Are you considering options for hosting events online? Countless companies across industries are, of course.
With the mass cancellations of group gatherings, COVID-19 is putting virtual events to the test on an unprecedented scale. That means many organizations are looking for new ways to meet the needs of customers and clients—without having to get together in person.
And for that, we have good news!
Whether you’re looking for a temporary solution or need a long-term strategy for moving conferences, seminars, and other events online, you’ll have a wealth of options. The most daunting task is just knowing where to start.
At SalesboxAI, we have launched salesbox.tv to help you host and promote virtual events in an audience rich digital environment. Here are three best practices we highly recommend for every type of online event.
1. Choose the right format keeping the audience in mind
Are you looking to host a small group seminar or interactive workshop? If so, live streaming may work well. But if it’s a customer conference or a large group gathering you had in mind, a better bet is to record videos your event registrants can watch on demand.
In a world where people are increasingly working from home—and where 30% of the workforce may continue to do so even after the current covid-19 dust settles—recordings offer the flexibility to consume your content when it fits into remote work schedules.
As a bonus, this approach offers additional benefits in a couple of key areas.
a) Recorded videos will open the door for you to engage with your audience on other key channels. As you put together your online event, look for ways to adapt content so you can interact with registrants on your website, blog, and social media.
b) It allows you to communicate regularly through email marketing. Rather than sending unsolicited emails, you can reach out to registrants who are eager to hear from you and highly likely to be receptive.
2. Communicate, Communicate and Communicate
Adopting to digital environment with events that would otherwise take place in-person will require some additional pre-event communication.
- What should attendees expect from your online event?
- How can you make them more comfortable with the experience?
- What should they be prepared for?
Answering these questions upfront will ensure people remain committed. It is recommended to use speaker info, social media sharing, and “what to expect” updates to highlight value and prevent people from under appreciating the event.
If you’re still collecting registrations, you can collect information to help inform these communications. For example, when creating your online event registration form, consider adding a field to ask attendees what they’re most interested in learning. Hence, you can use those answers to customize confirmation messages and updates based on needs, goals, or interests.
3. Leverage the event to engage in the future
Online events require as diligent preparation and execution as that of in-person events. For instance, all event planners know to send surveys after in-person events. But what about online events?
The event software most probably has tools to send a simple follow-up survey to collect and analyze insights which you can use to continually fine-tune virtual strategies and make future online events even better. Just be sure to email your post-event survey within 24 hours so the feedback you collect will be fresh. We recommend building your post-event survey ahead of time so you’ll be ready to hit “send” the next day.
In addition, look for opportunities to engage with attendees in the weeks and months to come. By transferring registrant information into your CRM or email marketing platform, you can create some highly effective post-event email campaigns. In fact, you can leverage an AI Assistant to automate post-event outreach and generate sales conversations.
Similar to in-person events, you can transform virtual events as one of the best starting points for developing highly engaging and outcome driven sales funnels.
Do you need help in planning, hosting and executing your next B2B online event? Or you just need support to acquire the right audience for your event? Write to us at salesboxtv@salesboxai.com for a quick quote.
