The growing popularity and accessibility of the Internet has changed the landscape of our communication practices. Direct interpersonal communication that connect a presenters to their audience used to be within the ambit of face-to-face meetings. In this day and age, however, an increasing number of people are able to present ideas, communicate thoughts and connect with their audience through web-based communication.
The worldwide web presents us with a wide range of modalities for online communication from blogs and social media feeds to podcasts and webinars. Each of these modalities have their own strengths and weaknesses depending on a communicator’s objectives and level of familiarity with the internet tools. Many of those who turn to online communication as a means to build a connection with their target audience, however, are often drawn to two of the most promising options: blogging and webinar presentations.
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How Blogs And Webinars Are Similar…
Saying it with a blog entry or a webinar presentation is a surefire way of engaging a target audience. More and more business organizations, teaching institutions and even individual netizens who want to develop and keep a connection with their respective audiences are turning to blogs and webinar presentations to create, develop and keep a connection with their respective audiences.
For many who use these modalities, the reasons are simple and the rewards are quite certain: content sharing begets an engaged audience.
Blogs and webinars are effective platforms for presenting ideas, sharing information and inviting discussions. If your objective in reaching out to your audience is to share useful and engaging content while also inviting an exchange of ideas and opinions with them, either keeping a regularly updated blog with a comments section that is checked and answered to on an equally regular basis or hosting a series of interactive webinars often does the trick.
Because both blogs and webinars could be created, maintained and hosted remotely, meaning none of the costs and time requirements of travel are in play, a much desired opportunity of being able to reach out to a greater number of audiences wherever they are and whenever they are available presents itself to those who utilize these online modalities.
Additionally, blogs and webinars could both be about developing niche and expertise in your field while at the same time providing interesting content that will make audiences come back for more information. Because the content of blog entries and webinar presentations could be identified, researched and prepared beforehand, these modalities allow bloggers and presenters to be their best, so to speak, in front of their audience.
Other experts in the field could also be invited to do a guest entry or presentation in order to project a higher level of credibility, which in turn serves as a means to attract greater following and more captive audiences.
Supporting images and infographics could also be utilized to simplify concepts and also attract audiences who want to be visually engaged.
…And Why They Are Different
While blogging and webinar presentations do have many similarities in many aspects, there are of course differences between them. For one, blogs are generally text oriented, meaning the native format of most blog platforms are oriented towards presenting text. This means that the more visual section of a target audience could find blogs more challenging. On the other hand, audiences who are more interested in reading about your ideas rather than listening to you speak about them could find it more challenging to sit through webinars.
Another striking difference between the two is of course the requirement of close and undivided attention. Reading blog posts require audiences to drop everything, or at least drown out background distractions, in order to focus and read through the end of your entry. Meanwhile, getting into webinars, which for the most part guides audiences through with the aid of voice communication, could be done alongside other things, say while traveling to work or running on a treadmill.
A blog also offers a more controlled environment as compared to a live webinar. With blogs, you can choose which information you are willing to share, and how far would you go to answer the questions and comments of your audience.
On the other hand, while you can delimit the scope of your discussion and be guided by an outline, you will be faced with almost instantaneous questions and comments as soon as you open the floor for such, and you will need to answer those lest you disappoint your audience.
Main Advantages Of Webinars Over Blogs
The main benefit can be as simple as you want a more engaged audience. Whichever way you look at it, webinars are more interactive as compared to blogs. Doing a webinar is doing instantaneous communication with your audience, face to face like a traditional seminar but conveniently and economically online. It gives you ample room to take in all the ideas, comments and questions of your audience and you could provide an answer or reaction as soon as they reach you.
Webinars are also able to handle a multimedia environment more effectively and to many audiences, being able to have a multisensory experience could make or break the connection you are trying to establish. Plus, in the core of it, a webinar presentation does not veer too far away from conventional face to face communication, an art that is for the most part lost in modern communication channels but is usually the model that virtual communication incessantly emulates.
Bottom Line
In reality, you don’t have choose one or the other. Blogs are good for business, period, no matter the industry or niche.
But, creating regular webinars alongside of running a blog will only enhance business and attract more leads, customers and consequently increased revenue.
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