Most conferences, speaking engagements, and networking events have been forced to go virtual.
Without the lures of free swag bags or in-person networking opportunities, it can be hard to draw a large audience. With thousands of other businesses hosting conferences online, it can also be challenging to make your event stand out.
With a great marketing strategy, you can overcome these obstacles and make your virtual event a success.
Here are a few tips you should keep in mind when marketing a virtual event:
1. Show the value of your virtual event
There are countless virtual events people can attend with the click of a button. What makes yours special?
One of the most important things you can do to successfully market a virtual event is to show your invitees exactly what they’ll gain and why they’ll benefit from attending your event.
Use persuasive copy. Make it clear that your event will provide valuable information or experiences that they can’t get elsewhere. Make sure you promote your event’s value just as much as you promote the event itself.
Use this copy anywhere you talk about your event, like:
- The event landing page
- Your email reminders
- Social media copy
- Facebook events
2. Use Email Marketing Wisely
Despite new, innovative technology constantly changing the marketing landscape, email marketing remains a consistent way to reach your target audience. In fact, more than 59% of marketers say that email is their biggest source of ROI.
Never underestimate the power of sending out a great promotional email.
An email campaign will draw tons of people to your virtual event–but it has to be well-thought-out and targeted.
If your event will cover a variety of topics, you shouldn’t use a “one size fits all” approach to your marketing.
Use email segmentation to send different invitations that highlight different features of your events to different groups of people based on their interests.
Want to encourage marketers and product designers to attend your event? Send the marketers an invitation that emphasizes the marketing guru who will be the keynote speaker for your conference. Then, send invitations that feature your panel of UX design experts to the designers.
Consider which aspects of your virtual event will be the most enticing to specific members of your target audience. Then, segment your invitations accordingly.
3. Engage your audience on social media
Many brands already know that images and video content are more engaging than plain text on their social media pages and websites, but they still only use text to market events. It’s time to spice things up.
Create Engaging Social Graphics
Step up your virtual event promotion and create video content to market your event to your audience on your social media pages.
Remember that persuasive copy you wrote? Turn it into a text-motion video that you can share across social media, or create image quotes that show key takeaways that your keynote speakers shared at previous speaking engagements.
Here’s an example of a text-motion video that we created to promote a webinar were a part of:
Create an Event Hashtag
An event hashtag is a fun way to connect with your audience. It helps them interact with your brand and other potential attendees leading up to the virtual event. It also builds excitement surrounding the event, and it makes it easy for your audience to find information about your event on social media.
When your virtual event marketing is engaging, it will not only attract more attention, but it will also make people feel like your virtual event will be engaging as well.
With these tips, not only will your attendance at all of your virtual conferences and events increase, but your engagement will as well.
Learn more about Repurpose House and how we can repurpose your content to promote your next virtual event when you visit our website.
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Shaina Weisinger
Shaina Weisinger is the founder and CEO of Repurpose House, which turns your content into unlimited videos and images. Shaina is on a mission to show content creators the untapped potential and repurposing power of the content they already have. Shaina loves to laugh loudly, be obnoxiously competitive on the volleyball court, treat her dogs as her kin, and recover from tripping on or running into almost everything within a five-foot radius.
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