Findings from a recent report on lead-gen strategies from Ascend2:
- Most marketers think their social media tactics are increasing the quality of leads
- Most marketers are spending more on social media because of COVID-19
- Most marketers regard video as the most effective type of content for lead-gen, followed by webinars, and live events/webinars
All these “most-effective” content types feature moving pictures on a small screen — in other words, they’re all video. They don’t need to move at the 30-frames-per-second video standard, but looking at no motion on the screen for any length of time makes most people antsy. So, most webinars, especially those that feature software demos, could benefit from added movement and editorial tightening-up.
Video content thrives on motion
Given the ongoing impracticality of “live” events and travel, companies are increasing their investment in webinars.
Here are three simple ways you can add motion to your webinars without spending too much of that investment:
- Skip Intro. Spend as little time as possible on “housekeeping” details, presenter credentials, and agenda-setting. Most of this info will have been covered in the invitation package. Just summarize it on the title screen so you can get off to a quick start.
- Use your webcam. Not all visuals are worth seeing in full-screen screen- share mode. In many instances, briefly holding a photo (or even a cue card) up to the camera while you talk, will feel more natural to viewers.
- Use video clips. This can work especially well in software demos. Think of your demo as an illustrated story in several chapters. You’re the storyteller, and you want strong visual support for each chapter.
Plan how you’ll follow up
As I noted in this article, the key to digital selling is the asynchronous engagement that goes on after the online meeting. Those video clips you prepared for the webinar are going to come in very handy here, because your sales team can make them the subject of emails in a planned cadence. And they can be contextualized in other ways for sharing in social media, where video is the most effective scroll-stopper.
As companies invest more in webinars and similar productions for digital selling, viewers will come to expect higher production values. Good writing and editing will matter more than ever.
