A well-crafted virtual event strategy can have a huge impact on your business. From providing education to increasing brand awareness, there is so much you can accomplish with virtual events. 

Virtual events have been growing in popularity over the past several years. Virtual events are not simply a backup plan when in-person events cannot take place. They actually have a number of benefits over or in addition to in-person events. You can even get the best of both worlds by incorporating a virtual component in your in-person events.  

Here are ten of the top benefits of leveraging a virtual event strategy: 

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1. Greater Geographic Reach 

The current workforce is becoming increasingly distributed across the nation. The days of having all of your employees and clientele located in one central area like Silicon Valley have largely come to an end. Leveraging a virtual event strategy is an ideal option for reaching geographically diverse audiences. 

Virtual events also allow event owners to provide content on demand, so that audiences can view event content on their own schedules. This is great for reaching people in different time zones that may be unable to attend live sessions.

2. Higher Attendance 

Virtual events can help you reach a larger audience through greater reach and higher attendance. Unlike an in-person event where there is a venue capacity limit, virtual events can accommodate any number of people. 

It’s also easy to accommodate last minute sign-ups for virtual events as there aren’t seating, hotel room availability, or catering concerns with unexpected attendees. This gives you more time to promote your event as attendees can register up until the last minute (or even during or after the event if you’re leveraging on demand content), and it means that you won’t have to turn interested attendees away just because they missed a deadline.

3. Lower Costs 

Travel, venue rentals, catering, and staffing costs add up! With virtual events, you can reduce your costs while still delivering an exciting and interactive event experience. Your attendees also benefit from the reduced costs as they can attend without worrying about travel, hotels, or childcare expenses.

4. Growing Your Online Brand Presence 

Events are a great way to boost your brand presence. You can generate press mentions, social media mentions, grow your online following, and gain new subscribers to your email newsletter or online communities.

Virtual events are great for accomplishing your brand awareness goals. You can link to your organization’s website and social media pages right in the event platform, so attendees don’t need to worry about remembering to look up your company’s websites after the event. You can even weave social media engagement into a virtual event gamification strategy to encourage even more social media interaction. 

Due to their larger reach, virtual events are also better for press. Journalists from all over the country can attend to cover the event and any product launches or announcements made at the event. You won’t be limited to local press as any member of the public or press can attend from anywhere, providing wider relevance and exposure. 

5. Aligning Your Brand with Thought Leaders 

Leveraging a virtual event strategy can help you align your brand with industry thought leaders. Technically all events can help you with this objective – however acquiring big name well-respected speakers is generally easier when organizing a virtual event. 

The time commitment is minimal when speaking at a virtual event, so in demand speakers with packed schedules are more likely to be able to fit in your event if it’s being held virtually. It’s also less expensive to acquire these speakers as travel costs do not need to be factored in or covered. 

Aligning your brand with respected thought leaders in your field provides your brand with increased credibility. It can also help you position your own company as leaders in the industry.  

6. Clear Data Insights for More Measurable Results 

One of the most impactful plays of having a virtual component to events is the access to real-time insights. On Social27 Virtual Event Platform, event organizers and sponsors can access insights on exhibition booth visitors, interactions, and lead generation form fills in real-time.  

This helps event organizer attract sponsors, track the performance of the event and content, and engage leads. 

7. Accelerating the Sales Process 

When you meet attendees at an in-person event, they are often learning about your company and products for the very first time. While it’s great to introduce new potential buyers to your product or service offerings, this does mean that you are unlikely to actually close sales at your event. 

When someone is just learning about your product for the first time, you’re getting them into your sales pipeline. However, they’ll probably want to do their own research, talk to other decision makers in their company, and schedule a follow up demo to ask questions about specific features that are particularly relevant to their company’s needs. During a virtual event, they can easily view the vendor’s content beforehand and come to meetings and demos with questions already prepared. This gets them to the decision stage more quickly. 

8. Reducing Your Environmental Impact 

Companies and consumers are increasingly focused on sustainability and environmental impact. Organizations looking to decrease their carbon footprint should consider leveraging virtual events. 

American Express conducted a survey on the future of event travel and found that 79% of respondents noted that their organization is emphasizing sustainability in meetings and events. Leveraging a virtual event strategy allows your organization to cut down on unnecessary air and ground travel to promote sustainability and environmental responsibility. 

The University of Michigan also published a virtual event case study which showed that a virtual event created 66x less greenhouse gas emissions than it’s in-person equivalent would have.

9. Improving Your Employee Training and Education  

Virtual events don’t always have to be about sales, they can also be about developing your internal talent! If you have offices across the country or have moved to a remote work model, it can be tough (and expensive) to get your staff all together. 

Internal virtual events are a great way to keep your team connected and provide skills training or continuing education to them. Consider taking your annual company meeting virtual this year.

10. Higher Event ROIs 

With higher attendance and lower costs, virtual events are poised to give you a higher return on investment (ROI). The accelerated sales journey also helps you close more sales in an efficient manner, contributing to a better ROI.

Check out our previous blog for more ideas on how to boost your virtual event ROI.

Social27 Virtual Event Platform is Ready to Help You Take Your Event Strategy Further  

Social27 Virtual Event Platform can help you create virtual and hybrid events to fit your goals. With lead generation forms and a Scan My Badge feature to help capture leads, branding opportunities throughout the event platform, multiple ways to connect with attendees, and more – you can hit all your KPIs with Social27 Virtual Event Platform. 

Set up a demo today to see everything the platform has to offer.