10 Essential Webinar Best Practices for Great Online Sessions
Webinars have always been popular ways of flexing expertise, and they only increased in popularity at the height of the pandemic, when everyone was working from home and glued to their computers.
And although people are returning to the office, webinars remain a go-to strategy for disseminating information in a live, collaborative fashion—while making that critical human-to-human connection.
With that in mind, it pays to follow webinar best practices (similar to how you would carefully plan a corporate event). By paying attention to your technology, your branding, and a variety of other critical details, you can host high-impact webinars that wow your audience members and turn them into great customers.
Learn more about our events strategies by downloading the Events On A Budget eBook.
10 Webinar Best Practices to Follow
For best results, follow these proven techniques for high-impact webinars:
1. Have an assistant working in the background.
A webinar assistant can be completely invaluable during your webinar.
As the host or moderator of a webinar, you have a lot of responsibilities. You’re tasked with:
- Introducing the webinar topic
- Introducing any guest presenters
- Moderating viewer engagement levels
- Moderating viewer comments and questions
- Maintaining a consistent flow
- Presenting slides and graphics
- Developing graphic overlays for consistent branding
That’s a lot of work.
And an assistant can take a lot of it off of your plate! In fact, an assistant can take on everything related to technology so you can focus solely on giving a great presentation that the viewers genuinely enjoy.
2. Understand your technology inside and out.
The software you use to run your webinar likely has more tools built into it than you realize.
We’ve seen countless companies run boring webinars that are boring in part because the person running them didn’t realize they could share screens, add branded overlays, or that their app had a built-in chat feature.
But there’s even more.
Some tools today offer break-out rooms, dynamic subtitles, and much, much more.
The better you understand your technology, the better you can leverage it.
And that translates into better experiences for your guests!
3. Invest in great video and audio.
This should be obvious, but it’s worth getting into.
Here’s a brutal truth: Few people are going to care if you have crystal-clear audio and video.
But everyone will think less of you if your video is blurry and your audio crackles.
With high-quality and video, you can provide a killer presentation your guests will love!
4. Nail your branding.
Your company has likely spent countless hours developing a logo, brand colors, branding guidelines, and more—all in the pursuit of creating an eye-catching and engaging company persona.
Don’t let that fall by the wayside.
Most webinar tools have the ability to tie in your logo, brand colors, and much more. Be sure to incorporate these custom elements so that your webinar feels like a branded event!
5. Hype up your marketing.
A webinar deserves marketing at two different stages: before and after.
If you’re going to hold a live webinar, be sure to promote it ahead of time. Email your clients and prospects, post about it on social media, add a link to your website—do whatever it takes to get the word out.
6. Make it easy to access.
You put a lot of time and effort into your webinar. Make sure it pays off!
Whether you “gate” your webinar (see our blog on gated content) or keep it in your YouTube channel, make sure it’s easy to find.
7. Practice ahead of time.
A great webinar starts with great preparation. Up until now, we’ve talked a lot about technology.
But we also need to talk about you—and your presenters.
Proper preparation is everything.
For example: We have a lot of experience in podcasting. Every great episode comes down to great preparation from both the host and the guests.
Webinars are the same way. The better prepared you are with your notes and talking points, the better your delivery will be.
Rehearse ahead of time so you’re prepared for potential bumps in the road!
8. Mentor your moderators.
If you’re planning a live webinar, a great moderator is an incredibly valuable addition to your team.
We’ve had the misfortune of watching unprepared moderators flop their way through live webinars.
It’s not great.
Sometimes, this happens unexpectedly. A moderator suddenly gets nervous in front of the camera, and they start to fumble.
Other times, a moderator is thrown in last second, and they’re unprepared.
Either way, it’s best to ensure your moderators are properly trained and ready to roll!
9. Promote it afterward.
Your webinar isn’t done just because you stopped recording or presenting.
Publish the video somewhere people can access it (like your website or YouTube channel) and push people to watch it.
10. Break your webinar into other assets.
A great webinar is a valuable video asset that typically comes packed with informative slides and provocative thought leadership.
You can turn this into a variety of other assets for your blog, social media, and email campaigns, including:
- Focused blog posts (which can be assembled starting with your webinar notes or with the audio transcript)
- Engaging infographics
- Social media quote graphics
- Quick reels for Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok
Bonus: Translate your content into multiple languages.
Mr. Beast is a popular YouTuber with nearly 140 million subscribers.
One of his best (and most clever) tricks to getting there is by investing in translation services—often paying for both translated captions and an overdub.
Think about that for a second.
There are roughly 1.5 billion people in the world who speak English as a first or second language. But there are nearly 8 billion people worldwide.
By investing in translations, he’s also investing in the number of people who can enjoy his content—which helps him reach more people overall!
Find Expert Support For Your Webinar
If you’re looking for additional support in running your next webinar, contact us! We can help you coordinate your webinar at every stage—initial marketing, script development, social media posts, and more!
Learn more about our events strategies by downloading the Events On A Budget eBook.
Patrick Schober
Founder, Creative Director
Hi, I’m Pat! After spending a few years after college as an editor-in-chief for a company located outside of Philadelphia, I moved across the state to Pittsburgh and used my skills as a writer to transition into the exciting and competitive content marketing industry.
I started Poetica Marketing in 2018, and I’ve since helped companies and professionals all over the world enhance their online presence while increasing sales!
A writer at heart and a strategist by trade, I’m passionate about creating compelling written and visual content for SEO performance and social media.
When I’m not in the office, you’ll find me writing the latest article for Monster Riff, catching another rock concert, or diving deep into a book.