How to use video to promote, host, and recap your next event

Interested in learning how to make awesome videos that promote, host, and recap events? Here are 5 real-world examples from industry leading brands.

Video event marketing is (and will continue to become) an important tool for every step of the event promotion process. According to 2019 event marketing statistics, 73% of marketers have all increased their use of video. And after learning from these real-world case studies, you probably will too! But first, a quick overview of why video event marketing is so useful in the first place.

Why is Video Event Marketing Important?

Industry leaders have already predicted the following 2019 video event marketing trends:

• Video storytelling is becoming a daily experience. An impressive increase in paid social video ads this past year combined with new technologies like virtual reality and 360-degree recordings make video even more integrated into our day-to-day experiences. It only makes sense to have our marketing strategies reflect these lifestyle changes.

• Younger audiences love video. Gen Z audiences on average watch online videos for an hour more per day than their Millennial counterparts.

• Video content can boost sales. According to Timothee Gerardin at Prisma Media, advanced video content creation strategies (like the ones showcased later in this article) will soon videos even more ideal for both monetization and audience engagement online.

In addition to providing benefits, the 5 examples below will help inspire your next creative event promotion strategy with new ways to digitally promote, host, and recap your work.

How to Use Video to Promote Your Event:

Share Teasers

Just like a great film trailer, this Tony Robbins Date with Destiny event promotion video created in the Wibbitz platform does an effective job of setting expectations, conveying value, and giving audiences that much needed sneak peek at the experience itself. In it we see the self help expert himself along with video of attendees emotionally affected during past events.

Video is a unique way to share Tony’s work with audiences so they can really see him in action. He already has many ways for audiences to experience his wisdom (books, podcasts, etc.) but this teaser trailer makes attending one of his live events that much more appealing.

Main Takeaway: In addition to sharing event details like location and dates, make sure your event promotion video includes a sample of what your audience can expect. While post event videos with audience testimonials are great, seeing participants experience the event live for themselves is so much more exciting. It also makes it easy for viewers to imagine themselves having the same experience.

Inspire Action

The AJC Global Forum created this exciting video with Wibbitz to promote their annual event. Viewers are inspired by both the video’s heroic music and the message AJC shares with prospects. The message itself is centered around the organization’s values. Clearly spelled out and paired with fantastic visuals, it’s hard not to get behind AJC’s mission statement.

Main Takeaway: If what you are doing is truly extraordinary, communicating that through video will be more impactful than any paragraph of standalone text you could possibly write. Capture viewers’ hearts and minds with emotional music, visuals, and messaging.

How to Use Video to Host Your Event:

Create FOMO

iHeart Radio are pros at showcasing live event highlights and exciting you-had-to-be-there videos. In addition to this envy-inducing Baby Shark clip their team created with Wibbitz while hosting the iHeart Music & More Festival, their Instagram Stories highlights are chock full of awards show coverage, updated in real time. So if anyone watching their Instagram videos was on the fence about going this year, they’ll definitely make it a priority to attend the next chance they get!

Main Takeaway: Featuring your event highlights through disappearing social media clips is a great way to give audiences a taste of the experience while also emphasizing the limited window of time they have to join in the fun.

How to Use Video to Recap Your Event:

Repurpose Content

Footage from your event panels and guest lecturers can be extremely useful for recapping your event. In the recap video page for our last Wibbitz Storyteller Circle in Paris, the featured videos share some of our favorite and most insightful quotes from our panel of industry experts.

Publishing these digestible takeaways on a landing page helps persuade those who didn’t attend to come to the next event, and serves as a great takeaway to send attendees as a follow-up refresher. Plus, having rich media available from your live events is a simple and practical way to ensure your future events have the supplementary materials you need to convince prospects to register.

Main Takeaway: Always record your event activities. Whether it’s a series of guest lectures or a view of the crowd on opening day, having video content on hand for future promotional activities is always a good idea.

Provide Value

Bizzabo proves that video recaps aren’t just for live events – they can be highly effective for digital ones too! Their Creating a Successful Event Agenda Webinar Recap is an excellent example of how effective it is to share a bite-size version of the event with your audience after it has already happened. By sharing this event highlight, Bizzabo provides helpful information for viewers interested in the topic. Viewers can gain actionable takeaways from this short video now that make them feel even more excited to check out the full version later.

Main Takeaway: The experience of watching your event recap video should be enough to persuade audiences to invest in the full experience. Sharing information they can actually use is a great way of going about it but value can also come in the form of positive emotions, inspiring words, and pre-sale codes for future events.

Key Ideas: Videos for Events

No matter how you use video event marketing, be sure to keep these key ideas in mind when creating your next strategy:

• Be authentic. Show real moments shared between hosts and participants as well as the values your organization is built on.
• Have fun. Whether your event was live or digital, showing off the parts of your event that your audience would consider the most fun is a great way to inspire future new and return ticket sales.
• Prioritize experiences. By its very nature, video is a “show don’t tell” medium. Make sure you use it to help viewers visualize what it would be like for them to attend your event. Whether that’s through guest quotes, exciting behind the scenes clips, or emotional personal moments is up to you.

No matter how you choose to use video, adding this useful tool to your event strategy for promotion, hosting, and/or recapping the action is a smart move. As long as you remember that video event marketing is all about helping viewers personally connect with your experience, you really can’t go wrong! Add these ideas to your event software to maximize insight and learn more about what works best for your audience.