Traditionally, before the advent of live streaming technology and the Internet, if you wanted to speak directly to your customers to teach them something you would have to put on a seminar or workshop event.
But now, thanks to dozens of new live streaming services, businesses have tons of options for giving their customers a personal, in-depth online seminar with just the simple click of a button.
These online seminars and workshops are known as webinars, and they are a fantastic way to not only add value to your business but to also make a little extra profit along the way.
If you’re looking to start broadcasting your own webinars or live events, check out our tips for what you need to know, and which services work best for your needs.
Where To Start
Before you get started with launching and hosting your own webinars, you need to do a little planning. As with any normal seminar, you can’t jump into it without a little research and rehearsal. Practice your webinar talking points a few times before your actual live event, just to make sure that your comfortable with the information you’re presenting.
You also need to make sure you are knowledgeable on the subject that you’re teaching. If you aren’t the most confident person about a certain subject, you can always ask someone else to lead the webinar for you, such as another employee or a guest lecturer. You want to make sure your customers and guests are getting the best information possible.
Once you’ve planned your webinar, and gotten the right person to host it, it’s time to figure out which service to use.
Services To Use
A few years ago, live streaming was limited in its availability and reach. Services like Meerkat and Periscope were some of the first companies to make live streaming available to the everyday consumer, but eventually, they were forgotten about due to the adoption of live streaming by many of the most popular social media services.
Here are just a few of the social media, and web app, services that offer live streaming:
- GoToWebinar
- Snapchat
And there are more and more people jumping on the live streaming bandwagon every day, which can make selecting the right platform for your webinars seem like a daunting task.
Every one of these services is great, but there are a few distinguishing features that you need to know about before selecting the right one.
First of all, most of these services are free to use. All you need to do is sign up for a free social media account (which most of us have anyway). Facebook is probably the most reliable service if you’re concerned with saving your webinars for later viewing or archiving, as it records your video and saves it to your profile after the stream ends. Other services, like Instagram and Snapchat, only keep the videos for a finite amount of time. In fact, Instagram only allows viewers to see your live video while it’s happening. After your stream ends, that’s it! The video is no longer available.
If you’re wanting to get more features and more data tracking capabilities with your live stream, your best bet is to use a paid service like GoToWebinar. This tool is built specifically for businesses looking to do regular webinars and live streaming sessions, and it comes packed with lots of unique features. The pricing of the service might be out of the budget for some businesses, but it’s a fantastic tool if you’re really serious about getting into live streaming and webinars.
Live streaming can be a great tool for connecting with your customers, and hosting your own webinars! Explore what’s out there and see what works best for you and your business.
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