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November 25, 2020

What to Consider while Choosing a Webinar Platform


 

Webinars are one of the most effective ways to connect and interact with your audience. Through webinars, you can share high-quality and educational content. Webinars are not time-consuming but they require a lot of planning, practice and promotion to ensure they are executed effectively.  Here, creating content is only half the job but you will also need to find the right technology and platform to ensure your webinar is a success.



While choosing a webinar platform there a few things that have to be kept in mind.

Your target audience

When choosing a webinar platform keep your target audience in mind. If your target audience belongs to a slightly older demographic then choose an easy-to-use webinar platform. On the contrary if your audience is younger then look for a platform that is compatible with mobile devices. In addition to this, you can also choose a platform that makes social media integration easy.

Number of attendees

If your webinar is said to have a large attendance then choose a platform that can accommodate those many people. Get a feel of your audience size before you invest in a platform.  

Budget

When you’re planning to invest in a webinar software, make sure you evaluate the features you need. More often than not the price of such platforms depend on the number of attendees that watch it live. If you are unsure about the number of participants, I would recommend you start small and then increase your attendance as you get more familiar with the platform.

Recording the webinar

Often many registrants don’t attend the webinar due to various reasons. In such situations, recording your webinar would prove to be very useful. Therefore choosing a webinar platform with this facility will be the right decision for you.

Engagement tools

Engagement is a central part of a webinar. Most webinar platforms provide chatbox features and a “raise your hand” feature. However, if you are looking for more features then there are numerous platforms like GoToWebinar, Livestorm, Nunify, Zoom and some who offer options of popup polls, audience reactions with emojis, chat boxes, video conferencing and many more.

Ease of use

While choosing a webinar platform it is important to remember that your platform has to be easy to use. Choose a webinar platform where features are plenty but are easy to navigate through, this will make it easier for your attendees as they won’t have to waste time figuring out how to use the platform. 

Integrated registration and ticketing

Registration and ticketing can often prove to be a bit of hassle and. There are webinar platforms that integrate event registration and ticketing. This feature allows the organiser to customize the brand registration process. An easy-to-use check-in option means attendees no longer have to struggle with complex steps and download processes to access an event.

The ticketing process is further simplified thanks to the availability of multiple payment partners. An easy fix to ticketing and registration issues would be to choose a platform that offers this feature.

Multi-streaming capabilities

Since we’re all living in a “social media generation” it only makes sense if we use it to our advantage. With social media platforms on the rise,  social media integration would be useful for webinar hosts.

There are a handful of webinar platforms out there that allow users to stream live content across social media platforms like YouTube (News - Alert) and Facebook. Streaming on these platforms will be incredibly useful, given the fact that these platforms are two of the most popular and most accessed websites in the world. This multi-streaming feature allows companies to amplify the reach while at the same time increasing ROI for sponsors.

Video and Audio Quality

We all know how irritating and frustrating poor quality audio and video can be. Therefore, it is important to choose a webinar platform that provides high definition streaming with minimum latency period. Latency period, also known as “lag” can ruin the entire viewing experience for audiences. By ensuring no virtual lag and high-quality streaming, your speaker will have full control over the entire discussion and the attendees, as a result, get a better live experience.

Support, Safety and Reliability

Conducting webinars leads to a lot of personal data being shared and as an organiser, it is your responsibility to safeguard the data. So while choosing a webinar platform, remember to keep safety and security in mind.

Choose a platform where data is encrypted and any kind of login done is secure, it is important that none of the data is shared to any third party.

The webinar platform you choose should also have accessible customer care and help service with quick response times.

To make things easier for you, here is an overview of some webinar platforms to choose from -

1. GoToWebinar - A popular webinar platform, created by GoToMeeting. This platform offers HD video recording, archived recording, polls and surveys, full reporting features and much more. The price for this platform starts at $89 per month for 100 attendees.

2. Nunify - A next-generation webinar and online events platform. Nunify offers a host of features aimed at making the process of attending and hosting a webinar easier. They have numerous engagement and networking tools like  1-on-1 video conference, private and public chat, activity wall, polls, gamification, breakout rooms, exhibitor booths, multi-streaming facilities and much more. Nunify allows you to host both in-person and hybrid webinars and has built in tools like registration, ticketing, event marketing tools, email remainders and live virtual event analytics.

3. Cisco (News - Alert) WebEx: A part of the Cisco family and products for remote work, Cisco WebEx offers lead generation tools, chat, branded registration and polls.

4. Zoom- Probably one of the most well known online events platforms, Zoom has gained immense popularity in the past few years. Zoom allows users to hold webinars, meeting and chat, video conferencing, provides a phone system and also a virtual market place where you can Power up scheduling, access files, generate sales leads, and collaborate with your team.

5. Hopin:  A virtual events platform with multiple interactive areas that allow users to engage with each other. Hopin is great for hosting events for small groups of people as well as for really large audiences with hundreds and thousands of people. Organisers can also make their events private by including passwords making it incredibly secure for everyone.

6. WebinarJam:  WebinarJam has a cloud-based broadcasting technology that allows users to reach up to 5000 people in one presentation with ease. WebinarJam allows up to six presenters which means you can host roundtables without any difficulty.

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