By Lucy James, Event Marketing Manager at Synesthesia

1) Engagement That Matters

One of the advantages of digital events is the ease with which the audience can register and participate (no more pesky planes!). The flip side of course is the ease with which they can log out, deactivate, disconnect or leave the event. In our article on Excellent Marketing Techniques for Digital Events / Part 1 we covered ways to hook the audience and keep them hooked for maximum engagement throughout your new digital event. Start the all-important engagement relationship with outstanding marketing.

• Leverage your content. The event agenda, topics and speakers are a strong pull for the audience. Make sure you use all of this content throughout the marketing campaign to build awareness, interest and engagement. You can also create new content: articles, interviews, infographics, related to the event theme to use as part of a content marketing strategy.

• Games and gamification. Games and gaming add an interesting element to digital events, hooking attendees to participate in as many of the event activities as possible. This can start in the pre-event marketing phase. Games and contests, initiated in the marketing phase can encourage engagement throughout the entire event lifecycle.

• Content mix. Keep your audience engaged, informed and excited for your event by including a mix of different content throughout the marketing campaign. Speaker previews, interviews, polls, sponsor updates, promotions, new announcements, related white papers and more will build momentum for your event. Try to host any media on your digital event platform so that the attendees familiarise themselves with the technology and interface ahead of the actual event. 

• Spell it out. Although users might be familiar with online meetings and webinars, all virtual events have different features, styling and communication (just like live events!) so your attendees will appreciate being told what to expect and how to optimise their time at your event. Provide a preview or a showreel that demonstrates what the digital event will look and feel like. Will they need to deactivate their microphone? Is it beneficial to ‘arrive’ at the presentation early? Where do they find the contact details for other attendees? Provide the audience with the information that will help them have the best event experience possible. 

2) Outstanding Branding

All of your branding choices provide an indication to the audience about what they can expect from your digital event. Take the time to really evaluate your branding choices: the words, colours and images that you’re using, to confirm that they effectively communicate the ‘story’ of the new digital event. 

• Impression of quality. Make sure your choice of graphics is on point, not just which graphic but the actual quality of the graphic. You will be populating lots of different channels and platforms with your graphics so be sure to have the correct measurements and resolutions to optimise your graphics wherever they appear. 

• Get the feel right. You might not be able to copy your existing branding over to the virtual event. Take a review of your target market (has that changed at all since your event shifted online?) and ask yourself if the branding really connects with them. 

• Consistency. Digital events are largely new territory for the audience so it’s particularly important to be consistent in your branding. Always use the same words to describe the event, it’s easy to get muddled in words that have similar meanings: roundtable, boardroom, discussion, presentation, virtual, digital, interactive, online. The same is true with colour choices, logos and fonts. Make it easy for the audience to connect the blue email banner with white italic ‘networking area’, with the actual networking area on the event platform, branded identically. 

3) Be a Pioneer

There is a lot about digital events that is still uncharted. Have fun with your planning and execution, do try new things, and be brave with your marketing too. Test, trial, track and continuously refine your approach to get to your version of best practice.

Hopefully these top “tricks” have been helpful.
If you have any questions or feedback, write to us. We will be happy to read your requests or your opinions.