Engaged members are loyal, active, and more likely to buy courses, attend events, and promote your brand. So, when it comes to event attendance, engaging your audience can lead to a win-win: they attend, they participate, and they spread the word!

But how do you get that level of engagement? While there are many ways to engage an audience, a strong online presence is one of the most effective. Some might think technology detracts from in-person events, but it’s quite the opposite—it can actually enhance them!

With the right digital strategies, you can build a connected, engaged audience that’s excited to attend your physical events. Let’s explore how:

1. Engage Your Audience Through Interaction

One of the easiest ways to build engagement is by interacting with your audience. Social media provides the perfect platform for this, allowing you to connect with members directly: you can answer questions, solve problems, and build relationships easier than ever before.

The key here is authenticity—skip the corporate jargon and talk to your audience like real people. Join industry discussions, offer insights, and be approachable. An active, genuine online presence can make a big impact!

Beyond social media, consider offering online workshops, webinars, or an open forum where members can connect. The real power of these channels lies in being responsive—quickly address feedback, answer questions, and engage in dialogue. A responsive brand fosters loyalty, which makes users more likely to recommend your association and be more interested in your future events.

After all, high engagement levels make your association’s in-person events feel like a natural extension of your association’s virtual space!

2. Highlight Your Core Values

People are more likely to engage with associations they understand and relate to. Make sure your core values are front and center in everything you do. Be bold in sharing your mission and your stance on important issues in your industry. This doesn’t mean diving into politics, but it does mean consistently aligning your messaging with your values. Authenticity, again, is key here—modern audiences can spot a generic sales pitch a mile away, and they’re drawn to brands that feel genuine and personal.

One way to achieve this is by partnering with influencers or sponsors who share your values. When people see their beliefs reflected in your association, they’re more likely to become loyal participants in your events.

3. Enhance Your Purpose

To keep your audience engaged, offer more than just a product or event—become a hub of valuable information and resources. This could mean providing access to industry news, offering online training or workshops, or creating a space for networking and discussion. The more value you offer, the more invested your audience becomes in your organization.

Then, at your in-person events, make sure to leverage these connections.

Use your partnerships to create unique experiences (such as exclusive trials or presentations) that make your events stand out. When people feel like they’re part of something bigger, they’re more likely to show up and be involved.

4. Give a Behind-the-Scenes Look with Live Streaming

Want to give your audience a taste of your event before they even attend? Live streaming can do just that!

Show off your event in real-time, allowing viewers to experience it virtually and get a sense of what to expect if they attend in person next time. Live streams can also build anticipation–especially if you engage with your online audience during the event.

Don’t stop at just your events, though! You can use live streams to host interviews, discussions, or behind-the-scenes tours. Give your audience an inside look at your organization and the people behind it. These personal touches help build a connection and keep your association top of mind when it’s time to buy tickets to your next event.

5. Leverage Live Engagement Marketing (LEM)

Live Engagement Marketing (LEM) uses technology to create an interactive experience at in-person events. Whether it’s a digital concierge app, a networking platform, or gamified activities, these tools keep attendees engaged and connected. They also provide valuable data on your audience’s behavior and preferences, helping you tailor future events to their needs.

With tools like Near-Field Communication (NFC) devices, attendees can seamlessly interact with event booths and workshops, while you gain insights into their interests. This data can help you improve targeted marketing, advertising, and sponsorships–all of which boost attendance at future events!

Final Thoughts

By integrating these online strategies, you can turn digital engagement into real-world success. From interacting with your audience to live streaming events and using cutting-edge tech, these tactics not only build loyalty but also drive in-person attendance. Embrace the digital tools at your disposal, and watch your events thrive!

References

How To Livestream Your Event & Maximize Social Media. (2017, August 18). Retrieved from Blog website: https://livestream.com/blog/social-media-for-livestreaming-events

LoSasso. (2018, August 8). Tips to maximize engagement while live streaming. Retrieved August 27, 2021, from LoSasso Integrated Marketing website: https://www.losasso.com/blog/social-media/tips-to-maximize-engagement-while-live-streaming/

Odell, P. (2016, November 11). 5 Ways to Maximize Offline Engagement at Your Live Events. Retrieved August 27, 2021, from Chief Marketer website: https://www.chiefmarketer.com/5-ways-to-maximize-offline-engagement-at-your-live-events/

Team, P. E. (2018, July 27). 11 Customer Engagement Strategies for Marketing. Retrieved August 27, 2021, from Chat Blog website: https://www.proprofs.com/c/customer-support/marketing-strategies-for-customer-engagement/

The post How Online Engagement Can Increase Your In-Person Attendance appeared first on Online Learning Solutions | Association Management System | Vocalmeet.

There are a variety of ways live streams can help your association, but increasing the reach and accessibility of your events is one of the best and biggest. In fact, member-based organizations can expand their events in many ways through live streams! In today’s article, we’re going to be highlighting and discussing the major ways that organizations can transform their events through the art of live streaming:

1. Combat Attendance Caps

Since live streams come with a cost, some event planners may question whether it makes sense for their association. The truth is, there is no minimum organization size or attendance number to which live streams are limited! In reality, while bigger events may bring in far larger live stream viewership numbers, smaller associations may actually require live streams more in order to appease their audience.

With live streams, event attendance is no longer confined to venue capacity. Organizations don’t have to upgrade their venue size to accommodate unsecured attendees. If the in-person event sells out, organizations can offer live stream access to last-minute guests. This can be especially useful for workshops that might attract new participants during an event. Rather than scrambling to find an adequate space, organizations can simply live stream the workshop to interested parties!

2. Discover a New Marketing Tool

Events are one of the best ways for associations to market their services and their brand. Getting prospective members to the event, however, can offer up some unique challenges. Thankfully, with live streams, much of the heavy commitment is removed for prospective attendees. Sure, there is often a cost associated with tuning in, but it is usually a fraction of the price of attending in person. Additionally, of those who do watch the live stream, a significant number will attend the same event in person the following year! This fact makes live streams a powerful promotional tool to grow events.

After the live aspect of these streams is gone, the video content can be reused in various ways for advertisements and marketing clips. On social media, video content is marketing gold, as 48% of consumers share brand videos on their social media channels. With so much video content gleaned from a live streamed event, event planners can promote their events better and more effectively than ever!

3. Reduce Travel (and Costs!)

Perhaps the most obvious way that live streams enhance the availability and accessibility of events is by reducing the amount of travel–and travel expenses–required for attendance. It’s largely because of these conveniences that some people fear that live streams may cut into in-person attendance numbers. And, while research indicates that live streams may actually increase in-person attendance for events, digital availability is, admittedly, a highly attractive option.

Yet, no matter how much they may want to attend, people can miss out on  events for any number of reasons. They may not have the money to register. The event may be too far away. They may be sick. They may not be able to get the time off work. They may have other commitments. Live streams may not be able to solve all of these issues, but they certainly provide more options. Aspiring attendees can watch from work or from home, and some live streams even allow for video replay, which removes time constraints as well! Live streams don’t remove in-person attendance; they make events accessible to those who wouldn’t be able to come in the first place!

4. Reach All Kinds

Your event could offer the most useful and beneficial content ever put together, and there would still be a large group of people who would rather not attend. Whether due to social anxiety or do-it-yourself attitudes, in-person events just aren’t attractive to some people. Regardless of why, live streams may offer an enticing alternative. People with physical limitations, for example, can access online events more easily. Introverts can attend without having to drain their social batteries.

For many, the greatest element of an in-person event is the powerful networking potential it offers. Yet, event networking has been dominated by a very specific type of person for a long period of time. Various groups and types of people who don’t fit this mold have been pushed to the sidelines, unable to participate. For these people, live streams provide a refreshingly alternative and more welcoming space.

5. Increase the Scope and Engagement

With the understanding that live streams actually improve attendance numbers–both online and in-person for future events–event planners can grow their events in a variety of ways. In addition to increasing the actual size of events and growing revenue, live streams can lead to extended presentations and workshops. Since engagement with live streams is longer, lengthy videos shouldn’t lead to a decrease in online attendance. With more viewers, event planners can also look to grow the scope and variety of topics discussed at their events.

According to some data, users are more interactive and engaged with live streams than they are with recorded videos. This gives event planners another element to consider when designing their event, as forums and various other outlets for discussion can be incorporated. Many live streamed events even allow viewers to speak with presenters, event exhibitors, and administrators while the event is ongoing. This helps enhance the presence, personality, and availability of an organization in the eyes of consumers–making your event both delightfully engaging and memorable!

You may also like: Boosting Your Revenue Potential with Live Streamed Events

Conclusion

When it comes to events, live streaming is the way to go; you can bypass attendance caps, find new methods of marketing, minimize travel and costs, expand your audience, and increase your event’s engagement. Give it a try next time your association runs an event–you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised!

Sources

The post Filling Seats: How Livestreaming Makes Events Accessible appeared first on Online Learning Solutions | Association Management System | Vocalmeet.

Social media can also help associations build better relationships with their members and establish a stronger position in their industry. To accomplish this, associations need to think about the goals they want to meet and develop a plan to get there. Boost your reach, connect with your members, and improve engagement–by employing the following tips, your organization can start making social media truly work for you! 

Develop Your Presence

While it can be tempting to use social media as a medium for traditional advertising, associations will likely be better served using their channels to curate an overall image for their organization. 

For many associations, social media provides them with the perfect platform to establish their position as an industry authority. This can be achieved by using social channels to build a hub for industry information and discussion. 

Consider posting relevant industry news and think pieces on your various platforms. Encourage discussion among your members and followers, and share helpful tips for professionals. The more valuable the information you offer, the more enticing (and engaging!) it will be.

Think: how can you keep members and potential members coming back to your social media pages? 

Well, what would you look for in a professional page? Tips, behind-the-scenes looks, up-to-date information–the sky’s the limit! Just make sure it fits your association’s brand.

With enough effort, your channels may become a hotspot that professionals rely on for information.

Find Your Audience

In order to have your messages find the right audience, you first need to know who your audience is and where they tend to hang out. This knowledge can save you time and effort, as you can identify which channels are the most important when it comes to directing your message. The bonus of this is that you can then use targeted ads to the greatest effect, having your hard work pay off!

Another useful element of this information is that your association can investigate how your audience interacts with social media, and what information is most important to them. You can then develop and employ strategies to meet audience expectations. Do they seem to prefer articles? Podcasts? Videos? Infographics? The more you know, the more you can cater to their tastes.

When building an accurate picture of your members and target audience, social media can be one of the best resources available. It gives you a more accurate and unfiltered representation of both people and organizations.

A Powerful Promotional Tool

Social media provides associations with the ability to send out real-time promotions. 

When promoting an event or cause of any sort, associations can trust social media to help get the word out to members and start a buzz.

Compared to more traditional mediums, social media promotions allow associations to send out quick updates and inform members of any last-minute changes. When sent through the channels your member base uses most, these messages also create some level of urgency among potential attendees. Don’t underestimate “FOMO”–the Fear of Missing Out!

For events in particular, social media allows associations to host promotions and event updates during an event. While unique and interesting content can help recruit attendees for the later days of the event, it can also build brand awareness and help recruit members and attendees for events down the road. Even if a member can’t attend this event, your association’s posts may fan their desire to attend future events instead.

When creating your promotional content for your events, try incorporating event speakers and sponsors (and tag them!). This can really help broaden your association’s reach by accessing a new group of followers–those who follow the relevant parties. Events are a kind of collaboration, after all, so even the hosting organizations can get in on networking!

Nix Self-Serving Posts 

With so many eyes watching, social media makes a great space for advertising and other promotional materials. However, associations should be wary of posting too much self-serving content. Over time, social media users will tune out or completely ignore organizations who only use social media for these purposes.

Instead, start or join conversations with members and other social media users. If done honestly, these conversations can create meaningful interactions that rank highly and lead to your posts showing up on more social media feeds. At the very least, you’ll be building human connections with the lifeblood of your association.

Furthermore, meaningful interactions can go a long way toward building a relatable and accessible image for your association. You aren’t limited to fostering bonds with members, either–you can use social media to network and build relationships with different speakers, sponsors, and other industry organizations. These relationships can lead to collaboration on future events and cement your association’s position as an industry expert. The more engaged your association is within your industry, the more your audience will notice.

Can You Picture It?

Every social media user engages with the medium differently but, generally, pictures and videos tend to perform better than straightforward text. Try mixing up the style and format of your posts to generate better results and greater interaction from viewers. Try posting links to your website from time to time, in addition to self-contained content formatted specifically for social media. 

For many users, social media offers a very unique look at otherwise inaccessible people and organizations. The platform allows associations to share an inside look at their operations; those who let people in can reap the benefits of this approach–namely, the presentation of a friendly, trustworthy brand. Consider sharing behind-the-scenes information and pictures with your audience to make your association feel even more accessible. 

Address Concerns Publicly

While mistakes and issues are always best avoided entirely, this can sometimes be more difficult than it sounds. When your association does face a challenge, such as a mixup of some sort, social media can be a great medium to tackle it head-on. 

Rather than downplay or try to hide from anything that might be perceived as negative, your association can try to resolve the issue publicly. Quick and acceptable solutions can not only help your association recover from your mistakes–they can actually turn negatives to positives for you in the long-term, as they help build trust and loyalty from members. 

Acknowledge your mistakes, state how you will make things right, and explain how you will do better in the future. A proper apology can go a long way in any relationship!

Measure Your Results

Finally, to build the best social media strategy, your association needs to be able to measure what works and what doesn’t. 

First, decide on a metric that can help determine successfulness, such as likes, comments, or click-through rate. Analytics can help measure how viewers interact with your posts, allowing you to judge what strikes a chord with your audience. 

The next step is to actually use this information to improve. Ask yourself:

• What times do posts perform the best? 
• What types of posts are they? 
• Do members engage more when your association participates in the conversation? 

The answers to these questions can help you make each next post perform better than your last.

Conclusion

When it comes down to it, social media can do wonders for an association when it comes to reach, visibility, and engagement. With a little planning and some elbow grease, your organization will be able to leverage this tool to its fullest potential, netting you new followers (soon-to-be members!) and cementing old.

Develop your presence, determine your audience, promote your merits, engage through content, focus on quality media, be honest, and track your results: with this checklist in mind, you’ll be seeing results in no time–the possibilities truly stretch to infinity and beyond!

The post To Infinity and Beyond: Boosting Your Reach with Social Media appeared first on Online Learning Solutions | Association Management System | Vocalmeet.

The reality is, there is no right way to design a website, but there are plenty of wrong ways. 

The good news is that by following a rather straightforward checklist, your future website can help you achieve everything you’re hoping for–without fears and headaches plaguing the design process!

Because there are so many ways to create an effective site, we’ve decided to hone in on some of the most important aspects in this article.

While we can’t highlight every possible factor that goes into making a great site, we’ve listed some of our favorites below:

Know Your Purpose and Your Audience

Before setting out on your design adventure, you need to know who your audience is and what the purpose of your website is. 

Ask yourself: what do you want to achieve, and what do you want your users to achieve online?

By answering these questions, you can start to identify what type of content, layout, and structure you’ll need. 

In fact, the consideration of your audience and your overall goals will help you answer a great deal of your design queries! 

You can think of the following:

• Will your website be rich with media? What type of media would you include (videos, podcasts, etc) 
• What kind of training programs should you include? What programs will you use?
  • Will you have video modules? Will you host them on your own custom platform, or with a SaaS vendor? Will they be interactive
• What types of original content and industry links will you be hosting? How many dedicated pages will you have for them?
  • Do you plan to have a blog or video series? Will you create a “knowledge hub” for members? Will there be multiple “pillar pages” dedicated to different topics?

From this point, you can begin making some important decisions about providers and the level of support you need:

• What level of traffic do you anticipate? How much growth do you anticipate?
• Do you have in-house staff to support the website, or do you need a third-party company to manage the website?
• What level of security and technical support do you need?

Once you’ve got the ball rolling, set your goals (specifically, your measurable goals) and track them. If you find that your website is failing to meet these targets, don’t just change them to accommodate your design. Instead, make changes to your design to better meet your goals!

Create Your Online Brand 

The early decisions you make about your online design may be some of the most important. 

Your goals and your audience will also inform these decisions, of course, but your (likely) already established brand and brand identity are also important. 

You will, for starters, need to decide on a website name. 

This name will take into consideration your brand voice and website purpose. You want to make it as easy to remember and simple to spell as possible–simply hearing it once should be enough! 

In these early stages, you also want to start thinking about the content on your page. Think of what your users want most and how you can deliver this to them best.

Another early-stage design consideration is your online color scheme. 

The colors you pick for your website can have a major impact on your brand overall; colors can evoke emotional responses in visitors, and they help make your brand recognizable and memorable. 

The color scheme you choose will likely be based on your existing brand materials, such as your logo and other marketing materials. It will also be informed by your primary audience; different colors, fonts, and contrasts may appeal to certain demographics and not others.

To lay your foundation, start your page design by placing your logo in the upper left-hand corner. Everything should flow from that point out!

Steer Clear of Navigation Issues

While it may be tempting to create as many pages as you can, it’s probably more effective to keep things simple. 

Avoid overloading users with pages and options to keep them from getting overwhelmed. The most effective designs are often those that are attractive, clear, and concise. 

Think “ease-of-use”. 

Users should be able to navigate the site intuitively with no barriers. Include a comprehensive site map to help visitors locate the information they need. Your location headings should be descriptive and illustrative of the content they encompass. Site maps also help search engines sort and identify information for more accurate and positive search results.

The cleaner your design, the greater the focus will be on your brand and your content. 

Bombarding users with fancy design elements, distracting graphics and images, and large blocks of text can make the website feel messy and unfocused. To keep things smooth over time, test out the site regularly and make sure that every page and its content features short loading times and serves an overarching purpose. 

Finally, the easiest way to determine ease-of-use is to put yourself in a first-time user’s shoes and try to pinpoint any usability or navigation issues; this way, you can quickly find and eliminate problems and make the interface as user-friendly as possible!

Get on Schedule

An effective online design gets the ball rolling, but website management is a process. Over time, it evolves and changes. So too does your content, so it’s important to keep it up-to-date and fresh. 

Simplify your processes by keeping a schedule for regular updates. Content-wise, organizations want to maintain a steady stream of helpful, useful, original, and relevant material. A content management system (CMS) can help with this monumental task by streamlining your updates. 

You should also manually check all of your material regularly. Scroll through your pages and double check that all links and images are functional. Comb through all of your content and remove any outdated information. Training programs, surveys, and contact and feedback forms are some of the areas that often need attention. 

If you’ve put tracking and reporting systems in place, you can identify any pages or links that are underperforming, either in traffic, engagement, or conversion rates. You may choose to remove the offending sections or revise them; either way, you want all your pages performing at their best!

Give Them a Reason to Return

For some organizations, an online design that centerpieces first-time users is enough, but many depend more on return visitors. To accommodate the latter group, your website needs reasons for visitors to keep coming back. 

This can be achieved in several ways, but they can be broken down into content and structure. 

The structure of your website, for example, may accommodate return users by hosting an online forum or a continuous training program. If done right, users may treat your site as their industry hub or homepage.

The other major component is content, and content is (and likely always will be) king. Users will return to your website because of the material you host. If it’s fresh, useful, and relevant, people will continue to come back. 

Consider hosting an industry news and updates section. Start an active blog to provide helpful information to your members, consumers, and partners. Encourage and integrate social media sharing and beef up your social media presence to extend the reach of your online activities. 

Incorporate Marketing Strategies 

The next major stage of online design is mixing in marketing strategies. These should contribute to a cohesive overall brand identity and should be developed well in advance of starting your site. 

First, think about your ideal search terms. 

This goes back to your audience’s goals and what they want to achieve. What will they typically search for to find you, and in what other ways might your organization be useful to them? 

Once you know your ideal search terms, you can craft content and design elements to help facilitate positive search engine results. 

Your organization can be assisted here by CMS services or various SEO applications, which can help clean up your design and code to improve your search results. You can also do this manually by posting relevant content, creating engaging links on social media, and partnering up with local directories. 

Try to complete promotional activities regularly to keep your marketing fresh and effective, and use calls to action to get the most from visitors.

Think Secure

Once you’ve considered your major front-facing design elements, it’s time to secure your website. 

First of all, you want to provide multi-browser compatibility and security for your visitors, while also protecting your back end from attacks. 

To prevent automated spam from hitting your forums, forms, and comment sections, add some captcha tests to these sections; it may feel like an extra step for users, but it is essential in safeguarding your site overall. 

If your website allows online transactions, you’ll need to strengthen any security that protects consumer information and privacy. Add SSL certificates to prevent more browser-based threats, and conduct regular security audits to detect any vulnerabilities or suspicious activities. You’ll be thankful you did!

You may also like: Keeping Members on Your Association’s Website

Conclusion

Designing a website is a complex process, and there are many elements to consider when creating the one that’s best for your association.

We’ve highlighted some of the most important steps in this article: from knowing your purpose and audience to incorporating marketing strategies and keeping your site secure, you’ll be able to build a top-notch, valuable site for your members to enjoy. 

Ensure that your online design will be successful, engaging, and helpful to your visitors–try employing these steps today!

Sources

The post Online Design 101 appeared first on Online Learning Solutions | Association Management System | Vocalmeet.