Event marketers are on the hook to create more than just in-person experiences. We are responsible for creating promotion plans to drive registrations, cultivating content that fuels outstanding event agendas, drawing up on-site activations to increase social sharing –– the list goes on.
But what happens when the event is over? Does all of the pre-event hype you worked so hard to create die when the last attendee walks out the door? Unless your team is hosting events on a weekly cadence with the same audience, you’re likely experiencing this loss-of-engagement issue in some capacity. But with a few tricks up your sleeve, it doesn’t have to be this way. Here’s where you can start.
Having been both an event host and an attendee over the years, I’ve seen some outstanding follow-up communications and some not so great. The keys to being on the outstanding side of the equation are simple:
1. Be prompt. Have your follow-up plan locked and loaded long before the day of the event. If you’re not sending some sort of follow-up communication within 24 hours post-event, you’re already late.
2. Be meaningful. We’ve all received the obligatory, “It was great to see you at our event! Here is a link to our website” email that we immediately delete. A follow-up email like that will generate the same results as not sending anything at all. A general marketing rule of thumb: If something doesn’t have a specific desired outcome, don’t do it. Instead, go the extra mile and keep your attendees engaging with you by asking them to complete a survey about their experience and ask them how you can improve the next event. Or, my personal favorite: If the event they attended was part of an ongoing series, encourage a subscription to the event calendar to stay in the know for upcoming events.
3. Be personal. This is not to say that you need to create custom, handwritten notes that get delivered on a silver platter to your attendees. It means you should go the extra mile to ensure an email isn’t generic and bland. For example, instead of writing, “Thank you for attending the event” in an email subject line, use personalization tags and create something like, “One more thing before you go, John!” This conveys promptness, meaningful action, and obviously, a personalized touch.
If you hosted any speakers, sessions, or content at your event, this is your ticket to keeping engagement up. Events are a gold mine of thoughtful content and a great way to keep your attendees listening while attracting new faces for the next event is creating thought-leadership content that expounds on on-site learnings. Some of my most popular blog posts and articles have been event recaps because the reader can relate to the findings and weigh in with their own perspectives.
Anything you can create after an event that sparks recall with attendees and gains some new eyes with the broader audience will never be pointless. Blog posts are the easiest win, LinkedIn articles will get you social visibility, and media bylines are gold mines.
Social media –– you either love it or you hate it. But like it or not, it’s an event marketer’s best friend when it comes to creating and keeping the hype around events. Frequently we see events take over social platforms on the day-of, but the next day it is complete crickets from both the attendees and the host. While it’s easy and natural to want to take a deep breath of relief and relax knowing your event kicked ass, fight the urge and keep your social tabs open.
First, go for the quick hits: a recap post full of pictures that thanks speakers, sponsors, partners, etc. Tag everyone you can to please the sacred algorithm and watch as the likes, comments, and shares pour in. If you did some sort of award ceremony at your event, make a post about the winners (remember, visual content galore).
After the initial buzz becomes quiet, take all of the post-event content you created and post it anywhere you can. Keep any event hashtags alive, tag any speakers whose work might be mentioned in your content, host a Twitter or Instagram poll where attendees can vote on what content they want to hear at the next event, etc. Again, visual content always wins, so once you have any sizzle reels or video highlights ready to go, rinse and repeat the above.
Events are part of the bigger marketing puzzle that is always multi-touch. Whether you’re part of a one-person or fully stacked event team, the message you’re putting out into the market is the same as the broader marketing team. So lean on them –– ask for help creating content, encourage multiple people to post on social media, and bring your demand team into the room to help create follow-up email campaigns. Better yet, get multiple departments involved and brainstorm even more ways to keep the attendees you worked so hard to get in the door, involved and engaged.
Want even more tips on how to drive post-event attendee engagement? Check out the Universe of Events Chapter 8: The Post-Event Strategy
Hannah is the Community & Customer Marketing Manager at Splash. Her goal is to empower Splash customers to showcase their expertise with the rest of the event marketing community. A former event marketer, Hannah understands the effort it takes to pull off a seamless event and understands how imperative the Splash software is to an event marketer's success. Hannah is a Rhode Island native/glorified beach bum, equestrian, and mother to the world's most perfect corgi, Wilbur.