Using Twitter to Drive Webinar Registration, or Why One Marketing Manager is No Longer a "Twitter Skeptic"

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May 2010, Issue 75

Social Media
Using Twitter to Drive Webinar Registration, or Why One Marketing Manager is No Longer a "Twitter Skeptic"
By Amy Bills, Director of Field Marketing, Bulldog Solutions

Can social media be used as a promotion channel for a lead-generation Webinar? Social media experts advise caution in using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other communities as direct promotional vehicles. But the Email Experience Council (eec) proved recently that if the content is relevant and the followers are engaged, social media can be a useful part of the promotion plan.

"I was a Twitter skeptic," laughs eec Marketing and Sponsorship Manager Ali Swerdlow. That changed when Swerdlow drove about 12% of the Webinar registrants via Twitter (Twitter handle: @theeec) to a recent eec Webinar sponsored by Unica and produced by Bulldog Solutions. By comparison, Bulldog Solutions' own social media activities (Twitter handle @BDSolutions), when used for direct promotion, drive less than 1% of registrants.

Adding Twitter to the Mix

A typical promotion plan for a Webinar produced by the eec includes email promotion to its own list, as well as posting on its website. Typically, the Webinar sponsor and the speaker are also expected to promote the event via their own channels. Less than a year ago, Swerdlow began incorporating social media, particularly Twitter, into her plan.

The eec has about 960 Twitter followers. The growth has been steady and organic, Swerdlow says. "When we first started, we said, we want to hit 500 by the end of the year. It was kind of fun. We encourage people in our community to join, and we also have a lot of cross-promotional opportunities to join."

To promote the April 20 Unica-sponsored Webinar, "Top 3 Email Marketing Mega Trends (+1 Wild Card)," Swerdlow began Tweeting a few weeks before the live Webinar, and almost immediately saw the Twitter-sourced registrations jump.

Here are five of her tips for using Twitter to promote an event:

Start with a great following. If your content is consistently relevant and interesting, you'll have an engaged group of followers.
Know your audience and what appeals to them. Swerdlow made sure to stress that the Webinar was free. "The fact that the event is free is intriguing to people," she said.
If you have a well-known and well-respected speaker, take advantage of the name recognition. The Unica-sponsored Webinar featured David Daniels, CEO of The Relevancy Group and an expert in the space. "Having his name on anything we did was very important," Swerdlow said. Her Tweets referenced his handle, @emaildaniels, as well as @Unica whenever possible.
Make your Tweets retweetable. Keep Tweets as concise as possible (Around 80-90 characters) so there are enough characters for people to retweet and spread the word.
Revise your Twitter message throughout the promotion schedule. "I try not to bombard people," Swerdlow said. "The Tweets can get stale after awhile. You have to change it up somehow by focusing on a sense of urgency or a specific benefit of attending."

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Amy Bills is director of Field Marketing at Bulldog Solutions.

Marketing Watchdog Journal is a monthly newsletter from Bulldog Solutions, an online marketing agency that changes the way BtoB companies define demand-generation strategy, engage prospects and convert leads to customers. We welcome your feedback on this newsletter's content and design, and encourage you to share your ideas for topics you would like us to cover in future issues. Please send your comments or questions about Bulldog Solutions to Amy Bills, director of Field Marketing.