Audiences are surrounded by a plethora of virtual events and webinars; our job as marketers is then to stand out and overcome the many possible challenges associated with participant fatigue.

While many are still tuning in to digital events, marketers have noticed that some participants are tuning the message out.

As marketers, we can get around this and still provide the best possible experiences for online audiences as was explained at the B&T webinar, in partnership with ON24 – fireside chat with MYOB.

Tim Johnston, marketing director, ON24 immediately pointed out that they’ve seen a staggering 160 per cent increase year on year in webinar productions.

As this volume of digital events has grown so too has audience expectations of the experience.

Johnston said, “In an age where we have to stand out from the crowd, brands are looking to find new ways to engage their audiences and do something different.”

“We have to do things that wow audiences rather than put them to sleep.”

True to the tone of the event, ON24 and MYOB delivered an amazing digital experience that had the potential to drive real business impact.

Here are some key takeaways from Siobhan Carlson, marketing manager acquisition, MYOB.

Everyone is not one size fits all

Without any hesitation, Carlson said that the key to any content is relevancy.

Whether that’s at the top of the funnel with industry partnerships, experts in the industry right down to consulting sales teams, it’s critical to speak with customers each day to really understand the key issues for them.

People are constantly bombarded with irrelevant messaging and are completely inundated with content on the daily.

This has resulted in a heightened feeling of scepticism toward the content received.

Inevitably people will switch off to manage feelings of fatigue.

Despite hosting hundreds of webinars every year, MYOB continues to be successful because they build content that is more tailored and really relevant to audiences.

Carlson believes content is the cornerstone, working with internal experts and taking on board constant feedback loops will help curate content that engages audiences right from the beginning.

Going back to basics

Make things simpler for yourselves.

Carlson states that MYOB starts at the beginning with registration management, creating landing pages and pre-event columns using ON24 automation tools.

As MYOB’s integration grew, they eventually settled on adopting ON24’s multi-registration capabilities as it best handled their high-volume event schedule.

The flexibility of ON24 provided a very branded experience whereby MYOB was put in control of the content messaging and could engage audiences by making events pop from the get-go.

An engaging pre-event design will help drive attendance which is great because once audiences are in, this is where the party really starts.

Powerful calls to action (CTA)

With visually appealing consoles in place, CTA’s are the next pieces of the marketing webinar puzzle.

MYOB suggests reappropriating modules and tables of contents so that people have a rolling agenda through the day of what can be expected and looked forward to in sessions.

It’s also wise to incorporate image CTA’s to link people off to related content as it’s a fun way to procure engagement in chat boxes.

Despite these recommendations, it’s important to note that MYOB adopted a very iterative approach. They did not switch the first webinar on with every available engagement tool on at once.

Instead, MYOB tested throughout their programs to see how to best engage their audiences.

Starting conversation

Investigating polling as a CTA tool, Carlson read that “80% of webinars use Q&A’s but only 20% use polls.”

She said that this statistic excited her because this would be an exciting tool to test how polling would work for MYOB.

Carlson began by starting off with questions that were relevant to the material being presented to get a pulse check on what audiences were feeling. This ideation gave MYOB the opportunity to see how audiences were sitting versus benchmark which subsequently provided good feedback.

On the back end, long-form answers to polling questions in a Q&A box can provide exceptional insights and foster meaningful conversation.

Giving control back to the audience through long-form responses to polling or Q&A helps them continue their learning without feeling like they’re being handled by sales or spammed by marketing.

The follow-up

Traditionally underutilised, surveys are something that can be optimised to be something more than just a benchmark tool to gauge people’s happiness.

Carlson prescribed surveys as a way to make sure that we’re happy with the delivery of the content, making sure audiences have got something out of the session.

Similar to polls, surveys are an opportunity to ask audiences about related content so that you’re getting continuous feedback and making sure that content design is relevant.

Though also consider CTA’s such as links and follow-up emails to nurture ongoing engagement that could and should act as the basis for future content curation.

This can be easily achieved with data collection on backend systems. Importantly the information gathered can be utilised by sales teams to show what resources an individual is interested in and broadly identify what kind of content is resonating.

For more information on how to conduct and deliver webinars strategically designed to engage audiences:  https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/3543742/DE70972EB50CB8DD55C85F15B62A8F70