Since last year, 2020, the event industry has experienced a shift in trend from traditional in-person events to virtual events. This shift of trend is justified by the COVID-19 pandemic that made everyone aware of the significance of social distancing, in lieu of which physical events were not possible. Though virtual event platforms have been in the market for quite some time it was only after the shift of trend that the organisers and event planners understood the true potential of it. Ever since that realisation organisers have been looking for ways to make their events engaging and promote their virtual events. Today we will be looking at some ways by which you can promote your virtual event and increase the attendee’s participation.
While a lot remains unpredictable, there are alluring opportunities for event organisers in the virtual space to enhance their reach potentially and uplift their way of organising and marketing events. To make you believe that, we have gathered a detailed and informative guide on various ways you can promote your virtual event. Let’s have a look at some of them!
Virtual Event Platform- How and Why?
Virtual event platforms are the platforms on which virtual events take place, the event is broadcasted all around the globe via the internet and can be accessed by attendees from the comfort of their own home. We admit the main aspect of the event is the attendee’s engagement, however for that to happen you must have some audience to start with. You can attain potential audience and partnerships via event promotions. With proper strategy and planning you can attain mass with potential leads and leverage that to make your event successful. With advancement in technology and social media today we will look at some ways to promote your virtual event.
Google is the most popular search engine out there. Hence if your event can make it to the first page of google it will be significantly easier for people to find your event and engage in the same. Google is something everyone uses for pretty much everything, whether it be the latest reports, news, sports, games and much more. Thus, google already has a mass audience engaged with the service, hence when you help google find your event and it starts showcasing your results the audience that is engaged with google is not automatically your potential audience. Start by incorporating certain keywords that represent your events, remember to keep it relevant. SEO is the area of expertise that deals with such promotions.
Social Media
Social Media is essentially free advertisement and promotion, given that you have an account to start with. You may attain a massive audience by posting relevant content related to your event and finding the right set of audience that is interested in the same. You may also leverage the marketing tools provided by some social media websites that will help you analyse and manage the account much more efficiently and effectively. Popular social websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest can be leveraged to advertise your event for free to your audience and attain a wide base. You may create your own independent page and update your potential audience regarding the event. social media also provides the option to include paid ads, that ensures your posts to be on people’s feed.
Video Technology
Virtual events will be taking place over the internet, essentially being broadcasted in the form of video. Since the trend is still developing it is certainly recommended to make an introductory video explaining about your journey and the type of event it is going to be. This will help you accomplish two significant factors- first it will encourage the interested audience to participate in your event and second it may also develop interest in some potential audience. You may also include your past experience regarding the field that will gain you some trust from the viewers perspective, experience talks! If your event is going to be attended by some celebrities or keynote speakers you may also give them a brief mention to encourage potential attendees.
Contests and Giveaways
People like to take part in contests and giveaways if they find the rewards to be attractive. For your event you may offer free registration and some exciting gifts to the winner to the winners of giveaways and contests. This will not only increase the number of attendees but it will also help you spread the word about your event. Contests and Giveaways are especially helpful when you already have a set of regular attendees, as this will encourage them to perpetuate the contest and make your event available to a larger audience.
Discounts
Naturally people are attracted to discounts and coupons, you may leverage this nature by introducing the same in your event and offering people a way to save a couple of bucks! When you offer exclusive discounts, it makes the attendees feel included and special in the event, due to special prizes. Attendees who pre-registered or registered early can be given some relatively significant discounts. This feeling will perpetuate, thus encouraging more and more attendees to start registering for your event whenever the next time you’ll host. Same can be offered to contest winners, in the form of coupon codes which are relevant for them and can be used in their day-to-day life.
The future of events- Digital events
The event industry has witnessed a sudden surge of technology advancements after the world encountered the distressing virus. This skyrocketed the demand for virtual events in 2020. Since then, virtual events have become the future of the event industry and event organisers admit that physical events are gone for good. Events have become more innovative, concrete, engaging, and most importantly dynamic. With that the potential of event technology has also transformed for good as it makes an event more organised, indulging, and convenient for audiences. Before embarking your presence in the online event, there are certain well-versed trends of virtual events that you must know! Here a quick virtual event trends created for you to entice audience in a better and successful way-
Projection-Mapping
Live Translation
Connect Through Live Streaming
Event Apps
AR & VR Experiences
Projection Mapping
the trend enables attendees to get detailed insights of the content which eventually levels up audience engagement. This mapping technique can be used in events for personalisation, story-telling, and branding effectively.
Live Translation
Now that audiences have the opportunity to attend any event from any remote location, it spikes up the chances of inviting international visitors as well. Through this live translation tool, visitors can choose the language they prefer and get started with the event by using headphones, and online access.
Connect Through Live Streaming
Live streaming enables attendees to understand the content resource in a much aligned manner. This can improve your relationship with your participants as live streaming events curates more real and authentic feeling that an edited video cannot provide.
Event Apps
Event apps are the most useful and valuable trend in the B2B sector due to advanced and smooth functioning. It allows better engagement and interaction amidst corporate events and can be seamlessly integrated to fulfill personal needs to enhance delegates’ experience. If you have a QR code available, this app can also gamify the content while calculating brand activities and engagement levels of an event immersively.
AR & VR Experiences
Augmented and virtual reality have witnessed a huge success in the event industry. Not just that, many big brands and companies are taking advantage of this tool to deliver a better experience to its customers. AR is popular for its eye-catching and interactive functionalities that attracts attendees to come and participate in the event.
Whereas, VR is a tech-savvy tool that helps businesses to enter into a computer-generated 3D world without any hustle and bustle.
Over to You
While 2020 was a year of new learnings, 2021 is going to be a milestone year for the event industry.
The event industry has experienced a shift in trend from traditional in-person events to virtual events. This trend is in lieu of the COVID-19 pandemic, though the decision to switch to virtual events was due to inevitable reasons, ever since the shift the organisers have found virtual events to be engaging and interactive. The attendees enjoy attending the event from the comfort of their own home and just like traditional events virtual events also require some for advertisements and promotion. Gratefully due to the advancements in technology organisers can advertise and promote their event over the internet.
The above-mentioned ways are some ways you can practice to promote your event by leveraging social media and the internet. From making videos to advertising, all these steps are in favour of increasing your attendee’s participation and taking your event to a wider audience. There are plenty of marketing tools and websites available at your disposal to promote your event- such as making independent accounts which is free of costs and provides an infinite approach or paid advertisements which ensures posts on feeds.
