14 episodes

Wondering how you’re going to pull off a major virtual event, and turn it into a successful, repeatable strategy for your business? Overwhelmed by all of the details facing you, and all the choices in virtual event platforms and tools? Mike Allton, with years of experience running massive virtual summits, webinars and other events for himself and global SaaS companies, is your host. He's your connector between the brand awareness and lead gen you want, and the virtual event strategy you need today. When you don't have time to sit through countless sales demos and sift through dated books, the Virtual Event Strategist podcast is your salve. For more information, show notes, and contact details for Mike, head over to https://www.TheSocialMediaHat.com.

The Virtual Event Strategist Mike Allton

    • Business
    • 5.0 • 6 Ratings

Wondering how you’re going to pull off a major virtual event, and turn it into a successful, repeatable strategy for your business? Overwhelmed by all of the details facing you, and all the choices in virtual event platforms and tools? Mike Allton, with years of experience running massive virtual summits, webinars and other events for himself and global SaaS companies, is your host. He's your connector between the brand awareness and lead gen you want, and the virtual event strategy you need today. When you don't have time to sit through countless sales demos and sift through dated books, the Virtual Event Strategist podcast is your salve. For more information, show notes, and contact details for Mike, head over to https://www.TheSocialMediaHat.com.

    How To Use Social Media For Virtual Event Marketing

    How To Use Social Media For Virtual Event Marketing

    There's more to social media for virtual event marketing than posting tweets and Instagram Stories.
     
    Think about it... the average tweet has a lifespan of just 18 minutes, after which it's highly unlikely anyone will see that tweet. Stories disappear completely after 24 hours. Posts to LinkedIn and Facebook have similarly short lifespans of utility.
     
    And no matter when we post, the majority of our followers will not be online and will not be in a position to see our content. Between the timing of the post, and the deluge of other content being shared that quickly pushes our virtual event announcements out of the picture and down the feed, typical social media marketing is destined to reach just a fraction of our audience.
     
    So what are we supposed to do for virtual event marketing? Post more? Give up?
     
    Neither. There are frameworks you can follow that help you determine the perfect cadence of social media marketing activity and, more importantly, there are opportunities for you and your brand to Be Social on social media in ways that are stunningly effective at promoting your event.
     
    Ready to learn how? That's what we're covering in today's episode of The Virtual Event Strategist podcast.
     
    ~ LINKS ~
     
    Full notes and transcript: https://www.thesocialmediahat.com/blog/how-to-use-social-media-for-virtual-event-marketing/ 
    Social Media Planner: https://www.thesocialmediahat.com/help/social-media-planner/ 
    Virtual Event Planner: https://www.thesocialmediahat.com/blog/steal-this-virtual-event-plan-for-a-flawless-event/ 
    Agorapulse: http://www.agorapulse.com?via=allton

    Agency Summit '22: https://social.agorapulse.com/summit 
    Video for Virtual Event Marketing: https://www.thesocialmediahat.com/blog/how-to-use-video-for-virtual-event-marketing/ 
    Determining Virtual Event Audience: https://www.thesocialmediahat.com/blog/virtual-event-strategy-how-to-narrow-focus-to-achieve-broader-goals/ 

    • 19 min
    How To Use Video For Virtual Event Marketing

    How To Use Video For Virtual Event Marketing

    There are ten thousand tweets sent every second. A billion Facebook Stories are posted every day. 9 billion content impressions in the LinkedIn feed every week. How are we supposed to create a plan for virtual event marketing that actually stands out from all of that noise?

    How do we build buzz and excitement for our virtual event sufficient to drive registrations and accomplish our goals?

    Video is the answer. Specifically, a video-first strategy that leverages psychological triggers, beats the algorithms, and fuels our entire virtual event marketing plan.

    Ready to learn how? That's what we're covering, in today's episode of The Virtual Event Strategist podcast.

    Full Transript & Notes: 

    • 20 min
    The Virtual Event Marketing Strategy You Need Today

    The Virtual Event Marketing Strategy You Need Today

    If you're investing a couple of months out of your life, and potentially thousands of dollars, to plan a virtual event, shouldn't you have a virtual event marketing strategy to go with it? Because if your strategy is to finish getting your virtual event registration and landing page and speakers and other details set, and then launch it without a marketing plan in place... that's not a strategy at all.
     
    A strategy is our method for achieving a desired outcome. We spent an entire episode talking about how important it is know our Why, what our desired outcome is for our virtual event, so that we'd know what the goal is. And if we're going to hit that goal, we're going to need a plan that encompasses not only the virtual event itself, but how we're going to promote that event to our audience and beyond our audience to drive registrations and ensure that we host a Sold Out Summit.
     
    What does a virtual event marketing strategy look like? What tactics should we include? How much time should we anticipate needing for preparation and promotion?
     
    That's what we're covering in today's episode of The Virtual Event Strategist podcast.
     
    Full transcript and notes: https://www.thesocialmediahat.com/blog/the-virtual-event-marketing-strategy-you-need-today/

    • 23 min
    What Is The Future Of Virtual Events?

    What Is The Future Of Virtual Events?

    The virtual event industry exploded during the pandemic. Like grocery delivery and home exercise equipment, sudden global lockdowns drove unprecedented need, and innovation, for pushing once in-person events online. But as lockdowns and restrictions eased, venues and businesses gradually returned to being able to meet together face to face. So the question is, are virtual events still a good investment for businesses? What's the future of virtual events?

    This is an important question due to the significant investment virtual events represent for businesses, both in time and money. To spend thousands of dollars and weeks, perhaps months, of work, only to achieve lackluster results, would be extremely disappointing.

    As a virtual event strategist, of course I might be expected to paint a rosy picture and suggest that virtual events are the best possible investment for any business, so I decided to shake things up and approach friends and experts for their opinions. In a moment, you'll hear from CMOs, entrepreneurs, PR professionals, and other event industry experts, all helping us to see the future of virtual events from their perspective.

    That's what we're covering in today's episode of The Virtual Event Strategist Podcast.

    Full transcript and notes: https://www.thesocialmediahat.com/blog/what-is-the-future-of-virtual-events/

    • 10 min
    What Else Can You Do With A Virtual Event Platform?

    What Else Can You Do With A Virtual Event Platform?

    A virtual event platform sales person I was talking to about potentially investing tens of thousands of dollars into using his solution told me he didn't want me to abuse his platform.

    Abuse it?

    Did he honestly think I was going to spend that kind of money to, what, create spammy junk virtual events?

    Is it possible for me to use a virtual event platform too much? Run too many events?

    I don't know what his perspective was, but it got me thinking. I obviously didn't invest in that virtual event platform, but I did allocate a lot of budget for another vendor for our events at Agorapulse. I have a few big virtual summits and a bunch of smaller webinars and social meetups planned every year, but what else could I do with this new tool?

    If you're making a case for budget for a virtual event platform, wouldn't be nice to show your CMO that the tool has additional uses and benefits?

    That's what we're covering in this episode of The Virtual Event Strategist Podcast.

    Full transcript & notes: https://www.thesocialmediahat.com/blog/what-else-can-you-do-with-a-virtual-event-platform/

    • 14 min
    How Do You Determine Virtual Event ROI

    How Do You Determine Virtual Event ROI

    Has your boss given you an unlimited budget, without any particular goals or objectives you have to hit? Of course not. You are under a lot of pressure to achieve and report on your virtual event ROI, aren't you?

    Between all of the time you've spent planning a virtual event, to all of the costs associated with the virtual event platform, speakers, advertising and more, this online summit of yours represents a big investment for the company. It's reasonable to expect reports or a retrospective on what that virtual event delivered.

    What kinds of returns can a virtual event produce, and is it only about revenue? More importantly, how do you measure and report it all?

    If that's what you're wondering, you're in the right place, because that's exactly what we're going to break down in today's episode of The Virtual Event Strategist Podcast.

     
    Full transcript and notes: https://www.thesocialmediahat.com/blog/how-do-you-determine-virtual-event-roi/

    • 23 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
6 Ratings

6 Ratings

Farzad Rashidi ,

Awesome show

Mike is an excellent host! I had the pleasure of listening to the first few episodes, and I must say I was blown away by the quality of the podcast.
I highly recommend the podcast to any entrepreneur in the digital world interested in virtual events.

Representin' Madtown ,

Outstanding!

With the explosion of virtual events, unfortunately there hasn’t been many solid resources or thought leaders to learn from…until now! This podcast is the ultimate resource for running successful virtual events! Highly recommend!!!

Katie Fawkes ,

Mike Allton is THE Virtual Event Strategist!

When I first decided to host a virtual event back in early 2020, I had no idea what would be in store. The one thing I did know was that I was going to need help. At that time, Mike Allton had run a few virtual events for Agorapulse that I thought were run really well, so I reached out for his help. He patiently walked me through everything he had done, shared tips and tricks, and answered all of my questions. I really think the success of that first event is due to his guidance and expertise.

I’m so delighted that he’s launching this new podcast so that everyone listening (including ME!) can learn from his experiences in this space. It’s going to be an amazing show and I highly recommend it!

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