Participating in a virtual trade show is an effective way to continue making connections, building brand awareness, and generating new leads in a post-pandemic business environment.
In many ways, your virtual booth strategy should mimic your traditional exhibition approach. This is especially true as you look for ways to increase engagement.
What will interaction look like without the opportunity to greet attendees, shake hands, and have in-person conversations?
Try these interactive activities and virtual engagement best practices to help you connect with your online audience:
1. Keep a 24/7 Q&A open
One of the benefits of a live event is that attendees can have their questions answered immediately. Ensure that you have an adequately staffed Q&A feature so that anyone visiting your booth can engage in a conversation about your product or service.
Facilitating communication ultimately builds engagement, and provides a lasting positive impression of the virtual trade show experience.
2. Include interactive live and on-demand webinars
Compliment your launch with an engaging presentation on a topic that will be beneficial to your audience.
Because travel costs will be non-existent, consider directing some of your budgets toward hiring experienced, popular speakers with the potential to draw a crowd.
You can present live webinars via online conferencing, and record them for on-demand use afterwards.
3. Provide a virtual networking space
A lounge space has always been a popular trade show booth format. Recreate this space by making chats and videos open to all attendees, so that each visitor is observing content together and can see each other’s responses and questions.
4. Make sure it’s mobile-friendly
Your attendees will be joining from all over the world, and on a variety of devices. All aspects of your virtual experience, including your interactive activities, should be functional and easy to enjoy on tablets and smartphones.
5. Measure ROI
One advantage of virtual trade shows is that it’s easier to track how many visitors you had, how long they stayed, and what parts of your exhibit they enjoyed the most.
Get a headcount on your attendees, analyze Q&A sessions and interactions, and gather metrics on length of visit, webinar views, link clicks, and content downloads.
Videos are especially trackable. Using video hosting services like Wistia and Vimeo, you can see which parts of your video were watched, which sections were re-watched, and where engagement dropped off.
6. Help with technical issues
Your virtual trade show and interactive activities may involve fairly sophisticated technology. Minimize attendee frustration by keeping a help desk open to address any technical difficulties that arise.
Want to make an even bigger splash at your online event? Let the gurus at Exhibit Options create your custom 3-D rendered digital booth. Don’t hesitate to reach out for a consultation!
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