9 Online Event Marketing Ideas to Boost Attendance

Every day, countless events are organized and promoted online.

Breaking through that noise and getting enough attention for your events is critical, as it will not only help you stand out from the crowd but also attract the right audience, drive people to share their experiences, and continue to attend more of your events in the future. 

So, how do you get as many attendees as you can?

Whether you’re looking for some fresh new ideas or want to go back to basics, we’ll help you get started with some popular online marketing activities to boost attendance and drive signups. 

Let’s start by taking a look at a few reasons why you should promote your event online. 

Benefits of marketing your event online

Promoting your event online can have a few significant benefits, you can: 

• Raise awareness of your event to a wider audience and easily expand your reach
• Easily track signups and gather demographic data of potential attendees via signup forms 
• Personalize or segment your communications to very specific audiences 
• Achieve more with smaller budgets as online promotional activities are extremely cost-effective
• Quickly alter or change strategies that aren’t working 

Now that you’re aware of how online promotions can be useful, let’s look at a few creative event marketing ideas that can amplify your reach and drive attendance.

1. Design a high-converting landing page

An event landing page is one of the most critical pieces of marketing content you’ll design because it acts as a central hub for all your promotional activities. All your other marketing and promotional content will eventually point to your event landing page. 

Your landing page is where people can learn more about the event, express their interest, and sign up or buy a ticket to your event. This means you’ll need to include important event details such as the date, time, agenda, speaker bios (if any), and a link to sign up.  

Details about your event are key, but the main purpose of your landing page is to serve as a path for getting people to say “yes” to your event — it isn’t just about providing information since persuading people to register is the end goal.

You will need to present the information in a way that will convince users to attend, boost sign-ups, or convert your existing audience into long-term participants. Needless to say, a high-converting landing page can be an extremely valuable asset. 

Besides content, you’ll also need to think about how to optimize the elements on the page to ensure that potential attendees don’t navigate away from the page because of functionality or design issues.  designed or signing up isn’t working.

Here are a few things you’ll need to keep in mind to optimize your landing page: 

• Mobile responsiveness: Ensure your event registration page is mobile-friendly and displays well on all screen sizes as most people are likely to sign up from their phones. 
• Clear call-to-actions (CTAs): Include simple, actionable CTAs that are placed where visitors can easily see them. 
• Images: Use images that evoke an emotional response, for example, smiling faces, your own branded stock illustrations or close-ups have a better impact than stock images without any people in them.
• Speed: Keep page load times as fast as possible. Slow loading speeds will put people off a seamless registration process
• Seamless payment processing: If yours is a paid event, check that your payment gateway can easily process payments and run a few trials to make sure it works. Even if you are just asking people to sign up, check that the process runs smoothly in as few steps as possible to reduce drop-offs.  

2. Segment your email campaigns

Email remains an extremely powerful tool for event promotion. To make it even more effective, consider segmenting your lists. Segmentation involves sorting your existing audiences into different groups and creating personalized marketing messages for each group. 

If you’re organizing an event on how AI impacts work, you could separate your email lists according to people who have attended previous events you’ve organized, people who have signed up for AI events in the past, and HR Heads.

For those who attended previous events, talk about how they might be interested in attending more events organized by you. Conversely, those interested in artificial intelligence should receive emails about recent AI trends and industry news.

As for HR Heads, emphasize that the event will help them think about hiring and resource management in the future. The main point is that you want to personalize the language, subject, and topics covered based on the interests of each segment.

This makes it possible to market the same event to different groups.

Depending on the event you’re promoting, you can create segments of previous attendees and new customers or sort them by demographic information (location, sex) or interests and education levels.

Segmentation allows for tailored messaging to particular audiences, making your event relevant and personalized to an audience's needs – which eventually leads to higher conversion rates.

Here are a few more tips for crafting effective email campaigns: 

• Spark interest and excitement by using captivating subject lines that will get viewers to open your emails 
• Use A/B testing to send out different types of emails to learn which is the most effective 
• Create email sequences that nudge users towards signing up for an event, as not everyone will sign up the first time they receive an invitation but if you consistently remind them of what you offer, they will convert when the need arises. 
• As the event date nears, send reminder emails, perhaps highlighting new speakers, agenda items, or other enticements. 
• Use clear and direct calls to action 

3. Harness the power of social media 

Social media is another effective way of promoting events. Platforms like Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, and LinkedIn offer great opportunities to engage new and existing audiences and get them to sign up for your event.

However, you’ll need to follow a strategy for social media to be effective.

Simply advertising your event on all your social media platforms will waste time and energy – and fail to return results. You will need to develop a variety of content to share, and a posting schedule.

Also, make sure you target the right social media channels for your audience. You don’t have to post everywhere – there’s no point creating buzz in the wrong places!

Here are a few more ways to leverage social media for upcoming events: 

• Share a mix of content—teaser videos, interviews with speakers, or behind-the-scenes glimpses—to pique interest. 
• Host real-time chats or Q&A sessions on Instagram Live.
• Tag people that are participating such as speakers, hosts, and registered delegates and ask them to share the announcement.
• Create a Facebook page for your event and share it with different groups. 
• Cross-promote the event with an event marketing partner who has considerable influence in generating buzz and increasing registrations.
• Post a short video highlighting exciting things about your event.
• Join different Facebook or LinkedIn groups and start a conversation. Once there is a discussion going you can promote your event.

4. Host webinars and live streams

Prior to your main event, consider hosting webinars or live streams on related topics. These webinars will not only generate buzz but also build an audience for your upcoming event. 

You can create webinars on similar topics and advertise the main event during the webinar or conduct additional interviews with expert speakers that feature in your main event as a sneak peek into what your audience can expect. 

Webinars and live streams are also an excellent way for you to answer questions about your event. Think about hosting an FAQ session for people who have expressed interest in the event, answering crowd-sourced questions, or giving audiences a preview of what to expect.

If you have expertise in a certain field or sector and you regularly host webinars on the topic, you’ll automatically become known for this particular type of content. People will start to look for your events if they want to learn more about a particular topic.

Hosting regular webinars is therefore a great way to broadcast your expertise and build an audience.

Tip: Use webinar sessions to offer attendees a special discount on the price of tickets to the main event!

5. Collaborate with influencers

Influencers carry significant clout in today's digital world. Influencer marketing forms an integral part of any event promotion campaign. Remember, influencers have a larger and more loyal audience base — so a strong partnership will help you leverage a highly-engaged audience.

Make sure you partner with individuals who resonate with your target audience or your outreach won’t be effective. Collaborate with influencers who are industry experts or those who already identify with your brand and will be genuine advocates.

Authenticity is important here as their endorsements, when genuine, can lend credibility and amplify your event's reach to your ideal audience.

6. Use paid advertising

Paid online ads can help you reach targeted audiences that may be interested in your event. But make sure you know how to use them effectively – or hire an expert to design an ad campaign and budget for your online advertisements – if you don’t!

Using paid ads without precise targeting is a waste of money.

Platforms like Facebook Ads, Google Ads, or LinkedIn sponsored posts offer precise targeting options, ensuring your event reaches the right prospects. Split your budget between channels that you know your audience is most likely to be active on.

Retargeting campaigns can also nudge those who've shown interest but are yet to register.

Remember – paid advertising is not a magic bullet, you can’t simply buy attendees for your event, – but it’s a great way to supplement your efforts and reach new audiences that might never have learned of your event otherwise.

7. Create SEO-optimized content

Blog posts or articles centered around your theme can help people find your event organically via SEO. Search engine optimization (SEO) helps make content easily discoverable in search engines like Google.

For this to happen, you’ll need to use the right keywords and create interesting and informative content that will not only educate readers but also stir curiosity about your event.

Since it can take as long as 3-4 months for something to rank well on a search engine, this is a great idea for events that are planned well in advance (especially for evergreen webinars).

Evergreen webinars are pre-recorded webinars that can run on autopilot for weeks, months, and even years because the content itself stays relevant over time. This makes it uniquely suited for SEO promotion.

8. Engage audiences with contests and giveaways

Everyone loves a giveaway! Announce contests where participants stand a chance to win event tickets or other exclusive perks. Not only will you get someone to attend your event, but such initiatives often lead to increased social shares.

This provides free promotion and broadens your event's reach in the long run.

You can also provide exclusive ‘early bird’ offers with discounted pricing or freebies. Set a clear deadline for the early bird pricing or only offer a limited number of tickets – scarcity marketing will create a buzz around your event while tempting attendees with a discount they can’t refuse. 

If you don’t want to offer discounts for everyone, you can make previous attendees feel valued and encourage them to attend your event through special incentives. Provide them with exclusive offers, early-bird discounts, or even special roles at the event (such as panel guests).

9. Post on event discovery sites

To further amplify your event's reach, consider listing it on popular event discovery sites. Such platforms cater to individuals actively seeking events to attend, making them a gold mine for attracting new attendees.

A few discovery sites you might want to post on are: 

• Google Events
• Facebook Events
• Local/neighbourhood-focused sites

Of course, there are plenty of ways to promote your event for free as well.

The important thing is to pick the channel that your target audience spends the most time on.

Conclusion

To be truly successful at marketing your event online you need to understand your audience's preferences and craft strategies tailored to them. So, adapt these ideas to align with your brand's voice and audience's interests, and watch your event attendance soar!

Need more event management and ticketing advice? Check out other related round-up blogs:

• 40 Places to Promote Your Event for Free
• 13 Event Marketing Strategies (That Actually Work)
• Ultimate Guide: Best Ways to Sell Tickets Online
• 10 Essential Event Planning Tips (Best Event Planning Checklist)
• 20 Proven Event Sponsorship Ideas