Virtual events have seen a massive rise in popularity in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic that swept over the world. A lot of companies and organizers had no other choice but to switch to the virtual world as traveling was not a possibility.
However, virtual events are just like real events in the sense that you need to put in a lot of effort when it comes to both getting people to attend your event and keeping them engaged.
Virtual events marketing is still a fresh concept for many. To make things easier for you, this blog contains the top 10 tips when it comes to acquiring an audience for your virtual event and how to keep them engaged!
Acquire and Engage Your Audience for Virtual Events
#1 – Make the event match your business goals
With a sophisticated virtual events platform, it is possible to create a wide range of different events. However, it is important to not get carried away and focus on creating the best virtual event that also matches the business goals you’re attempting to achieve with the event.
For example, if your goal is to create brand awareness or position your brand as a thought leader, it is better to focus more on the value provided by the event and use it as the focus of the virtual events promotion initiatives you take. The focus of promotional initiatives should be oriented towards acquiring and nurturing leads when your goal is lead generation. Here is a complete guide to virtual events and virtual conferences.
Create an Extraordinary Event Experience
Across All Event Formats
#2 – Spend a lot of time on creating awesome promotional materials
Virtual events marketing has become increasingly competitive and it can be hard to make an impact on potential attendees these days. Creating high-value promotional materials that are designed to inspire and convert prospects into attendees is a vital part of the marketing for any virtual event today.
Instead of creating promotional materials for your event as an afterthought, it’s better to focus on the task as a core initiative. Acquiring leads for any kind of virtual event is much easier when you have awesome promotional materials backing it!
#3 – Use a comprehensive and suitable marketing and promotion strategy
In addition to creating awesome promotional materials for your virtual event, it is also important to create and execute a comprehensive and suitable marketing and promotional strategy for your event.
A few aspects of virtual events promotion include powerful email campaigns, social media marketing, blog posts, press releases, search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns, and lastly, paid media and partnerships.
If you aim to create a large scale engaging virtual event, it is important to take marketing and promotional activities for the virtual event as seriously as you might do with a physical one!
#4 – Use influencer marketing
Even though influencer marketing might be getting a bad rep recently, it is still one of the most powerful ways to convince people to attend your virtual event. For example, a virtual meeting with an influencer that has an audience that is relevant to your event can dramatically increase the number of attendees for the event.
When it comes to influencer marketing, it’s vital to stick to influencers that have audiences that are relevant to you. This means just partnering up with influencers with the largest audiences might not actually be the best plan for you. Instead, you should research the demographics of the audience of the influencer and picking the one that reaches audiences that are most relevant for you.
#5 – Be smart with analytics
Analytics are extremely important for any event, virtual or otherwise. However, one of the main advantages of virtual conferences and events is that collecting data is much easier.
There are a number of ways to gather powerful analytics for your events such as using tracking links, reporting tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Insights, understanding your core audience, and how well they react to the event, etc.
With the right data at your disposal, you can create really powerful virtual events marketing initiatives for your event that is based on analytics and not guesswork.
Create an Extraordinary Event Experience
Across All Event Formats
#6 – Fill your event with engagement activities
One of the easiest ways to make your virtual events more engaging for the attendees is to add gamification elements and engagement activities right into the flow of the virtual event itself. The idea is to keep the attendees focused on the screen in front of them and keep them engaged by using engagement activities like polling, chat, Q&A, trivia, and more.
This is why it is important to use a virtual events platform that comes with in-built engagement features if you want your virtual event to be truly engaging for the attendees.
#7 – Post social media content during the event
A virtual event is not just an online meeting. While it is common to post updates in real-time on social media during physical events, the same is often not applied to events in the virtual space.
By posting real-time updates during your virtual event, you can engage not only the attendee of the events but also create a social media buzz for the event.
#8 – Use live announcements
Live announcements are another way to add more engagement to your virtual event. When you use live announcements for your virtual event, it is more likely that the attendees are paying more attention to the event. Some examples of using live announcements involve announcing the next speakers, leaderboard winners, the latest social media posts, or prizes for contests during the event.
#9 – Send feedback forms
Another way of engaging more with the attendees of your virtual event is by asking for their feedback. Sending feedback forms not only generates more engagement from the audience but also gives you a lot of data that can be used to optimize any future events that you might host.
Create an Extraordinary Event Experience
Across All Event Formats
#10 – Archive content for other purposes
Lastly, if things go right, you should end up with a lot of content and highlights once the event ends. This content should ideally be repurposed for marketing future events and creating a highlight reel of the virtual event. This engages both future potential attendees and the attendees of the current event even after the event ends!
Host an awesome Virtual Event today!
We hope this article was helpful to you and provided some ideas on how to make virtual events much more engaging! If you’re looking for a virtual events platform that goes beyond just hosting a virtual event but providing a true virtual experience, contact us today!
