Nextiz- Best & Free Event Management Software Platform Online
You're in charge of marketing for an event. Your core job is to get as many people through the doors as possible, but you also need to set up sales funnels and make sure your attendees are happy and engaged with the brand throughout their experience. That's a lot to handle! To help you out, we've compiled a guide on how to create an event marketing plan that will expand your audience reach, promote engagement and loyalty, and increase sales—all while making sure everyone has a good time.
A powerful event marketing plan enables you to maximize your audience reach, engage social media, and drive more registrations for your events with engaging social media posts videos, gifs etc with Nextiz.
  • Create engaging social media posts that showcase the excitement and energy of your events. Use videos, photos, GIFs or emojis to get people excited about attending your next event. For example: If an artist is performing at a conference, share photos of them practicing backstage or sound checking before they take the stage!
  • Make sure that all attendees have a memorable experience at your event by creating a dynamic website with features like personalized registration pages and mobile-friendly check-in tools. You should also make it easy for attendees to connect with each other on social media by encouraging them to post photos and videos from their experience at #nextiz using #hashtags relevant to both topics discussed during sessions as well as attendees' interests outside sessions (e.g., if someone talked about food security then maybe include questions like “What's one meal you'd never want go hungry?").

1. Engaging social media

Social media is a great tool for engaging attendees before and after your event, as well as promoting it. The more people who know about your event, the better! Social media is also a great way to promote speakers, exhibitors and sponsors. If you have an active social media presence already and are ready to get started on building a following in advance of your next event, consider starting with these three goals:
  • Promote upcoming events
  • Encourage attendees to share content on their channels
  • Ask questions of your followers

2. Dynamic event website

In order to make it as easy as possible for attendees to find your event and be able to stay in contact with you after the event, you should create a dynamic website with several different pages that can be updated by you. There are many different types of dynamic websites, but here are some examples:
  • A calendar page where people can add themselves to the LinkedIn event page
  • An attendee registration form where they enter their name, email address and other details
  • A “thank you” post-event survey form (this is especially important if people did not register for the event)

3. Custom email marketing

Surveys, Chats and Polls Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach existing customers and event attendees. It can be used to promote an event and encourage people to attend, or it can be used as a way to thank them for attending. The number one thing you should do with email is create a custom email marketing campaign that specifically targets your event attendees. This could include:
  • Emailing all of your event attendees before the event starts (or during)
  • Sending a follow-up email after the event has ended, thanking them for coming and inviting them back next year You want to make sure this message gets through by including clear calls-to-action at the bottom of every email so that people know how they can get more information about future events from you, such as, “Click here for more information about our next conference!”

4. Promote your event on LinkedIn

Once you've created your event marketing plan, the next step is to promote it on LinkedIn. LinkedIn's advertising platform offers a variety of tools that can help you reach your target audience and measure results. Here's how:
  • Create a LinkedIn ad campaign. The first step in promoting your event on LinkedIn is to create an ad campaign with the right targeting parameters. You'll want to decide which people are most likely to attend your event by targeting them based on demographics, interests, job titles and more—and then connect with them directly through their inboxes or news feeds with personalized messages about why they should attend. Once you've set up the parameters for this type of campaign, you can use the rest of these tips to create ads that will resonate with each targeted audience member.* Use targeted messaging strategies during an event planning process using email marketing software like HubSpot Campaigns or Infusions of Email Marketing.* Create compelling landing pages that address common questions customers may have before buying products/services from websites like Leadpages or Unbounce.* Promote these pages via social media channels including Facebook Messenger Bots for e-commerce conversions on desktop computers and mobile devices like iPhones/Android phones with SnapChat Spectacles (for video production).

5. A/B test your tactics to see what works best

A/B testing is an effective way to determine which tactics are working best. At the beginning of your event marketing plan, you should identify the different ways you could promote your event. A few ideas include creating social media posts, email blasts and advertisements on digital outlets like Facebook and Google AdWords. Once you have decided on some tactics that look promising, create two separate versions of each one and compare their engagement rates (number of clicks/impressions/likes). If one version performs better than the other one in terms of generating interest from attendees, use that option in future campaigns! The only way to truly find out what works best for your audience is by testing different strategies so don't be afraid to try something new if it seems interesting or promising!

6. Use online event promotion to engage attendees before and after your event

  • Use social media to engage attendees before and after your event. Social media is a powerful tool for providing additional value to attendees, as well as increasing the reach of your event marketing campaign. For example, you can use Facebook Events to encourage people to RSVP for your event and invite friends (if they're not already attending). But don't stop there! You can also use social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram to share content about your speakers or exhibitors, or even sponsor brand ambassadors who will attend the conference themselves and share their experience with their own networks.
  • Promote speakers on their social channels. Speakers are often a key part of any conference's success—and many will have large followings on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn where they can promote themselves directly to potential audiences before major events like yours occur (and afterward!). If you're not quite ready yet but want some ideas on how you might go about reaching out during this stage then keep reading below...

7. Consider how you’ll use paid advertising to promote events online

online. Paid advertising includes ads on social media, in search results and on other websites. Paid ads will help you drive traffic to your event website or registration page. You should also consider using paid ads to get people who are already interested in attending your event in the door—for example:
  • Use Facebook ads that link directly to the registration page for an event
  • Use AdWords text-based ads that link directly from a search result for an event
Here are a few ways you can turn your speakers and exhibitors into evangelists for your next virtual event.
  • Make sure to promote your event to your audience through social media channels.
  • Consider using a dynamic event website to engage attendees before and after the event.
  • Use email marketing to promote your event, especially if you have more than one day of content.
  • Consider creating a LinkedIn group for attendees that you can use as a place for discussion and collaboration, as well as for promoting related events in the future.
  • Advertise on paid ad networks like Facebook Ads or Google Adwords that target similar audiences as those who would be interested in hearing from you at your virtual event, so they can see how they can get involved!

Conclusion

With all the stuff we’ve covered here in the blog post, you should be able to refine your audience reach and maximize those goals. It can feel overwhelming to get started on a marketing plan if you don’t know where or how to begin, but it doesn’t have to be that way! In fact, some of the best advice we can give is just what we started with: simplifying. Think about what matters most for your event, then start working on ways that you can track its success. You might find that even if you only focus on one metric (audience reach), there will be a lot more information available than you knew before—which is great! All this information means more opportunities for improvement next time around! Contact Nextiz team for any further help!
Request a free Event Support & Managed Services consultation
Contact Usicon