A video webinar is one of the best ways to reach a wider audience. You can use them to build deeper relationships with your customers, show them how to use your products and services—and even increase your sales.
Indeed, webinars themselves are excellent ways of providing value to your customers, with research showing that as many as 40% of your attendees turn into qualified leads.
In this article, we’ll be taking a look at why you need to create videos for your webinar and how to create them. By the end of the article, you’ll be in a better position to create an awesome webinar that generates the results you’re looking for.
What Is a Webinar?
When most people think of a webinar, they think of a live stream in which someone speaks directly to their audience. Sometimes there’ll be a chatbox present but other than that, a webinar is actually pretty basic stuff. All a person needs is a webcam and they can in theory start streaming a webinar.
What is a Webinar Video?
Webinar videos are basically video clips that you playback during a webinar. They could be anything from a promotional video to a how-to video. They’re not the same thing as your live stream, which simply requires your computer webcam.
Why Add Videos To Your Webinar
We get it. You’re hosting a webinar and talking directly to your audience. So why do you need videos? Surely you’re already broadcasting to them?
Videos give your webinars a bit more pizzazz. They increase engagement because they’re more visual than simply showing your audience blocks of text all the time. Instead, they get to hear you and they get to see some accompanying visuals.
Not just that, but they break your content up a bit. If your audience has to sit there just listening to you talk for 30-60 minutes, it can become monotonous. As a consequence, their attention might wander.
A video, then, allows you to throw a different content strategy into the mix, enlivening your webinar and bringing your ideas to life.
It’s also worth mentioning that presenting a webinar can be challenging, especially if it’s a fairly long webinar that lasts over 45 minutes. At some point, you might need to address your notes or gather your thoughts. In such cases, adding a pre-planned video gives you a bit of breathing space. It also means you’re not staring directly at your audience from your webcam the entire time.
How To Create Videos For Your Webinar
The great thing about adding videos to your webinar is that you can be as creative as you like. You can pre-record videos yourself and edit them using AI tools (like AI text to speech tools) before adding them to your webinar, or you can use clips from other videos.
Promotional Videos
Whether you use a promotional video or not depends on the type of webinar you’re recording.
If your webinar is designed to sell your company to people, it might be a good idea to build some momentum by adding a promo video.
For instance, you might include a video of a recent, successful dinner event that your team held. Or maybe you could include a video that showcases your team’s talent.
If you decide to add a promotional video to your webinar, the best place to put it is right at the beginning. This will then lead the audience into the main video and it will help to create a bit of a buzz.
How-To Videos
Again, whether you use this type of video clip will depend on the type of webinar you’ve got.
For example, if your webinar is all about a specific product or service, you could pre-record a video that shows people how to use said product.
This can create a smoother experience than if you decided to show people how to use the product on the spot during a live webinar broadcast. It breaks things up as well, and it also means you can pre-record a video with professional lighting and editing.
This makes your brand look more professional and allows your audience to see your product and how it works from a variety of camera angles.
Naturally, creating a how-to video can take some serious planning and time. This is why it’s a good idea to work with your team and invest in a workload management tool to ensure you deliver something awesome.
Recent Footage
Let’s say you at some point in your webinar refer to something that happened recently. Maybe it happened to you or maybe it happened to someone else in your company.
If you have BTS (behind the scenes) footage of this recent event, it’s always a good idea to play it back during your webinar when you mention it. This makes the event seem more alive and will enable your audience to engage with it better.
Screen Share
Screen share isn’t technically a type of video clip, but some classify it as such.
A screen share during a webinar is when you share your screen. This is useful whenever you’re explaining a complicated concept, or need to share information such as spreadsheets, data and graphics.
You can also use screen share to show how a piece of software works. But although it’s not technically a video webinar, you could pre-record a screen share and slot it into your webinar.
How To Share Videos During Your Webinar
Exactly how you share your videos during a webinar will depend on the software you use. But as a general rule of thumb, it’s actually super easy to share videos when your webinar is in full swing.
You just need to make sure your webinar software integrates with external video hosting platforms.
LiveWebinar, for example, allows you to add videos to your webinar from YouTube, Vimeo or Brightcove.
Tips for Using a Video Webinar
If you decide to create and add videos to your webinar, it’s important to remember that this won’t be easy. Here are some tips and tricks to help you on your way:
Practice Your Webinar
All webinars should be scripted and structured, and all webinars should be rehearsed before you do the final live recording
This is extra important when you add videos to your webinar. You’ll need to know exactly where your videos fit in, how to introduce them and how to add them seamlessly so that your audience is able to engage with them without thinking “this person doesn’t know what they’re doing.”
Do a few dry runs alone and with a small audience.
Keep Your Video Clips Short
People who sign-up for webinars do so on the assumption that they’ll be watching a person's live stream.
As such, if you add long video clips, they might feel as though they’re being short-changed. They came to see and listen to you - not a pre-recorded video that you could have just emailed to them.
We recommend adding video clips that are no longer than 10 minutes. Anything beyond that risks alienating your audience. While a video clip can definitely engage them, nothing engages them more than when you’re addressing them directly.
Use No More Than 3 Video Clips
Following on from the above point, it’s not a good idea to go overboard with the number of video clips you use. One video clip is perfect, while 2 to 3 are fine. Anything more than three is too much.
Upload All Video Clips At Least One Day Before The Webinar
Uploading videos can actually take a fair bit of time. This is especially true of longer videos that have a bigger file size.
Make sure you upload all your clips at least 24 hours before the webinar is due to begin. This will also give you enough time to check the quality and resolution of your clips via the integration.
Final Thoughts
A video webinar can help to give your webinars a bit more oomph, giving you breathing space during the presentation while also offering your audience more value.
Make sure to add videos that are relevant to the topic, professionally edited and short and to-the-point.
At the same time, don’t forget to make the rest of your webinar awesome by choosing the right webinar platform that’s able to host your videos, presenting with an engaging and passionate style, and ending with an FAQ at the end.