Marketing Guide: How To Effectively Market Your Online Events

As digital get-togethers continue to be the norm in these COVID-filled times, successfully marketing your online events is more important than ever. In this guide, we offer some pointers on how to spread the word and grow an online community for your next online event.

Guest post from Eventbrite

In this time of increasing digital get-togethers, Eventbrite creators are bringing their communities even more opportunities to connect and socialize online. The great news is that it’s now easier than ever to get the word out. Through Eventbrite’s simplified marketing tools and data insights, creators can quickly put together an impactful marketing strategy to reach the right people at the right time. 

First things first: Timing is everything

While the data for live events tends to vary (and depends on event type), marketing campaigns for online events have a clearer trend for success. For the spring months of 2020, Eventbrite data shows that online events that kickstarted marketing in the week leading up to the big day sold more free and paid tickets. In May 2020, for example, online events with marketing campaigns starting the week before sold 47% more paid tickets than those that began their marketing campaigns within the month. In April 2020, ticket sales for the 1-week group was 163% greater than those who began their marketing further in advance.

Keeping your subscribers in the loop

Got a good group of fans already? Reach out to them with email campaigns, complete with a custom look and feel. You can promote one or more events in each email, and send them straight to your subscriber list. Once they’re out, you can then download the delivery report, which provides insights on open rates, click-throughs on CTAs, unsubscribes, and ticket sales. Not sure what types of numbers you’re looking for? Eventbrite event emails tend to generate open rates between 21-30%, and click-through rates between 2.1-3% — well above marketing email standards. For open rates on the higher end, we recommend a super-specific subject line (ideally with 41 characters) so that your subscribers know exactly what’s inside. 

For a strong click-through rate, check to make sure that your messages match up with your audience. If you’ve got a diverse group of fans, you can segment them and tailor messaging directly through Eventbrite’s email tool. For those creators slowly getting comfortable with segmentation, we recommend getting started with the basics: age, gender, and location. 

If you’ve got a really large group (over 2,000), you might consider running your campaign through MailChimp, and connect it to your event seamlessly through our MailChimp integration. 

Growing your community

If you don’t have a solid subscriber list quite yet, we can help you get there. Paid social is a great way to reach and engage with new audiences. You can easily set up your Paid Social Ads, powered by Toneden, through Eventbrite. Quickly create effective ads for Facebook, Instagram, or Google AdWords, and track your sales and conversion success. We’ve simplified it all so you don’t have to navigate the complicated settings for each platform — only the essentials you need to manage and track your campaigns. 

If you’re not sure whether you’re ready to go all-in with paid social just yet, you can always test it out first: Eventbrite hosts start out with a 14-day free trial, no commitment required. Learn more about Paid Social Ads on Eventbrite. 

Spreading the word, socially

If you’re the admin of a Facebook page and your event is open to the public, you can spread the word via Eventbrite’s Add to Facebook feature. Attendees can discover your event, view details in their own timezone, and buy tickets directly through Facebook. 

However you plan to market your online event, remember that the more campaigns you run, the better you’ll get to know your audience and get a feel for what works for them. Ready to get started? Create your online event now, and start spreading the word.