Event marketing top tips: Strategies to boost attendance and engagement

Are you ready to transform your next event into an unforgettable experience? This blog dives into event marketing top tips with strategies that will help boost attendance and engagement, making your event a highlight of the conference season.

Imagine hosting an event that not only draws a crowd but leaves attendees buzzing with excitement long after it’s over. In today’s competitive landscape, achieving this requires more than just a great idea—it demands strategic planning, innovative marketing, and a deep understanding of your audience.

Know your audience

Before diving into event marketing, it is crucial that you identify your target audience and set measurable goals. Understanding who you want to attract to your event will shape your entire strategy. Conduct marketing research to determine the demographics, psychographics, and preferences of your potential delegates, analyse social media insights, and study past event data to create detailed audience personas. Knowing their preferences, pain points, and interests will allow you to tailor your marketing efforts, including messaging, promotional channels, and content creation.

Leverage social media

Social media platforms are powerful, cost-effective tools for promoting events. Create a dedicated event page on Facebook, use Instagram stories to share behind-the-scenes content, or engage with your audience on X/Twitter using a unique event hashtag. Sharing engaging content such as event highlights, speaker announcements, and behind-the-scenes encourage your delegates to share their excitement and to create a buzz around your event.

Make sure you engage with your audience by responding to comments, questions and feedback promptly.

If you want to learn a bit more about how you can use social media in your event promotion, take a look at our recent blog here.

Utilise email marketing

Email marketing is one of the most effective channels for event promotion. Personalisation is key here, so make sure you build a segmented list and send personalised invitations to your audience. Research shows that segmented emails drive 30% more opens and 50% more click-throughs than unsegmented emails. Not only that, but the most effective strategies for email marketing campaigns are audience segmentation, message personalisation, and email automation campaigns.

When creating your email campaigns, make sure you use compelling subject lines and visually appealing templates to capture your audience’s attention, as well as having a clear call-to-action (CTA), directing them to book their pass or to learn more about the event.

Utilising email marketing software such as Mailchimp and DotDigital can help to streamline your process, as well as track engagement and conversion rates. From these results, you can create further targeted campaigns and use the data to help you optimise your marketing strategies for better results.

Don’t forget to keep in touch with your delegates! Send them event updates on the run-up to the event to build on the excitement as well as keep them informed.

Use your attendees to spread the word!

Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools when promoting an event. According to a study by Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from their friends and family, while another study has shown that 97% of B2B buyers find user-generated content (UGC), such as peer reviews and recommendations from their colleagues more credible than all other forms of advertising, highlighting the impact word of mouth can have on your marketing strategy.

So how can we encourage our attendees to share our event with their networks? The key is to make it as easy as possible for them!

• Create a comprehensive marketing pack: Provide your attendees, speakers and exhibitors with a ready-to-use marketing pack that includes social assets, pre-written social copy, email templates and all information they may need to promote your event effortlessly.
• Utilise community marketing tracking software: You can leverage tools such as Snoball and Gleanin to simplify the sharing process and track all referrals. These paid platforms allow attendees, speakers, and exhibitors to share the event with a simple click of a button and enable you to track and monitor the effectiveness of your campaigns. This software allows you to set up automated campaigns that will be sent out to your attendees on the run-up to the event and allows you to integrate campaigns into your registration platform, prompting attendees to share the event from the moment they sign up.

Utilising user-generated content (UGC) can provide valuable social proof, showcasing real experiences and testimonials from your attendees’ experiences of your event. It builds both your credibility and trust, whilst creating a buzz and sense of excitement which is key when promoting your event.

Research has shown that 79% of people say that UGC highly impacts their purchasing decision and that consumers find UGC 9.8 times more impactful than influencers, and 6.6 times for influential than brand-generated content, demonstrating how effective UGC is as an event marketing strategy.

Create engaging content

Creating engaging content, such as videos, blogs, polls, and quizzes, is a powerful tactic when promoting your event on socials. You can offer valuable insights, previews, or even behind-the-scenes glimpses into what attendees can expect, helping to create a buzz online and help drive engagement.

Video content in particular is highly engaging and has become increasingly popular on social media. A video can bring your event to life in a way that text can’t; it gives your following a taste of your event whilst also providing a deeper understanding of the content being presented, resulting in increased engagement. Create teaser videos, interviews with speakers, or event highlights to generate a buzz and showcase the unique aspects of your event.

Combining video posts with reels, Instagram stories, and live streams is also an excellent way to improve the visibility of your event.

Blogs on the other hand, offer an opportunity for in-depth exploration of topics related to your event, sharing valuable information. You can utilise your speakers by getting them to talk about the event, what they are looking forward to, and if there are any specific sessions that want to attend. You want to ensure that your content is informative, engaging and easily sharable across all social media platforms.

Encourage your speakers, exhibitors, and delegates to share this content with their networks!

One of the main reasons people attend events is to network. Highlight your networking opportunities in your marketing to attract attendees looking to expand their professional network.

Early bird incentives

Offering early bird discounts or exclusive perks can incentivise early registrations. This not only helps you gauge initial interest but also creates a sense of urgency. Highlight the benefits of registering early, such as discounted rates, priority seating, or access to special sessions.

Engage with delegates on the day

Engagement shouldn’t stop once the event has started. Use live polls and interact with attendees who are sharing content from the event on their socials. Encourage social sharing by uploading photo-worthy moments and using the unique event hashtag.

Post-event follow-up

The event doesn’t end when the last session wraps up. Follow up with attendees to thank them for their attendance and participation, share event highlights, and provide access to recorded sessions or additional resources. This helps maintain engagement and builds a community around your event.

Finally, you’ll want to monitor and analyse the performance of your event marketing efforts. Utilise analytics tools to track website traffic, social media engagement, email open rates, and ticket sales. Evaluate which strategies are driving the most significant results and make data-driven decisions for future events.

Mastering event marketing is your ticket to creating an unforgettable experience that will leave a lasting impression. By knowing your audience, leveraging social media, utilising email marketing, encouraging word-of-mouth promotion, creating engaging content, and offering early bird incentives, you can transform your event into a must-attend occasion.

Prepare to captivate your attendees, generate excitement, and make your event one to remember!