Online events offer companies and brands a great opportunity to promote to potential customers or partners. However, many organizers tend to overlook the ‘after’. Indeed, the fact of prolonging the event after its conclusion is very beneficial: in this “after” there is a great potential for conversion.
After discussing a series of tips for a successful online event , it’s time to talk about what happens next.
Thank everyone involved
Your event would not be of great interest if there were not people organizing it, realizing it, and promoting it upstream. Without forgetting the speakers, and of course the spectators.
The viewers
Let’s start with the spectators. It’s understandable that you don’t contact them all individually, especially if you haven’t captured their contact details. However, it is fashionable to use your social networks to thank them .
If you have the possibility, you can of course send them an email. You can take the opportunity to slip in an announcement of the next event, or a link to a photo / video gallery of the one that took place. (We will come back to this later.)
Stakeholders
Then, the case of your speakers, artists, speakers. The best is to send an individual thank you email, adding a personal touch.
If it takes a bit more effort than sending a generic email, that attention will be greatly appreciated.
Sponsors
The same goes for your sponsors, especially if they have provided you with equipment, for example. Chances are you will need their services again in the future, so taking the time to send them a personal thank you goes a long way to building a lasting relationship.
Your team
As for your team, a personal thank you is in order. These people, involved throughout the process, fought the stress and are responsible for the success of the event. A pot to celebrate?
Relive the best moments of the event
Each event has highlights, and these highlights deserve to be relived, in the form of images or videos. Start by posting a photo album on Facebook. Then choose from this album and post photos to Twitter and Instagram. You can even use popular weekly hashtags, like #ThrowbackThursday or #FlashbackFriday.
For example, try making a kind of after-movie: it’s a great way to boost engagement after the event, but also to promote your next event.
Not all of your attendees may be following you on social media, so send them an email with a link to the photo/video album(s).
Request post-event feedback
While the event is still remembered, gather the reactions of those who attended: you will gather a wealth of information on what has worked, what has not, and how you can improve future events.
Even if you do not intend to organize events in the near future, find out what your participants thinking (and acting) will let you know if the event is a success, and if your goals were met .
Most participants will be more than happy to give their opinion. After all, they would like to attend events better, so why not help improve ones you organize? They are often full of good ideas.
One of the simplest ways to gather feedback is to send a link via email to a survey in which people can meet online. There are free and convenient tools that allow you to create online surveys . Choose the one you like. If you can, add a purchase incentive (free tickets to your next events, chance to win a gift card, etc.)
By completing the same survey to everyone, it is easy to compare their contributions and to identify trends and areas for improvement. Your questions may include an evaluation of the different aspects of the event, so you can even quantify.
- You can combine thank you and survey in the same email, as long as the memories are fresh.
- The photos / after-movie of the event can be the subject of an e-mail a little further back in time, in order to revive the memory.
Extend the conversation after the event
Facilitating discussions between attendees – during and after the event – is a great way to keep your event alive. The most effective way to do this is through social media.
It’s easy for attendees to chat with you (and each other) via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, thanks to the hashtag you set up. (You had a hashtag set up, right?)
You – or someone on your team – should interact with mentions, answer questions, and monitor hashtag usage.
Post key moments on your blog and/or in your newsletter
Again, it all depends on the type of event you hosted, but if it was educational in nature, you can post the highlights or takeaways on your blog and/or in your newsletter, such as “X things we learned during [your event]”.
The creation of this type of content allows you to extend the conversation and show not only the value of your event, but also that of your brand/company on a subject necessarily related to your activity. This type of article will be crawled and then referenced in Google and will become a good vector of organic traffic, people searching for the name of your event should find you in a very good position!
