Exploring The ‘Best ways’ To Promote Your Event Online

“The Stage Is Set, the Curtain Rises…” But raising the curtain is never enough. You know the amount of effort you’ve put in for your upcoming event, you’ve probably chosen the best venue, convinced some brilliant speakers and sponsors and arranged for some amazing catering. There is still one thing though which could make or break the whole ‘perfection’ quotient. You still have to sell tickets!!! 

Thanks to online marketing a lot of hassle and of course your money could be saved if you knew the correct way to promote your event. And why exactly are we writing about this today? Well, as an Event App company our job is not just to sell our product but also to be friends with our clients, understand their pain points and in this whole process of sharing and discussing, we realized we could take some time out talking about the easiest ways of event promotion so that it saves our clients’ time, your time 🙂  

First things first. Do you have an event web page?

 This is the most crucial thing to start off with. You want your attendees to know where they are going, why they are going. Whether you add that glitter or keep it simple, make sure to have just the right amount of information and useful call for action buttons that instantly grab user attention. Have few tabs, fewer drop-down menus- your point is not to overwhelm but rather to inspire people to sign up for your event. The Registration page is definitely the most important. This is the place which would eventually take users to the Tickets page (which literally is your ‘Event Shop’). Trust us, we have created such websites for our Clients which have proved to be immensely useful. Once you’ve sold the ticket you can start counting your ROI. Spend time with your developers and make sure the selection and checkout process is instant and trouble free.  

Another useful and catchy recommendation would be to provide the option to share the excitement over social media. This could be achieved by keeping simple share buttons as soon as the ticket purchase is done, prompting users to share the news of attending XYZ event on their social media profiles. This not only spreads word of mouth but also enhances chances of getting more referrals.  

 Now I know a lot of people would speak of SEO and how important it is to optimize your Event site but I would rather ask you to invest a slightly greater time promoting online. SO start talking here as the real buzz starts here and you would find most of your target audiences online. Here are a few things which you could do-  

Certainly do not overlook Email Marketing– just because the whole world is crazy about Social Media, does not mean Emails Marketing is dead. Create a super impressive template that eventually takes user to your event landing page. Highlight Register buttons. You might as well motivate users to sign up by giving them freebies or discounts on your service/product.  

As the event gets closer, send emails with updated speaker information or share the latest ‘what’s happening now’ articles.   

Blog Blog Blog– this adds plenty of useful content that is helpful both for your audience as well as for improving your Search Engine rankings by having the right keyword density. Include posts such as Speaker interviews, topics that would catch the attention of your attendees, guest posts from an Exhibitor or a popular Speaker. This will initiate the interest and maintain the discussion during and after your Event.   

Social Media– As Erik Qualman said “We don’t have a choice whether we DO social media, the question is how well we do it”  

Try to build your audience online before you start selling Tickets. Follow people who are already talking about your event or related events, monitor their conversation, find out who all could be your interested attendees. Use the right platform to express your information in the best manner. For example, if your event is Technology related, you could hop a little more towards LinkedIn to find and add people belonging to similar domain. If you’re on Facebook, express “likes’ for the event, on Twitter- make sure to use a super unique Event HashTag that is as powerful as Hulk 😀 , create an Amazing Pre-event Video and share on youtube, share the glossy pics on Instagram, share your Event location on Foursqaure and so on..  

Schedule your posts on a regular basis using tools such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Buffer etc however be cautious not to overdo it. The same message can be posted in different ways using different graphics and hashtags so that it does not appear spammy to your audience. You could even tag your Speakers, Sponsors and Exhibitors so that they share your event update with their friends and followers spreading the euphoria even more.

Most importantly no matter how much you schedule and post, make sure to find out time each day to respond to questions, comment and like conversations amongst your audience community. Make your attendees feel special and connect with them personally prior to the event. They will stay with you and make your event a huge success!  

 Go ‘social’ during your Event– So all the pre event buzz and hum is done, now it’s time to do it live, right from the ‘happening place’. Share real time pictures and posts using your hashtags, quotations from the esteemed Speakers. Inspire your audience to ask questions to your speakers over social media (again, using the event #), share quizzes and announce winners straight from the room tagging as many people as possible making them feel important.  

Also make full use of live streaming, make great use of your smartphone to interview attendees in between sessions, engage conversation with all your attendees on social media liking and commenting and Retweeting their posts. That way your audience knows you are focused on them enough.  

The other thing which we normally skip during an event (since we are busy with everything else) is collecting live Testimonials from your attendees/prospects. Get some positive feedback and reviews through short  and crisp interviews or even ‘during the event’ survey. Pass them a URL to a 1 page survey form and capture the requested information in a jiffy.   

Don’t walk away from Social Media after your Event– That is an absolute no-no. You cannot leave your attendees and eventual prospects and leads so easily, can you? Monitor the comments on your blog and social media posts and revert accordingly. Get in touch with both speakers and attendees following your event and request for guest posts and feedbacks which you could convert to either as testimonials or use for your next Press Release. Follow up with them especially within the first 2 weeks when their memory is still fresh. For business conventions and tradeshows, if you are using any good lead retrieval app (such as Boothleads) it becomes much more easier to follow up and stay connected with all your hot leads which you could eventually turn into future opportunities.  

 And so the curtains fall- With so much talked about, it’s time to know your top picks from the list above OR share anything that has not been mentioned yet here. We would love to hear from all you awesome folks out there!

If you like what you see, do leave us a comment, mention your social media handle and we would connect instantly.  

On the other hand, if you’d like to explore the best way to manage your events, create event website and ticket sales write to us at sales@eventdex.com or catch us on Twitter @eventdexapps