Connecting and educating people are two effective ways to establish niche authority and build valuable connections. And there’s no better way to achieve both goals by setting up an event.
With today’s technology you don’t need to worry about finding a venue: You can launch your event online. But how to do that? Let’s discuss!
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About Alexandra
Alexandra Tachalova @AlexTachalova is digital marketer as well as contributor to huge marketing media outlets including @Moz @sejournal @Entrepreneur.
More recently, @AlexTachalova has founded DigitalOlympus.net
Connect to Alexandra on Linkedin
Questions we discussed
Q1 How did you become a digital marketer? What’s your career story?
I remember I was interested in all things online ever since I was a teenager, I built my very first website when I was 12. I had been using Torrent a lot! And I ended up working at @SEMrush where managed a team of 12 people.
I was born in April 2016. Since then I had met world renowned digital marketing speakers and brought together a tight knit digital marketing community.
A1 I often get this question from non-marketing friends… And it always starts with "Well, it's a long story…" :))) #vcbuzz
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) February 6, 2018
A1: Even with the vitriolic 280 characters, I don’t have enough room on this one. Digital marketing came to me. #vcbuzz pic.twitter.com/9zZ0RnZ036
— Shawn Paul Wood (@ShawnPaulWood) February 6, 2018
A1 I still feel lucky I got into online marketing… Quite an accident but I find it a blessing! #vcbuzz
— Anna Fox (@manifestcon) February 6, 2018
Q2 What are the first steps to take when launching an online conference? What to plan and how to set one up?
A2:
1⃣Select your topic
2⃣Find topics that resonate with your audience
3⃣Make sure that your online registration funnel is up and running
4⃣Begin working with your potential speakers and search for industry experts #vcbuzz— Digital Olympus (@DigitalOlympus) February 6, 2018
1. Start with a topic. Sometimes it’s good to be a laser-targeted event. For instance, like @TaliaGw did about CRO.
2. Search for speakers and partners. It’s better to plan everything in advance.
If you’re a newbie in your industry it will be difficult to get attention of world-known experts. We recommend reaching out to influencers who might have a smaller yet very engaged group of followers.
@vcbuzz A2. I think you must understand your market and fill a void for people who do not have the money to attend conferences around the country #vcbuzz
— Cheval John (@chevd80) February 6, 2018
Yes, that’s an excellent point. Actually that was one of the reasons why we’ve decided to launch @DigitalOlympus.
Also don’t neglect paid channels, especially Facebook ads. We’ve found that FB works quite well when it comes to online events.
@AlexTachalova @DigitalOlympus how to tell if the topic resonates? #vcbuzz
— Anna Fox (@manifestcon) February 6, 2018
I would recommend to check @BuzzSumo that allows you to see the most viral topics in your industry/niche. Another option will be checking Quora and Reddit 🙂
@AlexTachalova Cannot recommend @Buzzsumo tools enough, for this and so many other purposes ? #vcbuzz
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) February 6, 2018
Yes, that’s my number one tool! Can’t imagine my life without @BuzzSumo
Q3 You have an impressive list of speakers! How do you find them and manage to speak at your conference?
The majority of @DigitalOlympus speakers are experts that I know personally. Also I use LinkedIn that has a great number of features that make it easy to develop relationships with the right experts.
A3.
1⃣ Connect with people who spoke at online events before
2⃣ Start calling for speakers well in advance, have this information on your website and across all of your social media channels. #vcbuzz— Digital Olympus (@DigitalOlympus) February 6, 2018
A3. I think most of the people can find speakers here on twitter chats and also by recommendations from trusted sources here too #vcbuzz
— Cheval John (@chevd80) February 6, 2018
Can’t agree more with this! Twitter and LinkedIn are among my favorite channels.
YES and we had a separate chat on finding them w/ @JoshMcCormack https://t.co/6qA9aoyHqw RT @chevd80: A3B. They are many people who most overlook who are excellent leaders and know their stuff about being truly social as well #vcbuzz
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) February 6, 2018
@AlexTachalova that is great. I think it is always wise to start any conference with people you know very well because they will most likely take the chance on you because they know you very well #vcbuzz
— Cheval John (@chevd80) February 6, 2018
How do you keep yourself so well-connected? #vcbuzz
— Jessy Troy (@jessytroy) February 6, 2018
For instance, I try to share something useful on LinkedIn on a regular basis. My recent post has gained over 50 likes and a good number of comments.
Q4 How to stand out from the crowd? How to make your online event unique and useful?
- Look for something that has never been done before by mixing known methods.
- Analyze what tactics people from other professional areas use.
- Always ask your participants and speakers for feedback
@vcbuzz A4. Start with asking this question: Is my event going to provide value to the people who are spending their hard earned money? If you can answer this question, then your event will stand out #vcbuzz
— Cheval John (@chevd80) February 6, 2018
It’s all about bringing value to your audience. At @DigitalOlympus we don’t sell anything during/after our event, and we don’t have sponsors either because we’ve learned that this type of collaboration negatively affects our audience engagement rates.
A4B. Any event organizer who actually run a business should have the attitude of over-delivering for their customers and treating them right daily #vcbuzz
— Cheval John (@chevd80) February 6, 2018
@DigitalOlympus @AlexTachalova for #1 (look for something that has never done before), kinda easier said than done! How to come up with these things #vcbuzz
— Anna Fox (@manifestcon) February 6, 2018
@manifestcon @DigitalOlympus @AlexTachalova One thing I've been doing is trying to look outside your niche. What other industries are doing that you can replicate ion your niche? #vcbuzz
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) February 6, 2018
Yes, definitely. Btw, Cirque du Soleil is a great example. They decided to break away from traditional circus shows by borrowing ideas from Broadway.
Q5 What are your favorite event marketing tools?
Previously we used @WebinarJam for live streaming, but then decided to do it directly from FB and YouTube.
A5.
We don't rely on a specific tool for our event.
Here are some digital marketing tools that we can't live without:
– Google Analytics
– @MailChimp
– @semrush #VCbuzz pic.twitter.com/kTIbDJuova— Digital Olympus (@DigitalOlympus) February 6, 2018
Also among my favorite tools are @followerwonk that gives you an ability to create Twitter custom audiences.
A5 #eventmarketing TOOLS: – Google Analytics
– @MailChimp
– @semrush via @DigitalOlympus #vcbuzz— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) February 6, 2018
@vcbuzz A5. I can say that twitter is considered the best event marketing tool because you can do live tweeting of the events within the rule of the business organizations #vcbuzz
— Cheval John (@chevd80) February 6, 2018
A5 Set up online tools to collect and broadcast live tweets (try Twchat), use FB and G+ events to scale reminders and invites #vcbuzz
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) February 6, 2018
@AlexTachalova Why did you decide to use native apps instead of WebinarJam? #vcbuzz
— Jessy Troy (@jessytroy) February 6, 2018
We don’t want to limit access to our live stream.
Our previous event marketing chats:
- Online Event Marketing Twitter Chat with Ivana Taylor @DIYMarketers of @Bizapalooza #VCBuzz
- How to Get Noticed and Advance Your Career with Hannah Morgan @careersherpa #VCBuzz
- How to Organize and Promote a Niche Meetup with Dennis Shiao @dshiao #VCBuzz
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