Since COVID-19 took hold of the world and impacted not only our day to day lives, but also how businesses run, we have all had to adjust to a new way of life for the time being.
Businesses of every type are being forced to reconsider how to stay connected with teammates and customers. The event industry has been a sector that has fallen particularly into hard times, with thousands of events being cancelled across the summer, and even possibly to the later part of 2020.
With the information about COVID-19 changing so quickly and the uncertainties that lie ahead, event and marketing teams are having to adapt and operate on shorter notices by rearranging events to dates further in the year or having cancel plans for this year all together.
In the hope for the ‘show to go on’ what can event organisers to do bring their events to everyone locked away in their homes?
Now is the time to become even more creative and think outside the box, embrace the new ‘norm’ of daily life and experiment with a different way to bring your events to people. Digital events, when run well, can be such a positive experience for organisers and customers. But what are some key steps to take to plan and execute an awesome digital event.
Think about your audience.
Who is it that you are wanting to join the live stream? Are they loyal and already familiar with the event or is your events brand new to them? Having a good understanding of your audience will help to define and shape your strategies for the content of your digital event so to ensure that you actively engage and keep viewers entertained.
However, to make sure viewers are not getting bored during the event and switch off organisers will need to do more than just turn on the webcam There are numerous platforms, such as crowdcast, that provide opportunities for people to learn, have their questions answered, and even the chance to network with other attendees remotely.
Digital Promotional Strategy
Just because your live stream is much more accessible to audiences at home, it doesn’t necessarily mean that people will want to watch. Whatever the type of event you’re looking to promote online, not actively reaching out to potential audiences is never going to be a good idea.
Like any other event, having well planned digital promotion strategy to drive people to your online event is essential and the marketing efforts should look to overlap and be integrated with the key content for the event event. Social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn offer you event-specific pages to connect with users, as well as various other online platforms, such as Snapchat and Instagram, that can be powerful tools to broaden your reach of content and drive engagement.
Promotion doesn’t stop once you have people signed up! Continuing to promote to those signed up will help to build the excitement and anticipation for the event. And don’t forget to send out reminders to your virtual attendees in the run up to the event date!
Event Organisers who are willing to pivot quickly, embrace innovation and technology, and change things up when the situation calls for it will be successful during these testing times. Digital events can bring to exciting opportunities to expand your events horizons, entertain people in their homes and develop your event above and beyond and provide endless possibilities.