When you’re in the midst of planning a virtual event, you have grand visions of seeing your event packed with remote attendees who come away from the event with a meaningful and productive experience. Maybe you’re even thinking back to a particularly educational virtual event you attended. For that to happen, though, you need to get people to show up first. Fortunately, there are plenty of strategies that can make your virtual event more successful. Follow these tips to pack the digital house for your next virtual event.

1. Offer accessibility options

When you rely on static flyers and ads for your event, your potential audience isn’t getting the full picture of what your evSocial media will undoubtedly play a role in your event promotion and early engagement. People need to get excited about attending your event. Engaged registrants will share your event with others and be more likely to attend. Your focus should be on the event itself, so hire someone who specializes in social media and can create a buzz on your behalf. A social media manager can post frequently about the event, ask questions, gain audience feedback, and give you valuable insight into how to make the event more successful — all before your event starts! Their efforts can help you sell more tickets, grow your list of interested attendees, and make you a success right out of the gate.

2. Plan a robust marketing strategy

One of the top aspects of your event that will pull in new attendees is an effective marketing strategy. You need to know who to reach, how to reach them, and how to entice them to sign up for your event. You also need to time your marketing appropriately so that people have time to plan ahead, yet you don’t want to publicize the event so far in advance that people RSVP and forget about it. This is where an end-to-end event management system comes in handy. It can allow you to track your marketing efforts and their success as part of your event planning process so you don’t miss a beat.

3. Make your events engaging and memorable

This may sound like a statement of the obvious, but the best way to get people to show up for your events is to throw great events. You can do this by strategically using audience engagement strategies so that your attendees leave each event with a meaningful and educational experience. You can show off some of your engaging features like games and interactive sessions in your marketing. On top of this, every event that successfully engages your audience will lead to higher attendance for your next event because the word will get around that your events are worthwhile.

4. Follow up with RSVPs

As you plan your event, it can be thrilling to see more and more sign-ups coming in. Remember, though, that you don’t just need people to sign up; you need them to actually show up to the event too. To do this, create a dedicated marketing campaign that’s specifically for those who have already signed up. You can send them occasional emails with teasers for the event, new announcements about exciting speakers and sessions, event giveaways, and more. The goal is to make them more and more excited about the event so they’re sure not to miss it. Don’t forget to send out reminders in the final days before the event too.

5. Secure recognizable speakers

As we can see from any blockbuster movie, big names will always draw a crowd. You can apply that to your next event by booking recognizable speakers who are known as thought leaders within the industry. This is one area in which virtual events have an advantage. You’re not limited to booking speakers who are in your local area or have the schedule availability to be able to travel to the event. This opens the opportunity to book even more impressive speakers for your sessions.

Making every virtual event a success

Planning a virtual event can be time-consuming and stressful, but it’s all worth it when you see your sessions packed with professionals who are talking about how much they’re learning. You can make every event a gateway to making the next one even more successful too with the right data tracking and analysis. The trick to making the planning, marketing, and data analysis easier is choosing the right event management software. Learn about Canapii and how our virtual event software can help your next event thrive.