Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter can help you increase your customer base and build a presence for your business online, but if you really want to position yourself as an expert, webinars and podcasts can make all the difference. Going beyond text-based platforms to include audio, video and interactive web communications can engage your audience in a completely different and more memorable way.
Use webinars to interact with potential customers
A webinar, or web-based seminar, is one of many social media tools you can employ to engage with your audience in a one-on-one capacity. The format is entirely up to you, but many people choose to do a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session.
Offering free or low-cost webinars is an excellent way to boost your online authority. Rather than a quick blog post or social media comment, webinars provide the opportunity to delve deeper into a topic, so you can demonstrate your expertise and build credibility in your field.
Use podcasts to build a digital reference library
In contrast to webinars, podcasts are traditionally used as a one-way tool to provide information to an audience. You can create either audio or video podcasts that can be downloaded by users as needed.
Many people choose to create a series of podcasts that are either episodic or serial. This entices your audience to come back for more and keeps them interested in your content in an ongoing manner. It also allows you to generate a library of content that provides a useful resource to your customer base.
The topics you select are completely up to you, but incorporating the following criteria can help you best take advantage of these social media tools:
- Choose topics that are informative and interesting to your audience.
- Create agendas for webinars so participants know what to expect.
- Have the next webinar or podcast planned so you can promote it in the current one.
- Keep topics more narrow than broad.
- Create multiple events for broader topics if necessary.
Most importantly, speak only about topics that you know. Stay within your expertise to provide the most value to your audience.
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