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The most comprehensive guide for audience engagement

Apr 28, 2022

The higher the engagement is, the greater chance the webinar or event user will be engaged with the brand-named content, interact with your team, convert into a customer who pays for your services or recommend a prospective customer. So, you cannot hope for the engagement to happen automatically. Instead, you'll need create a plan for audience engagement.

How? We'll answer this question in this tutorial.

We've packed in all the nitty-gritty details including ways to increase participation, engagement tools to use as well as other. Here are the topics that we'll discuss:

Now let's dive into how to drive engagement for your events and webinars. But, first, the definition.

 What is audience engagement?

Audience engagement is encouraging participants in your webinar to participate actively to your presentation. Examples of engagement with the audience includes watching an live event, asking questions in a Q&A, responding to polls, or just having a chat with fellow people attending the event.

Encourage participation for several reasons including:

  • You want your content to be useful to your target audience.
  • Your goal is to inspire your audience to take an step
  • Your brand should be associated with ideas, topics and strategies that you can relate to your target audience.
  • You're generating referrals, recommendations and even word of mouth.

This is key when it comes to webinar and virtual event goals.

 Why is engagement of the audience vital?

As webinars and conferences ultimately serve as a means for brands to connect with their customers. Without engagement or audience participation it's difficult to draw in demand. And the ultimate aim for hosting events is to guide attendees through your process -whether nurturing them to become completely brand-conscious leads or paying customers.

Even if attendees don't participate initially getting them interested increases the likelihood of having them join the next webinar or invite their friends as well as others.

In short: even if your event attracts a small number of attendees, but is successful in engaging them to the end, you've hit the jackpot.

 How to measure audience engagement

You may be able to determine how active your audience for your webinar during the event, but it's better to verify your assumptions with reliable engagement metrics. So here are five ideas for measuring engagement for your next event.

1. You can measure engagement using your goals

The level of engagement is contingent on the specific goals of the event or participant. So, a great starting point is to define the goal of the webinar.

If, for instance, your goal is to improve your brand visibility on specific channels on social media, think about measuring engagement by the number of participants or users who talk about your event via social media.

Or, if your goal is to get feedback on the event's content, you may want to look at both the number and content of questions submitted during a live chat.

The right goals paired with the appropriate engagement metrics will help you track information that is most relevant to your strategy.

2. Review your webinar analytics

In addition to specific measures that relate to your event and webinar goals, you can examine any of the engagement metrics traditionally used for webinars. This includes the number of registered participants, the amount of viewers in the live stream, average viewing time, how many participants, the results of polls as well as other metrics.

Here are a few actual examples of metrics that organizers are monitoring:

The group behind the Clearscope's weekly webinars look at the two following metrics, according to the Co-founder, Bernard Huang:

"1. % RSVP: how many attendees decided to attend the event divided by how many emails we have sent.

"2.  Attendance %: how did people show up to the webcast divided by how many people have registered."

For their annual virtual event, The 2021 WPMRR Virtual Summit, Joe Howard, Founder of the WP Buffs uses audience engagement metrics that Live provides:

"Streaming live on Live gives us access to a ton of analytics, like how many users are streaming at any particular moment during the event. Also, we use live chats and discussions on our Circle forum at the time of the event to see the number of people who are active during and after our summit online. A quick pre- or survey after the event are also helpful. This gives us a bit in-depth information about our more interested audience members."

At Digital Marketing Kitchen co-founder Cory Miller, says they examine:

2. Attendees. A great topic/speaker combo will have 50% of over the attendance."

For the Marketing Meetup's weekly webinars that range from 250 to 1000 attendees, the Founder, Joe Glover, shares that they consider:

"Attendees dropping offs in addition to the total number of chat messages during a chat session. Current record: 1518 messages within an hour!"

3. Ask your audience to give you feedback

Surveys are a sure-fire way to gather feedback. Either share one after your event is over (and tell your audience to expect it during the program) or mention it in the final 2 minutes of the online webinar or live show.

By using this , create an end screen which displays the button with a personalized URL to the feedback survey you have created. If you intend to poll participants later, you can use your end screen to point visitors to your site such as a product's website or any other page you wish to direct them.

Do you have a better comprehension of your company's strategy, performance, and vision Did our hands-on session prove to be a worthwhile time investment?

Other suggestions for feedback-related questions you can ask include:

What's your top takeaway from the webinar?
How can we make the next webinar more enjoyable for you?
What do you want to learn next?

4. Track and create the event hashtag

This is another classic way of tracking how well your webinar or virtual event series is engaging the attendees. What is the strategy? Make a hashtag with a brand name, then make use of a tool for social media such as Hootsuite to track mentions to determine the level of engagement.

It's also an excellent way to boost the number of people who attend webinars and events- more on this below.

5. Follow website traffic

If you're planning to host an interactive seminar to raise branding awareness or create leads, tracking traffic to your website is an excellent engagement measure to analyze.

Why? One of the first things an engaged person does is look up your site to find out more about you.

Take a look at Google Analytics to identify the traffic that your webinars drive.

Keep in mind though: Don't be a slave to figures. The quality of traffic that comes your way is a much better measurement. In this case, you must track activities of the traffic to see what they do when they visit your website.

It is best to establish parameters for success beforehand here as well. In this case that traffic arrives at your page for your products is a win as it signifies that you've helped the attendee down their buyer's path.

 What is the best way to take part in a webinar

Then, let's step the notch up and walk you through the very first step in the audience engagement puzzle getting people to take part in the online events you host.

It's all about making your presentation a two-way conversation so it's more of a conversation than a speech.

Here are six simple methods to get more involvement from your viewers:

1. You can ask questions or check for responses in the live chat feed

There's an array of questions that you could ask starting with ice-breakers like, 'where is your location?' to more leading inquiries about the topic of your webinar or event such as, "is there anything I can explain more on [topic]?

A few slides is an excellent approach to set the ball moving. Clearscope's Clearscope team is doing this. They include a question slide in the middle of their webcast to help get participants' questions flowing.

Want a pro tip? Don't script these questions Glover suggests. Glover.

"The most important thing to remember about the questions I ask is to be dynamic in real time not scripted out in ahead of time. We've all sat in on interviews where it's clear there are a list of questions to be asked, and the interviewer just gets by them. Instead, I strive to encourage speakers to expand upon their responses or point particular themes from their answers previously given."

Remember to always check and understand the questions in the chat box. When someone tells you they're from Italy, you tell them "hi" and include the conversation with a comment about their cuisine (great way to work pizza into conversation! ).

2. Polls on leverage

They require little or no effort as people only have to votes. The polls can be a great way to boost engagement. You can use polls during the opening of your webinar or live occasion when you're breaking the frozen ice, or during the webinar to gauge audience participation and interest.

3. Ask questions to be included in an open Q&A at the end of the webcast

At the start of your webinar, tell your viewers that you'll answer questions during the last 10 to 15 minutes. The audience will be in their element when they are attentive to prepare questions ahead of the event.

Then, once you go about answering questions, ask the person asking you questions to their name. They will feel valued and connected, so they are more likely to continue their conversation.

If a lot of questions are being asked, start with answering those that have the most upvotes. If there are still questions and you aren't left with enough time, write down the answers and email each one to those who asked them. You can also get creative here and tell attendees you'll send out an email to all who have answered all remaining questions.

Pro tip: Always have a moderator who can sort and monitor participation in Q&A as well as live chat sections. It works. It's because, first of all, you will not be able to manage everything at the same time. And, two the voice change allows you to take five minutes and also engage your audience.

4. Weave interactive elements like quizzes

Another method to ignite discussion is to set the event as an interactive one - complete with quizzes, live contests, and even challenges for the attendees.

As an example, say you're having a webinar on copywriting. Participants can be asked to use a formula for copywriting they've learned from you and then share the formula with you in real-time.

Whichever engagement tools you choose to use, make sure you tell your participants about them at the beginning so that they are aware of what they can expect from the webinar. Plus, spell out specific instructions for how to interact such as how to ask questions or where you can access the quiz etc.

5. Set up small group breakout discussion sessions

"For meetings that are networking it is recommended to utilize small-group breakout sessions. I'm not convinced that the 'creeping death' approach of everyone in the room talking for 30-60 seconds works," Edwards admits. "It is boring, and the attendees think about what they are going to say instead of taking note of what they are hearing."

As a solution, Edwards and their team are now encouraging "rooms of 4 to 6 people engaging with real-time discussion."

In the beginning, "we ask the attendees to introduce themselves but then we'll pick a topic to talk about. Recent examples include:

  • Something you've discovered this week
  • Platforms online that you can't exist without
  • What are the characteristics of a perfect collaboration partner for you
  • How has pandemic influenza changed in your work life?

We are a big believer that those we interact with are intelligent and capable adults. All we need is to provide a few ideas and they can (and can and do) talk about things that go out of control. It is how relationships are often started."

"Add to that we use questions and polls, a chat box and more. Most attendees prefer using text boxes instead of speaking in large groups, so we encourage that," says Edwards.

6. Live tweet about your webinar

This is a tip of the hat to the Founder of Best Buyer Persona, Adrienne Barnes, who used Twitter to connect with viewers of their webinar.

"We live-tweeted the live stream and also highlighted crucial points to twitter audience. It was also a collaboration and we brought different audiences together to focus on one specific topic."

As the presentation was a two-part webinar, Barnes was able to pull in multiple audiences, and take engagement to the next level.

9 strategies to boost the engagement of your attendees during virtual and webinar events.

Here are nine creative methods to increase the number of people who attend webinars:

1. Pick a webinar subject in accordance with the interests of your audience

Nothing can be more engaging than the event which covers a pertinent topic for your audience.

Here's the question How do you get your hands on such an engagement driving topic? Knowing your audience inside out helps. The best way to create webinar and event content is to ask your viewers what they want to learn/explore the most.

Here's how:

  • You can ask members of your online community (could be a previous webinar's audience, newsletters Slack, social community).
  • Contact the teams that deal with customers, such as customer support, service or account management team to suggest topics.
  • Find out what is exciting your target audience through social listening. Find out what people in your industry are talking about then organize an event around the subject.

2. Questions from the audience before the webinar

This is an excellent pre-event tip for audience engagement. Send a survey out to registrants asking what they'd like to know on the topic or pool questions on the event or the webinar registration site. Intercom is the latter.

This will ensure that you've covered the subject thoroughly as well as answering the questions your participants have, which makes it interesting for them.

3. Do not call it a webinar.

The term "webinar" is overused. There are a lot of people who have attended such online gatherings and do not find value in it.An easy way to spice your event is to spice it up? Stop labelling your event as a "webinar' suggests Jason Bradwell in their newsletter, the B2B Bite. Instead, you can call your event a master class, seminar, expert talk for instance.

4. Offer value in a good story and visually appealing slides

The value you offer in the event will be what's going attract attendees and hold them in their seats. Therefore, it's crucial that you discuss the topic with depth and respond to any concerns your audience members have regarding the topic.

Another way to ramp up the impact of your product is using social proof. For product demo webinars, specifically it's an excellent idea to ask customers to share their experience using your product in a video. After that, you can share the video in your presentation.

Pro tip start by introducing yourself in a short manner that tells the public why you're appropriate for talking about the topic. They'll know they're learning from experts and engages them.

5. Invite key guests to join your online event

Inviting guests makes your content even more engaging as the guests benefit from the expertise of expert experts in the field. Plus, well known experts draw their own audiences to your virtual sessions.

Essentially, people love to learn others' processes, how they do things to be able to take practical knowledge and implement it for themselves. Therefore, give them the things they want.

Clearscope webinars use this well-tested method to increase engagement of the audience. A recent webinar they brought together a group of micro-influencers (people who are average in size, but with engaged audiences) to host their weekly show. This resulted in the event received lots of attention on Twitter in Clearscope's target audience circle.

Don't forget! It is always possible to ask participants to share the webcast with their friends. When you're beginning, Huang suggests you, "reach out to 'up and coming' individuals [who] are a lot better to work with [sincethey're generally more hungry and are more inclined to spread the word about and to put more energy in their presentation."

6. Focus on 3-5 core pointers and expand

The better your presentation your presentation is, the more likely it is that people are going to pay attention. Concentrate on your delivery and avoid technical terms or jargon. Try to use an easy language that can explain your argument and back up your ideas by proving them with data or examples.

The Curator for TED, Chris Anderson, explains the same: "if you try to cover all you've learned, you won't have time to incorporate the most important details and your talk will disappear in a hazy words... It is essential to have specific examples to flesh out your ideas. Therefore, limit the content of your speech to those you can explain, and brought to life with illustrations, given the time."

What is the take-home message? Cut down the content you'd like to impart to just 3-5 key takeaways. A lot of information could make your readers feel overwhelmed, which impacts their focus.

Pro tip: Don't read out from slides. It's a major turn off and doesn't do much to create one that can be a conversation. If you want to present the webinar as if you're having a conversation, prepare beforehand and pose rhetorical questions.

7. Dive right in

There's nothing that frightens attendees like dragged out intros as well as long, rambling explanations and diverging topics. Ask yourself: What do I must do to get the attention of my viewers and draw their imagination?

Here are two ideas:

  • Shorten introductions. Let people know why you or your attendees are the best participants for the webinar However, be sure to keep the introductions short. It's not a good idea to go on and on until you've got half of people switching to different tabs or exiting immediately. You can trust me, I've experienced that in the past at least 13 times.
  • Start with a story. A strong hook can get people interested. Provide them with an overview of the information they'll gain. Retell a tale of what you felt first when you came across the issue (related to the webinar topic). This gets everyone involved emotionally. They will be able to tell you how they feel and pay attention to you to return your attention.

8. Offer to do a critique

This is a sure-fire way to get your audience engaged. Let them know that you're planning to provide feedback on their website and landing page. Or even their social profiles - or anything that is relevant to the issue.

Madalyn Sklar provides live feedback on her participants' Twitter profiles during her regular Twitter Spaces. Learn from her and replicate the strategy in your summit.

9. Incentivize your audience

Also, invite attendees to take part in discussions with incentive programs such as virtual badges coupon codes, gift badges or premium access to your services or products. Make plans for giveaways of swag like Howard's team do at their annual conference.

Howard says, "We definitely try to keep our virtual summit fun and easy. Merch giveaways, and the sharing of what people say about us has been an excellent way to increase engagement. You can see a big wall of embedded tweets and it makes it crystal clear that folks will learn a lot attending and enjoy having a fun time in a friendly, close-knit community of people."

 Audience engagement FAQ

    Why is engagement of the audience vital?    

Events and webinars ultimately serve as a way for brands to reach out to their target audience. If there isn't engagement, or participation from the audience it's difficult to draw customers. In the end, the goal for hosting an event is to guide attendees down your funnel -or to nurture them into fully-brand-aware leads or paying customers.

And remember: event isn't a success if people don't take part in the first few minutes In attracting them, it will increase the chance that they'll want to be engaged with your material and your brand.

    How do you know when an audience is engaging?    

Take a look at the comments coming into your inbox, the answers to the questions that you post, and also how many people have attended your event versus how many have registered to get an picture of how well the event is interacting with its attendees.                     How can you interact with viewers in a webcast?    

1. Ask questions and then search for the answers on chat live feed

2. Polls on leverage

3. Take questions and prepare for the Q&A portion following the webinar

4. Weave interactive elements like quizzes

5. Set up small group breakout discussion sessions

6. Live-tweet your webinar

The wrap-up: increase the engagement of your viewers today by using video

To recap, be sure to plan for engagement with your audience by asking them questions pre-webinar, at the start as well as throughout the course. Allow them to communicate with you using icebreaker questions, polls, quizzes, live chat, as well as other methods.

No matter what strategies you employ, pair them with a top notch presentation delivered in a conversational style.