Do you play any musical instruments? I grew up playing piano, picked up the clarinet in 5th grade, added in percussion in 8th grade, and then played the oboe in concert band in high school (band geeks…. where you at?!)
With each new instrument I had to learn how to play by, well, playing it. No amount of Music Theory would have prepped me for actually playing, ya know? Putting my hands on the piano keys, feeling the clarinet reed in my mouth, connecting my actions with the noises the instruments made. It was all tactile.
This experience defined my learning early on. I do my very best work when I’m in the do-ing part. I learn by experience, not conceptual lessons. You, too?
Yesterday I hosted one of my most successful webinars yet (and, let’s be honest, I’ve only done a few). It was all about hacks for Google Drive and it’s still available as a replay until 1pmEST on Thursday March 19th if you want to watch. You can register right here! As I walked the dog later that evening I reflected on what worked and what didn’t. And, in an effort to accelerate your own education on the topic (you’re welcome), I’m breaking it down for you right here:
The major stats:
124 people registered
28 people attended live
8 people tweeted about it using the Click To Tweet in the email sent the day before
Hosted on my website using Google Hangouts on Air
$24.37 spent on advertising
$30 profit (so far)
What Worked:
Making it FUN.
I love connecting with people so I coined a new word for my little webinar: webiJAM. I called the event a webijam as much as possible and it got people excited to be a part of it. WebiNAR? Meh. WebiJAM? Yeah! (I’m now convinced this term will take off. You can say you knew me when ;))
PROMOTING EARLY (BUT NOT TOO EARLY)
I started promoting my webijam 12 days before it actually happened. 12 days was the perfect amount of time to gain signups and excitement but not so much time that it was forgotten when it finally rolled around.
ADVERTISING
This was my first time running a FB Ad. I ran two versions of an ad on Facebook and targeting a couple of very specific groups of people that I knew needed to hear more about our topic (Google Drive/organization for business). And here’s the thing – it was cheap! I spent less than $25 when it was all said and done. Clearly it wasn’t a high converting ad (or I would have paid more overall) but it did what I wanted it to do. I love when things are just right like that.
GOOGLE HANGOUTS
Using Google Hangouts on Air hosted on my own website was a huge win. I’ll refer you to my Google+ Guru, Stacey Harris, for the how-tos on this, but I essentially followed her directions and hosted the Hangout on Air on my own website. I also added a Chatroll below the video for easy interaction with the participants during the webijam. The beauty of this method is twofold:
1) It’s free (except the Chatroll, of course)
2) It has my webinar guests already on my website! Wanna read my blog or reference a service I offer once the webinar is over? No clicking away from the webinar and forgetting – you’re right there! Hosting my webijam on my site was one of the smartest things I did (if I do say so myself!).
What Didn’t Work:
PROCRASTINATION
Creating the slides the morning of the webijam. Sooooo…. I’m all for planning ahead and feeling ready and relaxed before an event. This was not that. Of course, I had outlined what I wanted to do but the actual slides I used for the first part of the webijam weren’t created until 11am that morning. Stressful, annoying, and not recommended. Don’t do that to yourself, k? Give yourself a day or two, create the slides, go thru them, make sure you like the flow, and give yourself some room to breathe the morning of your event.
MISSED THE OFFER
The goal of the webijam was to teach some Google Drive tricks, for sure, but it was also to raise awareness about our membership site, It’s Not Complicated. I mentioned in the Simplified Systems Facebook Group that I’ll be doing these monthly webinars to add value to that month’s theme inside It’s Not Complicated. But here’s the thing – I didn’t have anything special to offer those amazing live participants. I’ve learned that any event (a call, webinar, workshop, whatever) needs to have some kind of gift or offering for the participants who show up live. It’s a way of saying thank you for the scheduled live time and interaction and it’s also a way to highlight your services or program. Offering direct Q+A is great, and a fantastic reason to show up live in my opinion, AND you can next-level it by giving them a little something else. (Watch out, next month’s webijam participants. I have something amazing planned for ya.)
Overall
As you may have noticed from those stats above, I currently have a tangible $0.63 profit on the webijam! And I’ve gotta tell you, I’m thrilled with the fact that what worked outweighed what didn’t. AND next month’s webijam will be even better (I’ll let you know when the signup is ready).
