No business or industry has been left untouched by the coronavirus pandemic — forcing business leaders all over the country to quickly pivot their marketing strategies to better ensure economic survival. While we hear daily about the challenges of the hospitality and travel industries, those who run a business from home are experiencing extraordinary circumstances that aren’t talked about in the news.
For example, ZYIA Active relies heavily on all types of social interactions to bring people who are passionate about our activewear brand together. Our consultants are located all over the country and these representatives working from home rely on in-person events to network and sell products. When it became clear that the pandemic would change the way ZYIA operates, we quickly modified our in-person party planning guide to align with the current state of affairs.
We have found that the age of social distancing has given us the unique opportunity to engage with people at home while exposing our brand to a new audience online — and even have fun in the process! If you need some help planning an online event, here are some tips to consider before you go live.
Get Creative
Live events aren’t exclusive to musicians hosting mini-concerts or online group fitness classes. On the contrary, online events can be useful to a wide array of other businesses and professionals if you’re willing to get creative and think outside the box.
A few creative examples include:
- Teaching a workshop on your expertise
- Hosting a Q&A session with your followers
- Sharing beauty recommendations and tutorials, like skincare tips
- Showcasing new looks in a fashion show or popup shop
- Providing culinary classes or art lessons
- Sharing tips or lessons on popular products/services
- Interviewing industry leaders
- Sharing “behind the scenes” content
- Hosting a writing seminar
- Participating in fundraisers or awareness webinars
- Debuting and/or demonstrating a new product
To ensure your event will be well-received and provides value, be sure to survey your audience via social media and/or email to ask them what they’d be interested in attending. Not only will you get buy-in from current customers, but you might also get some new ideas. And, after you determine what kind of event you’ll be hosting, you can plan your event, publicize it, and host it live completely remote and using whichever social platform you prefer.
Our Best Tips for Online Event Planning
It goes without saying that memorable events are well-organized, and that is even more important when your entire event is online. ZYIA Active has modified and analyzed these tips to help you prepare for success.
Before the Event
- Set a date and start planning about five days out. Doing so allows you to organize and build the attendee list, if applicable, well ahead of the event.
- Start promoting the event to your followers. Ideally, you’ll want to promote your event on the platform you’re planning to use, but cross-promotion is great, too! Promotion can include, but isn’t limited to, sharing to Instagram posts and stories, creating an event page on Facebook, and email marketing. Encourage your followers to “sign up” by sending you a direct message or completing a short registration form with key details. Collecting this data ahead of time will help you gauge how many attendees you will have, as well as help with lead generation.
- To help attract more people to your event, consider having a secondary purpose: Teach a skill instead of only promoting a product, raise money for a local cause, or celebrate a work anniversary or similar milestone. Having a second purpose gives your audience more reason to join you and can leave a lasting impression once the event wraps up.
During the Event
- Designate an audience surrogate. Your delegate can help those who are streaming, but not engaging, feel more comfortable by asking relevant questions and interacting with you throughout the event. This person can also serve as a brand ambassador by sharing event details on their profiles, tagging friends with product recommendations, or answering common questions from a user perspective. Usually you’ll want to offer your surrogate an incentive, like exclusive discounts or other motivations.
- If possible, offer exclusive promotions, drawings, and specials. These incentives help create excitement, build engagement, and keep your audience engaged long after you stop recording. If you’re hosting a multi-day event, create urgency by offering early bird specials with “last chance” offers like special discounts or free shipping.
- Have a team member join you. His or her friends and family want to know what they like and recommend, and having them there can help introduce you to new customers and also make connections with your audience.
After the Event
- Don’t fade into the sunset when the event concludes. Instead, continue to engage with attendees and build brand loyalty by sharing new product releases and upcoming deals with them first. Or, turn past attendees into future brand ambassadors by offering discounts for referrals with special promo codes.
Bridging the Gap
ZYIA Active is known for having a robust and active community, and the pandemic hasn’t changed that. Instead, we’re adapting to the times by meeting our customers halfway. Hosting online events is just one of the ways we’re continuing to bring people together during these unprecedented times.
While it’s too early to say when businesses will be able to return to “normal,” there’s something to be said about being flexible in your marketing strategy. We are all truly in this together, and your customers want to hear from the brands they love! I hope our tips help you get some inspiration for how you can bridge the gap. I’m optimistic that once this is over, our communities will be stronger and more resilient than ever before.
