5 Major Trends We’re Looking Out for This Year

It’s a new year for webinars, so what should you expect? Last year was a great year for webinars and web-based conferences and things aren’t slowing down any time soon. Here’s what we’re expecting to see this year:

1. More Efforts for Organic Audiences

We all want more and more people to attend our webinars. But this year, brands will be focusing on attracting organic audiences via inbound marketing strategies and tactics. Paid media isn’t dead, of course, but brands are looking to work with qualified leads they’ve captured through inbound marketing.

Some webinar platforms are even looking to build inbound marketing capabilities within the platform so that everything can be done in the same place. More platforms are also looking to connect with social media channels to make it possible for attendees to register right from their social media profiles.

2. Better Streaming Capabilities

It should come as no surprise that every year, we’re getting more impatient with streaming and load-time. We want things to happen in real-time. Can you blame us? Because of this, many webinar platforms are looking to invest in top-of-the-line services that will ensure there’s no delay from the time something happens to the time a viewer sees it.

As far as webinars go, it may not seem like a big deal to have a delay. But, if the webinar is interactive (and it should be), there’s going to be a delay between people talking, and during the question-and-answer sessions. But this year, that will likely change.

3. Ability to Host Massive Audiences

A large webinar audience usually means around 1,000 attendees. But this year, we could start seeing webinars with up to 50,000 attendees. Webinar platforms will have to invest in improvements to their infrastructures to have this kind of reach, but it’s definitely possible. With this capability, webinar platforms will be able to compete on a different level with streaming services. Consider what impact this will have on large companies who need to have an all-hands training. The possibilities are endless!

4. Branded Webinar Experiences

Webinar platforms are looking to offer more branded experiences to their clients. Imagine logging on to a webinar and seeing the entire screen branded by the company hosting the webinar. It’s going to look pretty sleek, and that marketing department is going to appear really on-point, which is great for getting leads. This capability is going to become a reality this year.

5. High-Quality Integrations

Speaking of marketing, webinar platforms are planning to start integrate with marketing platforms for even bigger web-based experiences. This means if you use a marketing platform for your day-to-day tasks, you might also be able to view a webinar right from the dashboard. You might also be able to promote a webinar you’re hosting right from your regular marketing platform instead of logging in somewhere else.

Consider 2019 the year that webinar platforms work with other services to improve inbound marketing efforts, streaming in real-time, increase audience sizes, and integrate with all sorts of marketing tools. All of these changes are going to make webinars an even bigger part of professional life.