How to promote a Virtual/Hybrid event in 2024?

Focus your promotion efforts around engagement

The key to successful online event promotion is engagement. Rather than just sending out generic event notifications, focus on content that will truly engage your target audience.

Some ways to do this:

• Live stream behind-the-scenes footage and event preparations. People are curious.

• Ask questions in your social media posts to spark discussion. "What topic would you most like us to cover?"

• Run contests. Offer a free ticket or swag bag to people who share your event content the most.

• Tease out details over time. Slowly reveal speaker announcements and key information to build anticipation.

• Provide value. Your promotional content should offer useful information and insights, not just notify people of your event.

• Go above and beyond. Surprise and delight your attendees with exclusive perks or online-only content.

Utilize retargeting to boost engagement

Retarget people who have visited your event page but not yet registered. These people have shown initial interest but need an extra "push."

Retargeting ads:

• Appear across different sites the target audience visits
• Are highly targeted based on past actions
• Feature clear calls to action
• Often have higher clickthrough rates

Make registration and participation easy
The easier you make it for people to register and participate in your event, the higher your chance of success.

• Offer multiple registration options: website form, email link, social media buttons
• Provide mobile-friendly registration
• Issue automatic registration confirmations
• Send reminders via email and text
• Make accessing event resources and content simple

Leverage your sponsors and partners
Your sponsors and partners can significantly boost your promotion efforts. Ask them to:

• Share your event posts on their social media channels
• Mention the event in their company newsletters
• Send emails to their customer lists
• Feature your event on their websites
• Offer coupon codes or perks to their customers for attending

In return, offer to promote their brand during and after the event. Showcase them as event sponsors on your:

• Event website
• Mobile app
• Event materials like brochures, flyers and name badges
• Social media shoutouts

Utilize your database

Tap into your existing customer and prospect database for event promotion. Consider:

• Sending targeted emails to relevant customer segments
• Offering incentives for customers to refer their contacts
• Following up with customers who don't register to provide more information
• Promoting your event in relevant customer journeys and automated flows

Repurpose event content
Leverage the content you create for your event for continued promotion. You can:

• Republish speaker presentations and talks as blog posts
• Transcribe and publish session recordings
• Publish event photos on your website and social channels
• Share highlight reels and key takeaways on social media

This helps extend the life of your event promotion, gain new leads and build ongoing engagement with prospects and customers.

Make the event memorable

Beyond just promoting your event, make sure the actual event itself is memorable and share-worthy. This will help with post-event promotion.

Some ways to make your online event stand out:

• Have an engaging theme that ties into your key messages
• Include interactive activities and games
• Incorporate unusual or quirky elements into your session formats
• Feature high-profile or charismatic speakers
• Give away prizes and offer exclusive perks
• Go above and beyond attendees' expectations

People are more likely to talk about and share an event that was truly memorable and exceeded their expectations.

Provide compelling takeaways

Ensure your event leaves attendees with useful and sharable knowledge.

You can:

• Give out downloadable handouts and checklists
• Share links to relevant resources
• Publish a post-event recap that summarizes key takeaways
• Offer course credits or certificates for professional development

Attendees are then more likely to share your event recap and resources with their networks, expanding the reach of your promotion.

Boost word-of-mouth sharing

Make it easy for attendees to share about your event on their own channels.

You can offer:

• Shareable social media graphics
• Quote cards with memorable speaker insights
• Official event hashtags
• Testimonials from past attendees
• Links and text they can simply copy and paste

This allows attendees to directly promote your event through their own networks, multiplying your promotional efforts.

Build anticipation before the event

Promote your event well in advance to build anticipation and interest. You can:

• Gradually reveal details over time - things like speaker announcements, session titles, and event agenda. withhold some details to create mystery.

• Tease highlights and exciting features of the event through social media posts and emails. Share just enough to get people curious but not give everything away.

• Cross-promote with partners - Ask partners and affiliates to mention your upcoming event to their audiences gradually over time. This will build awareness gradually.

• Run a contest - Offer a prize (e.g. free ticket) to the person who generates the most sign-ups. The competition aspect can create buzz.

• Host a pre-event - Hold a mini-event like a webinar to get people excited for the main event. You can collect contact info from registrants.

• Create a waiting list - For people who are interested but not ready to commit yet. You can follow up periodically with new details to entice them to register.

Measure and refine your promotion

Track key metrics to determine which promotion strategies are most effective:

• Registration numbers - Compare sources of registrants to see which channels drive the most.

• Clickthrough rates - Compare CTRs of different social media ads, emails, etc.

• Shares/amplification - Monitor how many times your event posts are shared on social media.

Use what you learn to refine your promotion for future events. Emphasize the strategies that proved most effective while tweaking those that underperformed. Over time, you'll create a promotion approach that really resonates with your audience.

Hope these additional ideas help provide more insights into how you can be more creative in your online event promotion! Let us know if you have any other questions over at [email protected]!