How To Increase Virtual Event Attendance

Prevent the embarrassment of poor attendance and engagement at your virtual event. Knowing how to attract people to your virtual event, then keep them engaged will make your event more memorable and considered more of a success.

webcastingandvirtualevents.com gathered the following information about multiple ways to increase your virtual event’s attendance while increasing their duration at the event.

Who Is Your Audience?

One of the first steps to delivering an impactful virtual or hybrid event, that people actually want to engage with, is to gain a deep understanding of your audience.

Optimize Event Landing Page

Your event landing page is where your potential attendees will first learn about your event in great detail, also generating a first impression. Impress your potential attendees with a clean, organized, easy-to-navigate page, communicate clearly, and present a concise event offering.

By the time this article was posted, we can safely make the assumption that everyone is burnt out from never-ending zoom invites and lengthy online meeting agendas with unclear verbiage. Simplify your approach and deliver a refined event promise, highlighting the value it offers. Present as many event details as possible in a simple way – what’s the concept & purpose of the event, what problems/questions does your event address, what to expect from speakers, events, and sessions, and who to contact for further clarification, etc. 

Cross-Advertise Your Virtual Event

The theme or purpose of your event will determine where you choose to advertise. However, if your event is open to the general public and you want to increase its potential reach, list it on websites such as Eventbrite, Facebook’s listings for events, and other similar sites. It’s usually free of charge to list an event on most sites, and these listings can exponentially increase your reach, especially if your event subject relates to what people are searching for.

Increase Email Marketing Campaigns

Email is one of the most effective ways to engage your audience and drive virtual event registrations. Create emails that highlight different segments of your event; from networking opportunities to keynotes to breakout/lounge sessions.

Communicate with attendees who have already completed their registration. This may involve sending event reminders or pre-event content that helps foster excitement about your event. Finally, include a simple way for everyone to add the event to their calendars.

Note: Your email base will only spend 11 seconds or less browsing your emails. This means your communication should be conveyed at a glance. Emails with bold imagery, clear calls-to-action, and relevant messages will perform best. However, it’s essential to A/B test different variations of your promotion’s emails to find which performs best for your audience.

Encourage and Reward Your Attendees for Bringing a Guest

Consider how referral campaigns work. If your attendees refer other attendees to your event, they should be rewarded. Encourage event attendees to refer other like-minded people to the landing page or to the event. It could be a friend, a mentor, or even their whole community. Rewards could range from a gift card to a new pair of air buds.

Put together a referral and reward program, then let your attendees know about it and its potential rewards. As soon as someone adds a guest to their registration or just publicly shares information about the event asking more people to join, show them gratitude, and send them a reward. 

Use the Influence of Your Speakers, Special Guests, and Moderators

Make sure your speakers or moderators vigorously promote your event and their participation in it on their own social media channels. They may have a sizable audience who are fans of their work and will be inclined to attend. Confirm early on if your speakers will be emailing their own networks with event information or sharing it on social media.

Note: This should work both ways; in return for their support, promote your speakers on your channels and tag or link to their pages so they can benefit from your audience as well.

Pre-Event Q&A with Your Speakers and Experts

Assume the role of your potential attendees. Wouldn’t you love to get answers to questions you have about an event? Especially one you’re considering investing your valuable time and energy in. Allow your attendees to ask questions (pre-event) to speakers or event staff.

Consider sponsoring a real-time Q&A session or a chatbot on your event’s website. Virtual event platforms make this fairly simple. You can create an open and moderated Q&A session right from the organizer dashboard.

Tip – Once you’ve done the above tactics to increase your event attendance, learn these 13 Ways To Make Your Virtual Event More Engaging.

Offer On-Demand Post-Event Content

Entertainment and content is a significant reason for attending your event. If you will offer on-demand recordings and presentations after your event is over, make that abundantly clear during registration.

Even if attendees can’t participate in your event, they may still be inclined to register if it means having access to the on-demand content post-event.

Note: They’ll still be engaging with your content and brand, even if it’s not live.

How To Increase and Maintain Virtual Event Attendance

In this article, you discovered several ways to increase your virtual event’s attendance and keep their attention while they are there.

Clearly defining your audience and marketing to their interests and likes will increase attendance and focus in your virtual event.

Without leveraging the advantages and knowledge you possess when marketing your audience, you are likely to have poor attendance at your virtual event.

Sources:
socialmediatoday.com/news/how-to-shift-from-physical-to-virtual-events-and-maximize-event-outcomes/574048/
specialevents.syr.edu/resources/virtual-events/index.html
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/100861/37%20Virtual%20Event%20Ideas%20for%20Your%20Next%20Online%20Event.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

See https://webcastingandvirtualevents.com/how-to-increase-virtual-event-attendance/ for the first version of this content.

Virtual Awards Ceremony Ideas and Planning

Don’t allow the risk, fear, or cost of an in-person event prevent your company awards ceremony from happening. Knowing how to organize and run a virtual awards ceremony will enable you recognize and reward your “standout” team members, while staying safe and saving considerably.

webcastingandvirtualevents.com gathered the following ideas and planning tips to help guide you in planning and running a memorable awards ceremony.

How To Do a Virtual Awards Ceremony?

Your awards ceremony can be set up and conducted similarly, whether it is in-person, virtual, or a hybrid event. The following will help you through the planning process:

Select Award Categories – For what achievements will you be recognizing and awarding people? Create a list of departments and what accomplishments they should be rewarded for as a group and individually. These categories can include:

• Most Improved Production Awards
• Milestone Anniversary Awards
• Team Performance Awards
• Department MVP Awards
• Corporate Recognition Awards
• Employee of the year Award

Develop criteria or achievement standards for the awards you create. This generates interest, friendly competition, and keeps your employees striving for excellence.

Appoint a Selection Committee – Now that you have award categories, it’s time to select your recipients. Here are some selection methods you can employ to make these decisions:

• Gather senior staff to evaluate and select winners from a list of candidates
• Use a popular vote method in which all employees cast their votes
• Allow statistical data to determine front-runners and winners

Different selection methods can be used for different awards. You may find it beneficial to keep the winners anonymous until the “Big Reveal” at the awards ceremony. Excitement and anticipation are excellent audience drivers.

Order the Prizes – The prize for each award category should represent its significance in size and beauty. Once you have established an award, choose the item that will represent it. Consider the following:

• Gift Certificates
• Cash Awards
• Engraved Crystal
• Glass Awards
• Plaques
• Company Merchandise
• Commemorative Items

The physical awards to choose from are practically unlimited. If you formed a selection committee to name award recipients, that same committee could be tasked with determining appropriate prizes.

Tip: Having the current year’s awards showcased in a prominent display, months before selecting the recipients, can motivate employees to better their performance.

Decide on an Award Delivery Method – Getting the physical awards to their recipients may pose a challenge. As many companies have adopted long-term remote working policies and technology allows us to work from home efficiently, the need to be physically present in an office or at a company is quickly becoming a thing of the past. The following are practical award delivery methods:

• USPS
• UPS / FedEx
• Personal delivery
• Ship direct from the manufacturer

Note: Awards may also be kept on location until recipients return to the workplace

Choose a Video Conferencing Platform and Streaming Service – Virtual events are similar to other kinds of conferences, but they take place over the internet. Virtual events let you hold meetings and engage your audience, allowing them to participate through interactive technology, all while helping you achieve your interactive goals. There are multiple free and paid platforms you can use to host and livestream the award function, including:

• Livestream
• Brightcove
• Skype
• YouTube Live
• Facebook Live
• YouNow
• Google Hangouts
• Zoom
• Twitch

Tip: When selecting a platform for your event, verify that the bandwidth will support your audience while maximizing ease-of-use for your attendees. Contact the platform’s customer service department at least a month in advance to discuss attendance limitations and feature abilities.

What Goes Into an Awards Ceremony Script – An award ceremony script consists of an introduction, climax, and ending.

• Welcoming everyone should be your first priority.
• Then, the introductory part of the event and its purpose.
• Keep your speeches and explanations brief to avoid putting your audience to sleep.
• Keep it engaging, interactive, scripted, and fun until the end.

Tip: Rehearse the ink off the paper! Repetition is key to reducing the margin of error, sharpening your timing, and becoming more comfortable with the event as a whole.

Note: The more of your event that can be scripted, the better it will flow from start to end. If everyone producing and participating in the event follows the same scripted sequence of events, you can all but eliminate potential event breakdowns.

Market Your Virtual Awards Ceremony – The last thing you want is to hold a virtual awards ceremony with no attendees! The more you promote your event, the greater level of excitement you’ll generate for it. Send multiple reminders that create a sense of urgency for your event as it approaches. Here are a few ideas to help promote your event:

• Break out your email lists – send invites and subsequent reminders
• Launch an event page that showcases your event
• Post reminders and updates across social media platforms
• Use keywords and key phrases to better your search potential
• Create a vlog and upload videos dedicated to your event

Another reliable but often forgotten marketing strategy is word-of-mouth. Get your employees, suppliers, vendors, friends, and associates to invite their friends and families.

Tip: Attract more attendees by raffling off items or randomly selecting attendees from your virtual audience for prizes or free gifts.

Sponsor Participation – Increase your event’s audience and credibility by having it backed by sponsorship. Brands sponsor events with the expectation of gaining greater visibility (brand recognition) and ultimately sales.

Acquiring sponsors for your virtual awards ceremony can not only provide more options for audience prizes but increase the event’s budget.

Virtual Event Dress Rehearsals – Practice, practice, and practice again. The more time you can devote to rehearsing the content and flow of your event, the less probability you will have of stumbling over your words or mixing up the event sequence. This time will also allow you to familiarize yourself with and test run the video conferencing platform.

Tip: It is imperative to verify that each invited guest can access the shared link that you send out and that any system glitches are resolved before the event. Rehearsals can seem tedious, but they are the best way to expose system fragilities.

How Do You Make an Awards Ceremony Fun?

Making your awards ceremony an engaging, fun, and memorable event is easier than you may think. Use the following ideas to add some entertainment to your event:

• Hire a professional comedian to emcee or host the event.
• Book a special keynote speaker.
• Offer outstanding cash prizes for “flash contests” via text or email (data collection).
• Take music requests from your virtual audience.
• Conduct Q&A sessions intermittently throughout the event, again via text or email.

Tip: Have as much fun with your audience as you like but be mindful of the time and content used to entertain your audience. For more ideas, check out our blog post – 13 Ways To Make Your Virtual Event More Engaging.

What Do You Say When Presenting an Award

Presenting an award to a guest, an employee, a business partner, or a customer should be treated as an honor. It’s exciting to celebrate someone’s accomplishments and how he/she has added value to your business’ mission. Carefully plan your award presentation, so you make it a memorable occasion for the recipient. Consider the following:

• Understand the details of the work it took to get to this point.
• Know who is receiving the award.
• Know the correct pronunciation of their name.
• Present the award within the allotted time.
• Know where the award is kept or who will bring it to you.

When presenting the award:

• Tell a brief personal or humorous story about the recipient.
• Acknowledge the recipient’s worthiness of the award.
• Keep stories about yourself out of this moment (it’s not your moment).
• Keep your speech short, call up or announce the recipient and step aside or move on.

Tip: When holding and presenting the award (be it a trophy or certificate), hold it with respect. This shows the audience and recipient the value attached to the award.

Why Hold a Virtual Awards Ceremony?

Virtual awards ceremonies help boost morale while reestablishing stamina and trust by leaving your employees, staff, clients, and vendors knowing their work and results haven’t gone unnoticed.

Virtual Awards Ceremony Production

In this article, you discovered several ideas and tips to help you plan and put on a memorable virtual awards ceremony.

By holding a virtual awards ceremony, you can energize your workforce by acknowledging their efforts, improvements, and milestones.

Failing to recognize your team’s work can result in their lack of motivation, reduced productivity, and a significant loss of revenue.

Sources:
sites.duke.edu/dukesepc/2020/10/29/taking-awards-ceremonies-into-the-virtual-world/
tasb.org/services/hr-services/hrx/hr-trends/recognizing-staff-and-students-during-a-pandemic.aspx
awana.org/2020/04/21/creative-ideas-to-make-your-awards-celebration-memorable-while-sheltering-in-place/

See https://webcastingandvirtualevents.com/virtual-awards-ceremony-ideas-planning/ for the first version of this content.

How to Host a Virtual Event: Tips and Advice

Prevent improper planning and lack of audience engagement from ruining your virtual event. Knowing how to plan, produce, and execute a flawless virtual event will increase your viewership, and extend your reach to a global level.

webcastingandvirtualevents.com gathered the following information, tips, and advice to help you conceive, plan, and execute your virtual event.

What is a Virtual Event?

A virtual event is a partial or complete online event livestream or webcast whereby attendees view and interact in a virtual environment rather than a physical location. Virtual events can be multi-session online events, often featuring lectures, Q&A, webinars, and webcasts. The following are just a few of the online events you can host:

• Training
• Courses
• Tutorials
• Lectures
• Conferences
• Shows/Concerts
• Performances
• Behind-the-scenes
• Interviews
• Location tours
• How to’s

Here is an excellent example of how large, live, in-person events can turn 100% virtual. Amidst the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Network migrated all of their in-person programs, such as Monday Night Raw, NXT, and Friday Night Smackdown, from live to virtual audiences.

Watch this video to see how live, cheering fans were replaced by hundreds of monitors with individual live feeds of fans viewing the show remotely.

Virtual Event Planning

Virtual event streaming services have helped companies produce events extending beyond geographical limitations. Virtual events can be 100% virtual, or hybrid, and accompany a live (in-person) event. However your event is orchestrated, your company should be fully invested before event streaming. The following are considerations and questions that will help your virtual event planner organize a virtual event with your remote audience in mind:

Audience Demographics – Who will attend your event, and what do you know about them? Ask the following questions to attain a better understanding of your audience:

• Is your audience inclined to attend a virtual event?
• What timeframe is best for your audience?
• Once tuned in, what subject matter will keep their attention locked in?
• What event format do they find more appealing?
• What offers (swag, discount codes, contests, raffles, etc.) will your audience respond to best?

Tip: As you begin to plan your virtual event, inform yourself about your audience by conducting surveys, starting a discussion forum, or whatever means that allow you to create a more extensive profile of your audience’s demographics.

Event Date and Time – When is the best time to hold your virtual event? Consider the following:

• Survey your audience with three or four options of days and times.
• Avoid dates that coincide with major sports or entertainment events.
• Consider your overseas audience as well (cultural festivals, time differences, etc.).

Note: While you are not likely able to appease the totality of your audience with a specific date, your event, after the live show, can be uploaded to YouTube.

Format Definition – Whether your event will take on the characteristics of a seminar (one person addressing your audience), a trade show (with multiple vendors and information), a workshop (with learning and tutorial elements), or a combination of these. Consider the following virtual event production options when determining a format and features for your virtual event:

• Real-time Q&A with the ability to engage both viewers and attendees
• Custom graphics for titles and animations
• Slides and/or video presentations
• Downloadable documents for workshop and seminar support
• Live switching with multiple camera angles to provide a personalized point of view (POV)
• Virtual Reality (VR) elements
• Augmented Reality (AR) to offer a more interactive experience

Note: The more components or moving parts you add to your virtual event, the more potential you will have for glitches, timing mishaps, and other technical issues. For this reason, you should have a host or emcee in control of the event’s flow and operation.

Emcee/Presenter Selection – The selection of an experienced event emcee or presenter is vital to maintaining a consistent flow throughout your event. Your emcee should be:

• Comfortable presenting in front of a camera, as well as a live audience
• Quick to respond to or direct questions from social media viewers and online participants
• Well enough versed in the event to dispatch the need for scripted information
• Capable of maneuvering around or filling in for unexpected glitches (late speaker, technical difficulties, etc.)

Note: Your emcee can be a professional speaker hired for the event or a member of your organization, comfortable with public speaking.

Tip: By using two emcees or presenters, they can split up speaking time, detect and resolve technical issues more quickly, and even add another layer of interest to keep your audience dialed into your event.

Platform Selection – There are numerous live streaming and virtual event platforms, and you may already be familiar with their capabilities, controls, and limitations. Some of them include:

• Periscope
• Zoom
• Microsoft Team
• YouTube Live
• Twitch

Depending on the diversity or complexity of the event you want to host, you may want to contract a corporate event production company to help you plan, organize, and curate your event. Some of the benefits of hiring an event production company include:

• Pre-Production
• Custom Graphics Support
• Custom Video Player
• Audio and Video Support
• Webcasting Support
• Dedicated Technician(s)
• Live Switching
• Post Production
• On-Demand Delivery

Whether your event plays to the medical field, Government organizations, corporate board meetings or annual reports, education, training, or other areas, an experienced production company can flawlessly guide you into and through your virtual event. Watch this video to learn more about working with a virtual event production team.

Virtual Event Marketing – In the same way in-person events are marketed, so should virtual events. Consider the following marketing methods:

• Create social media posts, tweets, chats, and stories that include links to relevant content, a virtual RSVP book, event participant bios, vlogs, and relevant hashtags.
• Invite social media influencers to help promote and broaden the reach of your event.
• Email your subscribers, using your newsletter as a vehicle, or send virtual invitations.
• Print promotional announcements, flyers, or postcards and use direct mail to reach your audience.

Note: In-person attendance to your event should be determined, in part, by the size of your venue and your ability to observe/encourage health safety guidelines.

Virtual Event Venue – The nature of a virtual event allows you to hold it practically anywhere. However, the components of your event (in-person attendance, trade shows, workshops, speakers, etc.) demand that you make accommodations for them.

Secure a venue that provides enough space for your in-person attendees, stage, podium, audio/visual, and lighting equipment.

Hosting a Virtual Event

In this article, you discovered essential information, tips, and advice that help you understand the many facets of a virtual event, and how to take it from conception to execution.

Knowing how to plan and market your virtual event will help you increase your audience, extending your brand’s reach, and subsequently growing your business.

Carelessly throwing together a virtual event, ignoring its basic structure and necessities will lead to a loss of viewership and waining confidence in your company’s capacities to fulfill consumer needs.

Sources:
boisestate.edu/eventservices/go-virtual/
brown.edu/offices/events/planning-resources/virtual-events-planning-guide
specialevents.gatech.edu/virtual
hls.harvard.edu/dept/events/hls-community-event-resources/virtual-event-planning-101/
fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/legacy_files/FS-green-virtual-events-checklist.pdf

See https://webcastingandvirtualevents.com/how-to-host-a-virtual-event-tips-advice/ for the first version of this content.

13 Ways To Make Your Virtual Event More Engaging

Prevent a dull and uneventful virtual event experience from driving attendance down. Knowing how to engage your audience and make them feel like an active participant will contribute to a significantly more successful virtual event.

webcastingandvirtualevents.com gathered the following 13 ways to energize your online audience and keep their attention focused on your event content.

How To Make Virtual Events More Engaging

With virtual meetings or events like webinars and conferences, operating outside the box is truly the only solution for keeping your participants tuned in from the beginning till the end. The following are 13 ingenious ways to keep your audience’s interest focused and avoid their premature leaving:

1. Present Compelling Content

When you go virtual, there is increased pressure on your content to attract and keep attention. Convincing attendees to show up for your event requires offering compelling content that captures their interest more than the movie that was just released on Netflix. Read more on leveraging content at webcastingandvirtualevents.com/content-marketing-guide-with-examples/

2. Shout Out Attendees by Name

While no one particularly likes to be called out in the middle of a meeting, it will certainly keep you alert. The same way some influencers single out members of their audience, have experienced speakers mention attendee names in the session.

3. Be Observant of Meeting Length

You might have the impression that because attendees are sitting at in-person events and virtual events, that their session durations shouldn’t change. But, there’s a striking difference between sitting in a two-hour in-person presentation with other engaged attendees, watching a presentation filled with music, performance, and inspiring speeches, and sitting alone in a chair at home.

Virtual sessions can feel longer, and attendees are more likely to click away during the event. Keep your meetings and sessions shorter than normal to keep your attendees focused on the content.

4. Collaborate With Other Creators

If you’re putting on a multiple-day virtual event, collaborate with other creators. This will help diversify the format and better appeal to your audience, keeping them engaged throughout the whole event.

You can do this by having:

• Interactive topic panels 
• Case studies from past participants
• Panel-style presentations and interactions


5. Production/Product Quality

The final production and product quality of your virtual event and its content is your opportunity to make a profound impact. Look to video best practices to truly make your mark. Acquire the highest quality cameras, branded props, crisp mics, and quality of your presentations. Stunning graphics and excellent video quality will keep your event attendees mesmerized with the screen. Read more on video content creation at webcastingandvirtualevents.com/video-content-creation-tips-and-tools/

6. Live Q&A

Let attendees pose questions and provide answers during Q&A sessions. By offering exceptional content, your attendees will have questions and want answers from the expert(s). Include Q&A time in the same way you would at an in-person event.

7. FAQs and Tips and Tricks for Virtual Events

Build an easily accessible page on your event website specifically for FAQs. Create a guide for your attendees with information about how to get the most out of a virtual event. Think beyond the typically written guide and make a series of video tutorials instead.

8. Surveys and Knowledge Tests

Hold your attendees intellectually accountable. Give surveys after each information block, whether it’s live or an on-demand event, or give a simple knowledge test to see if they were tuned in or not. This is an exceptional tool for educational content.

9. Live Keynotes

Your keynotes need to be engaging, inspirational, and educational. And, in a virtual setting, it’s best for them to be live. If your virtual event comprises many blocks or sessions, try to place a live keynote speaker to build a sense of excitement and online community. Encourage attendees to post their favorite quotes and thoughts to social media and message streams.

10. Networking

In-person events focus heavily on networking. Virtual meetings can make the most of networking, too. Using your mobile event app’s attendee list and connect your attendees based on common interests or shared event goals. Promote virtual happy hours or gatherings for attendees to make valuable connections.

11. On-Demand, Diverse, and Flexible Content

Sitting in a chair all day and watching videos can get very old and tedious quickly. On-demand sessions permit attendees to see content and watch sessions at their own speed. Offer sessions that can be watched at any time. If you want attendees to stick to a fixed schedule, give them space and add time in for breaks.

12. Messaging in the Event App

Maximize the use of your virtual event technology. Mobile event apps usually have built-in messaging capabilities. Encourage your attendees to talk to one another and interact. Keep them talking throughout the event in the easiest way possible – with a tool built into the event app. or software.

13. Swag

If you have collected your event attendee’s street addresses, you should send them swag. If you only have their email addresses, you can still send them swag. Virtual event attendees (like most people) love free things. Consider gifting them with an e-gift card for coffee or mail out t-shirts, pens, hats, or other branded material before the event for attendees to wear throughout the virtual event.

Think Outside the Box with Your Virtual Event

A virtual event isn’t required to be a stripped-down version of an in-person event. While it can’t match the experience of an in-person event, engagement should still be one of the top priorities. Going virtual only means that you will have to amp up your creativity about keeping attendees focused and inspired.

Create an Engaging Virtual Event

In this article, you discovered 13 ways to increase a virtual audience’s interest in exploring your content and promotional activities.

When you offer your virtual audience activities and purpose, you transform them from spectators into active participants.

Leaving your virtual audience not engaged will result in low interest and even lower virtual event attendance.

Sources:
socialmediatoday.com/news/how-to-shift-from-physical-to-virtual-events-and-maximize-event-outcomes/574048/
stonybrook.edu/commcms/studentaffairs/sac/Club_Org_Resources/managing_clubs_and_orgs_virtually/Planning_Virtual_Events.php

p>See https://webcastingandvirtualevents.com/13-ways-to-make-virtual-event-more-engaging/ for the first version of this content.

Content Marketing – A Guide with Examples

Stop allowing your company to fall behind because you don’t understand how to use content to spread your message and grow. Knowing how to use content marketing in your favor will help you generate more significant, more consistent readership and audience interaction.

webcastingandvirtualevents.com gathered the following information about content marketing, what it is, and some examples you can model your own content creation after.

What is Content Marketing

Content marketing is a marketing approach highly focused on the creation and distribution of valuable, relevant, and consistent content. The content is created with the intent to attract and retain a defined audience, with the ultimate goal of driving customer action and results.

Spam vs. Content Marketing

In today’s market, the average person receives multiple emails, texts, and calls from companies trying to sell them their stuff. Companies bombard people with multiple, often random ads like this all the time, almost always lacking value and relevance.

Content marketing differentiates itself from spam in that most “spam” campaigns have no specificity or individual value to present to its intended target. Content marketing, on the other hand, is specific to the subject it addresses while answering reader questions/problems.

Content Marketing Examples

Let’s say you are a cook, an easy content marketing example would be to start a cooking show on YouTube. The channel would be dedicated to all things food related, and provide compelling content for anyone that would benefit from your expertise.

In this example, a blog with videos like ‘5 Quick Meals Perfect for a Friday After Work’, or ‘Foods to Avoid If You Are On a Low-Carb Diet’ would be perfect.

Essentially, using the channel to entertain, educate, and create value for people that have a need or appreciation for your content. Not only does this lead to attracting new potential customers, but it also serves to help you gain publicity and exposure for your brand.

Nearly anything you can use to educate or inform your audience can be applied to or used in content marketing. Take the following into consideration:

Educational Articles – Such articles take specific elements of larger subjects and answer questions or doubts about them. Oftentimes, the answers these articles provide cannot be found elsewhere easily.

Videos – Like articles, videos can be highly effective at answering specific audience questions that may be difficult to answer otherwise.

Webinars – Live or recorded tutorial material can be laser-focused to reach a specific audience, addressing basic structure while effectively answering niche questions.

E-books – E-books offer the opportunity to fully educate a reader on specific subjects and still (like articles) address specific elements of much larger subjects.

Note: The difference between simple, posted content and content marketing is the destination your audience can reach through the resources found in your content and resource-rich material.

Here are a few examples of companies that give you content marketing at its best:

• Johnson & Johnson’s home page. It reads more like a digital magazine with exceptional health and wellness content.



• Four Seasons Magazine helps connect the brand to more affluent travelers.
• Cheerios Recipes comes with a wide range of recipes (many kid-friendly) made from cereal.
• American Express Business Trends and Insights – one of the greatest examples of well-structured content marketing!
• Lowe’s Creative Ideas, inspiring for homeowners while providing tutorials and answers to how projects or upgrades can be easily accomplished.

SEO and Social Media for Content Marketing

Even the most well-written content will fall stale if it cannot be found. One way to get your content in front of those it matters most to is using search engine optimization (SEO).

There’s information for days on SEO. However, focus on the following to get you started.

Identify Keywords – These words and phrases are the terms your audience types into a search engine when they look for a specific company, product, or service. The best keywords are those that use plain language, that are relevant to your product or service, and that are specific to your expertise.

Deliver the Promise – Search success depends heavily on how well your content does what it says it will do. Search engines review content, assess its relevance, and will determine whether that content delivers on what the headline promises.

Once you have your content, here’s another way to get the word out about it. Social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Medium, Instagram, GetPocket, and others are proven and easy when wanting to promote your content. You write a post, then link to your content or syndicate your post to that platform, engaging its followers.

Content Marketing

In this article, you discovered what content marketing is, how it is different, successful examples of content marketing, and how to make your content attractive to search engines.

Using content marketing to give your audience clear and precise answers to their questions will help your content gain favor with search engines, keeping it at the forefront of search results.

Avoid making hollow promises to your audience. Knowing how to use content marketing in your favor will help you generate greater, more consistent readership and audience interaction.

Sources:
gcu.edu/blog/business-management/5-tips-successful-content-marketing
sbdc.uh.edu/sbdc/How_Content_Marketing_Can_Help_Your_Small_Business.asp

See https://webcastingandvirtualevents.com/content-marketing-guide-with-examples/ for the first version of this content.

KPI’s and Measuring Performance in Marketing

Avoid getting lost in dozens of irrelevant reports and losing focus on your marketing project’s key factors. Knowing how to identify key performance indicators (KPI’s) will help you extract the data you require to properly frame your project’s performance.

webcastingandvirtualevents.com gathered the following information about key performance indicators, determining which metrics are your KPI’s providing the highest and most appropriate value to your marketing strategy or event.

What Are KPI’s

Key performance indicators are a set of metrics that reflect the most relevant outcomes of an event, marketing strategy, or running comparison (A/B test). Any metric may be designated a KPI, so how do you determine which metrics will be used as key performance indicators?

Consider this; During a follow-up exam (after being diagnosed with high blood pressure), which metrics are more valuable to your doctor? Measuring your height or taking your current blood pressure reading?

Your height may be used in conjunction with your weight to determine an eventual plan or diet (this is a metric), but your blood pressure reading will offer immediate, essential treatment information (this is the KPI).

In the beginning phases of your marketing strategy or event planning, you should determine which metrics you intend to gather. These metrics may include:

• Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)
• Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)
• Cost Per Lead
• Referral Traffic
• Organic Traffic
• Customer Transaction Value
• Lifetime Value of a Customer (LTV)
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
• Customer Engagement
• Customer Retention
• Conversion Rates
• Return on Investment (ROI)
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
• Sales Revenue
• Brand Awareness
• Event Enrollment
• Event Attendance
• How Long Event Attendees Stayed
• Repeat/Return Attendance

Once you determine which metrics to collect, you can designate a set of these metrics as your KPI’s. If you are planning a virtual event, you may find “event enrollment,” “event attendance,” and “conversion rates” carry more immediate value than the “lifetime value of a customer.”

The bottom line of any marketing strategy should be to increase your ROI. KPI’s are used for problem-solving, decision making, and project/program optimization to do just that.

Data Analytics Tools

Data collection is vital to understanding and growing a business. There is no shortage of software that collects, organizes, and presents this information for you. When determining the metrics and KPI’s you wish to track, consider the following software options:

Google Analytics – This service allows you to analyze in-depth detail about visitors to your website. This software offers valuable insights that can help you shape the strategy of your business.

Statcounter – This web analytics tool is a simple but powerful real-time service that helps track, analyze, and understand your website’s visitor actions.

RapidMiner – This software allows data mining, text mining, and predictive analytics. RapidMiner also allows raw data entry, including databases and text, which is then automatically analyzed on a large scale.

Microsoft Power BI – This software is an interactive data visualization and analytics tool for business intelligence (BI). It can pull data from a range of systems in the cloud or on-premises to create dashboards that track metrics or allows you to ask questions about your data.

Tip: Most data analytics software offers a free version or trial period, allowing you to test the software and find one that best collects the data your marketing team needs.

KPI Examples

Key performance indicators are everywhere. The type of event or marketing strategy you are promoting will generally determine the metrics used as your KPI’s. Consider the following:

Direct Mail Campaign – When conducting a direct mail campaign, conversion rates will ultimately influence the campaign’s success or failure. However, your KPI’s may be the number of calls or unique (new) website visits resulting from the mailer.

Grocery Store Samples – When introducing a new product or attempting to increase sales of an existing product, grocery stores may offer that product prepared and portioned into samples. Two potential KPI’s for this strategy include:

• Number of product used vs. number of sales
• Product sales (quantity or percentage increase)

Restaurant Promotions – In times of social distancing and a dramatic reduction in in-person dining, determining KPI’s for a restaurant’s marketing campaign is more important than ever. Some of those KPI’s may include:

• In which timeframes people are ordering
• Which dining apps are customers using
• Which meals, sides, and drinks are the most popular

These metrics help restaurants determine staffing levels, menu content, and even hours of operation.

Email Marketing Campaign – These campaigns offer multiple measurable metrics. KPI’s may include:

• Conversion Rate
• Clickthrough Rate
• Bounce Rate
• Open Rate
• Unsubscribe Rate

These metrics provide valuable insight into the reach and effectiveness of your campaign, and the engagement of your subscribers.

Key Performance Indicators

In this article, you discovered valuable insight and information about key performance indicators, how to identify them amongst other metrics, and what value they represent.

Knowing how to determine your project’s KPI’s allows you to collect valuable data that helps solve problems, make informed decisions, and optimize your marketing event or project.

By not defining your project’s KPI’s, you may be giving undue attention to metrics that won’t provide data necessary for improvements and modifications.

Sources:
ie.edu/insights/articles/measure-before-deciding-the-essence-of-data-in-marketing/
sloanreview.mit.edu/article/five-categories-to-focus-your-kpis/
crm.org/news/best-data-analytics-tools
knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/marketing-metrics-and-financial-performance/
marshall.edu/2020/files/KPI-MUBOG-Retreat-2014_10_31.pdf

See https://webcastingandvirtualevents.com/kpis-measuring-performance-marketing/ for the first version of this content.

Video Content Creation Tips and Tools

1	<p>Stop losing viewers and customers because you are not creating video content, or worse, your content is low-quality, boring, or embarassing. When you know how to produce high-quality concise videos, you can effortlessly grow your audience and business.</p>

webcastingandvirtualevents.com gathered the following information about video content creation tools and 5 tips to help you create more engaging and effective video content.

5 Content Creation Tips

Content drives your audience’s actions or inaction. Where written content leaves off with deliverable information, video content combines motion, sound, and visuals that deliver a more impactful message, captivating your audience’s attention. Use the following five tips to create high-quality video content:

1. Define Your Video Strategy

Use video content’s versatility to your advantage by defining:

• Video length (short bite-size snippets or long documentary-style formats)
• Standalone message or unfolding, serialized conversations
• Which content delivery platform(s) (blog, website, email, youtube, etc.)
• Combined with other relevant/support content

Keep in mind that some of your content may be initially delivered as a brief article or blog post, then if well-received, you can repurpose and further develop that content as a video.

Note: Producing video content can be likened to storytelling and can take many forms – such as corporate films, brand films, animation, social media videos, etc. – to provide answers and solutions your audience requires. The best storytellers get paid with eyeballs and attention.

2. Convey Tone and Values

Video can deliver emotion, sincerity, and thoughtfulness in ways text cannot. Consider the following delivery methods and which serves your goal and would be of interest to your audience:

• Host an interview with an expert in your field.
• Host a group or roundtable discussion on relevant topics from multiple perspectives.
• Create video content demonstrating your brand’s expertise, or the impactful role your product plays in areas of your audience’s interest.
• Respond to or discuss controversial or sensitive current events to display your brand or company’s values.

3. Answer Your Audience’s Questions

When searching for DIY projects, tutorials, product demos, guides, etc., most audiences gravitate toward video content (as evidenced by top google results for such searches). Reading material provides a mechanical understanding of the topic. Still, video can convey that same understanding while demonstrating the subtleties needed to finish a task or fully address the viewer’s intent. Consider these ideas:

• Create How-To video content that demonstrates shortcuts or hacks for typically complicated actions and processes.
• Thoroughly review or compare products or solutions using their key features to display any advantages they may possess or lack.
• Walk your viewers through a complex process, showing them step-by-step (in a simplified manner) how to reach their objective.

Determine which “problems” your audience is having and give them the most precise and uncomplicated “answers.”

Note: Write scripts that your audience will want to follow. Filter out complex ideas and focus on the simple delivery of the answers and solutions.

4. Produce Quality Video Content

The availability of low-cost editing tools and smartphone cameras has made the production of video content more accessible than ever. However, for your videos to be best received, a quality standard must be maintained. Start with the following:

• Invest in quality camera equipment – ensure your video is HD resolution at a minimum
• Invest in lighting (your lighting can make or break your videos) – keep the light source facing and not behind or directy overhead
• Use editing software that can grow and diversify with your needs – one that doesn’t overly downgrade your video quality
• Use quality sound equipment (internal on the camera or external) – use a good microphone and eliminate background noise

Note: If not you, invest in someone or a team with the expertise to carry your video content production process from concept to completion. The combination of lighting, sound, and video resolution all contribute to your video being its best.

5. Develop a Video SEO Strategy

You read that correctly. SEO strategies are no longer reserved for websites and blog posts. Search engine optimization is highly relevant for video content, as evidenced by YouTube (owned by Google) becoming the second largest online search engine. Consider the following:

Use Relevant and Attractive Titles – In much the same way blog post titles are developed, your video title should be short and informative with keywords included.

Keyword placement – Like your title, video descriptions should be concise, using keywords, and offering a link to your website. Relevancy and simplicity go a long way for search engine optimization.

Use Tags with Purpose – While your keywords should dominate your tags, take into consideration what keyword variations and phrases your audience may be searching for and include them.

Video Thumbnails – Thumbnails are the first thing to lure an audience to your video content. Produce eye-catching thumbnails by using colorful, engaging, high-quality, and branded imagery.

Include a Video Sitemap – Communicate video content details to search engines by using a video sitemap in its code.

Using Links – Links that lead to your video are crucial for driving keyword search rankings.

Video Format Compatibility – As videos are viewed on multiple types and sized devices, they should be optimized for such viewing.

Note: Using irrelevant titles, tags, or poorly searched keywords and tags for your video content will only drive your audience and search engines to give preference to others who gave their attention to such details.

Video Content Creation Tools

Considering HD has become the standard and the video consumption explosion, consumers and viewers naturally gravitate to better quality material that concisely answers their questions and satisfies their interests. The following video creation and editing tools will help improve your video content quality:

ClipChamp – This software makes it easy for website and social media users to upload, record, and share high-quality video content using their free video editor, compressor, converter, and webcam recorder via practically any web browser. Website: clipchamp.com/en/ (offers free version)

Wipster – This is a cloud-based platform perfect for reviewing, approving, and collaborating on video production projects. Wipster brings distributed/remote teams together to seamlessly collaborate on digital media projects effectively and straightforwardly. Website: wipster.io (offers free trial)

Animaker – This online video content creation platform can be easily used by beginners, non-designers, and professionals and has a DIY interface with multiple templates and royalty-free video, images, titles, and music. Website: animaker.com (offers a free version + multiple paid packages)

Creating Quality Video Content

In this article, you discovered essential information about video content creation tools and five tips to empower you In making more engaging and effective video content.

Using excellent video editing software and knowing how to produce better-polished content will help you exceed quality standards and conversion expectations.

Haphazardly throwing videos together and neglecting basic video SEO strategies may leave your content seen as sloppy and irrelevant.

Sources:
ualr.edu/communications/video-standards/
bu.edu/prlab/2017/11/28/using-video-to-complement-our-digital-pr-tactics-three-top-tips/
tips.uark.edu/video-creation-tips-and-tricks/

See https://webcastingandvirtualevents.com/video-content-creation-tips-and-tools/ for the first version of this content.