Discussion Leaders:
Kate Coffey-Bacon, VP Marketing, U.S. Transactions Corporation
Megan McDonagh, Senior Partner Marketing Manager, Celigo
Adam Holmgren, Head of Demand Generation, Rillion
Moderated by: Tania Konczynski
Webinars have come a long way from their initial rise during the pandemic. As in-person events return, the value of virtual engagement remains—yet with new challenges and evolving audience expectations.
In a recent panel discussion featuring insights from industry experts Megan McDonagh of Celigo, Kate Coffey-Bacon from UST and Adam Holmgren of Rillion, the conversation centered on the current trends, challenges, and innovations shaping the future of webinars. Here are some of the top takeaways on how to engage audiences, optimize webinar strategies, and future-proof your virtual events.
Quality Over Quantity—The Power of Focused Content
"Less is more." This mantra, as emphasized by Megan, reflects a shift in the strategy many companies now use to tailor their webinars. Rather than hosting multiple, broadly focused webinars, teams are shifting towards fewer, more targeted events. This approach not only helps organizations cut through digital noise but allows them to focus on their core areas of expertise.
Pro Tip: Leverage data-driven decisions to determine which topics matter most to your audience and optimize these insights for future webinars.
Post-COVID Webinars— A Renewed Focus on Re-engagement
The panel agreed that post-COVID, the webinar landscape is about continuous re-engagement, especially with audiences who may have "tuned out" from information overload. Megan shared her strategy at Celigo for running a re-engagement program aimed at partners who may have previously opted out. The program encourages partners to opt in again and receive relevant, carefully curated content.
Re-engagement Strategy: Send out monthly newsletters and partner spotlights as a way to reconnect with audiences, ensuring they remain invested in the long-term webinar journey.
Accessibility and Inclusivity: The New Webinar Standard
Inclusivity and accessibility were key themes, particularly for Kate, who highlighted the importance of making webinars more accessible to all participants. With features like closed captions, transcripts, language translations, and multilingual content options, organizations can now ensure that webinars reach a broader audience, thus aligning with the needs of people with varying accessibility requirements.
Quick Win: Utilize webinar platforms that offer accessibility features, ensuring your content is inclusive and can be accessed by all audience members.
Driving Engagement Through Interactivity and Gamification
The audience's active participation in a webinar can be transformative. Kate discussed using chat functions, polls, and gamification to foster a sense of shared experience among attendees. These tools not only make the experience more enjoyable but help reinforce content, leading to better retention and application.
Actionable Tip: Experiment with interactive features within your webinar platform to add layers of engagement. Think polls, Q&A sessions, and even mini-games related to your content.
Building Series-Based Content—The Power of Continuity
For Kate and her "Power of Connection" series at UST, the concept of webinars as a series rather than one-offs has been instrumental in boosting engagement. Her series on networking and leadership development has seen attendance double with each subsequent session, demonstrating that a connected, ongoing series drives growth and keeps audiences coming back for more.
Pro Strategy: Consider converting your webinar into a series where each session builds on the last. Promote future sessions during each event to encourage immediate re-registrations and develop a loyal audience.
Creating Value for Non-Attendees
Adam noted the increasing challenge of encouraging live attendance as people become more selective about the events they join. However, by creating tailored content for registrants who can't attend live, organizations can still engage and provide value. For example, asking registrants upfront if they plan to attend live or watch later allows marketers to adjust the follow-up content accordingly.
Optimization Idea: Build alternative engagement paths for non-attendees, like offering bonus resources or post-webinar summaries tailored to their interests.
Repurposing Content: Maximizing ROI on Webinars
Another central theme was repurposing content to maximize the return on investment for each webinar. As Tania pointed out, marketing teams often overlook this step, but it's crucial for reaching broader audiences. Brands can make each webinar go further by recording it, extracting highlights, and distributing segments across various channels.
Pro Tip: Think of each webinar as multiple content opportunities. Break down the recorded session into bite-sized clips, infographics, or blog posts, and share them across social media, newsletters, and other platforms.
Webinars—A Science and an Art
As these experts agreed, webinars will increasingly require marketers to blend creativity with data-driven insights. From inclusivity to re-engagement and interactivity, successful webinars are those that are meticulously designed for engagement, optimization, and value. By incorporating these latest trends and tailoring your approach, you can build webinars that are more than just events—they become experiences that resonate long after the session ends.
Final Thought: Webinars are still evolving, but by focusing on meaningful connections, personalization, and inclusivity, brands can continue to reach and grow their audiences in impactful ways.
Resources From Our Panelists:
https://www.goldcast.io/ — Megan's favorite digital events platform.
https://letterdrop.com/ - Social selling tool.
https://www.opus.pro/ — Kate's favorite tool for splitting videos into smaller parts and posting them on socials.
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