Whether blogging or using social media platforms, it is becoming increasingly important for event planners to find effective ways to engage online attendees amongst other hybrid event ideas. Annually, more than 30 million people attend events within the United States alone. Of that massive total, the average person only recalls 25% of what they’ve been taught and 12% will apply anything they learned. That means a huge percentage of your attendees will leave your event forgetting most of what they learned – unless you’re giving them another platform to learn more about your event and/or organization.
Quick Links
In this article. we’ll discuss how you can use your blog and social media platforms to effectively reach attendees long after your event has ended.
1. Update your website immediately after the event
If you have an established website, updating it with information about the event will help keep it fresh in people’s minds. If you don’t have one already, creating one can be a great way to “brand” yourself as an event planner and build relationships with potential attendees before your next big event takes place.
2. Write a blog post about what happened at the event
This is the most common type of blog post about an event, and it’s also one of the best ways to engage with attendees. This post can be written by staff members or volunteers who were there, or by someone who attended but wasn’t working behind the scenes. It doesn’t matter who writes it, as long as they have something interesting to say about what happened at the event.
For example, if there was a presentation on how to grow organic vegetables in small spaces, you could write a blog post about how much fun it was to hear from this expert speaker. You could also write about how many people showed up for the presentation or what kind of questions they asked afterward.
3. Take a look at your blog analytics
Google Analytics will show you how many visitors come from search engines versus other sources like direct visits or through social media sites. It’s important to know what keywords people are searching for when they come across your site so that when you create new content, it includes those words.
This will help increase traffic over time as well as make sure that visitors are finding exactly what they want on your blog without having to search through multiple pages of text or images before they get there.
4. Send out an email blast about the event to your followers
Once you have your content ready for the event and your analytics set up, it’s time to send out an email blast about the upcoming webinar. This is a great way to reach out to people who aren’t on social media sites and remind them that you’re hosting an event that they might be interested in attending.
You can use a tool like MailChimp or Constant Contact to create a template for your email blast. In the body of the message, focus on what people will gain from attending your event and how it will benefit them in their lives. If possible, include a link to register for the event so that people can sign up at any time before or after reading your email.
5. Post pictures and videos from the event on Instagram and Facebook
In order for people to see your event, it needs to be posted on social media. Post pictures of the venue and attendees before, during and after the event so that others can see how much fun everyone had. You can also use videos to show what your event was like and include short clips from speakers or a video recap at the end of the day.
6. Create content on Instagram Stories, Snapchat, and Facebook Live throughout the entire day of the event
People love to be able to see what is going on at an event, so it’s a good idea to use Instagram Stories and Snapchat during your event. Use these platforms to show off the venue, speakers or sponsors before they begin speaking. You can also use Facebook Live to stream the entire event in real time so that people who couldn’t attend can still get a feel for what it was like.
Conclusion
We hope these tips will help you increase your event’s reach and give it a longer life! Many of the tactics suggested here are common sense, but sometimes having an outsider’s perspective can be an eye-opener, and give you the insights you need to improve your event marketing. Good luck!