Finally, you’ve decided to conduct a webinar on your favorite topic. Now what? How do you make your webinar a successful one? How do you get the word out there? Have you prepared your webinar promotion strategy?
Well, you can’t just sit and hope people find your webinar organically. You need to promote your webinar if you want it to meet and exceed your webinar goals and make it a successful one.
Here are some interesting facts from Go-to-Meeting’s Big Book of Webinar Stats that might surprise you:
57% of webinar registrations come from email.
More than half of the signups happen during the week of the event.
Promoting the event at least four weeks beforehand results in 12% more registrations on average.
63% of people submit their registration on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
Fortunately, there are several ways to promote a webinar and drive more people. This article will help you plan and promote your webinars in the most effective ways. Read on!
How to Promote and Attract Your Audience?
Everyone is busy, so your target audience should be given enough time to know your webinar and schedule it. Therefore, the news about your webinar should reach everywhere before the event.
Build a timeline
You must start planning your strategy at least seven weeks before the launch date of your webinar. And your promotional programs should begin within 5-6 weeks before. It would help if you took the time for copy creation, design, and development requirements while building the strategy.
Now, let us consider a few critical marketing assets and tactics you must consider while marketing your webinar:
Hello Bar
A hello bar is proven to be a very successful aspect of increasing lead generation. This simple yet effective bar usually enters across the top of your screen (sometimes from the bottom too) and spans the entire width of your browser. You can add the information in one or two sentences and add a CTA that takes the user to the landing page.
Website pop-up window
A pop-up CTA captures the user’s interest while also creating a sense of newness and urgency to the webinar offer. The pop-up will make them stop for a few seconds and let them quickly read your proposal. You’re giving them another chance to convert, and it is proven to increase lead generation. It is also considered one of the best ways to promote webinars or virtual events.
CTA, CTA everywhere
Add CTAs everywhere that would take the user to a well-written and organized landing page that encourages them more to register. Post the CTAs anywhere you can reasonably put it – home page, blogs, other web pages, emails, etc.
Teaser video and Promotional video
Embed a small promotional video that includes all information about the webinar on your registration page and home page, and then share it through social media accounts and email. You can ask your presenters too to contribute.
Promotional emails
Emails are one of the most effective ways of promoting webinars. If you use it wisely, a great outcome is inevitable. You can send 3 or 4 sets of emails. While the first one can be a heads-up email that you send out 3-4 weeks before the event, the following sets of emails can be mailed 1-2 weeks before the event, with the complete information and promotional video. And, since most signups happen until it’s closer to the webinar date, it is better to promote the webinar via email until the day of the event. Keep sending that mail!
Webinar promotion on social media
Social media is a powerful promotional space. Create attractive posts and creatives and share them on all the social media platforms — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. and ask the webinar guests and presenters to share them. It will also help you increase the organization’s networks.
Email Signature
Besides sending the emails, you can add the webinar landing page link as your email signature. It is one of the best ways to spread the webinar news to people outside your regular database.
Ad campaign
How do you attract new faces? You should consider some targeted digital advertising. You can run your advertisements on all social media platforms. However, LinkedIn will help you in particular since you will be able to target people whose jobs and industries fall under your webinar category using these ads.
Write Blog(s)
It would help if you wrote promotional blog articles that explicitly promote your webinar. These blogs should include the reasons why people should attend your webinar. You should publish it with an attractive CTA attached to it and then promote it on social media.
Summary
Follow these easy webinar promotion tactics, create a comprehensive webinar promotion plan, and maximize your chances of reaching as many people as possible. You are already on your path to success. Also, make sure you always keep your audience in mind while planning your webinar and its promotion. If you need help planning the webinar of your dreams, check out Speaker Engage or shoot us an email at support@speakerengage.com, and we’ll help you execute well-received events!
It is hard enough to be hosting and planning a virtual event. Having a sold-out virtual event, with all your attendees participating, is also a challenging task.
Although there are roads, you could take to ensure you have complete attendance. There are umpteen platforms and channels available to event organizers such as ourselves to promote and engage our audiences. In this article, we shall be looking at a comprehensive list of actionable tasks that will guarantee attendance at your virtual event.
Choose your topic wisely
The first stage of planning should involve intensive research into the type of content consumed. Should it a conversation or a training session?
After this exercise, you would have zeroed in on your target audience and a topic that your research points will be well received. With the content and target audience, you would know the format of virtual events most preferred. This way, you can host a panel discussion, a review or a thought leader training session, and get maximum attendance.
2. Time Zone compatibility
Once you have the topic of your virtual event, you must pick a date and time. This step is crucial in garnering attendance, as it must at a time where your target audience from across the globe will not have trouble attending.
3. Create relevant content for audiences
Never underestimate the power of a good content marketing strategy. Now that we have a virtual event, we must focus all energy on attendance. People register, but participation is not guaranteed.
Create content to educate your audience about the chosen topic. Share information, but place cliff hangers. The content you create, be it blogs, posts, articles, podcasts or YouTube videos must not give away everything. Ensure your creators circle back to the virtual event and encourage attendance through them.
4. Engage through content
Now that we have a content library. It is up to marketers to plan and place them across platforms and channels to ensure that all verticals of your target audience can access it.
Create an engagement calendar where you ensure engagement with your audience periodically. Be it daily, once, or twice a week, your audience needs to be aware so that they can comment, share, or like. Creating a space for your audience to interact will create engagement opportunities.
5. Create audience engagement
Engagement is one thing, but acknowledging the participation empowers the audience. Once the audience registers to your event, shares your event, gets others to register, you can present them with badges or titles.
This acknowledgment encourages people to take part in activities that promise an incentive. This way, you can turn your audience into event marketers.
6. Speaker turn Brand Ambassadors
While recruiting or choosing speakers for your event, ensure that they are subject matter experts. This way, the reach of the virtual event extends to all those following your speakers. Make your speakers the brand ambassadors for the virtual event. Encourage them to participate and engage through their platforms to guarantee more participation. The speakers could share your activity and have a dedicated content bucket assigned to be used on their platform, leading their audience to register for the virtual event.
7. Enlist your Event
The internet is brimming with online events, making it cumbersome for the audience to find the right virtual event to attend or engage. To avoid the clutter and present actual value-added events to the audience, list your events in platforms with a good following. List yourself on the Speaker Engage event directory, and you will stand out as a verified virtual event.
8. Early bird registration perks.
Give away freebies or value-ads to those who register and attend early.
Through your social media marketing or e-mail marketing campaigns, push out giveaways for all those who register for your event in the first week. Promise them collaterals or incentives once they have logged into the virtual early as well. This way, you encourage people to sign up soon and have maximum attendance right at the beginning of your virtual event.
These are just a few steps you can follow to ensure maximum participation. Here is an e-book that has all actionable steps you can take to ensure your event follows all the best practices out there.
One way to ensure your team has an easy time organizing, planning, and communicating through the events, sign up to Speaker Engage and save your time. Speaker Engage is now available for a free trial for 30 days!
Here is an e-book that has all actionable steps you can take to ensure your event follows all the best practices out there.
Make your Microsoft Teams Live Event stand out from the rest. A conferencing tool part of Office365, you can use it to broadcast webinars and other online events to up to 10,000 attendees. Microsoft Teams Live Event is different from Microsoft Team Meetings and is used for one-way communication with a larger crowd.
Why Use Teams Live
Office 365 subscribers get to use Microsoft Teams as part of the ecosystem. Apart from conducting a live event with 10,000 people, you can get an option to chat. Unlike Zoom, call time on this is unlimited. In addition to video conferencing, you can host audio calls with people inside and outside your organization.
Microsoft Teams allows you to set up smaller teams to increase collaboration within departments. For example, you can create a team for the digital marketing team or include all stakeholders working together on a specific project. The team members can share and perform documents, applications, video conferencing, and audio calls within the group. Users can access Microsoft Teams on their computers or mobile phones using their app.
Basic Functionality & Updates
Video conferencing has become so popular that it’s also used in post-work hours to meet your colleagues and friends, albeit the beer. Although Zoom has taken the virtual meeting world by storm, Microsoft Teams Live Event has added benefits that can improve your meeting experience.
Chat, call, video conferencing, and collaborate within the tool
Substitute your mobiles devices while telecommuting
Keeping smooth conferencing in mind, Microsoft Teams made few changes to the tool, making it a more reliable platform. Some of the added functions are:
Users can move communication from Teams to Outlook and vice versa
Message an entire department at once
Improved security compliance and administrative tools
Without further ado, here are some tricks that you can enjoy to ensure that your event becomes a smashing success. These tips and tricks are for those who are either new or experienced using Microsoft Teams Video Conferencing.
A- Creating Invitations in Outlook
You can create Microsoft Teams meetings on Outlook with a plug-in that provides all users with a link to the meeting. Most companies use Outlook for emailing and communication. This feature makes scheduling and starting video conferencing a breeze.
B- Show a Cover Slide in Your Presentation
It is essential to communicate clearly with the attendees about the status of the event. How do you do that? When the event is not live (pre-live status) at the scheduled time, people will see a black screen with a ‘The live event hasn’t started’ message. Or you would have gone ‘live’ but not started to present to give attendees time to enter.
If you go live and there is no audio and people see the above-mentioned black screen, they might assume that there are sound issues and message you to fix it. To avoid this, let the first slide have the message, ‘the event will begin shortly,’ and unmute periodically to tell people to wait for a few more moments for the event to begin.
C- Change or Blur Background
If you aren’t happy with your background, Teams Live can blur the feature to frost the background. This feature is handy when you are in public or protect your privacy.
D- Define Roles for Your Virtual Event
Defining roles for your virtual event will decrease last-minute chaos and confusion during the live event. Let’s look at each position:
Presenter: A live event can have multiple presenters. All the presenters can present their audio, share their content, and stream images from their computers. You can also switch them to the moderator role if you have switched on the live Q&A session.
Moderator: It is good to have a moderator for every event to handle Q&As and enhance the audience experience. They can publish questions and can answer each question.
Producer: A live event can have only one producer. It is the producer’s responsibility to ensure correct content and format are presented at the right times to the audience. They can start and stop an event, share participant videos, and select layout. Unlike other video conferencing tools, the producer can share, access, and edit Word docs, PowerPoint, and Excel in real-time. They can open and discuss the documents on the call, share feedback, and collaborate to finish projects.
E- The 30-second Delay
Microsoft Teams Live Events has a 20-30 seconds delay, which may confuse. If people enter as an attendee on a device, they need to be aware of the Delay. Some may think that slides are not transitioning at the right place, forgetting that it isn’t in sync with the presentation. The Delay may also impact Q&A when the fall or topic would have moved when a question comes up. Presenters must build the skills to make the transition smoother, keeping Delay in mind.
Bonus Tip: Be Aware of the Presenter — Attendee Dilemma
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When you create a Live Event, write the message, don’t forward this invitation. Go to Microsoft Teams to invite additional people. All presenters will get the invite in the email as shown below that should not be sent to people who are not the presenters of the event:
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This is because the Get attendee link copies the link to the clipboard that you can forward in emails, social media, and communication tools. People who click Join will join as presenters and enter backstage as presenters when they are not. It will be a lot of work to get them to mute while the actual presenters present.
Remember to use a shorter URL to link the URL to a custom URL.
Restarting an Event
Live events that abruptly end due to circumstances due to technical issues. In that case, event organizers can create a new event using the same criteria, and team members can join. Use a shorter URL to create a custom URL for the event. You can also use the same URL to link the new URL to the customized URL you created earlier, helping everyone join quickly.
Microsoft Teams Live Event is a great platform to connect with your colleagues and external stakeholders. It can take your live event experience to a new level. The platform encourages connections with attendees before, during, and after live events. Try out Live Event in Microsoft Teams, test it, and get to know all the roles and features, and with enough practice, you will start creating flawless events.
Ali Spain, Executive Director of the Microsoft Alumni Network
As a corporation alumni organization, connecting people is at the core of what we do, and events are an important aspect of our business.
Admittedly though, I’ve always had a love-hate relationship when it comes to events. We love seeing people come together to connect face to face, it’s important, fun, and valuable to our members. But we’ve always struggled with the fact that we couldn’t scale our in-person experiences to our growing worldwide membership.
Because we’ve wrestled with scale for some time, we had a pilot virtual event on our calendars prior to the pandemic. Thankfully, our fortuitous planning worked out, and shortly after the WFH transition, we held our first virtual event. A worldwide virtual career fair using a third-party online events platform called vFairs. In a 24-hour period, across four global time zones, we enabled 60 hiring companies (including Microsoft Corp.) to meet 480+ alumni candidates. The vFairs platform enabled us to simulate the experience one would expect at an in-person career fair, which is important for a highly collaborative event such as a career fair.
Since then, I’ve attended countless other online conferences, webinars, and virtual social hours. Here are some takeaways to keep in mind as you’re planning virtual events.
Content Takes Precedence
Taking time away from the office was a big part of going to in-person events. Now, attendance for virtual events is primarily driven by the information that one can learn and the information to be exchanged; opposed to who they might meet or run into. Thus, content must be compelling and the value of spending screen time (ie attending) — more so than shoulder-to-shoulder events. Prior to the event, communicate clearly, early, and persuasively what they will learn or gain by attending.
The Experience Still Matters
It’s human nature to connect with others. It’s the experience, the interaction, that drives people to an event, even online. It’s still important to enable attendees to connect with the presenter and with each other. Make it personal by asking presenters to acknowledge the attendee’s name when answering Q&A chat questions. You may also include polling between sessions and encourage interaction with prizes or recognition. And, if you’re goal is a collaborative event, select an event solution that enables break out sessions where attendees can interact with each other, like Airmeet.
The Swag
Let’s be honest here, what we all miss is the swag. Providing a token of gratitude for attending is still very important and can still be done virtually. And, if you’re charging a registration fee, you better be packing some decent swag. I recently attended an all-day conference that gave away Grubhub coupons for lunch and did surveys between sessions to break up the program. Trivia winners had pizza delivered to their door during the event, which of course was posted to social media to create buzz. While you may save budget on catering at virtual events, don’t skip the swag budget entirely. It’s also nice to send a little something post-event (digitally or via mail) for saying thank you for attending.
Yes, someday soon, it will be great to pack in shoulder-to-shoulder again. But out of necessity, we’ve learned virtual events can be scalable, economical, and as valuable. I’m convinced, post-vaccine, when our lives and work return to a new normal, virtual events will enjoy a new, elevated status in our business plans.
Marketing an event is all in the details. Especially if you are hosting an online event. A good place to start is event listing websites as they form an integral part of event promotional strategies.
While listing an event, you must keep an eye on little things that matter, be it virtual or physical. It starts with checking off a list of things to do before you put up an event. Even the most complex of projects have a checklist before it goes live. We’ve curated a helpful checklist of what we learned from planning ours. After you have checked off the list, it comes down to promoting the event.
Your event listing must grab the attention of visitors and tell them what’s on offer. There are plenty of events that get people’s attention online. Yours must stand out.
Choose a Platform
There are many event calendars and places to list your event online. Listing your event in a popular event marketplace will get you a lot of eyeballs. Every marketplace has certain features and benefits for the price you pay to list on them.
There are many platforms you can use for your events.
Choosing a platform is the first step to listing your event. Promotion on listing directories or marketplaces needs creatives like banner images and videos. You will need to know the size recommendation of the creatives needed and each platform may have different size recommendations.
Design an Awesome Event Logo
If you are having a one-off event, create a captivating logo that will have great brand recall. If you are creating an event series, it makes sense for you to use the same logo for all your events in that series.
While creating a logo, use a color scheme that follows your company brand guidelines. The logo you design must be a reflection of your brand be it the fonts, shapes, colors, patterns, etc. used in your logo. The design that you choose should be attractive, simplistic way, and social media-friendly. Remember, the logo should be the visual summation of your event!
Use an Attention-Grabbing Image
When people browse any event website, the image is the first thing that catches their attention. Images can never be an after-thought. The image must represent your event and should capture the experience your attendees can expect of the event. To ensure that your event image looks amazing, choose a high-resolution photo that’s one-of-a-kind, inspiring, and grabs your attendees’ attention.
Here are some visual approaches:
A picture with a person in motion always works. If it has some drama, it adds to the effect.
If there is a person connected to the event, add their image on the creative. Use the picture of any performer at the event, or a nice image of a participant.
The image could depict the positive of attending the event or the negative of not attending the event.
Show the nice part of the event like the food, brightly lit spaces, etc.
An image with a snippet of the event, or on a visually interesting aspect is a good way to grab attention.
Make the Title Alluring
Once you hook the prospective audience with your image, work on the title. While the image is the first thing people see, the title is the next thing. You have only a few seconds to make an impression. To make it count, write a catchy title to make your prospective audiences stop and investigate further.
It need not be sensational, or unbelievably fantastical. It must be kept short and simple, without omitting the selling points.
For example, ‘Live Sales Webinar’ may not light up someone’s eyes. Instead writing ‘Achieving Sales Success in Asia’ will grab people’s attention and they may stop at least for a few seconds, which is enough time for them to decide to click on the title or move on.
Note: You may also choose to show an image and say something about the event on the image to reinforce the title of the event. Ensure the right relationship between the title and image.
Write a Convincing Copy
It is exciting when people show up at your event. And your excitement must show in your copy.
In a few paragraphs, explain why you think this event will help people and why people must be excited about the event. Here are a few key points:
Make it Reader-Friendly
The copy must finish within a few paragraphs, preventing prospective audiences from running into a wall of text. Keep paragraphs short to make it readable. Include the names of the speakers and what the audience can expect from them. Let the audience know how they will be entertained and what they expect to gain from the event. Don’t forget to include the price and what it covers.
Must be Professionally Written
How you write matters as much as what you write. The event description is a representation of your company. Though it doesn’t mean that you will not organize a well-managed event, it sure makes for an internet fodder for ‘grammar nazis.’
Badly written copies with grammar errors circulate on the internet, forcing you to run for cover. It also must be kept free from inappropriate slangs, texting abbreviations, typos, and grammatical errors. Use tools like Grammarly to create a professional copy.
Optimize for SEO and Use Tags
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not only used to write websites and blog copies, it applies to your event listing content also. After all, your event listing is a web copy too. Research relevant keywords that people use to look for events in your industry and use them in your copy.
Use important keywords to your event title to maximize exposure. Look at other successful event listings and take inspiration for alternative keywords. Most event listing websites will need you to categorize events so that people can find your events easily where keywords may come in handy. Use them to help your audience narrow down their search.
Make it Easy for People to Reach You
Make life easy for people to reach you. They should be able to find your event by including a map if it is in a physical location. Registered users can click on the map to open the app on the phone and go. They should also be able to find your social media profiles and be able to share your event on their social media profiles.
Reinforce the Messaging With a Short Video
Including a video to your copy is also an effective strategy to grab attention. You can show speaker details, quick information about the event, and demonstrate what your audience can look forward to in the video.
Adding footage from your previous event will pique audience interest. There are free video creation tools like Lumen5 that will do the trick. You can easily arrange how you want the information to flow with nice music that reflects the mood of the event.
Test the Platform
The recent worldwide pandemic has forced everyone to host events online. In the future, event managers may conduct hybrid events. If your event is hybrid, you must conduct a systems check at the physical location while your digital markets must test out the online events platform.
You must also test out the platform before you publish the event. Make sure the title and the description read well, and see if the image is going well with the description or not. Also, make sure to add your tax details and bank details so that the payments are routed to your account.
In the end, make sure people are able to enter their name and email address, and then make payments. You don’t need to charge your credit card, but see if the payment link is going to the right payment processing platform. After everything is alright, make your event live.
Summing Up
Using this guide to list your event will make a great first impression. Brainstorming on crucial things like the title, banner image, and the description will ensure that your event gets the right kind of attention that it deserves.
If you looking for a one-stop solution to all your event managing activities, check out Speaker Engage. Speaker Engage is not just an event listing platform, but it has multiple functionalities like speaker management, a dashboard, and more. We have an extensive Event Directory to list and redirect audiences to your event. Learn how you can try it for free or get in touch with us at support@speakerengage.com
Are you a global champion who implemented top-notch practices to host virtual events practices to transform their events experiences? If yes, here is an opportunity to be recognized as an up-and-coming leader in hosting virtual events, become a changemaker, and win a grand prize. Here is everything you need to know about the #VirtualEventsPitchChallenge organized by Speaker Engage.
Imagine the beautifully set up venues with plush chairs and a grand stage, where businesses would frequent as speakers and attendees. These beautiful, extravagant events were the biggest lead generation sources that helped companies grow their business. But unfortunately, those days are far behind us now.
With the global pandemic, COVID-19, spreading all across the world, businesses are forced to cancel or postpone in-person events. Yes, the world is locked down. Is it the end of events?
Of course not. The internet has revolutionized the world with unmatching powers and capabilities. And, the latest industry to benefit from the internet is events. Love it or hate it, it looks like attending meetings from your bedroom is the new reality!
We, at Speaker Engage, are inviting you to join the biggest event of the year, as we are looking for the next revolutionary innovation in the virtual event space by proposing a #VirtualEventsPitchChallenge. Yes, a virtual events pitch challenge for best practices to encourage and support all ideas on the best practices while hosting a virtual event!
With this challenge, we aim to create the largest repository of best practices for hosting virtual events for the event planner community so we can collectively advance our experience to the next level. Any individual who believes they’ve cracked the formula for hosting the best and most efficient virtual events is welcome to participate. Exciting prizes and access to technology software are made available for the finalists and participants.
While the Pitch Challenge will elevate your career, you will also play a key role in guiding other event organizers to host better and bigger virtual events.
How to Participate?
Are you an individual or do you own a company that is curating and/or have curated virtual events?
Are you an individual or do you own a company that already has the best virtual events practices format ready?
Are you an individual or do you own a company that offers best practices that solve virtual events related challenges?
If your answer is ‘YES’ to these questions, you are qualified to participate in the Pitch Challenge sponsored by industry leaders like MeetingPool, FoundersLive, Women in Cloud, Meylah, and others. You just need to enter your 90-second best practices video pitch that showcases your challenges, opportunities, team collaboration, and best practices implements. Spread the word and encourage others who qualify to enter.
Benefits Beyond the Prize
This Pitch Challenge will help you get in touch with industry leaders, communities, and companies and will get you access to event planning tools like Speaker Engage, Airmeet, and more. You will also gain global industry recognition as an innovative virtual event planner and organizer by being part of this distinguished experience. These are crucial to maintaining your company’s competitive edge and will help you stay on top of your game.
Timeline
The competition starts on Jun 17, 2020, and ends at 11:59 PM (PST) on Aug 15, 2020. Finalists will be notified by Aug 28, 2020, and provided with instructions for the next steps. Ten finalists will have an opportunity to deliver their pitch during the Virtual Events Best Practices #VirtualEventsPitchChallenge live event on Sep 12, 2020. The winner will be selected on Sep 25, 2020.
Selection Criteria
Entries will be evaluated for originality, market feasibility, impact, and the use of technology solutions to host virtual events.
Idea (50% weightage) The originality of the idea to make your virtual event engaging
Feasibility & Impact (30% weightage) Strong impact on attendance, sponsorship, and attendee revenue, overall event satisfaction
20% Tech Solutions (20% weightage) The use of event technology is core to the solution.
Have you cracked the formula for the best virtual events? Are you ready to transform virtual events experience for the global good? Apply now to be a changemaker and win big! Looking forward to seeing your incredible innovations that could potentially transform the event industry as we know it!
