A webinar is defined as an online seminar that connects the audience to a webinar host (web + seminar = webinar), so an on-demand webinar is a webinar that is pre-recorded and can be viewed at any time.
Around 30% of your audience will watch the on-demand version of your webinar, rather than the live event, so on-demand webinars are increasingly being used as a way to extend the life of content and encourage further engagement long after your live event is over.
73% of B2B marketers agree that webinars are the best, and most effective way to generate high-quality leads, so on-demand webinars are the perfect way to attract increased attendees and generate more leads.
Typically, only 30-40% of people who register for webinars will attend the event live on the day. This is often due to scheduling conflicts inhibiting registrants from attending your live event at the allocated time.
And so, this is where on-demand webinars come in handy…the 70% of registrants that don’t attend are clearly interested in the content, but are unable to watch for whatever reason. With on-demand versions of your webinar available, people can enjoy the flexibility and freedom to view your content whenever they want, from anywhere in the world.
This means you can extend the shelf life of your webinar content and your global reach by hosting it on-demand, as it’s not limiting your audience to those available on the day. Attendees can tune in to your webinar regardless of their geographical location - meaning people can attend your webinar from the regions and even internationally.
Setting up a webinar channel is an effective way to promote your on-demand webinar content. For me, the best analogy here is the supermarket: my local supermarket has everyday items, such as bread, at the far side of the supermarket, so I have to pass all manner of other enticing products on my way over to the bread section. Typically, I will pick up one or two other items as I go. In this instance, people will likely watch more of your webinars if they are browsing your webinar channel and it’s available immediately on-demand.
By utilizing a webinar channel you can encourage increased views, engagement and boost lead generation. All you need to do is ask users to fill out an online form each time they register to watch your on-demand webinars and you can generate even more leads.
There are several interactions you can utilize during a live webinar that can also be used in an on-demand webinar to encourage engagement, increase viewing time and prevent drop offs. These interactions include:
The webinars resources section is a list of additional resources that attendees can access or download to increase engagement long after the live event. This resource section is also available for on-demand webinars, which means you can drive attendees to relevant resources, such as blog posts, eBooks, website links, or even a link to the registration page for your next event.
In addition to resources you can add a chapters tab to your webinar, which enables attendees to jump to a specific section whenever they like. So if you have three presentations and a Q&A portion at the end, you can create a chapter for each of these sections. This creates a better user experience, as people can decide to watch specific sections of the on-demand webinar with ease.
Measuring on-demand webinar performance can be time-consuming when you have to download data from one platform to then load it into your own CRM. However, the good news is that most on-demand webinars can be integrated with your CRM, so you can embed your webinar in to your CRM and access all of your webinar and CRM data in the one place.
On-demand webinars are only as good as your promotion. If you convert a live webinar to on-demand, send one email to your database and then forget it exists, then don’t expect it to be a success. It’s essential that you keep promoting your on-demand webinar across all channels, like email, social media and even paid.
Using social media is a cost-effective, simple way to promote your on-demand content. You can simply refresh the creative and the messaging to help breathe new life into a previous webinar.
Another way you can promote your on-demand webinars is to promote them as part of your live events. Referring back to a webinar may prompt attendees to go back and view the on-demand versions, which may inspire them to share this on social media and before you know it, you have a whole new audience.
While on-demand has its merits, so too do live and Simulive webinars, which means that you should be mindful of your webinar format during the planning stage. For example, if you’re presenting an evergreen topic then it’s perfect for an on-demand webinar. However, if your content is topical or trending, then it’s better suited to a live event.
