The theme this month is “Mastering Online Events: A to Z Strategies for Success,” in which I’m going over comprehensive strategies, insider tips, and practical tools to elevate your online events from good to exceptional, ensuring a seamless, engaging, and memorable experience for every participant.

In today’s digital age, online events have become a staple in the realm of networking, education, and entertainment. However, hosting a successful virtual event extends beyond the planning and execution stages—it requires strategic promotion to ensure it reaches the right audience and achieves its objectives.

In this episode, we delve into effective strategies for online event promotion, providing actionable tips and insights to elevate your event’s visibility and impact with Spreading the Word: Marketing and Registration for Your Online Event.

Welcome to another episode of Systems Sunday. We are doing a deep dive into the world of virtual gatherings with ‘Mastering Online Events: A to Z Strategies for Success,’ where we unveil comprehensive strategies, insider tips, and practical tools to elevate your online events from good to exceptional, ensuring a seamless, engaging, and memorable experience for every participant.

I am Lisa Wells, your Virtual Assistant Trainer.

In today’s digital age, online events have become a staple in the realm of networking, education, and entertainment. However, hosting a successful virtual event extends beyond the planning and execution stages—it requires strategic promotion to ensure it reaches the right audience and achieves its objectives.

In this episode, we delve into effective strategies for online event promotion, providing actionable tips and insights to elevate your event’s visibility and impact with Spreading the Word: Marketing and Registration for Your Online Event.

As a first step to promoting your online event, let’s look at an overall marketing strategy. It should include these three things:

1. Have a Website or Landing Page. Create a dedicated page for your event on your website or a standalone landing page. This page should contain all the essential details about the event and a clear call-to-action (CTA) for registration.
2. Use Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Optimize your event page for search engines to reach a wider audience. Use relevant keywords in your content, meta tags, and alt text.
3. Take Advantage of Content Marketing. Use blogs, webinars, infographics, or other forms of content to provide value to your audience and generate interest in your event.

Use Social Media for Promotion

Social media platforms can be highly effective in spreading the word about your event.

• Choose platforms where your target audience is most active. This could be LinkedIn for professional events, Instagram for lifestyle or creative events, and so forth.
• Create a unique event hashtag and encourage attendees and speakers to use it.
• Use compelling visuals, like teaser videos or infographics, to capture attention and provide information.
• Partner with influencers or industry leaders who can help promote your event to their followers.

Utilize Email Marketing for Digital Invitations

Email remains one of the most effective channels for event promotion. Craft a series of emails to send to your potential attendees. These might include an initial announcement, reminders, a last-chance email, and a day-of email with access information.

Your digital invitations should be enticing, informative, and professional. There are numerous online tools available to create visually appealing and customized email invitations. Remember, online event marketing requires strategic planning, creativity, and persistence. But with the right approach, you can generate buzz around your event, attract more attendees, and ensure a successful event.

Registration and Ticketing for Online Events

As we delve further into our online event planning process, we come to a critical stage that bridges the gap between potential attendees and actual participants – registration and ticketing. This process may not seem as thrilling as theme selection or marketing, but it’s just as essential. Let’s dive into setting up an online registration system, managing online ticket sales, and implementing virtual event check-in procedures. And yes, we’ll see how these relate to their offline counterparts.

Setting Up an Online Registration System

In the digital world, there are online registration systems that streamline the registration process beautifully.

These systems, such as Eventbrite, Cvent, or your event platform’s built-in registration feature, allow attendees to register at their convenience. They can fill out a form, select their ticket, and even pay online if there’s a fee involved.

When setting up your online registration system, keep the process straightforward. Minimize the number of fields to fill and ensure the system is mobile-friendly, as many attendees will register using their phones. And just as you would confirm a phone or in-person registration, send an immediate confirmation email after online registration.

While the tools and processes for registration and ticketing may differ between online and offline events, the basic principles remain the same. It’s all about making the process as easy and clear as possible for your attendees.

***DEMO***

Here’s a quick example of an online registration page. This was for an online workshop and it’s pretty straightforward with the title, date, time, and first name and email fields

Instead of using a third-party program like Leadpages, which I used for a very long time, instead, I use a less expensive alternative by using the Divi theme and purchasing a layout pack for the registration and thank you page. Divi has a robust marketplace to buy whatever suits your needs.

***END DEMO***

If you enjoyed this episode and want more tips and strategies for planning and executing your online event, check out Digital Event Pro Pack: Streamline Your Planning Process. In this template pack, I include tools and templates to help you plan and host your event more smoothly. You can find a link to the product below or visit my VA Business Builder Boutique by clicking on Shop in the menu bar.

Join me next week for “Showtime and Beyond: Executing and Following Up After Your Online Event.”

See you then!

Catch up on other Mastering Online Events episodes + resources mentioned in the video:

• [Video] Defining and Planning Your Online Event
• [Video] Designing Your Online Event
• [Video] Executing and Following Up After Your Online Event
• Eventbrite – registration and ticketing for events
• Cevent – for events and hospitality pros
• LeadPages – Drag and drop editor for landing pages
• Divi by Elegant Themes – WordPress theme to build out websites

Did you enjoy this episode and want to put it into action? Grab this Template Bundle!