BlogCorporate events

Event Organization 101: How to Increase Attendance

Every marketer knows very well how difficult it can get to first attract the right attendees and then increase that number in the forthcoming events. Fresh new faces are expected to show up but things don’t always go as planned. Fortunately, there are some things that you can do to help send your ticket sales skyrocketing.

Use social media as much as possible

Social media have never been more popular, almost every human being has an account on Facebook or Instagram and every serious business person is present on LinkedIn. Therefore, make your presence known there. Share your event on these web sites and invite people to come. For example, LinkedIn Events is specially designed for events. Promote your event there and you’ll attract a crowd of right attendees before anything else. Also, check out discovery sites such as Goldstar, Eventful and Facebook Events and see if you find it fit to promote your event there.

Native checkout

Some marketers skip this ‘step’ and it is probably one of the most important and efficient things that you can do. Enable native checkout if your event is present on discovery sites. That way you’ll make it easy for people to buy tickets right there on the page. On top of that, the ability to buy tickets wherever you are really does wonders to customer experience. Also, this eliminates the risk of ticket-buyers getting distracted during checkout or bouncing because of slow site load. Many marketers praise this smart event planning tip. And now it’s obvious why they do so.

Ask for opinion

This is something that you can do before the event. For example, you are promoting your event on Facebook or LinkedIn and you can contact your attendees directly there. Take advantage of that and ask your attendees and potential prospects what they actually want. For example, what speaker they want to hear, the topics, etc. Do some research and investigate on your own. Visit online forums and send short surveys through email. You need to know that your target audience wants and make it happen. That way they will be happy and come back for more next time. If you hear them out, they’ll know that you respect them and value their opinions.

After the event tip

The vast majority of marketers don’t realize how useful this tip is. It doesn’t require you to do anything before or during the event, it requires you to do something after the event. Approach your attendees for a friendly chat afterwards and ask them what they liked and what they didn’t like. Again, you are asking people to speak their mind which is quite good since it means that you value their opinions but this time you also learn what you need to improve and change the next time you’re a host.

‘Save the dates’

It’s simple, send out ‘save the dates’ early. You are a busy person living in a busy world surrounded by busy people. And that’s perfectly normal. But do not forget that your attendees are also busy. So, make sure early on that you make it to their calendar. Your event needs to find its place there. The last thing you want to hear from someone you’re inviting is ‘I don’t know if I can make it’ or ‘I’ll do my best to come’. Do know that the chances are slim that the person will show up after saying that.

Influencers

Take advantage of influencers. They are trendsetters with thousands of followers and being mentioned by one of these people on social media will get you an insane amount of leads. People like to hear their opinions and they generally trust the influencers. And if the influencers praise your events, you can rest assured that people will come.

Conclusion

As easy and simple as some of the above tips may sound, they are quite efficient. Take some time and go over this ‘guide’. Take what you believe is the most useful and help your event attract larger crowds.

Authors bio:

Dan McCarthy-150Dan McCarthy is an Event Manager at Ultimate Experience, an event management company based in the UK. Dan has 5 years of event project management under his belt. He has worked on many successful events, and currently he shares his knowledge by writing on the company blog. Follow him on Twitter @DanCarthy2.

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