The popularity of virtual events has increased by more than 1000% since COVID-19, with more businesses than ever relying on video rather than in-person presentations and events to connect with audiences. And maybe you’ve seen this firsthand, because you’ve now moved to hosting online town halls and other events instead of in-person. If so, check out these tips on marketing your video events so you can reach as many people as possible.
Before the Event
The point of marketing before your video event is to push awareness and drive registration. You can do this with the help of several online communication methods, such as the following.
Website
Your website is a great marketing tool for your town hall or other events. Consider adding a write up to your homepage that mentions the event. That write up could direct readers to a landing page with more information, or it could simply feature the basic details of the event and a link to sign up. And of course, if you have a blog on your site, raise awareness for the video event by adding a call-to-action and event link on your latest posts!
Social Media
Your social media pages were basically made for sharing your upcoming video events. As soon as you start planning your event—and know the date, time, and topics—start posting about it on social media. As the event gets closer, post more frequently and with more details, such as who will be speaking and teasers on what viewers will learn. Be sure to use a few hashtags that relate to the event. You can use a few general hashtags related to the subject your event will discuss, but makeup at least one hashtag that’s specific to the event and your business. And if it’s in your budget, create some paid social media ads so you can reach people outside your usual social media audience!
If you already send out an email newsletter to subscribers, include a link to sign up for the event as soon as you can. You should also send out a few targeted emails on their own just to promote the event. Consider offering something of value if people sign up through the email link. And if your event is free, think about offering a gift card—or coupon codes for discounted products and services—when people sign up through the link you send.
During the Event
Whether you’ve marketed the event for weeks or months beforehand, don’t stop promoting on the day of the event! Keep up your marketing efforts and drive engagement through the following methods.
Social Media Engagement
You should appoint one person—or even a whole team!—to keep up with social media during the event. The people who take on this job should be sharing screenshots, images, video clips, and quotes from speakers as the event goes on.
Hashtags
The hashtag you made up for the event is really going to come in handy while it’s going on. Encourage all attendees to use the hashtag for any social media posts they make about the video event so your team can easily find and share them. You can also create incentives for attendees to use the hashtag, such as by offering free or discounted products or services for top posters during the event. And of course, your social media team sharing their posts—and getting their accounts more visibility!—should be an incentive, as well.
After the Event
Just like you should keep up the marketing efforts during the event, you should do the same even after it. This is meant to drive action by reminding attendees how valuable and fun the video event was. You can do that with the tactics described below.
Email Follow-up
Right after the event, send a follow-up email to everyone who signed up. In the email, include a link to a recording of the video event, if possible. And if you announced any promotions or other news during the video presentation, recap that in the email, followed by any calls to action you want readers to take. You can even include a survey in the email to get feedback so your next virtual event is even better!
Create Content Based on the Event
Now that the event is over, you have plenty of material for future content. For example, you can take the main points of the online event and break them into informative social media posts to share over the next few months. You might even share some short video clips or slideshow slides from the event. You can also write blog posts summarizing the content of the event—even gating the content by requesting an email address in order to get leads! This will be especially helpful in reaching more attendees for your next video event.
Now that you know how to market your next virtual town hall or another video event, make sure your network is ready to provide a seamless streaming experience to your audience. If you don’t know what kind of video quality your network can offer, use Hive’s Video Streaming Solutions so you can easily test and troubleshoot your video delivery before the day of the event. This tool also lets you see important metrics after the event, making it easy to see how you need to improve before your next online video presentation. Contact us today if you want to learn more about our streaming solutions for your business!
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Eric Vidal
CEO at The Marketing Scope Eric Vidal, an industry expert with over 25 years of marketing and technology experience is passionate about providing insight and education on the latest martech trends and techniques. Eric speaks and writes for various publications like The Marketing Scope and Future Of Work to name a couple. Eric has been a marketing leader for companies of all sizes. He has extensive experience working to achieve measurable business results for organizations like IBM, Cisco, WebEx, Canon USA, West Corp., Dynamic Signal, SAP and more. Connect with Eric on LinkedIn.