How to boost your Virtual Event attendance
17/02/2021
Your date is set, and your registration page is up and running. You have a great line-up of speakers, sponsors and breakout sessions… Now it is time to make sure you cut through the noise and that people know about your event.
The competition for people’s time is steep. So how do you best promote, boost attendance and maximise the virtual event experience?
This is the first stop that your audience will experience for your virtual event. Make it as compelling as possible and give your audience all the information they need to what, who, when and where the event is taking place.
Get people excited about your event by using stand-out graphics, clips of speakers and previews. If you have any giveaways or special offers that your audience can get by attending your event make sure they are included.
Be sure to consider the user experience design to make sure you land clear CTAs and make it as easy as possible for people to register.
Keep it fresh
Fresh content is the key to an engaging and exciting online event. If an attendee feels they are being asked to the same webinar they have already been to, they won’t register. Consider framing the information in a fresh, creative way that promotes further understanding of the material or incorporating the latest news and trends that are related to your audience.
Spread the word on social
Are you waiting for your attendees to magically find your event, or are you meeting them where they are? Make sure you have a robust, organic and paid social media posting schedule highlighting your speakers, sessions, keynotes, sponsors and other aspects of your event.
Think about who exactly is interested in your topic – What industry they work in? What websites do they visit? Where do they read their news? With paid media you can tap into existing audiences on your social media channels, or create new targeted campaign based on audience interests or visits they make to your event website.
Email Marketing
Email is the single most effective way to drive virtual event registrations, especially if you already have a good customer or customer database. Keep customers informed about your virtual events and utilise the content you have already created with a link to your event website.
Include event reminders or related, pre-event content that helps keep excitement and be sure to include an easy way for people to add it to their calendars.
Use your Sponsors and Speakers
To open up your event to a wider audience, ask your sponsors and speakers to spread the word on their social channels. This should be a two-way street – make sure to promote your speakers on your channels as well and take their pages so they can gain followers from your audience as well.
A good tip is to provide your speakers and sponsors with a ready to go asset bank that includes social content and copy sized for each social platform.
Work with your audience’s attention span
Once you have driven your audience to your registration page make sure they are not put off by the length of your event. This requires you to step back and consider its content and structure. Remember that a virtual event is very different from a live event and that your audience’s attention span is considerably shorter. If a potential attendee clicks to find 6 hours with no breaks, and no time for engagement or networking you have lost them!
Offer on-demand content
One of the biggest benefits of virtual events is that if attendees can’t make your event due to a scheduling conflict, they may be inclined to register if it means they will receive on-demand content post event. This means they will still be engaging with your content and brand, even if it’s not live. London Fashion Week have much of their content streamed and viewable later for example.
Keep all these tips in mind when organizing your next virtual event, and you’ll no doubt have an engaged and interactive audience.
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