With so many organizations hosting virtual events and many people expecting virtual or hybrid options going forward, there are a number of areas to consider when seeking to make your event successful. However, one things that increasingly seems to vex event planners is how to promote a virtual event. After all, the most intricately planned and executed virtual event will still be disappointing if not many people are able to take part and receive the information. Let’s take a look at a number of best practices towards promoting your next virtual event!
Know Your Audience
This is key in so many ways. Understanding who you are targeting your event for is the first step in ensuring that your other promotion efforts succeed. Take time to consider your audience. What industries do they represent? Are they at particular stages of their careers? Do they have common interest, passions, or causes?
Here, you want to consider demographics and psychographics. Demographics, of course, are descriptive qualities of who individuals are whereas psychographics refer to what individuals think and believe. Pinpointing the various groups that you are targeting your event for will help you identify the best strategies to promote it overall.
Have an Event Page that Stands Out
If you want someone to sign up to attend a virtual event, they need to be able to get as much information as possible when going to your website. Thus, having a landing page for your event that is descriptive, well laid out, and user friendly is key. Think about what you want to see when you go to look at an event. This will help guide you in terms of the content.
All your marketing material – whether printed, social media, or e-mail – should direct prospective attendees to the event page. You’ll want to have imagery that supports your event and messaging as well as the core information about date, time, and a preview of the topics. If you have any popular speakers, this is where you want to reinforce that by highlighting them. A successful and engaging event page will enhance the likelihood that people will register.
Use Multiple Methods of Marketing
Marketing is what many virtual events come down to in terms of their success. Unfortunately, many organizations do not have the experience to realize the need to diversify their marketing outreach. Different people will be reached through different methods. Additionally, it is more likely that people will take notice and sign up for your event if they see the message several different times.
Many organizations simply send out e-mails to their existing database of contacts. While e- mails are an important method of helping make people aware of an event, it should not be the only method. Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram provide relatively inexpensive methods of micro-targeting your audience and should be leveraged as well. Of course, other avenues like direct mailings can also enhance the likelihood that your event gets noticed if that is in your budget.
Partner Up
An excellent way to improve your event’s attendance and outreach as well as broaden the scope is to partner with other organizations. Consider partnering with a business or professional organization if it fits your content. This will help improve notice and make your event more successful.
Additionally, if you have sponsors for your virtual event, encourage them to spread the word with their clients. This benefits them by showing that they are doing good deeds with support while benefitting you by driving more people to your event. Taking advantage of your connections is an important way to effortlessly spread the word.
Utilize Video
We all realize that technology is rapidly shifting. In reality, expectations of consumers are too. Video is now quite common and also provides a great way to hook prospective attendees. Consider creating a video that highlights your upcoming virtual event. Embedding the video on social media ads or your website can help convert visitors to registered attendees.
Additionally, there is something to be said for investing in professional quality video production. There are often many local freelancers that can help you develop a short video to showcase your event for an affordable price. Consider this if no one on your team has the technical skills needed.
Final Thoughts
When you plan your next virtual event, consider your strategy for targeting potential attendees. Understanding your audience, creating an attractive event page, leveraging multiple channels of marketing, partnering with other stakeholders, and utilizing video are all great best practices for getting the word out. If you’d like to trust your virtual event to the professionals, consider contacting Virtual Creative Studios and letting our professionals make your event perfect!
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