Written by Kevin Gardner, freelance writer for the events and trade show industries.
Marketing is the most important thing that any business can engage in. It is all about having the right tactics in place to make people recognize the business and get people to attend your business’ events. Marketing to an online crowd is more effective with the following strategies.
1. The Value Of Quality Content
Don’t overestimate the value of quality content. Posting quality content online can be crucial when planning a company event. There are many benefits of focusing on providing quality content for potential attendees. For example, quality content will help those interested in the event recognize WHY they should be attending the event and HOW attending the event is going to benefit/inform them.
There needs to be a description of the business and customers need to have a clear idea of what is actually being offered at the event. So many businesses lose attendance because the mission statement is ambiguous. There is no concrete foundation to relay what services or products are actually offered. A business that has any chance of being successful is going to have quality content for viewers once these potential consumers actually find the business.
It is not enough to simply attract customers to the business. There has to be some type of content that gets the consumer eager to learn more about the business and attend company events.
2. Engaging Attendees Through Social Media
In most situations, social media is going to be the cornerstone of planning a quality meeting/event. All marketing courses include some information about social media. It is something that attracts so many different people from various walks of life. There are multiple social media platforms so it becomes hard to ignore the power of this tool.
Social media is a fantastic tool that will help spread the word about certain events and meetings. Utilizing different functions on social media like a story on Instagram, a retweet on Twitter, and others can all be used to notify potential attendees. It goes without saying that social media is arguably at the top of the list of importance when a company is trying to market an event online. Companies benefit greatly from ads that are posted on social media platforms because it captures the attention of billions of people, especially those who are interested in attending.
This is the type of marketing that knows no geographical boundaries. Social media is even more effective when there are influencers that break down the niche markets that make this social media concept work.
3. Incentivizing Users of Your Company’s App or Influencers on Social Media
There are few things that get the attention of attendees and influencers quicker than incentives. Special offerings and packages can be offered via your event app or social media, and can help create more buzz surrounding your event. The more people you can get using your event app, the greater the likelihood of them discussing upcoming events and activities. Influencers across the nation will have a greater desire to not just simply scroll through company news, announcements, and promotions, but rather will want to become active participants in events when they are offered unique benefits and prizes.
Offering prizes to the most active influencer on your company’s app is a great way to get started and help people attend events. Incentivizing users of your app will be one of the best ways to quickly build brands. Social media is the vehicle to consumers, but influencers are the ones that are needed to drive these vehicles. Influencers can become extremely valuable resources in driving attendance to a meeting. Utilizing them in a proper way will pay dividends in driving attendance.
It does no good to have a Twitter account and tweet, for example, if no one is paying attention to what you are tweeting about. There is nothing gained from having a Snapchat account with videos that are posted if you have no followers. If there are no followers on any of these platforms or individuals using your app, there is going to be very few people who are going to see the videos or read the information that increases awareness about a brand. This essentially gives business leaders no greater leverage than they would have if you had never used these platforms at all. This is what influencers bring to the table. They help companies reach out to other potential attendees because the influencers are the ones that already have followers.
4. Collecting Feedback From Attendees
When it comes to effective online marketing, it is always good to collect feedback from those who attended the event. Advances in technology make it very easy to find out why attendees enjoyed the event, and why they did not.
Offering a survey through social media or on your company’s app are both great places to collect feedback. It is important to remember that after the survey data has been gathered, you will need to make the necessary changes when planning your next event in order to provide the optimal experience for your attendees.
5. Provide Speaker Workshops and Trainings to Enhance Your Online Marketing
When it comes to planning a company event, many may overlook providing speaker workshops and trainings at the conference. Inviting company executives who specialize in certain aspects of the business to give workshops and trainings will ensure that the content of the conference is high quality. When the content of your conference is high quality, you can post that content online for all to see. This in turn will boost online marketing and social media profiles, because there is enormous amounts of relevant and quality content that will keep people coming back.
These tips have proven to become some of the most effective ways to drive attendance at events and meetings. In our day and age, there are countless online tools at our fingertips that are just a click or swipe away from increasing event attendance exponentially. So when you are planning your next event, it is important to keep these tips in mind.
About Kevin
Kevin Gardner is a freelance writer who is passionate about business and event planning. When he is not busy working or taking care of his kids, he can be found at the nearest trade show, or going on a hike.