When your webinar is finished, your work is far from over. Timely post-event activities will ensure your audience — and you — can get maximum value from your presentation, says Ellie Mirman, head of small and mid-size business marketing at Hubspot, a marketing software company based in Cambridge, Mass.
“You want to strike while the iron is hot,” Mirman says. “Timing is everything. You should get the pertinent information out to them quickly.”
Mirman offers the following suggestions to help you get the most from your webinar through an effective follow-up program:
> Distribute documents
Your audience might not have had time to copy down all the important information you presented.
You can do them a big favor by sending out the content of your presentation in PDF form, so it can be viewed — but not easily altered.
Just be sure to let your audience know beforehand to expect those documents. It’s as simple as: make a promise, keep a promise.
> Post a recorded version
To maximize the potential reach of your webinar, consider uploading it to your website as an audio/video file.
This way, you will have a record of your discussion readily available, and others can tune in again or catch up on what they missed if they were unable catch the live event.
You can post a link to your webinar on your social network of choice to ensure you drive maximum traffic to your website.
> Respond to questions
Perhaps you didn’t have time to answer every question posed by audience members during your webinar. If that is the case, create a list of questions, and answer them by email.
By the same token, Mirman says, present your audience with a way to reach you should future questions arise. Remember: you are building your profile as an expert in a subject area; you don’t want to do your webinar and then go into hiding.
> Update your contacts database
In all likelihood, your foray into the world of webinars has offered up some new professional connections.
Be sure to catalogue their names and contact information immediately. And don’t let this task sit in your “to do” pile for an extended period.
> Direct your audience to future events
You may have already considered what your next webinar topic might be. Or you might have other events planned that you want to promote to your audience.
Through your webinar, Mirman says, you have established credibility with a group of like-minded individuals. So, marketing upcoming events directly to this qualified audience makes a lot of sense.
This is the fourth article in an occasional series on webinars. Next: Using analytics to measure your webinar’s effectiveness.