If someone asked me three months ago to write this blog post, I would have responded with an obligatory “y tho?” meme.
Fast-forward to today, and the only thing event marketers are thinking and talking about is virtual event strategy. By now, you’ve probably hosted a
handful of virtual events and have likely compiled a list of what went right and what could use fine-tuning. Do those notes involve your virtual event follow-up strategy?
When we host live events, the pre-event hype gets the most attention. We put most of our eggs in the promotional basket and often don’t focus a lot of our energy on the follow-up strategy. Why? Because we made connections with the people at the live event and formed many one-off follow-up plans to re-engage them later. We don’t have that luxury with virtual events, so our follow-up strategy has to be thorough.
But first things first. When you’re hosting a webinar or live stream, use a Virtual Branded Theme (it’s free). It’s ready to go with a registration page, customized emails, and a post-event experience. Tips, tricks, and best practices are included to make setup really easy, and using a theme will make the next four steps a breeze.
When your virtual event concludes and if you plan to offer an on-demand version, switch your event page to the post-event stage and add the link to the recording. This ensures all of the content you worked so hard to compile doesn’t vanish as soon as the event ends.
If you don’t plan on offering an on-demand version of your event page, you should still switch your event page to the post-event stage. This lets your audience know the event has ended, and they can be redirected to an upcoming event or links to digital resources instead.
Pro Tip
If your virtual event is part of a series, add a call to action on your post-event page that links to the next event’s registration page.
Just like we would after a live event, it’s a best practice to send an email to your virtual event attendees and no-shows. However, there should be key differences for the virtual event follow-up email.
Since virtual events aren’t as immersive as live events, you’ll need to provide resources that your audience can take advantage of to stay connected. That means sending links to your resources, upcoming events or webinars, a prompt to provide feedback, and a recording of the virtual event (if applicable).
The goal of your virtual event follow-up email is to take another action. Fortunately, we have the upper hand right now. With most people in quarantine, they’re looking for outlets to find community and stay busy. The more pathways you can provide in your communications will ensure future program success and higher engagement.
I cannot stress this enough: Always — I mean always — send your virtual event attendees a survey following the event. We are all learning a brand new skill when it comes to hosting meaningful virtual events, so there is always room for improvement.
Whether you’re collecting the survey data in your event marketing platform, a survey provider, or a simple Google Form, make sure it’s the first thing you mention in your follow-up communications. I usually try to mention the survey at the end of the virtual event while I still have attendees’ attention so I can let them know what to expect and stress how valuable we find their feedback.
This one is my favorite because it is something we’ve never done before in the world of live events. As event marketers, we’re responsible for creating experiences that create human connection. However, we’re not actually creating those connections ourselves — we’re relying on the fact that our guests are excited to grow their networks and will come to the event ready to swap business cards.
This is not something we can replicate in a virtual setting. Sure, you can leverage Zoom breakout rooms and a slew of other virtual tools to drive peer-to-peer chatter, but nothing compares to the serendipitous, “meet-cute” moments live events create.
So, we have to be the facilitators of the meet-cute. Disclaimer: This requires some serious homework and a deep understanding of your audience.
People attend events to learn something new. That doesn’t just mean learning from the speakers and programmed content. It means finding like-minded individuals with whom they can create lasting professional relationships.
Following the event, take a hard look at your attendee list. Think back to who raised the most questions, expressed the most excitement, or even reached out and asked for more ways to get involved. Look for similarities between those guests like company size, industry, and job role (you wouldn’t want to pair a specialist with an executive). Once you identify a couple, reach out to both in a simple, concise way. Feel free to copy and paste this:
Hey [first name] and [first name], I noticed you both attended yesterday’s virtual event. It sounds like you’re both trying to solve similar challenges, so I wanted to introduce you to each other. Let me know if I can be any help, but I’ll let you two take it from here.
There’s no doubt this tactic is a manual lift, and it might not be feasible for every virtual event. But if you can create one relationship between your guests that might not have existed before, it’s a win.
There’s no arguing that the temporary absence of live events has left us feeling a bit unfulfilled, and there is only so much a virtual event can do to imitate in-person human connection. But I truly believe that half the battle of creating a meaningful virtual experience for your attendees is what you do after the event is over.
P.S. Coming soon to a Splash near you: an all-new Virtual Event Page touchpoint that streamlines the setup of your dynamic event page (one URL, multiple guest experiences based on the proximity to your live event). Plus, this automates guest check-in and data capture. Learn more by watching our on-demand webinar. Keep your eyes peeled for the announcement email!
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.