Looking for a way to keep your industry community engaged in light of the pandemic?
Enter Virtual events.
Virtual events are a safe way to host events in large numbers without violating any measures or regulations, and most importantly, to stay safe.
In our previous posts, we tapped into the evolution of event marketing, looked closely at what virtual events are and some of the challenges attendees face.
In this particular post, we tackle the challenges you, as marketers, face before the event to plan to keep your audience engaged, attain a wider reach, and generate new leads.
One of the most puzzling topics is keeping up and staying on top of recent business changes; this pandemic has forced us to learn and cope with shifting all of our work online.
Adaptability is essential!
You know how much effort and time it takes to prepare for in-person events to engage and warrant the number of interactions you please; however, it seems that it's even more challenging with the online-shift.
You may pause to think, why do I want to host virtual events if they seem like a nuisance?
Well, this blog is just for you!
Let's get you started with some essential basic knowledge.
What You Need To Know About Virtual Events: How do they benefit you? 
In these uncertain times, our concern is lowering our budgets and improving profit margins. The data shows that:
- Virtual events are less expensive than live ones, and get that!
- Virtual events amass a wider reach: more than 8x the number of registrations as traditional in-person conferences.
These two elements are vital for you as a marketer because you get to spend 75 percent less on your event but gain that much more reach, especially with the flexibility of hours that is a given luxury with these types of events.
With that being said, you might face several challenges regarding the tools you need to ensure the success of your event.
You might wonder how you can make sure that you are on the right track, and that does not come without any challenges, but we got you covered!
Important things to keep in mind: The road to success!
CHOOSING THE RIGHT FORMAT
Before deciding your content, you must choose what type of virtual event do I want to host?
For example, webinars take less time than virtual conferences, and they allow for more engagements, for they feature a live question and answer section that can run for the entirety of the session.
So, you must discern the following:
- What are my goals?
- Who am I trying to reach?
- What are their priorities?
- How can I meet those needs digitally?
- How will I measure success?
The answers to those questions will entail the correct type of event.
Look at it this way, you will not go to the movies expecting to find live acting, just like you will not attend a virtual conference hoping to find someone singing.
So, choose your event carefully!
CHOOSING THE CORRECT PLATFORM
This step can either make your event or totally break it!
You may wonder why it is such an important step, so allow me to direct your attention.
The platform that you choose for your event should represent and uphold, if not mirror, the values that you hold high as a company.
So, as a planner, you should choose an outlet that caters to your company's specific needs.
If you are looking for a lower cost, do not choose platforms that require a subscription.
When choosing your platform lookout for registration, content delivery, sponsorship, and engagement.
Are you a bit lost as to which platform to choose?
Here's a list of some that might help you out:
- Hopin: it is an all- in- one live platform with full conference capabilities encompassing stages, networking, roundtables, sponsors, tickets, and analytic.
- 6connex: it is a cloud-based secure platform that entails virtual environments, learning management, and webinars.
- Bizzabo: it is a success software for virtual, hybrid, and in-person events perfect for high-quality broadcasts and on-demand videos.
- InEvent: it is revolving around the event- analytics that transforms attendees into customers, drives sales, profits, efficiency and cost benefits for your company.
- Remo: it is a web-video platform that revolves around face-to-face networking.
- Brella: it is an intent-based matchmaking algorithm that is supported by Artificial Intelligence.
The platforms mentioned above are a few of the many platforms that are available for you.
Don't forget the social live-streams that can be done on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.
Choose wisely!
REACHING OUT TO ATTENDEES
Do you find yourself lost in the paperwork?
Are you unable to keep up with all of the different names, files, and data that you attain on a daily basis?
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the onslaught of new customers from these virtual events?
It's vital to choose platforms that would help you with data quality management, enrichment, email verification, and so on.
The latter would make your life ten times easier!
Let us worry about the details, while you engage in meaningful interactions that leave a memorable impression on your potential clients.
PLANNING YOUR EVENT
Planning your content and curating it to your customers or audience is of utmost importance for it is what keeps them engaged.
Sure, you can create hype through giveaways and so on, but the content is what makes your audience stay.
In order to do that, it is very important that you do not copy/paste.
your in-person events to your virtual ones. In order to get more people to join your events, you have to be CREATIVE.
How can you achieve that?
Look out for our next blog for ways to tap in to your creativity!
Conclusion: Find your message, and spread it!
We understand that planning your event isn’t an easy task, but you can do it!
Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
When you hire some help, you are benefiting from someone’s experience and learning how to fix it for later, and in turn, they grow their experience further.
So, it’s a win- win situation.
In this blog, we detailed the different ways that you can make your events interesting, how you can overcome the challenges that you might face, and what tools to use in order to make your event a success.
It is vital that you understand what message you want to spread to your audience; that way, you can go all out with your presentation.
The latter will guarantee you success in keeping things interesting for your audience.
Stay tuned for our upcoming blog! We’re going to talk about how you can promote your event, and make it more creative!
Interested in knowing more? Have some more questions that need to be answered? Be sure to stay tuned for the upcoming blog, we promise it won’t disappoint.
We hope you enjoyed our content. See you next time!
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