It is not news that social media is a powerful tool marketers can tap into to reach and engage with their target audience. If you are not currently using social media to promote your webinars, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. Successful webinar programs tap into the power of social media to extend their reach, increase engagement, and drive registration. That being said, social media campaigns for webinars require proper planning in order to be successful. Here are 6 tips for successfully using social media to promote your webinar:
1. Choose the right social media platform for your webinar promotion.
Not all social media platforms are created equal. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, B2B industries will find LinkedIn to be more effective than Facebook or Twitter for content distribution. However, Facebook is often better for driving brand awareness. You need to know which platforms are right for effectively promoting your webinar. You will also need to know how your audience interacts on each platform and tailor your message accordingly.
2. Update social media cover photos to promote your webinar.
The cover photos on your social media pages are prime real estate to promote your latest webinars. You can add cover photos to Facebook pages, Facebook groups, LinkedIn company pages, YouTube channels, and more. When designing your cover photos, make sure you are using the latest size guidelines. If you do not have an in-house design team, Canva is a great online image editing tool that has templates you can use to create cover photos for each social media channel.
3. Add social sharing buttons to your webinar registration and thank you pages.
Let other people promote your webinar by leveraging attendees with social share buttons. These social share buttons should be incorporated on both your webinar registration and thank you pages. You can customize these social sharing buttons to share a specific message. For instance, with Twitter you can create a button that, when clicked, will tweet a specific message about your webinar along with a link to your registration page.
4. Use relevant hashtags for your webinar.
Hashtags are a great way to nearly double your engagement. Use a source like hashtagify.me to discover popular hashtags in your industry. However, choose your hashtags with caution. Using more than two hashtags, or using irrelevant hashtags can have a negative impact on engagement. Also consider creating your own webinar hashtag. This is great for not only pre-webinar promotions, but post-webinar engagement. Attendees can share their experiences using your hashtag, allowing you to monitor and participate in the conversation.
5. Tag presenters and brands to raise awareness.
Chances are your presenters have a pretty good following themselves. Tap into their followers by tagging the presenters in all social media posts. Tag any other brands that may also be affiliated with your webinar to encourage them to spread the word.
6. Set an advertising budget for your webinar.
Organic traffic on social media will only get you so far these days. It also only allows you to reach your current audience. However, if you are serious about increasing your webinar attendance, you should set aside funds for a social media advertising budget. The great thing is social media advertising is fairly inexpensive. A budget of $50-$200 can go a long way and introduce your webinar to an entirely new audience. The key to a successful social media ad is custom audience targeting. Social media platforms allow you to segment your audience based on age, gender, job title, industry, purchasing habits, location, and more. The targeting you set up will allow you to ensure your webinar is getting in front of the right people.
Need some assistance managing your webinar program? Whether you need help with just one piece of the puzzle or the entire process, our virtual event experts are ready to help! Contact us to get the conversation started.
