How you can market your event online

The best parts of any event are the people who attend it. With all the planning you’ve done for your non-profit, corporate or public event, you will of-course want to have a great turnout! Online Marketing is an easier way to help spread the word about your event. With a little strategy, you can raise awareness easily and effectively using these methods

1. Know your Audience

No event organiser would plan a conference or workshop without understanding the needs of their audience.If you want to use social media to amplify the conversation around your event, you need to understand how your audience engages with social media. Which platforms do they use? How often do they post? What kind of posts do they like? How connected are they? How conversational are they? What topics interest/provoke them?

Image Credits

2. Create an Event Page

Treat your event like a product. Whether you’re the one throwing the event or participating at the event with a booth, create a specific landing page for your presence. Get people engaged on the landing page by using the above tips — videos, social media connections, hashtags and more. Add a “register” button if you’re hosting the event, or offer exclusive updates by signing up for an email list. Use your website to get found and get people more involved.

Image Credits

3. Market and Promote on Social Media

People follow what others do in their network. To encourage attendance, you want those who have signed up to spread the word about your event. Make this as easy as possible. Get people talking by creating a promotional video they can share, or host a contest. The more content you have for people to share and engage with, the easier it is to create a buzz before your event begins

Image Credits

4. Build an e-mail database

You may choose to distribute your brochure via direct mail. If you do, make sure your mailing list is well chosen. If you have a list, email marketing may be your best channel. If you don’t, you may ask partners, speakers, or friends to mention the event in their emails .Event planner David Granger says that while word of mouth is his most effective advertising, he uses mailing lists of the organizations his company belongs to.

Image Credits

5. Stream your event online

Streaming events and content live on the web makes it accessible to a worldwide audience.If you are streaming content live for a one time only event your stream becomes a rare and urgent entity.Live streams are a great way of boosting interaction between you and your potential clients. A free live stream could allow you to interact with new clients and create new business opportunities, while you could also charge for access to your stream, which could bring in extra revenue.Streaming live events and content could give your brand or business a fantastic point of differentiation.

Image Credits

6. SEO

Unlike other forms of marketing, SEO cannot be rushed. It takes time to build a great event website, time to research the proper keywords, and time to optimize the experience for website visitors.There are two kinds of ways to do SEO: “white hat” (good/ethical) ways, and “black hat” (bad/unethical) ways. Always make sure to improve search rankings using white hat methods – resist the dark side at all costs.Businesses that overly rely on search traffic to generate leads are running a risk. Instead, be sure to develop multiple marketing channels capable of bringing event registrants. Email, social media, and paid ads are other good marketing channels to work on in addition to generating qualified traffic from organic search.

Image Credits

7. Ask your Event guests to promote your event

Encourage guests to share photos and updates as the event goes on. But better yet, make it easy and fun for them to do so. Provide a digital photo booth where guests can take photos in front of your brand background and share it to their Instagram follower.

Image Credits

Preparing to run an event can sometimes feel like you’re sprinting a marathon. Months before you even announce your event to the public, you and your team have already started conception of the event, booking the venues, procuring speakers and activities, creating the materials … and so on and so forth. There’s no denying that organizing the logistics of an event is a ton of work and Marketing even more so.