It started with canceling large conferences where hundreds or thousands of people would gather in one place. Quickly after, small events with fewer attendees were canceled as well. Now, many of these would-be in-person events are transforming into virtual events.
If event marketers have learned anything since mid-March it’s that things move fast. Okay, okay — maybe we already knew that. But we can agree the last several weeks have certainly reinforced it, right?
While event marketers have scrambled to shift their usual programs into virtual events, many are laser-focused on searching for and mastering a virtual event solution. And yes, that’s critical for running a virtual event program, but there are other priorities that require just as much attention.
One of those is promoting your virtual events. Unfortunately, because of the speed we’re working at today, many event marketers are simply sending a link to the out-of-the-box registration form that comes with whatever virtual event platform they choose.
If I was an emoji user, this is where you’d see the woman with the facepalm.
I know you have to move fast. But you and your events still deserve — and need — quality event promotions that drive registration and attendance. The keyword here is quality. It’s about more than just not using the basic virtual event platform registration link. It’s about creating beautiful, on-brand event promotional materials that can stand out in the currently overcrowded virtual events space.
I can feel the small bit of panic running through your head imagining how much work this could possibly mean. But guess what? It doesn’t have to mean a ton of extra work for you. If you’re scaling your event design with branded templates for your event pages, emails, and more, there’s no need to worry.
So with that, let’s dive into the five must-have ways to promote your virtual events.
Building an attention-grabbing, informative event page is one of the most important things you can do to successfully promote your virtual event. It’s the single place that houses all of your event details: event date and time, agenda or topic, speaker bios, required links, and more.
Since it’s typically the go-to spot for your attendees to get event information, ensuring you build a branded event page will help set the theme and carry it through all of your other promotional touchpoints.
Today's virtual events space is overcrowded, so brands must stand out to boost event registration. One way to do this: build an eye-catching, on-brand event page that sets the stage for what attendees can expect. → Tweet This
Your initial email invitation is an important one. It will likely be your audience’s very first impression of your event — and for some, their first impression of your brand. When you’re crafting this first invitation, think about what you want that first impression to be.
The other thing you must include in the first event invitation: the WIIFM factor. WIIFM, or What’s In It For Me, explains why your audience should attend the event. Is the topic particularly timely or impactful? Are you planning to divulge insider secrets that’ll help them do their jobs at 200% efficiency? Tell them what they’ll get out of it (but also be ready to deliver on that promise).
Pro Tip
Email recipients are 26% more likely to open the email if it has a personalized subject line. Whenever and wherever possible, personalize your email invitations. In addition to personalizing the subject line, I’d also recommend adding the first name tag to your opening line.
To drive even more registrations, send a second email invitation several days to a week later, depending on how much lead time you have overall. The key to making the follow-up invitation work effectively is email segmentation.
Don’t send the same version of this follow-up email to your entire marketing database. Segment your list into a few different ones and send them emails with messages tailored to their situation. For example, the subject line and message may be different for those who opened your first email invitation but didn’t register versus those who never even opened the first email invitation.
Similarly, the event topic might be broad enough to interest people working in different industries — but it could affect them in different ways. In certain cases, you might consider segmenting by industry and catering to those audiences with messaging unique to them.
Promoting your event on social media is practically a given these days. But how many times have you seen (or fallen victim to yourself) event promotions on social media that have populated incorrectly sized or pixelated event images?
If you thought, All too often, you’re not alone.
Promoting your events on social media can draw in prospects or current customers who already follow you, their followers, and new prospects. But poorly designed or off-brand social share images can turn potential attendees off. To make your virtual event’s social media promotions effective, spend time creating social share image templates that are properly sized for each channel.
Bonus: Social share image templates can also be easily and quickly updated for all of your new events, so you never have to start from scratch.
Promoting your virtual event isn’t only about getting people to register. It’s just as important to ensure those who registered actually attend. That’s why sending a reminder email either the day of the event or the day before is so important.
To even further increase the chances your registrants will attend, create an intimate, personalized email experience. Use your event marketing platform’s personalization tags to include the recipient’s first name in the subject line and opening line. Send it from an actual person, and make sure that person’s name and email address are populated in the sender’s information field. And don’t forget to include the sender’s name in the email signoff, with an invitation to reply with any questions.
Yes, event marketers have been moving fast. If this quick shift to virtual events has taught us anything, it’s that filling your virtual event spaces with the right people is critical to keep your event marketing and demand generation machines moving. And that starts with eye-catching, on-brand event promotions that get people in the virtual door.
As a Senior Manager of Marketing at Splash, Rebecca creates programs that help event marketers understand the importance of scale and how it translates to event goals and business results. A Chicago native, Rebecca recently traded the harsh winters for yearlong sun in the Arizona desert, where you can find her on running trails, in the pool, or at a patio cheering on the Chicago Bears.
