There are many elements that attribute to the success of a webinar program, such as relevant and valuable content, an engaging speaker, and use of the right technology.  Above all that, however, you need an audience. You could have the best program in the world, but it nobody is there to hear it, does it exist?

Enter social media. When planning the webinar integrating social media into the process can help you to achieve the results you desire. Social media will help you do three things: inform, engage and reinforce. Use it during the promotional stage to inform potential audience members about the webinar. Use it during the webinar to engage those attendees in the conversation. Lastly, continue your use of it post event to reinforce the message.

So… how can you add social media components to your existing webinar promotion, production, and post event strategies?

Part I: Before the Webinar

Thanks to social media, your potential audience is essentially limited only by the number of people in the world. Well, at least those in the world who are already using social media sites like the Facebook’s 500 million active users, the 90 million users of Linked In, or Twitter’s 175 million. It is most likely that you are already using either one or all three of these platforms. If you are currently not using any social networks this may be the time to get involved.

The first way to apply social media is to conduct research and limit your audience recruitment to those who would be interested in your topic. You want find out where the conversations about your topic are happening and spend time in those networks or discussion boards. To start you can look up groups on Linked In or Facebook that are related to what your webinar will be about. You will want to then join those groups you have identified. Most groups will let you in rather easily, as they want to develop the community of their social media network. However, some Linked In groups may require either certification in the field, references, or even a written request that outlines the reasons why you should be allowed to join the group.

Once you have joined those groups you need to get involved with them and become a member of that community. Ask and answer questions, link yourself to other members, and offer related content that others would be interested in. Once you have firmly established yourself as a member, post a link and a description of your webinar. By first establishing yourself, instead of just promoting yourself, other group members will be more likely to listen to you and attend the webinar.

Don’t forget about Twitter either! By doing a twitter search of terms you can see who is talking about your specific topic. Look at those top users who are tweeting about your topic and start following them.  Most likely those you start following will follow you back. This search and follow method is one way you can create your own network of followers on twitter, which is important when you eventually post a tweet about your webinar. Also, look up your speaker and see if they have an account and follow them. You can also look at who they follow and see if those people would be interested in your topic.

The next step in using social media would be to promote the webinar on social media networks. Now that you have established yourself, or further extended your reach, you can begin to actively promote the webinar. Below are some of the techniques you can use on the different networks:

  • Create blog posts about the topic and your upcoming webinar; make sure to include a link to the registration page
  • If your organization has a facebook page or group post the webinar information to it
  • Post information to those relevant groups that you joined
  • Add social sharing to the email campaign so recipients can invite their friends/followers to the webinar
  • Post to facebook events and Linked In events and invite your network
  • Tweet about the webinar as often as possible. Twitter posts fade quickly and you want keep your followers informed!
  • Invite the speaker to blog & tweet about the event
  • If possible, post a teaser of the webinar
  • Set up a twitter hash tag and share it in all promotional communications (this will be important during the webinar!)

The above list if far from complete, I am positive you will be able to think of other creative ways to use your social media to promote your webinar. The point is that the more you put the information out there, the more people will be able to find it. As the social media expert Jay Bear said “every conference has the same MVP: some guy named Google. Why would you pass up a chance to double, triple, quadruple your search engine listings?”

Using social media to promote the webinar is just the first step. The next installment of this three part series will be focused on how to use social media on the day of the webinar.

By Jessica Kleppang