Virtual events are a great way to engage your community, gain knowledge on trends in your industry and save money and time. It seems like a pretty easy choice to just do an event for marketers, right?
Wrong.
It takes a bit of finesse when it comes to perfecting your virtual event. One way to do that is by leveraging social media. I’ve compiled four ways to utilize social media to increase promotion and engagement for virtual event marketing.
Related: Let’s Get Virtual: The New Normal for Marketing Event Planning
Before we cover social media advantages and your virtual event marketing strategy, we’ve got to think strategically. Assemble a marketing team and start asking questions about online events.
- What are you trying to accomplish? (ex. sell a new product, acquire sign-ups for an upcoming webinar)
- Who is your target audience?
- Will this be a live event broadcast or pre-recorded?
- How will you integrate social media into this digital event?
Asking virtual event marketing questions like this along with experimental marketing will help your team learn about who is interested in this event and what their needs are.
One way to obtain such a vast amount of information is through social analytics. Start a virtual event marketing strategy poll or send a Survey Monkey quiz to your subscribers. This allows you to get into the mind of your audience in a non-invasive way, as an event marketer. There is nothing worse than putting on an event that no one in your target audience is interested in. So ask intentional questions and let’s get to work.
Four Ways to Perfect Your Virtual Event Marketing on Social Media
Once your team has created a marketing strategy that aligns with their core objectives and honed in on a key audience, it’s time to dig into your social media toolbox and get prospective virtual attendees excited.
Utilize Organic Social Media to Increase Audience Engagement
Social media will be your best friend when it comes to promoting your upcoming virtual event. Integrating actionable messaging on social platforms will help your event stand out and inevitably increase awareness and attendance.
Here are three different ways you can use social media to promote your virtual conference.
Instagram Stories
There are 140 million Instagram users in the U.S and that number doesn’t appear to stop growing anytime soon. Whether you want to reach a wider audience or stay stateside, Instagram Stories are a great way to drive traffic to a registration or landing page and release information about your online event. Sticking to the virtual event platform, utilize the real-time aspect of this Instagram marketing strategy to build hype and generate attendee engagement with in-app polls and quizzes.
Live Streams
If there is one thing better than being in-person at a conference, it’s being there virtually at home, with sweatpants on. Social media live streams are a great way to increase reach and create authentic interactions and connections in real-time. Live streaming can be done across all platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Whether you are promoting the event before the live date or during the event, it will boost engagements and give your audience a sneak peek into your upcoming event.
Facebook Events
When promoting an upcoming virtual event, it’s beneficial to create a Facebook event page listing the “what,” “when” and “where” for your audience. This is yet another opportunity to interact with virtual event attendees and allows them to RSVP for the event. Go the extra mile and introduce paid advertising into the mix to boost your event with Facebook Ads.
Speaking of miles, let’s journey on to the next way to ensure your virtual event is a success.
Related: A Social Media Guide to Newsjacking
Integrate Paid Advertising Into Your Event Strategy
Implementing paid social advertising along with your organic social media tactics will boost attendance, visibility and extend your reach beyond your target audience.
One way to do this is with LinkedIn Lead Generation Ads. Users fill out a form and are driven to a landing page where your captivating content awaits. This tactic can narrow down your target audience by collecting their job and name to help you create a personalized content marketing plan.
Go ahead, get your reach on.
Harness the Power of Influencer Marketing
Do influencers have all the power? No. But they do provide impressive visibility when it comes to getting the word out. Connect with industry leaders and see if they will provide advocacy on the benefits of your event. You can tag keynote speakers and ask them to provide an overview of what they will be presenting at your virtual conference. Cross-promotion is great to encourage employee engagement and increase thought leadership. Remember to put influencer marketing on the top of your list to drive interest and registration.
Don’t Forget About Post-Event Promotion
It isn’t over just yet. Transforming event content into evergreen messaging is golden. You’ll be able to repurpose your virtual event in a multitude of ways as a blog on your website, on-demand webinars and on social media. Use this time to increase your audience and network for your next event. Including testimonials and impactful quotes from your virtual event will continue to keep attendees engaged.
Key Takeaways
Virtual event planning is not an overnight project for event marketers.
The great thing is your virtual event can become a successful reality. You can get people excited about a webinar or conference in the digital space. Remember leveraging social media helps you connect with users resulting in meaningful engagements.
Are you ready to embrace creativity when it comes to your overall marketing strategy on a virtual event platform? Connect with us for expertise you can count on.
