ad // Most businesses got creative when the pandemic hit. They had to because it was crucial to their survival. The population in general all took online to keep going. From virtual dating to virtual games night and virtual events, all areas of life were transformed into this virtual world where we could continue engaging with each other.
It feels weird to think back to it now, doesn’t it? Almost like you’re thinking about this weird film you watched a couple of years ago that couldn’t possibly be real.
But it was very real and for what it’s worth, there WAS some good to come out of the pandemic. I think businesses in general have learned the value of getting their businesses online and how crucial social media and their online presence can be for their growth and sales.
In this blogging industry, I attended a couple of online events and workshops during the pandemic.
One was with a fantastic skincare brand, who sent out some of their products to us before the event, then introduced us to each one and did a demonstration that we could follow along with at home, along with a Q&A section.
It was nice to see brands adapting to the current climate and mostly, making it work for them!
But businesses had been online long before the pandemic ever happened. However, I think it did make some businesses focus more on their online presence.
Doing virtual events for your business can be a great way to garner attention and grow your brand. Whether you sell digital products or physical items or even if you’re a life coach or offer some other sort of course or training online, virtual events can really work in your favour.
It can be daunting to consider hosting a virtual event, especially if you’ve never done it before. So here are some quick tips to help you guarantee a successful virtual event for your business:
Do some promo leading up to the event
People need to know about your virtual event before it happens, to give them time to pop it in the calendar and make sure they can attend, so you’ll need to do some promotion leading up to the event. Social media posts, a blog post if you have a blog or sending an email out to your mailing list are all good places to start.
Create some attractive graphics for social media
And when it comes to your social media promotion for your virtual event, you’re going to want your posts to stand out among the millions of other posts people see per day. Make some attractive promo graphics (you can easily use Canva for this!) to attach to your posts to grab people’s attention.
Choose a reliable platform to host the event
Most, if not all, events I’ve attended have been via Zoom. I think Zoom is a platform a lot of people are familiar with and comfortable using so keep those things in mind when choosing a platform. How many attendees does the platform allow? Is the platform compatible on mobiles and pcs?
Make it easy for people to sign up
People don’t want to be jumping through hoops in order to sign up to anything, so make it as easy as possible for potential attendees to sign up and have all the information they need for the event – including time in different time zones.
Create an outline of your event
When it comes to actually hosting the event itself, you don’t just want to go in blind. Creating an outline of what you’re going to talk about, how long you’re going to spend on each section and how you’re going to incorporate different aspects into your event is a good idea. Nobody else has to see this but keeping it handy will help you throughout.
Allow an interactive aspect
This might be a Q&A session at the end of the event or allowing other people in attendance to talk during the event but it’s always nice when the hosts make the event interactive and allow different people to add their points or questions. Make sure this is controlled though, so if a lot of people want to talk, it doesn’t get out of hand.
Offer discounts or freebies for attendees
It’s nice when the event organizer offers something to attendees as a thank you at the end of the event. This might be a discount on your online products or a discount they can add to their basket when checking out with your physical products.
Encourage attendees to talk about it
Mentioning that you’d appreciate any social media feedback for your event can be a great way to get your name and your business out there to audiences who might not have found you otherwise. You might ask them to tag you on Twitter or mention you on Instagram, so you can share posts about your event from your attendees.
There’s a lot of work involved in creating a virtual event for your business but when it goes well, it will be an amazing feeling and make you want to do it all over again! It’s a really unique way to engage with your audience, especially if you are an online business and you won’t necessarily be “meeting” your customers.
[…] can create full presentations on Canva, which are fantastic to use if you’re going to be hosting a virtual event or a webinar for your blog or business! You can create aesthetically pleasing slides which will […]