A successfully executed virtual event with a good turnout is every marketer’s dream during these trying times. Sometimes, getting prospects to turn up for these virtual meets can be daunting.
However, there are always a lot of little things that one can do to boost event numbers, even if just a little bit.
This article covers how companies can boost their attendee counts before the big day comes along.
Offer Freebies and Special Privileges for Early Birds
One of the best ways to gauge how many people are going to make is through preregistration. Marketers like the process because they can form a good estimate of how many people will be able to make it and adjust their event accordingly.
However, it can get difficult to get people to preregister for your event. Sometimes people can’t even be bothered to fill out forms if it takes out too much of their time.
One way to fix this is to sweeten the offer for them. You can offer an early bird promotion if the event is paid, freebies for pre registration (and for attending,) or other perks. This way, they won’t just be motivated to fill out the preregistration, but also to attend.
Use Your Speakers’ Network
Influencer marketing still works even in virtual events, and you’ve got a known industry guru or speaker that will be presenting in your next meet, you can utilize their network to get people to attend.
Make sure they promote your event on their online channels and that you give out freebies made specifically for their audiences.
This follows the same principles as B2B influencer marketing.
Create Hype On All Your Channels
Using social media is a great way to drive attendees to come to your event. You can alter your message depending on what channel you use.
Sponsored Tweets and Instagram Ads
Say you’re doing a product launch, you could have the details of the event on a sponsored tweet on Twitter while you can post teaser pictures of the product itself on Instagram.
Have a LinkedIn Campaign
LinkedIn is the biggest professional social networking platform on the planet. If you want to spark the interest of people in the same industry, your marketing on this medium has to be on point. Ensure that you have a separate campaign promoting your event on LinkedIn as well. This is where your professional attendees will come from.
Sync It Up With Facebook
You can use Facebook to create custom audiences so that you can remarket your event to your mailing list, leverage Facebook groups with niche interests, use the Facebook Events functionality to promote your event, and automate Facebook Messenger to send reminders.
Whether you use all the major social networks to promote your event or stick with one, marketers are encouraged to use social media to expand their attendee count.
Offer a Glimpse Into the Event
Just as trailers are to movies, so are previews vital to any virtual event because they entice a viewer to want to watch more. Every virtual event has to offer a preview of what the viewer can get out of it.
This could be a couple of seconds of your speaker presenting, teaser photos of the event, material that is going to be covered, activities like Q&A sessions that you’ll be having, and so much more.
Skip the all text preview and opt for a video or picture presentation. This will make it more visually appealing to the end-user.
A prospect wants to know what’s in store for them to decide if your event is worth viewing.
Make It Easy to Attend the Event
Nothing is worse than putting off an attendee that is about to join the event. This is why virtual event organizers are encouraged to make joining an event as easy as possible.
This means that everything from the signup form to the login panel for the web event has to have a user interface designed to draw the attendee in.
Remember, you can always collect attendee information during or after the event if you need it for your metrics. Please don’t put off potential attendees by bombarding them with too many questions or obstacles in getting them to join.
Invited Them Already? Send Them a Reminder Message!
Reminder messages don’t have to be strictly sent by email; marketers can use other channels in their disposal such as LinkedIn messaging, Facebook, or even DMs on Twitter. A reminder can also be sent on more than one platform at a time.
The reminder message is important because there is a chance that a potential attendee could have forgotten about the event.
Please put in the date, time, important speaker notes, and a small call-to-action in the message itself.
Remember, focus on selling the event itself, not the goods and services that your firm offers. There’s plenty of time for you to sell to your attendees in the event. Your event needs its own lead generation goals and lead nurturing strategies to make it successful.
