The advent of social media has deeply changed the way companies communicate with their customers. What was once a one-way communication to offer products or services has become a two-way dialogue, with companies offering marketing pitches and customers discussing their feedbacks within the unifying realm of social media.
Through social media, communication barriers between companies and customers have seemingly disappeared, and what’s left on its previous path is a string of social media tools to help boost marketing strategies. It is thus not surprising that companies and marketers who want to harness the power of this phenomenon have quite cleverly taken to task the development of their own social media campaign. Given the breadth and variety of popular social media platforms available these days, the key question then is which tools could really help boost a company’s social media campaign?
To answer this question, a quick description of our social media landscape is in order.
- First, 74% of Internet users are on social networking sites, with Facebook, Twitter and Youtube as the most popular social media platforms.
- Second, our generation of social media users have also ushered in an online video explosion.
With 700 videos shared every minute on Twitter and Facebook users sharing videos 12 times more than texts and links, online videos are undoubtedly the most widely viewed and shared online content. Given the popularity of videos, marketers can thus guarantee the success of their social media campaign by integrating the use of webinars.
So, how can webinars help boost a social media campaign? Let us count the ways.
Table of Contents
Webinars Build Brand And Establish Expertise
One thing is certain: You are not the only marketer who is using social media to generate awareness on your brand and your company is not the only one providing that product. You need to differentiate your brand from the rest and you need to stand out from among your competitors.
Webinars provide a platform to exhibit your uniqueness and expertise in your field without testing the patience of your audience with lengthy written rhetoric. Product brochures that provide a visual representation of your brand was a hit when they debuted in the market precisely because they captured targeted information in an easily digestible form. Imagine how you could hit the nail using a video as an even better and extraordinary medium. Remember that in social media, being remarkable, short and sweet is key.
Webinars Are A Cost Effective Way To Connect With A Target Audience In Your Niche
The cog that turns social media’s wheels is instantaneous interaction. Social media has taken the world by storm because it provides a venue to make possible and amplify the reach of our social interaction. Webinars take the principle of social interaction a notch higher with its ability to simulate face-to-face conversations despite physical distances.
You can describe your product better than any printed or online content and your audience, while also interspersing visual tools such as photos, illustrations and infographics with your presentation. Webinars are the visual cousins of telemarketing and you can talk to your target audience, respond to their questions, and encourage their interest in your product while they see for sure that you’re not batting an eyelash. And all these you can do without spending a single cent on travel costs or long-distance phone call. You can also have utilize your company’s existing website or free video hosting sites such as Youtube and not spend any additional costs against your marketing budget.
Webinars Increase Your Brand’s Presence
Social media goes by the adage Sharing is Caring, and with good reason. In the world of social media, remarkable content means shareable content, and shareable content creates multiple presence. A single content can spark a prairie fire of viral content, thus establishing an almost boundless reach for your brand. Because videos are indeed the most shared content in social media, webinars can do what no other online content could do in terms of increasing traffic to your website landing page, Facebook page or even Amazon storefront.
Including a built-in share button in your webinar also facilitates its sharing to your audience’s social network. Because they are in video format, webinars are also friendly to mobile users, who are fast becoming the more active section of social media enthusiasts. Webinars could be viewed by your target audiences even if they are using just their mobile phones, which could actually be challenging when viewing other forms of online content.
Webinars Can measure Your Marketing Reach And Return On Investment
Social media has created for marketing an entirely different reach and return patterns that operate on an easily measurable platform. Back in the day when marketers communicate with customers mainly through traditional media formats of print, broadcast and billboard advertising, it was almost impossible to accurately measure the number of customers reached, let alone conversions made.
With the age of social media all upon us, marketers now have tools to accurately measure the reach and return of their marketing pitches literally at their fingertips. You can even have a counter built on your webinar to know how many times it was viewed and shared over social media from the moment you make an announcement for your upcoming webinar to even when you are already past your webinar launch.
Webinars Can Boost Your Entire Marketing Campaign
Webinars can indeed help boost your social media campaign, but they can definitely do more than that. You can also utilize them as a component of your whole marketing campaign by including links or screen shots of your latest webinar in your e-mail marketing or print advertising materials or by featuring your webinars in the landing page of your website. You may even use your webinars when you do presentations, marketing pitches or customer conferences in person as you would use any other presentation tools.
Final Thoughts
The uses of webinars in your social media and marketing strategies could indeed be limitless if coupled with the right amount of creativity and awareness of the changing characteristics of audiences and customers.
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