Last year, just about everything went virtual. We witnessed hundreds of companies transition from hosting live to marketing virtual conferences and webinars due to COVID-19. Although restrictions have eased in some states, it looks like virtual events are here to stay for quite a while. While this is still new to many companies, we pulled together 4 ideas to enhance your virtual conference marketing.
Describe your event accurately
Ask yourself why you’re putting on your event. Your potential viewers/attendees want to know what they’re signing themselves up for. Knowing why you’re running the event will frame your purpose and message. You need to let them know certain details such as if they’ll be able to ask live questions or if they need to have their camera on. By describing your event accurately, your viewers/attendees will know what they’re signing up for.
Buddy up
If the idea of virtual conference marketing gives you stress, why not partner up with another brand or company. Co-branded events are a very powerful way to raise your brand profile and connect with new, like-minded audiences.
The easiest way to host a co-branded event is to have guest speakers from another organization, brand, or company. The approach is to co-host the event and inform both of your audiences about it. This can bring credibility and help drive attendees depending on who you partner with. You can even draw up a lead share agreement, where both brands give access to the list of leads garnered from the virtual conference.
Spread the word
When it comes to how to promote a conference online, give your speakers and your employees and networks the ability to share and promote the event. You can simply ask them to share a link to the event on their social media and across their digital marketing platforms.
Think about your audience for the event and where you want your event to be seen. Chances are, promoting your conference on LinkedIn is your best option. To help with promotion, you need to create the necessary promotional images and logos, use LinkedIn ads, and spread the word in relevant LinkedIn Groups.
You can also even run an incentive or promotion at your event. You could offer up some type of reward or prize for the person who receives the most number of attendees from the post. This can easily be tracked through everyone’s LinkedIn pages.
Make it personal
Different sections of your virtual conference may be relevant to a range of audiences. For example, a business owner may want to attend to hear from a certain guest speaker discussing digital marketing strategies, while a starter in the industry might want to hear a segment on the basics of launching a marketing campaign. While you should encourage your attendees to stay for the entire conference, don’t make them feel like they have to. It can be hard to take time off from work to attend your event. Make sure you give attendees the option to join for what they want to really engage with.
You can use email marketing divide and conquer. By devising segments, you can market the various topics at the conference to different groups and demographics on your mailing list.