Hosting a virtual event or a hybrid event requires a great deal of planning and preparation – be it regarding content, logistics or execution. Your event’s objective can have a big impact, and your research may be thorough, but an event is only as successful as its reach & engagement. The larger the audience attending the event, the more visibility it gains across digital and offline channels. 

If you are a new business looking to enhance its visibility and reach, you would want to do it through an event, where you can let people know what product or service you have to offer and what ideology is the basis of your brand’s foundation. So, you need to make sure that your event reaches a large audience, and that it reaches your target audience. 

This is where event promotion comes in the picture. Preparation for your event is incomplete without a plan for promoting your event. You have the option of choosing the conventional route, involving offline promotions & cold-calling potential leads that are already present on your system, or choosing the digital route to promote your virtual event. Whereas the former is tried and tested, the latter has the potential to skyrocket your event’s reach, if leveraged properly.

1. Plan your promotion strategy

A one-size-fits-all approach might not exactly work if you want tangible results out of your promotion. You need to assess your event objectives and your target audience and then start framing a strategy that would help achieve that goal. Then you need to list down the platforms that you would be using to reach your potential audience. Once, you’ve narrowed down the who-where-how of your strategy, you can start with your promotional content.

2. Build content around the virtual event

You can promote your event, just by telling people what it is about and when it is going to happen, or you can choose to engage people with intriguing content that can act as a teaser for the event or create value for your audience or even both. You can create a podcast, create video content, write blogs and distribute your event’s assets across various platforms to optimize reach and create value before the event.

3. Leverage social media

This is one of the best options you can use to create buzz around your event and engage with your potential audience before the event. Make sure to use new-age content like memes, short videos, GIFs and leverage features like stories and Reels on Instagram. These features offer high engagement value and will help in conversions from your viewers.

4. Promote your event via digital ads

You can advertise your event on Google through GDN banners, and also tap into relevant websites, where you will have a ready reach to your potential audience. You can also leverage social media platforms to promote your event via targeted ads, to ensure a wider reach. Make sure to include interesting and appealing creative graphics in your ads, and also include a compelling CTA to maximize the number of clicks. When executing sponsored ads, make sure that your ad is adhering to the platform’s guidelines, to ensure the best ROI.

5. Tap into Email marketing

The trick to effective email marketing is to curate a relevant email list. You don’t want to bombard people with irrelevant emails and get branded as a spammer. Optimize your existing email list and find potential subscribers through them, or through forms, surveys, analytics etc. You can curate a newsletter for your business, send reminders about events, as well as teasers for your events and product launches via mail.

6. Promote your hybrid or virtual event on relevant websites

Reach out to websites and magazines that are related to your business and build a network. This will help drive traffic to your website and increase your visibility online. Offering content with mentions of links of your business and your event would not only attract a larger audience but also increase your searchability on search engines, helping expand your reach in the long run.

For instance, you can reach out to websites like Event Manager Blog, which has over 60,000 subscribers for their newsletter and Bizbash, which has tips for event inspiration. Promoting your event on these websites will help you attract the desired audience for your event.

7. Track your promotion performance

Use metrics like page views, average time spent on the registration page, conversation rat, and measure your ad performance by tracking link clicks, click-through rate, and the cost-per-click or cost-per-lead. Assessing analytics helps guide your strategy in the right direction.

8. Leverage Celebrity or Influencer endorsements

If you are willing to collaborate with an influencer, or have the budget to collaborate with a celebrity for endorsement, it will provide a massive boost for your event in terms of visibility, event-page traffic, and registrations. You can showcase your business’ offerings through a video featuring the celebrity or influencer and leverage their network to increase your reach. Make sure that the individuals you collaborate with, align with your brand’s image or field, so as to make the most of their audience.

9. Offer an enriching user experience

Despite executing promotional tactics and successfully driving traffic to your website, you need to ensure that your audience visits a page that has an easily navigable user interface, and gives the visitor an appealing and enriching user experience. The user should be able to grab at first glance what your business is about or what your event is, and be able to navigate easily through the website. An interactive website with attractive visuals and minimal text makes for a positive and enriching user experience.

10. Choose the Right Platform to All Your Event Goals

Now that you have assessed the possible steps required to promote your event, you need to make sure that the platform you choose to host it at, makes it easier for you. Research on your virtual event goals and objectives and assess your preferences, post which you need to find a virtual platform that will help you with the process from the foundation stage.

While it is imperative that you explore a 360-degree digital approach for your event’s promotion, it is equally important to find the right platform that will offer you all-in-one services for registration, promotion, and hosting your virtual event or hybrid event.

Nunify offers a wide gamut of features, from event promotion to event execution, all encapsulated in a rich experience for both the host and the attendees. Here’s why it will help you out in planning out a virtual, hybrid or a physical event:

Integrated registration and ticketing:

Nunify offers an integrated event marketing system which allows you to send mailers to market your event. It has a user-friendly ticketing and registration dashboard and easy check-in options, offering a comfortable user experience to the attendees. 

Zero-Delay HD Live Stream Broadcast:

Nunify assures a rich, lag-free streaming experience with quality HD live stream. Our technology ensures that all attendees get the same, quality virtual experience with minimal delay. It also accounts for enhanced speaker control, as the video is broadcast in real time, seamlessly.

Simulive:

With this feature, you can live stream pre-recorded videos in HD+ quality. You can seamlessly transition from live streaming from your camera to streaming pre-recorded video, or combine both to garner maximum attention from your audience. It also allows the speaker to include HD slides and presentations within the video and flexibly use options like pause, resume and hide. With Nunify, you can offer a diverse experience to your attendees, enriching their experience of the virtual event. 

Virtual Briefcase:

You can maximize the reach of your event resources by making them available post-event as well. Nunify offers a virtual briefcase, where you can bookmark booths, videos, images etc. that the attendees can access post the event – anytime, anywhere.

24*7 Chat & Email Support:

Nunify ensures that your event runs smoothly, by providing instant support in case of glitches. To assist you with troubleshooting and to guide through your virtual event, including possible queries and solutions, the knowledge base is always a good place to start. If not that, the customer support guides you on your concerns instantly and efficiently. 

Monetize:

With Nunify’s Monetize plan, you can breeze through hosting a ticketed virtual event, with features such as integrated registration & ticketing on your event page, unlimited registrations, multi-currency support, smart ticketing, and a ‘pay-when-you-sell-tickets’ model. Nunify’s offerings are specifically designed to expand your event’s reach through global ticketing and real time analytics.

Now that you know how to promote an event, where to host it and what to research prior to putting together an event, go ahead and host a successful event and make sure you leverage on these tips to optimize your ROI.