Many businesses are facing several issues due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has continued for a long time, and things are still not completely under control. This is why companies are looking for new ways of working and communicating. Several companies are asking their employees to continue working from home. Earlier, co-workers used to have in-person meetings, but now they have to shift to the online platform. Companies use different online platforms like Zoom, Hangouts, Meet, and Skype for video calls and meetings. On the other hand, Slack and Microsoft Teams are being utilized for exchanging documents and messages. Not only meetings, but businesses also look forward to organizing events virtually. Businesses are connecting with the audience through online events. As the world was under lockdown, several companies decided to continue with virtual product launches, trade fairs, and much more. The famous Apple Inc. hosted a virtual product launch in September 2020. They announced various Apple products, including two brand new models of iPad and an Apple Watch. The audience was keen to know about everything in detail. The organizers could describe everything to the audience effortlessly, even on the online platform. People were attentive with the same enthusiasm even in virtual events. If you are thinking about hosting an event, let me tell you, it is possible. Many are doing it, and you can, too, with the help of the right software. And before I talk about some of the best virtual events solutions, let me share some tips to make the events successful.
Choosing the right platform
It is necessary to pick a platform that suits your event’s budget, criteria, and type. Choosing the right platform will become pretty easy to make the event successful. Beginner Platforms If you are looking for a quick solution that does not require many resources, you should use social media platforms. They will help you live to stream the entire event on social media. Some of the platforms are Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. The most significant advantage here is that you don’t need to spend anything to host an online event on these platforms. You can directly share the link to your event with the target audience. The audience is familiar with these platforms as they are pretty easy to use. You can take advantage of live streaming tools. The downside of social media platforms is that the event won’t be so interactive. People can only interact through comments, but no other type of interaction is possible. Some platforms also put certain limitations on hosting a live session. For instance, you need 10,000 subscribers on your channel for hosting a live virtual event on YouTube. Intermediate Platforms You can use Zoom or Google Meet to enhance the level of interaction with the participants. It allows you to create team meetings and conference rooms for webinars and online events. You can interact with your audience and share your screen or webcam to make it like an in-person event. It is good for a small gathering. Advanced Platforms If you are concerned about audience interaction and need everything to make virtual events successful, you need advanced tools as mentioned below, which take care of surveying, pooling, quizzes, post-event reports, in-depth analytics, and much more.
Virtual Event Promotion
If you plan on arranging a virtual event, you need to develop a solid marketing strategy that aligns with your goals and work in the online world. There are plenty of ways to promote your business or event. Out of all the digital marketing strategies, two of the most important ones to focus on are:
By EmailBy Social Media
Email and social media is the best way to get your event in front of people. You should spend time crafting marketing emails to attract people to your virtual event. Event-specific hashtags would provide a huge boost to the event through social media. You can even approach influential followers on social media to promote your virtual event.
Repurpose Your Video Content
Even if your virtual event is over, it doesn’t mean your content becomes less valuable. You can edit the content and put it up in different formats on social media and other platforms to promote it.
Create a podcast by converting your video contentWrite a blog by transcribing your videoShare them on social media by creating short clips and images using tools like Canva.
Content never gets old; you can use it again to promote your previous event. It would also help you gain the audience’s attention for your next event. Let us look at some of the Fantastic Marketing Tools for creating a virtual event.
Adobe Connect
Organize a virtual event with Adobe Connect to use the real power of the virtual platform. You can use this versatile platform to deliver a wonderful experience for your diverse audience. You can completely transform the way of engaging with your audience to create an immersive experience for them. It is an excellent platform for webinars, meetings, and conferences in a secure way. Customize the stage per your audience and take complete control of the platform to drive engagement and interactions while continuing with the event. Your audience can never miss out on your session with interactive recordings that feel like actual sessions. Adobe Connect is a one-stop planning solution, delivering and also tracking your entire virtual event. The platform records all your pre-event and post-event workflows. You can get an in-depth analysis of your virtual event with this platform. There is no need to worry about the security or data of your company and participants because Adobe keeps you covered when it comes to security.
The Events Calendar
The Event Calendar starts with making your virtual events schema-optimized for better Google search discovery. This virtual events software also features powerful integration with conferencing tools like Zoom and Webex. It auto-generates meeting links and shows them on the WordPress dashboard. Besides, you can opt to show the live stream links to the attendees purchasing a ticket or doing RSVP. The Events Calendar also supports hybrid events by including locations for all such entries. This enables controlling everything right from your WordPress admin panel, including the live stream embedded to keep the traffic on your website. There are many more perks of using The Events Calendar for virtual and hybrid events. The subscriptions start from a single site to unlimited sites, catering to all use cases. Finally, every purchase is backed by a no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantee.
Hubilo
Hubilo has made its platform ideal by keeping several businesses and their events in mind. It supports deep registration workflows by building a landing page. The entire process of ticketing, invoicing, and Hubilo manages integration with different payment processors.
The platform allows users to engage with a fantastic event feed. The engagement graph would be exponentially increasing because of the event feed. It has the capability of managing the entire virtual event smoothly. Everything from the broadcasting studio to engagement is taken care of by Hubilo. It is not only a platform for virtual events, but you will also notice its analytics and branding features. You can integrate several business tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Intercom, Marketo, and many more to manage the event workflows through Hubilo.
Goldcast
Goldcast is a specialized platform for event marketers to create an event that feels like a Netflix show. You can completely customize this platform as per your brand to ensure that it resembles your company’s event. There are endless customization options made available for you on Goldcast. Goldcast allows you to mix live as well as pre-recorded videos together. The inbuilt studio creates a smooth and seamless transition between live and pre-recorded videos. Now, there would be no silences or breaks due to video transitions. Goldcast is an ideal platform for hosting various virtual events like a product launches, customer summits, community events, annual conferences, workshops, and many more. Usually, virtual events become one-sided presentations with no chance for peer-to-peer interactions. This engaging platform allows you to discuss your favorite topic in a roundtable room. Once you are done with the virtual event, Goldcast will present you with the collected data of customers and prospects along with actionable insights.
Airmeet
Airmeet has been designed to deliver memorable events that your audience would love. Your participants can move from one virtual session to the other, visit some exhibition booths, and visit networking lounges to interact with other participants. You can build a customized reception to maintain the stage, lounge, and booth. You can quickly scale up your event even if there are 100K participants in your virtual event. Quickly start a live stream from YouTube and Facebook directly through Airmeet. The event data could be collected and analyzed by integrating the CRM via Zapier. You can stream the session from any live studio like OBS, WebEx, Zoom, etc. It is a highly reliable and robust platform for hosting virtual events and has excellent integration options for better experiences. Whether you are planning for a social webinar or an award ceremony, a live show, or a trade fair, there is no need to worry because Airmeet can handle everything.
Hopin
If you are planning to host a virtual event with participants from around the world, you should look at Hopin. It will be beneficial for creating an engaging virtual event. Multiple interacting areas have been optimized for your attendees to engage and connect. You won’t see any difference between offline and online events because of this platform. There are several customizations available to make it an ideal virtual event. Whether you are planning a recruiting event of 50 people, a hands-on meeting of 500 people, or an annual fair of 50,000 people, you can move ahead with Hopin. Hopin allows you to manage the event from the planning to analyzing phase. You can sell tickets online or even recruit sponsors. You can even get complete analytics of the event and download the data of all the attendees. Every attendee could engage quickly, and there are options to arrange 1-1 meet-ups for better engagement between the participants.
Balloon
Balloon is an online platform where you can explore and virtual host events effortlessly. You can plan out an expo, live stage event, networking event, and much more with the help of its scalable and secure technologies. There is an availability of unlimited stages on this platform. Balloon helps you create a fun and engaging event instead of a boring event where participants sit and listen. Here, people get a chance to connect with like-minded people. You can either hear the experts talk or join a conversation and start networking with people. You could handle everything from creating an event to analyzing the event reports from a single platform. You can arrange small meetings for your employees or even have a one-to-one consultation call with a potential client. There is no end to the number of ways you can utilize this platform for arranging a successful virtual event.
Wonder
Wonder is a virtual space for people to talk and meet and also arrange online gatherings for fun. The platform has devised an innovative way to know who is speaking to whom. To join a conversation, people take their avatar closer to the others. To leave any conversation, they simply have to move their avatar away. You can easily broadcast the content through video, screen sharing, or any other way. It is possible to broadcast the content to a certain area of people or all the guests. It would feel like preparing a complete physical venue. You get to set up different areas in the platform and provide topics for every area. The guests could interact with each other based on how you have defined while building that particular area. The best thing about Wonder is that it works on every device. There is no need to download or install any software as the platform is compatible with browsers. You can host a virtual event for up to 1500 guests on Wonder. Wonder is very protective regarding the security of the participants, organizers, and the entire event. Hosts and organizers use Wonder for virtual events like meet-ups, trade fairs, conferences, meetings, networking, and much more.
Bevy
If you are looking for enterprise-level software for arranging virtual conferences and other events, then Bevy is the perfect one for you. Whether planning a small conference, meeting for your company employees, or a large-scale global event, you will find all the resources to pull it off with Bevy. It can integrate with your marketing and CRM automation software for better handling. You can completely understand your audience’s data and use it to drive better results. Integrating all the data back with your core systems is pretty simple. There is no middleman here when the events are hosted on Bevy. The attendee data is only yours, and there would be no interference because of the platform. Bevy can handle virtual and community events on any scale with maximum efficiency. The team of advisors is always there to provide you with their support in case of any query or issues with the platform. You can thrive with your virtual event by planning it out on Bevy.
Final Thoughts
Due to the pandemic, people are stuck in their homes and bored. This is the right time to create extraordinary virtual events to help you grow your branding and business. With the help of the solutions mentioned above, you will find it pretty easy to organize and manage your virtual event while turning it into a huge success. Next, explore the best webinar software for business growth.
