Before the pandemic, digital events and elements of them were likely on your radar as an event strategist. You wanted to make the most of the technology at your disposal, but you may not have had the time to invest in designing and implementing digital marketing events.
The pandemic fast-tracked the digital event world, forcing you to overcome many unforeseen hurdles including attendee engagement, sponsor interaction, and event measurement, and more.
Through the learning curve, though, events teams realized that digital events have permanently changed event strategy moving forward.
"While the pandemic forced organizations to take the plunge into the digital realm, once they ripped off the Band-Aid, they started to see virtual events as not just a necessity, but a win-win opportunity for both organizations and attendees – even after life returns to ‘normal.’"
Up the WOW factor in your event strategy by including the digital elements that everyone engages with as you move toward a hybrid of in-person and digital events.
Digital Elements That Are Here to Stay in Event Strategy
As you learned the best way to create a successful digital event, you created elements that flourished. It’s crucial to use the digital elements that worked specifically for you, but these are the most common digital elements that produced results in the past year.
Webinars
While webinars weren't exactly a new idea before digital events, they flourished and highlighted their worth for attendees as a complement to recent digital events. You can easily integrate the digital element into your future events whether the event occurs in-person or online.
During an in-person event, a webinar-like keynote or session is a wonderful way to include attendees who could attend in person and feature industry leaders who aren't available in person. Your customer base and the speaker can connect in real-time from wherever they happen to be at the time.
However, where webinars truly shine is a complement to digital event strategy. Webinars proved to be incredibly beneficial as a digital channel outside of the larger conference. This strategy ties into the evolution that you as an event strategist are making into a holistic event marketer. Rather than just prioritize elements of the larger conference as a whole, modern event strategies understand how that conference relates to supporting marketing elements and channels released throughout the year — a la, webinars.
This adds value outside of the main annual conference, thus keeping them engaged and encouraging them to attend the conference once it begins.
Digital Keynotes
Digital keynotes make it a breeze for your guests to learn more about an industry-specific topic on their schedule. The attendee can access the keynote video on a time schedule that suits their needs and not that of the event organizer. These digital keynotes add value in ways you hadn't explored before digital events.
When you can recruit well-known industry talent or even a celebrity, you'll be able to increase registration and encourage them to participate. It offers your guests the chance to interact with topics they really want to learn more about to grow their own businesses and adds real value to both digital and in-person events.
Thought Leadership Sessions
When it comes to engaging your customer base during an event, you want to offer breakout sessions and thought leadership sessions that provide the most value to them. You need to find the niche speaker that appeals to the largest segment of your guests to lead the thought leadership sessions.
With the right speaker, you can generate more viewers and increase attendee engagement. You can easily measure the engagement with a thought leadership session to ensure you're reaching your goals. The right speaker ultimately leads to a successful event, regardless if it's digital or in person.
Digital Event Strategy and Brand Awareness
When it comes to in-person and digital events, your company needs more than an event planner. You need a digital event strategist who looks at the big picture and can relate the marketing themes across multiple events. A digital event strategy helps you maximize your potential and align your theme and marketing campaigns to create excitement and success.
Digital elements and events are here to stay because they offer help in gaining net-new contacts and increasing brand visibility. Brand awareness increases your potential customer base and builds the loyalty of your existing customers. The goal of any event is to ensure that your brand awareness increases, and you find new contact and potential customer leads.
Conclusion
Digital events aren't a thing of the past as you slowly move back to in-person events. Certain digital elements have proved to be outstanding marketing tools and can build brand awareness and generate leads.
Some of these elements can make it easier for you to measure customer engagement and compare the ratio of registration versus attendance. Webinars, digital keynotes, and thought leadership sessions are a few of the digital elements you can continue to use to build engagement and sponsorship.
At Impact Point Group, we're ready to help you incorporate these digital elements into your event strategy. We want to help you maximize attendee engagement and ensure that the right sponsors connect with the best potential customers. Contact us today to learn more.