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Today, hosting a webinar is one of the easiest ways to guide potential customers through your sales funnel. Webinars are very effective when you’re looking to educate your audience about your brand and are a sure-shot way to boost engagement. A webinar is an effective element of a digital marketing strategy as it helps you:
Discuss trending topics that are associated with your brand
Direct traffic to your website as the go-to place for the latest and more information
Build a personal connection with your target audience
This leads us to an important question “how does a webinar work”? Where can you host these virtual meetings? Most importantly, which online webinar software should you use for hosting these virtual conferences live? Is there any way you can edit webinar videos?
Well, we’ve researched and found the top webinar platforms that can be used to host just about any virtual meeting. Before we dive into the details, let’s learn some more about webinars and their new importance in every business' video marketing strategy.
What is a Webinar?
A webinar refers to the educational virtual conference that is mainly used to discuss a topic or educate participants about a specific subject. A webinar can be a virtual event, a video presentation, or even a training session delivered with the help of live streaming or sophisticated online video conferencing software.
What's great is that a webinar is a live presentation so it supports real-time interaction between the participants and the organizer, such as, attendees dropping comments and questions in the chat for the presenter to answer.
If you're very new to the concept, we encourage you to attend many webinars (most of them are free to join!) to see how many different formats they can be delivered in. It will help inspire you to pick a format that suits your business the best.
For a webinar or virtual conference to run smoothly, you need to choose a reliable platform.
Here are some of the most popular online webinar platforms you could use to conduct your virtual meetings.
1. WebinarJam
There's a good reason why WebinarJam happens to be one of the best webinar platforms for brands. More than 50,000 people that belong to different industries use WebinarJam. You can use the software for screen-sharing, video presentations, and live broadcasts. WebinarJam user Michael Giannulis says, "WebinarJam has been the easiest webinar software I've used."
Firstly, you can invite up to 5,000 people to join your virtual webinar meeting. This gives you a golden opportunity to engage with a large audience at once.
The platform enables you to host the webinar alone or collaborate with other experts. You can invite 6 presenters to share their video presentations and other important information with the attendees.
The best part is the platform supports desktops, tablets, and smartphones. All these features help you organize a live webinar – anytime and anywhere.
Features of Webinarjam
Live Chat
The most difficult part of a video conference is to keep the audience hooked until it ends. That’s where the live chat system comes into the picture. It keeps your attendees engaged throughout the webinar. WebinarJam has quite a few exciting options for two-way communication. It allows users to live chat with the presenter, drop a comment, initiate a private chat, and interact with each other.
Record Your Webinar
WebinarJam offers automated recording. Your live broadcast session is recorded in a video file. You can replay your live webinar for 24-72 hours after your live broadcast ends. This option makes it easier for the brands to reach out to the audience that couldn’t attend the webinar. WebinarJam offers the Replica Replay function that records the entire session second-by-second.
Invite Participants to Join Your Presentation
The major benefit of two-way communication is that it enables your audience to interact with you in real-time. They can ask questions, get answers, initiate a private chat, and join you live. You can bring your attendees into the spotlight during your video presentation. This will allow your audience to screen-share, share their thoughts about the topic, and ask questions live. You can click the “Eject Out” option to get the person back into the attendees-only mode.
Pricing
WebinarJam offers a free trial but you are supposed to buy a membership plan to use webinar software. The basic plan is $499 per year which lets you conduct unlimited webinars, use 2 presenters, and invite up to 500 participants. At this price, the maximum duration of the webinar is 2 hours.
The professional plan can cost you $699 per year. It supports 4 presenters and up to 2000 participants. If you have a large audience, then an Enterprise plan for $999 per year will be your ideal solution. It allows up to 6 presenters and 5000 attendees.
2. Livewebinar
LiveWebinar is a real-time communication platform that lets you easily host webinars, online conferences, lessons, training, and more. Features such as breakout rooms, screen sharing, whiteboards, polls, and tests help make collaboration and teamwork a breeze.
Planning an event only takes a few clicks. Joining an event is simple as there are no downloads or plugins required. LiveWebinar allows you to record your event to send to attendees afterward, or to create on-demand, evergreen content. You can also host free or paid events.
Features of Livewebinar
AccessibilityCreate events that feature automatic chat translation. Let attendees translate the chat into their own language, while language interpreters allow you to have translators interpreting your event to a different language in real time – even to sign language.
EngagementChat with your attendees through a group channel or host multiple private chats during the webinar. Engage your attendees in polls and tests, perfect for gathering feedback and comments. Play videos directly from YouTube or Vimeo, present materials, split attendees into breakout rooms, and more.
PersonalizationLet your event reflect your brand. The branding tool lets you customize window and text color, background, and logo. Customize what’s visible behind you with virtual backgrounds. You can go for a simple blur, a beach at sunset, or upload your own background.
Pricing
LiveWebinar offers a free 14-day trial. Beyond that, there are three packages available. The Pro package at $14.99 for up to 100 attendees includes access to YouTube and Vimeo players, the branding tool, virtual backgrounds, whiteboard, and up to 6 hours of storage. The Business package at $119.99 for up to 500 participants includes access to the full HD recorder and recording editor, mass invitations, and presence manager.
The Custom plan allows users to pick the features they want and set the number of joining participants. The price of this package will vary. For users who want a little more, a 100% customizable Enterprise option is also available.
3. EverWebinar
EverWebinar is one of the best webinar hosting platforms for startups and large-scale organizations. The platform guarantees high-quality videos, high-definition broadcasting, flexible scheduling, and a seamless user experience. You don’t have to download a mobile app to join an EverWebinar session.
Just like WebinarJam, this platform records your live session, enabling you to post anytime for the attendees who couldn’t join. You can play the recording for 24 hours.
The interesting part is that EverWebinar supports the Hybrid Webinar feature, in which you could replay the video of your live session while activating the live chat and Q&A function. This enables the users to ask questions and interact with you at any time.
Features of EverWebinar
Polls and Surveys
If you're using the platform to provide a training, then the polls and surveys feature will come in handy during the live presentation. You can post a quiz for your students/audience – it's an amazing way to engage with those listening.
Split Testing
If your business is looking to split test some landing pages and test what drives the highest organic traffic, EverWebinar can provide analytics that make it easier to track this.
Call-to-Action
Thinking from a sales perspective, the purpose of a webinar is to get your audience to the end of your sales funnel and motivate them to convert with a purchase. In order to do so, you must upload a clickable link or an advertisement that your users can access in a click. If you're selling products, you can use the urgency and scarcity function to limit the total products available or add an expiry date for your offer.
Pricing
EverWebinar has three plans. The basic plan can be paid in three installments and costs $199 per year, the annual plan costs $499 per year, and you can save a bit by paying $799 for 2 years. Each plan offers the same features, i.e., automated webinars, advanced simulation tools, 24/7 support, and pre-designed landing pages.
4. Demio
Demio is another interesting webinar software platform for brands. It offers modern and powerful features that enable a high-quality user experience for your audience. It's even offering a 50% discount for the non-profit organizations that are conducting live virtual meetings due to the global pandemic.
Demio offers you a hybrid webinar option that can be used to combine the video recordings and live sessions.
You can run polls and surveys during the live broadcast, invite attendees to join you during the presentation, and display a call-to-action button and links.
Features of Demio
Private Chat
The audience gets a chance to send a private message to the organizer. They could also use the public messaging feature to drop a message during the live broadcast. The organizer can view these questions and answer them in real-time.
Analytics
Get insights into your webinar performance to get a better idea of your sources of traffic and the audience. Based on this information, you can schedule your next webinar and prepare video presentations that could engage a large audience the next time.
Pricing
Demio offers a 14-day free trial. It offers three paid plans. The Starter plan supports 50 attendees, a 3-hour session duration, and live events. The Growth plan is available at $69 per month. It accepts 150 attendees with a 5-hour session limit and automated events. The Business plan costs $163 per month and accepts 500 attendees per session. The duration limit is 8 hours.
Get started on creating webinars on a small budget!
Hopefully you've found a tool on our list that will suit your small business or startup's needs. If you're wondering how to get more people to attend your webinars, take a look at these 6 Ideas That Will Enhance Your Webinar Marketing.
We understand that creating webinars takes an incredible amount of effort and time. That's why we also made a list of ways you can leverage your webinars even more. Check out our top tips on How to Reuse Your Webinar Recording to Increase Sales. Good luck!
