Virtual events are becoming part of our daily routines as companies and organizations start adapting to remote work. It is possible that for some brands, this is a temporary shift. Even then, we must admit that hosting events online is significantly more beneficial than an in-person event. For instance, unlike a physical event, a virtual event enables your brand to tap into global audiences.
Online events are not going anywhere. A simple Google search will throw up many competing webinars, Q&As, and live streams for any topic under the sun. With a plethora of online events fighting for attention, it can be quite challenging to get people interested in your event.
So, if you are planning to shift your in-person event to an online event, how do you ensure that it receives the most attention? Here are a few things that you can do.
- Set the right expectations
When you hold an in-person event, you have to be clear about your content to promote it adequately. These rules apply to online events as well. Setting expectations is a necessity to get what you want, the way you want it. Online events differ in their content, and your audience will want to know what they are signing up for before committing their time and money.
You can follow this logic when you send emails to your registrants as well. If you remind them why they were interested in attending the event, they are more likely to turn up for the event. Here are a few tips for boosting your webinar marketing strategy.
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Encourage your speakers and employees to speak about the event
The more people talk about your event, the better the publicity. Requesting your speakers, employees, and other stakeholders (sponsors, co-branding partners) to talk about your event on their personal platforms, is an excellent way to get some free publicity for your event.
Start by sharing a link to the event with them. If you want to go further, share marketing collateral like posters, videos, and other content as a part of your virtual event’s marketing strategy. The latter’s advantage is, it will make them more likely to share your event with their audience. Here’s a post on how you can increase attendance at your virtual events.
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Take advantage of co-branding opportunities
Co-branding is a strategic alliance of multiple brands for a single product (or service). It is a great way to enter new markets and boost awareness about what you are offering.
In co-branding, you partner with another brand or sponsor to create an event and inform your audience about the event together. It allows you to piggyback on your co-branding partner’s popularity. But you must ensure it is a partnership where all the parties are benefited.
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Enter your event in an online event registry
An easy hack to increase your event’s visibility is to enter your event’s details on an online event registry. This is an excellent way to market smaller events or ones where you have a limited marketing budget.
Speaker Engage’s online event directory is a good place to start. It allows you to discover events by date, location, industry, and event type. It is a one-stop shop to find exciting events and webinars and you can also benefit from the co-branding opportunities it offers you. Click here to explore how you can scale up your event using virtual event marketing strategies and ideas.
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Track the success of your marketing efforts
Management guru Peter Drucker says, ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.’ If you are spending time or money arranging a virtual event, you will want to track its performance. This way, you can discover which of your marketing strategies are working and which are not.
There are many ways to track site visits and registrations. To measure site visits, you can use Google Analytics. To discover returns on social media marketing expenditure, you can use their propriety analytics platforms. To find out where the registrations are coming from, you can use UTM links.
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Create a virtual event that people want to attend
The marketing of virtual events is similar to that of in-person events. But there are some key differences. For one, you can market a virtual event to a broader audience (even a global one). Secondly, the virtual event marketplace is very competitive, and you may have to vie with others to grab eyeballs.
Third, the goal of marketing in-person events is to get people to purchase tickets. For virtual events, the purpose of marketing are many, to get people to register for the event, to remind them to log in at the right time and to get them to follow a call to action after the event.
Finally, don’t forget, the goal of conducting a virtual event is to inform people about a product (or service). The way you pass this message along will largely determine the success of your event. Looking for ways to get more people to turn up at your event? Speaker Engage is your best partner for all online event planning and management tasks, with futuristic tools and online event management software.
Meanwhile, if you want to simplify how you manage and coordinate your events as an event manager, try Speaker Engage. Sign up for a demo today!
