Webinars are a relatively easy way to reach and educate a wide audience. With no geographical barriers, webinars provide the perfect platform for you to reach attendees from around the world.
To start with, here are just a few benefits of hosting a webinar, and the top reasons why webinars are leading the way:
- Positions you as an expert in the real estate industry
- Make sales without blatant selling tactics
- Generate new leads
- Reach a wider audience
- Engaging and interactive content
- Offers viewers valuable insights and knowledge
- Opportunity to collaborate with other industry leaders and leverage their following and expertise
- Foster existing connections
- Speed up your sales process and get a faster ROI
With the right strategy, you can hold your audiences’ attention in a way that videos simply cannot achieve. This is largely due to the interactive portion in which your audience can ask questions and get real-time feedback on the training. They can also be viewed at a later date by those who signed up, but weren’t able to attend the live session.
Needless to say, when done well, you have a powerful tool for growing your business, brand, and client base. Want to get the most value out of your webinars? Take a look at our tips and tricks for hosting the perfect webinar for your real estate business
Choose your Webinar platform
So now that the benefits are crystal clear, it’s time to carefully plan and strategize. The first thing you want to do is choose your platform. Consider hosted platforms, such as YouTube Live, Instagram Live or Facebook Live.
Facebook Live remains to be one of the most popular platforms for live stream, as it lets you broadcast from your page to all your followers straight inside their newsfeed. Its simple to use interface allows you to easily go live from your mobile device or your desktop. If you want to increase your engagement, we would recommend Instagram Live. This effective tool will improve your chances of reaching potential millennial homebuyers, and you can invite others straight into your stream. Lastly, YouTube Live videos can be added to your real estate marketing channel after your webinar, which means you’ll see the best results with a long term content strategy.
Other platforms include, Webinarjam, which is built on top of these hosted platforms for an elevated experience. There are also a number of self-hosted platforms such as GoToWebinar or Zoom. Since these platforms are specifically designed for webinars and live events, they offer a number of features and benefits that make creating your webinar simple and professional.
Topical and Timely
When hosting a webinar, there are two key things you need to consider: choosing a relevant and engaging topic that demonstrates your credibility, and broadcasting your webinar when you can attract the largest audience.
When selecting a topic, it needs to appeal to your audience. What are their pain points? What are they interested in learning more about? What questions are they asking? Check out your most popular blogs, newsletters, past videos, and do a Google keyword search to find out what people are asking. Consider these tactics your most valuable sources of information!
Consider picking a time that accommodates all time zones. Studies have found mid-week, particularly on Wednesdays or Thursdays, at 11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time attracts the highest attendance.
The most effective way to promote your webinar
For the best results, we recommend that you start promoting at least 2 weeks in advance. Running a campaign for a full two weeks is the perfect way to create a sense of urgency, but still gives you time to reach a larger attendance.
Create a landing page for people to register for your webinar with all the necessary details. Then send them to a confirmation page that confirms they’ve successfully saved their spot. A Webinar hosting software, such as GoToWebinar, can help automate this process for you.
For your current list of clients, send out emails and newsletters inviting them to your webinar two weeks before the event.
Hosting your webinar: Best practices
When the day arrives, it’s time to host a killer webinar! How do you do that? Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Practice in advance!
- Tell a story, make it personal and keep it real!
- Having a script can be helpful and important to stay on track, but make sure it doesn’t detract from your presentation
- Engage with your audience during your webinar.
- Your audience can offer great valuable feedback, so ask them questions
- Initiate a conversation with them every 4-5 slides.
- Leave plenty of time at the end of your presentation to answer questions
- Incorporate features throughout, such as polling
- Make sure you end with a strong CTA
The bottom line is, a great webinar offers your audience valuable information that positions you as an expert in the field. Think of it more as a conversation, and not as a sales pitch. For the best results, make sure the first 70% offers valuable advice and information, and then the last 30% can be your CTA and sales pitch.
In the ever-changing world of digital marketing, webinars have earned their place as one of the most effective and innovative tools. Webinars offer real estate agents an opportunity to showcase their knowledge about the industry in an easily digestible format.
