Running webinars can be a wonderful way to improve your audience engagement, provide value to your followers, and generate warm leads. For the busy entrepreneur or business owner, the logistics of hosting a webinar can quickly become complicated–which is where investing in a webinar platform steps in.
Let’s take a look at the top webinar platforms of 2024, as well as the benefits associated with this kind of high-value engagement.
Benefits of Hosting a Webinar as a Business Owner
While you can always host a webinar just for the joy of sharing information with your followers, this action also yields many advantages for the business owner. Let’s take a look at the top three perks associated with this outreach activity so you understand how best to leverage this revenue-producing tactic.
1. Increase Brand Awareness
Building brand awareness is an omnipresent goal when you’re running a business–and one way you can set yourself apart from a sea of competitors is by providing value to your audience.
In a world where knowledge is power, hosting a webinar (whether it’s to share information, demonstrate the value of your services, or review your own products) is a great way to provide your demographic with a unique taste of your brand and offerings. Scheduling your webinar(s) in advance is also a great way to create buzz, encourage shares, and welcome new visitors into your fold.
2. Lead Generation
One of the greatest aspects of hosting a webinar is that you can essentially use the time to nurture leads who are likely already interested in your business–otherwise they likely wouldn’t attend!
By adding a sales pitch at the end of your webinar, you are more likely to have a warmer source of leads, as they are essentially your captive audience. This could be the tipping point for a follower to transition from a passive observer to an active buyer–so take some time to draw up a quality plan.
3. Builds Credibility
Finally, hosting a webinar presents you as an expert on the topic at hand. This can help not only to establish credibility but also to build trust with your audience. This trust is as good as gold–both in the short term and the long term–for your business.
In fact, most people dislike feeling as though they’re “being sold to” but prefer to feel as though they have the inside scoop on something special that will bring value to their lives.
Top Webinar Platforms: 7 Best Tools of 2024
Hosting a webinar can be a rather large pain unless you take some time to discover the best platform to suit your needs. By assessing what you hope to get out of the webinar, you can make an informed decision on which hosting site to go with. Let’s take a look at 2024’s top webinar platforms!
1. Zoom
It turns out, Zoom isn’t going anywhere–even after the global pandemic, and for good reason. While Zoom does offer a free plan, it is limited in terms of participants to 100 per meeting, and webinars cannot exceed 40 minutes.
However, when you invest in a paid plan, the sky’s the limit. With the ability to share screens, integrate with CRMs and the mobile app, export attendance lists, and even white-label the webinar, Zoom is our first pick for a holistic, affordable webinar service.
2. GetResponse
Like Zoom, GetResponse also features a mobile app–but what sets it apart is that it also offers marketing solutions in addition to being a premium webinar platform.
With GetResponse, companies can customize their meeting URL with their brand, even offering services like integrated landing pages, nurture campaigns, automated follow ups, and other features. For businesses looking for a lead-capture platform that also functions as a webinar host, this is the option for you!
3. ClickMeeting
ClickMeeting is an affordable option for business owners looking to create more intimate webinars (up to 25 participants). With a built-in translation feature for international webinars, ClickMeeting also offers event pages, automated recurring webinars, breakout rooms, screen sharing, and more. Users also get the option to engage in a 30-day trial period for free.
4. ZohoMeeting
ZohoMeeting is ideal for clients who have already invested in Zoho’s suite of offerings. This platform provides branded registration forms and customized emails, scheduling, screen sharing, built-in polls, and no requirements to download the product.
Best of all, this platform is included in the Zoho bundle, allowing for up to 100 participants at 60 minutes a webinar! However, recording calls is an additional expense.
5. Webex
Webex is the ideal solution for international businesses with audiences hailing from countries all over the world. Simply select your desired language at the start of the webinar, and it will seamlessly be translated for all your viewers.
It is a free webinar solution, though meetings are limited to 40 minutes and 100 participants. Features of Webex include custom themes and branding, monitored Q&A sessions, breakout rooms, live polling, a chat function, and more.
6. BigMarker
What sets BigMarker apart is the ability to pre-record webinars and share them with your audience after the fact. When you do choose to share your webinar, you can join as a live participant, observing how your audience engages with the content.
This powerful platform can accommodate up to 50,000 participants and also provides landing page templates and other features–though you must contact BigMarker for pricing.
7. Livestorm
Maybe you don’t have time for a lengthy webinar, or you understand that your audience is not interested in spending more than 20 minutes at a time engaging with your brand. If this is the case, Livestorm might be the platform for you! With the ability to track analytics, engage with email support, and integrate directly with Zapier, this platform can provide an efficient way of getting the most out of those 20 minutes with your audience. Free plans do allow hosting of more than 25 participants.
Summary
By assessing your goals, understanding your audience’s needs, and doing your due diligence in researching the top webinar platforms for your business, you can make an informed decision when it comes to your webinar campaigns.
This will not only position your brand as an expert in your field, but will nurture leads, draw in more followers, and allow you the opportunity to engage directly with your viewers. With so many free options to choose from, why wait? You might be amazed at the positive effect this strategy will bring your business.
