A successful event is one where your audience is engaged and where this engagement translates into the kind of conversions you want to see. For most businesses, that means helping your attendees to go from spectator to committed customer or follower.
There are so many ways to boost your event conversions, but a lot of people forget that one of the best is their current website.
All of your other marketing, including your social media campaigns, direct marketing and most other advertising points your leads towards your website. So, it makes sense to focus on directing your event traffic there as well.
Here are five of the best ways you can make it happen.
Host your event landing page on your website
Creating a dedicated event website can be perfect for some.
But, rather than investing time and energy setting up a new domain that won’t be available after your event, focus your energy on directing traffic to the website you already have. Particularly if it’s where you sell your products or services.
Create your event landing page on your existing site. Instead of linking directly to your event management software in your posts across social media, divert via your website for further details and make the link to booking prominent on that page.
Using your own website works for two reasons:
1) Some of the pre-event traffic you drive to your site will hang around and look at other pages (e.g. About Us, or your services pages).
2) Once people have seen your website, know your URL and have it in their browser history, they’ll know where to find you to follow up after the event.
Creating a dedicated landing page on a prominent part of your website and promote it on your Home Page, through internal links and on your social media channels, is the best way to maximise web traffic in the lead up to your event.
Provide an incentive to follow up on the web
You already know it’s good practice to include your website’s URL in all your event materials (print advertising, online advertising, banners, presentations, etc.), but how about giving people a real, tangible reason to follow through on all of those prompts?
Running an incentive aimed at driving traffic to your website can be incredibly effective. But, what can you use to motivate people?
Hold a contest and announce the winner/s on your blog
This can work really well, but you need to really understand your audience to pick the right prize and method for your contest. Once you’ve got the perfect scheme, you can inform people about it as part of your pre-event marketing and during your event.
Most importantly, announce the winner/s on your blog. Do not reveal your winner/s directly on social media, but instead link to the announcement on your website. The resulting traffic will give your blog a boost and motivate people to have a look at other pages.
Offer value-added products
Your event time is always going to be limited. If you have a lot to offer (which I don’t doubt you do), you can share more by creating in-depth information on topics covered during your events and giving it away for free in exchange for free registration to a blog, newsletter or other gated asset.
Your value-added product might be an eBook, special blog-series, webinar or online course. Most importantly, it should expand on the themes of your event and offer genuine value for your audience. This approach will not only see your web traffic increase but also create a loyal customer/follower-base that lasts long into the future.
Use your event URL to round-up/follow-up on your event
Just because your event is over doesn’t mean you have to consign its web page to the cyber wastelands. It can still breath life. Use it to follow up on something you discussed during your event. Or, add links to relevant blog posts that round-up, report on, or offer commentary on your event.
It’s easier for people to connect your brand to your event if your landing page is consistent. So, this tactic ensures maximum click-through from your off-page channels like your social media.
Use your website to encourage event-based user-generated content
One of the best ways to generate interest in your follow-up media is to include your attendees in the concept.
You can request photo submissions and comments directly from your audience and feature their media prominently on your website. It helps people feel connected to your brand and demonstrates the value you place in their input and continued involvement.
If your networking skills are up to scratch, you’re very likely to connect with people on social media during and following your event. Running a post-event user-generated content campaign through these platforms and linking these to your website, will direct high-quality, engaged web traffic your way.
Prepare your website for increased traffic
One of the biggest and simplest mistakes people make when embarking on any marketing campaign is to forget to prepare their website for an increase in traffic.
I get it. You don’t want to be overly optimistic and fork out money to prepare for something that might not happen. But, many-a-business has been caught short when they go viral, or see a huge increase in traffic, only to watch their efforts crumble into a sea of website downtime.
If your hosting plan doesn’t include enough bandwidth to deal with the traffic increase you project to see from your event, you’ve already failed. The quickest way to lose new interest is for your website to be unavailable when they need it. So, check whether your free web host or premium plan includes enough bandwidth to handle the extra traffic before you go to the effort of driving it.
Final thoughts
Running events can be one of the most exciting and rewarding ways to generate interest in what you do. But many miss out on the opportunity to truly capitalize on their success. Your website is your hub. It’s where all of your marketing (digital or otherwise) directs people to. So, your events should be no different. Armed with these simple and easy to action tips, both your event and your web traffic will be unstoppable.
Glue Up is an entirely digital platform that combines the best of all modern event software into one seamlessly efficient platform that bridges the gap between online and offline audiences. Book a demo to learn more.
Guest Author Bio: “Jodie is a Conversion Copywriter, Content Strategist and Optimisation Specialist working with bold B2B SaaS and marketing brands. Before founding This Copy Sticks, she's spent a decade selling the toughest value proposition around and raised £2 million for charities before her 25th birthday. After 10 years convincing the public to embrace their inner altruist, Jodie now puts her words to work helping tech-mad trailblazers grow their businesses.”
