Hey everyone! For this edition of
Tip of the Week, we wanted to talk about some of the best practices to promote your flex event. Whether you will be hosting your first flex event, or you've been using it for a while, we are sure these tips will come in handy for all here in the forum. After all, marketing is what keeps up the buzz and engagement amongst your attendees!
Before we jump on to sharing some event promotion secrets, you may want to check out our previous post on
Flex Design Tips You May Not Know, which can help you visually present your event website better.
Read on to discover some useful tips to keep in mind on how you can prepare to promote your event in the new experience –
- Start by importing event contacts: Did you know that Cvent allows you to import up to 50,000 contacts into your Address Book at the same time by pulling their information directly from the records you submit? This not only saves you time but also helps keep your data current. Since their information is pre-populated during registration, your contacts can make any necessary updates themselves.
- Points to note:
- It's super important to note that in order for your import to be successful, remove any excess formatting, symbols, and punctuation from your import file.
- When updating your Address Book, be mindful of empty fields in your records. They will overwrite stored data with a blank.
- Choose how you want the system to match your contacts. Since nearly everyone has an Email Address, this option is the most popular. Source ID is best for organizations that have their own internal means of tracking contacts (such as a membership number).
- Create and design an event email: This feature is all that you need to send a personalized copy to everyone who is on the invitation list like it was written just for them. With Cvent, you can design an email template, drop in data tags, and send it to all at once.
- Points to note:
- Some additional formatting, like custom fonts and rounded corners on buttons, may not render in the recipient's email. This is dependent on the settings of their email client.
- Any changes that you make to the theme will affect all email templates. If you want to only update the email you're creating: Click Build -> Select a widget -> Click Customize under Styling Options and make the necessary edits. You'll need to do this for each widget.
- Depending on the audience you choose, you may not be able to manually send your email to them. Instead, you'll have to schedule it. Find a list of those audience types here.
- Sometimes email clients have issues with your code or images. To get around this, you can add a link directing recipients to view the email as a webpage.
- To better understand the usage and settings of data tags and how to best leverage them to send a personalized invitation with a unique name, refer to this Knowledge Base article.
- Insert an add to calendar link: The last thing you want to hear from a no-show: "I forgot!" Boost your registrant's memory by displaying an Add to Calendar link on your website, confirmation page, or in emails. They'll be able to quickly add your event or session to their Outlook, iCal, Google, Yahoo!, or MSN calendar. When adding it to their calendar, the time zone will display as the time zone of their computer, not necessarily the time zone of your event.
- Points to note:
- If your event or session is virtual, and you have added the meeting URL and password, the webcast details will also be added to the calendar.
- You can add up to 300 characters in a "Custom" description.
- Registrants will have the option to add the calendar request in the following formats: .ics file, Apple iCal/Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook Web.
- Because Flex events use the .ics file format, the calendar request will open in the default mailing app that the registrant has set on their computer or device.
- Use the share bar: The best marketing is marketing when you don't have to do it yourself. This feature will allow your invitees to share your event on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn directly from your event's website. Once you have configured the Share Bar settings, we suggest adding tracking to trace how many invitees shared your event by adding a reference ID. Make sure it's one you will remember since it will display in reports.
Questions for you:
- Which of these event promotion features has worked the best for you?
- Do you know of any additional flex event promotion ideas that you would want to share?
As always, don't hesitate to share your experiences, tips, and feedback below!
#CventTip
#Flex-Creating/ManagingEvents#PromotingYourEvent------------------------------
Ridhima Krishan
Sr. Associate, Customer Marketing
Cvent
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