Webinars are quickly becoming a go-to tactic for many marketers to drive leads and create an engaging experience over the web.

According to a report by Content Marketing Institute, over 60% of marketers have reported using webinars as a regular tactic.

As you increase the relevance of webinars in your marketing arsenal, it is essential to keep in mind some dos and don’ts to maximize the outcome for your organization.

When producing a webinar, there should be only two critical focus areas, i.e., audience and content. While delivering the webinar, if you are not focussing on any of them, there is something wrong.

Hence, the following are the biggest mistakes that you could make while delivering a webinar:

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Talking about yourself first

While sharing who you are and the company’s achievements, you must realize that the audience is attending your webinar for your content.

They can easily find information about you and your company online, or you can consider adding a LinkedIn URL to your presentation.  As already discussed, your only focus should be on the content. The last thing you want to do is squander an opportunity to deliver the message to them when you have worked so hard to have them attend your webinar.

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Sharing the screen

Screen sharing is the most commonly followed practice and is far from the philosophy of focusing on the audience and content.

Sharing the screen means your audience is subjected to a messy desktop, email notification pop-ups, or instant messages on Skype. This results in a poor delivery experience, thereby annoying your audience.

As webinar technology is evolving, you can do many other exciting things nowadays. Sharing the screen is the last thing you want to do.

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Relying solely on PowerPoint

The idea behind conducting a webinar is to deliver an immersive experience over the web. The more you engage the audience, the more memorable the experience will be for your audience. Hence, along with your PowerPoint presentation, you should consider adding some audio files, a short video clip, a picture, etc.

Webinartechnologies have evolved to provide a platform for 2-way communication over the web. It would be best if you harnessed it to create an engaging experience for your audience.

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Allowing more than 3 seconds of silence

Your audience interacts only with the speaker’s voice within the webinar. There are no facial expressions or body language to communicate the point.

Sound connects the audience to the point.

This is especially true if you haven’t planned other engagement modes like live polls, video clips, etc.

Any more than 3 seconds of silence means that your audience starts thinking either their or your internet connection went down or that someone is facing technical challenges, thereby leading to drop-offs.

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Conclusion

As discussed, webinars are quickly becoming an effective and cost-effective tool for lead generation over the web.

As you start adopting this tactic and using it regularly to engage with your audience, you need to follow some proven best practices to create the maximum impact for your organization.

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Looking to host a successful webinar? Learn the 4 things you should never do to avoid common pitfalls. Need guidance on webinar best practices? Contact us to ensure your webinar is a hit.