Online events are slowly becoming the norm. And it’s easy to understand why.
45% of internet users around the world spend more than 60 minutes watching online videos daily. Video content is a huge part of the content they consume online.
If you’re serving customers from different geographical regions, then you’ll need to make it easy for them to show up for your events in an instant.
With 80% of small businesses using at least one software tool, event management software is gaining its place among the must-have tools to run a business.
However, there’s a slight problem.
Given the ease of access to video content, it’s becoming harder to convince your prospects to make time in their busy schedules and show up for your online events.
How do you sell value for your online events and get people to show up and pay attention? Let’s find out.
1. Optimize your event pages for more conversions
Picture this: Your potential event attendees are looking for solutions to their problems on Google. In the process, they’ll receive different types of results; webinars, blog posts, podcasts, and ebooks.
Most of these attendees will click on one of the top-ranking search engine results.
And if your event page doesn’t show up in these results, you’ve got slim chances of getting traffic to your event page.
Also, if the copy on your event page isn’t compelling enough, your bounce rate will skyrocket.
Assuming you have what it takes to hold a great event, you need to optimize your event page for higher rankings.
Once they land on your event page, you’ll need compelling copy to convince them to sign up for your event. Let’s see exactly how this looks like:
Upon landing on the event page, there’s a video from the host telling you what the event is all about and what to expect.
There are a few testimonials from previous attendees discussing what they have gained from the event, which increases its perceived value.
As you scroll down the page, here’s what you find:
A list of more benefits outlining what an ecommerce entrepreneur stands to gain from attending the virtual event. Scroll down further, and you’ll see who should be attending the event.
This allows the potential attendee to self-select and decide whether they should attend the event or not. Take note of how the call-to-action buttons have been placed strategically to remind the potential attendee to reserve their spot.
Do you see where we’re going with this?
Your event page is a sales page. If anything, it should resemble or be better than what we’ve just seen above.
That means using the right tone and style for the copy you use and including relevant keywords on the page. It also means highlighting the benefits of attending your online event, using customer testimonials, and trust logos to boost credibility.
So, how do you go about all this? Start by understanding their pain points and addressing them. Use a keyword research tool to identify the keywords they are using that are related to your event’s theme. These will help you know what they’re struggling with and the solutions they’re looking for.
In other words, the team at Loganix suggests you tie your customer’s pain points to search intent:
“Know what your customers are searching for, write better content than your competitors, and build high-quality backlinks – consistently.”
And if you feel like you can’t write better content than your competitors, hire a freelance copywriter to help you do it. It pays to have skilled pros to help you, knowing that you’re guaranteed to get a good ROI from the money you spend.
2. Build awareness about your event
Once you’ve optimized your event page with compelling and optimized copy, building awareness about your event page should be your next priority.
You’re building awareness to drive traffic to your event page, and some of those who visit it will sign up for your event. And when it comes to building awareness, you want to play the long game because this isn’t the last online event you’re holding.
You can run ads (which is a quick way to drive tons of traffic ), but a more reliable way to keep driving traffic is to work with influencers who are creating content consistently to keep their followers engaged.
One, you’re going to give your event the credibility it deserves; second, the brand mentions and backlinks you receive will help boost your search engine rankings.
According to Orbit Media, here are the different categories of influencers:
It’s easy to think that working with tier 1 influencers (a.k.a celebrities) will give you the best results. However, working with influencers who have podcasts no matter the category they fall in is your best bet.
Why?
22% of Americans have listened to podcast shows in the past seven days, and the number is growing, given that right now, most people are still at home.
Podcast listeners listen to these shows as they go about their day, meaning that they will get your message once they tune into their favorite shows:
And to top it all off, the links in the show notes and transcript pointing back to your event page are going to continually boost its authority and improve its position in the SERPs, leading to more organic traffic.
So look for top podcast shows in your niche then listen to popular shows. The goal of this exercise is to help you identify 3-5 topics you can talk about during your interview.
Once you do this, use a sales automation tool like Reply to help you collect emails from LinkedIn and start sending outreach emails pitching your topics and requesting for an interview.
Once you appear in these shows, remember to share your interview on your social media and online communities to help you expand your reach.
Buzzsprout, in their massive list of podcast marketing tactics, sums it up nicely:
“One of the fastest ways to connect with your audience and introduce your podcast to new people is through social media.”
Make sure you do promote your interviews consistently on social media. As you do this, remember to interact with listeners by answering their questions and collecting feedback to help you improve your presentations in future interviews.
3. Keep potential attendees engaged
An engaging email sequence is critical for pushing potential event leads to actual attendees.
But you’re aware of this.
Typical actions that event organizers take to make sure that their leads show up for the event are:
- Casually sending emails a few days before the event
- Few hours before the event
- An SMS reminder for them to show up
But these actions aren’t that effective. You’re sending email blasts as the event approaches, which, in some cases, makes you look like a stranger because you never took enough time to interact with them and know them better.
Once someone signs up for your event, you need to segment them so that you continue sending them relevant information about the event.
Use a tool with email tracking features to help you know who responded and who didn’t, so you keep following up to make sure you have segmented every attendee on your list.
If, for instance, you’re hosting an online event for event planners, beginners in the industry may want to have an event glossary so that they can catch up with the conversations going on around the event.
Intermediate event planners might need an event planning checklist, while the pros might want to learn how to gamify their event to get more attendees or make their events lively. The idea here is, valuable interactions with your attendees increase their likelihood of showing for your online events.
In your email sequences, talk about relevant speakers so they have a better idea of whom they’ll be interacting with. Take this a step further and host pre-event meetings with attendees to answer any questions they have concerning the event.
Instead of having back and forth emails to find an ideal day and time, use a calendar app that shows your availability so tall they need to do is select a time that works for them.
Conclusion
Online events are one of the most efficient ways to get more people to attend the events you host as a brand. Attendees won’t have to make travel plans or book accommodation — a PC (or mobile device), a distraction-free environment, and a stable internet connection are all they need.
Thankfully, you now know how to sell more value for your next online event to make sure people sign up and show up.
Here’s a quick recap of what you need to do:
- Optimize your event page for conversions
- Build awareness for your online event
- Keep your potential attendees engaged
Now go ahead and make it happen.
[Guest post written by Jeremy Moser, Co-Founder of USERP]
