&A session or screen-capture the video for more marketing materials.

#2. Encourage Social Media Sharing

By including a few different ways to follow up after the live event, you’ll increase engagement and increase the odds of receiving referrals from your attendees.

When you’ve finished your webinar, ask participants to keep the momentum going by sharing their thoughts with their friends or professional networks on social media. Many people are more likely to click on a link or tweet if it is shared by someone they know and trust.

Social media is another valuable channel for customer service, offering real-time support and responding to any questions that didn’t get answered during the presentation. Remember, attendees will retain more information when they talk with each other about what they learned during your webinar.

#3. Follow Up with Content

When someone subscribes to your company’s newsletter or signs up to receive periodic updates and offers, there’s a good chance they’re interested in learning more. Don’t waste the opportunity. Send them additional educational content to reinforce what they learned during the presentation.

You can thank your audience for attending in many ways, but offering follow-up content via email or upon request is definitely one of the best.

Give them valuable insights that will help them accomplish their goals, whether these are tips to begin using your products or client success stories you think they might find helpful. The possibilities are endless!

Not only will this strategy positively impact customers’ experiences with you and your brand, but it will also give people an incentive to continue following up about topics that interest them.

#4. Offer Additional Resources

After attendees return to their work, they may face obstacles that prevent them from utilizing the information they learned during your presentation. If it’s possible within your product roadmap, consider offering resources that will help them overcome those challenges and achieve success.

For example, if you’re an SaaS company and you hosted a webinar about increasing business efficiency, then you could offer additional resources that allow customers to maximize the benefits of using your products or services.

You can also share success stories that relate to the topic at hand whenever possible. These types of testimonials look great on your website and social media channels, and there is no better way to convey the value of what you do than by highlighting real customers who have seen results.

#5. Host a Follow-up Webinar

Hosting another webinar is one of the most effective ways to increase engagement and drive sales. You can build upon what you started with your first event and perhaps give people an opportunity to earn professional continuing education credits in the process.

If you’re looking for new customers or just want to increase brand awareness, hosting a follow-up presentation after your initial offering can be highly beneficial because it speaks volumes about your company’s commitment customer service and ongoing education.

It will also benefit attendees if they can earn continuing education credit hours while learning more about their industry. Having additional educational content available for repeat visitors ensures that when they come back, they’ll be more likely to stay engaged and return frequently—all great things for your company.

#6. Monitor Social Media Channels

Monitoring what attendees post on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites is another fantastic way to keep the momentum going after your webinar has concluded. One of the best ways to increase engagement with your brand is to acknowledge people’s posts. Being positive goes a long way.

Offer congratulations—even if it’s simply a like or retweet on Twitter—to those who are spreading the word about their experiences. If someone asks a question that you can’t answer in real-time, let them know that you’ll address it later via email or through another channel of communication.

#7. Invite the Audience to Follow Up

People are always eager to learn more about their industry. By inviting them to be part of an educational email series, Facebook group, or other online community, you can give them information that can help improve their business processes or professional practices and create goodwill by showing your customers how much you care about their success.

Leaders in many industries build loyalty by offering this type of content because it shows customers that they genuinely want to see people succeed, leading them to continue purchasing from you and referring others for years to come.

Webinar marketing doesn’t stop as soon as you say goodbye. Keep them engaged, increase conversion and build your brand by following these strategies.