Drafting An Event Marketing Plan? Here’s How To Include Video, Step-By-Step

Conferences, live-streams, karaoke parties — you name it. If it’s an event that you’re using to generate leads or turn a profit for your business, you’ll need an event marketing plan in place to milk every opportunity out of your investment. While taping flyers to your apartment’s bulletin board may seem like an adequate promotional tactic, these days event promotion is nothing without a dash of video marketing mixed in.

How To Work Video Into Every Stage Of Your Event Marketing Plan

Before the event:

Use video to generate interest on Facebook

It’s no surprise, given that there are over 8 billion daily views on Facebook video, that Facebook’s video ads are one of the most powerful ways to promote your business online.  Our tips for securing the most video ad engagement:

• Explain your message quickly. Ads that catch attention within 2-3 seconds perform the best on Facebook.
• Target effectively. Use Facebook’s business ad platform (different than simply boosting!) to choose a specific audience for your targeted ad.
• Use a CTA. What do you want the viewer to do? The call-to-action should be apparent in the text and video of the ad.

Every video platform is worth exploring, but we recommend Facebook due to its event integration and targeted advertising options.

Share previous speeches or performances

Did you land an awesome keynote speaker or performer? Chances are this isn’t their first rodeo. Consider sharing other clips of their work to hype up the anticipation and show some love.

During the event:

Show a video to amp up the crowd

Corporate events can get a little stale, and there’s nothing like a great video to hype up the crowd and get them excited about your company. When we worked on this event video for Cisco, we knew it would be broadcasted live and that it had to be exciting.   Cisco approached us before their premiere education and training event for IT professionals worldwide, Cisco Live. They needed a video that would pump up the crowd and prove their commitment to exceeding the world’s networking demands. Just one of the many examples of how awesome video is at communicating your message.

Record like crazy!

Be sure to snag lots of footage of your event as it happens. Not only are videos like this an awesome keepsake, but they’ll come in handy when you’re planning your next event and need to use video again as a promotional tool.

Go live

Even if you did the greatest job in the world marketing your event, there will still be stragglers that didn’t make it. We’d strongly recommend going live, at least throughout an important part of the ceremony or schedule. This not only attracts people to your social channels, but it allows a community to form both at and outside of your event!

Get quick testimonials from guests

See a guest that looks like they’re having a great time? Pull them aside for a quick testimonial. We recommend doing this toward the end of the event (or maybe even on their way out). Testimonials can be an extremely powerful marketing tool, especially when recorded on film. You can write copy all day, but nothing’s as convincing as the smile on a client’s face.

After the event:

Recap and Remarket

The faster you are with the recap video, the better. We recommend posting it to your social media channels within a week. This is important because:

• You want to people to have ‘FOMO’ (Fear Of Missing Out) for your next event. If they were on the fence and decided not to attend, an awesome recap video will have them kicking themselves.
• Attendees will still be fresh off the hype of the event, meaning they’re more likely to share.

Share Performances and Keynote Speeches

If your event included a concert or an assortment of speakers, taking the time to upload those performances on YouTube or another video hosting platform is not only courteous, but it extends your reach throughout the year to those who hadn’t heard of your company before. As usual, be sure to be smart with your video’s SEO – if the speaker or performer has a notable name, put that in the title along with a keyword you think people are likely to search for.