5 Ways To Drive Customer Engagement With Webinars

Many companies have had to find new ways to drive customer engagement. Often, and especially over the past few years, they have turned to digital channels to do so. One great option for driving customer engagement is to host a webinar.

A webinar can help connect customers to both your business and to each other. It can also give you some great opportunities to expand your marketing. Let’s explore why webinars are so effective at engaging audiences and building relationships.

1. Harness the Power of Video

One reason webinars are so powerful is that they allow you to open a two-way channel with your audience. Often, this is done via video. For example, during a live presentation, a host can use video to ask attendees to respond to a poll, answer questions and more.

As a medium, video helps to engage your audience and make them feel like they’re a part of a conversation. By empowering your audience to actively engage with your message, you can more easily collect valuable data on who your audience is, what they’re interested in and provide your sales team with actionable insights.

2. Create Opportunities for Discussions

Digital marketing today — especially B2B marketing — depends on creating and nurturing relationships with audiences. Webinars help by providing opportunities for discussion and customer engagement.

As part of a webinar, you can set up chat spaces and breakout rooms where attendees can chat, swap ideas and discuss the topic at hand. Creating these opportunities can transform the way prospects and buyers think about your brand.

3. Foster Peer-to-Peer Networking

Webinars are great mediums for virtual networking. Webinars, in fact, provide organizations with the ability to nurture a professional community. Attendees ought to be able to take advantage of that community and participate in peer-to-peer networking during an event.

To help build these connections, use your webinars or virtual conferences to host special networking events. Give attendees the opportunity to do a virtual meet-and-greet, swap contact information and explore professional opportunities through tools like ON24 Breakouts. Not only will this draw in more attendees, but it will also make your business a valuable hub of industry connections.

4. Provide Valuable Content

Webinars provide attendees with a lot of valuable content. And valuable content is important: customers aren’t looking for companies that shill products, they’re looking for partners who will provide them with real, valuable content.

When you host a webinar, share your knowledge and advice from your years in the industry. Give customers insider tips and tricks, professional advice and industry secrets. Hold nothing back! This kind of valuable content improves brand reputation, brings in new customers eager to learn and fosters a collaborative community built around your brand.

5. Establish Yourself as an Expert

So your customers have fantastic content. Great! Now use your webinars to establish yourself as an expert in your field. After all, customers want to know that the companies they’re working with are experienced and knowledgeable.

A webinar gives you an opportunity to show off your industry expertise and help you to move conversations — both in deals and in industry thought leadership — forward. When customers need a product or service you sell, they’ll think back to your webinar and what you had to say.

Use Engagement to Grow and Refine Your Database

Of course, one of the keys to strong marketing is having a good contact list. Whether you’re sending out emails, social media posts, or physical mailers, you need a strong audience to send to.

A webinar is a great way to add more people to your contact list and start getting them introduced to the amazing benefits your brand has to offer.

More importantly, webinars provide you with the opportunity to add more relevant professionals to your database. With the right setup, you can use webinars to measure audience engagement and intent, automate sales outreach or nurture a prospect on their buyer’s journey.

Use Webinars to Drive Customer Engagement

Webinars are a fantastic way to bring in new customers and get your current customers more engaged with your brand. Everything from the video format to the opportunities for social and professional interaction makes this a great way to drive customer engagement. Your customers will leave feeling better than ever about your brand, and you’ll come out with more loyal customers and potential leads.