Why use webinars with Dynamics 365?
Webinars give you an opportunity to interact directly with people about your company and products without many of the overhead costs associated with in-person events. Dynamics 365 provides a versatile event management system that is integrated with the rest of your CRM. This allows you to collect meaningful information about who attends your events and use that data across marketing, sales, and ongoing customer service processes. In this Fast Class, we'll walk through setting up a basic streamed event using the direct Microsoft Teams integration. We'll also look at ways you can incorporate event information into marketing emails and customer journeys.
Setting up a streamed event
You can access events through the outbound marketing area or the specialized event planning area. Open the event you want to stream and enable the streaming option. Once enabled, additional settings become available that allow you to select your streaming provider. Dynamics 365 provides several Microsoft Teams options, including:
- Teams webinars
- Teams live events
- Teams meetings
Teams webinars and live events are designed primarily for one or a few presenters sharing content with a larger audience. Webinars also provide opportunities for greater audience participation through features such as breakout rooms. The Teams meeting option creates a traditional Teams meeting where participants can interact more freely, including using video, sharing content, and unmuting their microphones.
Configuring attendee options
When setting up a Teams webinar, you can configure additional options that determine how participants can interact during the event. For example, you can turn off attendee cameras and microphones. When attendee microphone or video capabilities are enabled, attendees are still muted by default, but event speakers or organizers can allow participants to unmute or share video when appropriate. These settings give organizers more control over the experience based on the type and size of the webinar.
Adding speakers to your webinar
Before assigning someone to a webinar, make sure the speaker has been set up within the Participants section of event management. You can then return to the event, open the Related menu, and select the speaker option. From there, you can either create a new speaker or add an existing speaker to the event. Assigning speakers this way allows them to join the webinar with the appropriate role. Make sure the email address stored for the speaker in your CRM matches the email address they will use to access the event. Once the webinar is configured, Dynamics 365 communicates with Microsoft Teams to create the meeting for related individuals, including the event owner, staff, and speakers. The Teams webinar URL is also available from the event.
Adding event links to marketing emails
Once your event is configured, you can incorporate it into your other marketing content. In the marketing email designer, add a button and open its properties. You'll find two useful link options related to events:
- Event: Use this option to provide a registration link before the event. Select the appropriate event using the event lookup field.
- Join in Teams: Use this option to give recipients a link to join the Teams event when it's time for the webinar to begin.
These options can also be used with individual sessions when you're working with a multi-session event.
Using event interactions in customer journeys
Event information can also become part of the logic in your customer journeys. When sending emails that include an event registration or Join in Teams link, open the properties of the appropriate email tile and add an email element for the event. Use the lookup field to select the event. Doing this allows later journey conditions to respond to interactions with the event content. For example, you can use journey logic based on whether someone:
- Registered for the event.
- Joined the event.
- Interacted with other related marketing content.
Similar targeting can be used with other content, including marketing pages and marketing forms. This makes event activity useful beyond the webinar itself by allowing you to incorporate audience behavior into the rest of your marketing process.
Using external webinar providers
You're not limited to the built-in Microsoft Teams options. Dynamics 365 can also be configured to work with other webinar providers, such as Zoom. To configure another provider, navigate to the Settings area and open Webinar Providers. Creating a new provider requires credentials such as:
These credentials allow Dynamics 365 Marketing to access the provider's API. You'll typically need assistance from the administrator responsible for your external webinar platform to obtain and configure this information. Third-party integrations may also be available for popular streaming services and can provide a more plug-and-play approach.
Creating a webinar configuration
After adding the external webinar provider, create a webinar configuration using that provider. Once the configuration is available, return to your event and open its streaming options. In addition to the Microsoft Teams choices, you'll be able to select the option for another webinar provider and choose the webinar configuration you've created. You can then enter the additional information required by that configuration, such as the webinar type, language, and webinar URL. With your streaming provider connected, you can manage webinar activity alongside the rest of your Dynamics 365 event and marketing processes.
