The biggest thing that separates extraordinary events from the average is delivering engaging event experiences. Thank about it. Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook are engaging for users. Users see content that is tailored just to them. Updates from their favorite media outlets and friends, and they experience a multi-media approach to communication. They give users an engaging experience, and the numbers prove its efficacy.
Now, what if you could deliver an equally engaging experience at your next corporate event? Here are some top tips for doing just that:
Tip #1: Segment attendees by who they are and what they’re interested in
Before the event even kicks off, take time to understand who your attendees are. Use data from event registration or use the data you already have in your marketing automation platform to create rich attendee profiles that include demographic, activity, and interest-level details. The profiles you build upfront will be your starting point for delivering a personalized, highly engaging experience during the event.
Tip #2: Tailor recommendations to each attendee
We live in a world of customization (think about those drink orders at Starbucks). At events, where it’s easy to feel like just another face in the crowd, attendee engagement is increased when attendees feel the experience has been tailored to their unique interests and needs.
This goes back to tip #1. Leverage your attendee profiles to deliver personalized recommendations on the sessions and connections that will be most meaningful to each attendee type. These recommendations can be delivered to attendees via your event mobile app, email communication, and through the event website for deeply engaging event experiences.
Tip #3: Customize their “view” of the event
Your event website and mobile app aren’t simply tools to deliver information. When you’re focused on building attendee engagement, you need to look at these tools as opportunities to involve attendees in the event process. The idea here is to give your attendees a place to set up meetings, formulate their agenda, access their travel itineraries, and more.
Tip #4: Facilitate 1-to-1 connections between event participants
If you ask your attendees what they hope to get out of your events, more than likely they’ll mention networking as a key goal. Events are a springboard for people with similar interests to come together, interact, and do business. To increase engagement, look for ways to facilitate 1-to-1 connections between event participants. Allow attendees to find and request appointments with the right people or use automated appointment technology to suggest potential matches.
Tip #5: Capture attendee activity at the event to make your follow up more meaningful
For many organizations, the end of an event is only just the beginning. And certainly from an attendee engagement standpoint if you stop engaging when the physical event is over, you’re missing key opportunities. Take the intelligence you glean from the event—the profile, activity, and interest information—and pull that data into your marketing automation and CRM systems to help you create targeted lead follow-up campaigns.
Engaging event experiences will bring people back
The more engaging your event is, the more people will get out of it, and the more compelled they are to take that next step in their buying process. The key is to incorporate engagement throughout every step of the event planning process, starting at check-in and ending with your follow-up communications. After all, in a world infiltrated by social media, people expect nothing less than to be fully engaged.
Wondering how Certain can help you implement the tips described above? Check out the leading enterprise event management platform for marketers AND event professionals here.