Many marketers can agree that events are powerful tactics that can help increase sales, drive engagement and deepen relationships. However, did you know that the content surrounding events is equally valuable?
Think of this event content as all of the data and information surrounding an event — not just the event name, date and description — but also things like metadata, images and RSVPs. Most of these elements are not currently published, collected or tracked. However, rich event content provides gives a detailed view of your events, and brings your audience much closer to attending.
For marketers, the benefits of event content stretch across the event lifecycle, from search engine optimization leading to increased traffic and attendance to post-event analytics, which will help inform future efforts. Imagine a world where you have all of this content for not only each event, but for the dozens, hundreds or even thousands of events you put on for a year.
All of this rich event data helps to paint a holistic picture about the value, appeal and success of your event strategy. Let’s dig a little deeper to learn more about the benefits.
Increased SEO and traffic
The SEO benefits of an interactive event calendar cannot be understated. Properly optimized event content boosts SEO, drives website traffic and increases engagement with your target audiences.
When you optimize an event listing with images, metadata, social media connections and RSVP information, it gives Google and other search engines that many more elements that can be indexed. Rather than just crawling one page and indexing the information as a lump sum, search engines will break an optimized calendar down piece-by-piece.
This means that event images will be indexed under Google Images, and metadata and keyword data can be used to get pages to rank higher and more frequently. By exposing your event to a wider audience through these channels, calendars with optimized event content see increased website traffic and increased engagement on the page (since the specific information is attractive to relevant audiences).
More eyes and attendees
SEO and traffic benefits mean increased event attendance. Since the audiences that come across your calendar are highly interested (given that they searched for relevant keywords), and the event content is optimized to get attendees excited to learn more, you can expect that many will also come to the event.
More eyes on the search-engine-ranked event listings and more informative content on the event pages leads to attendees. If the ultimate goal is to get people to know about your event, RSVP and show up, event content is a great way to do this!
Improved analytics
Using event content also helps you to better measure your events. From decision-making (looking at trends to understand which event types, times and audiences work best for your organization) to audience insights and segmentation, collecting data on how your audience views and uses an event listing can only inform future efforts.
Plus, many calendars will integrate with your current marketing tools, allowing you to seamlessly move from one to the next and track metrics like email opens, RSVPs and registrations across platforms. This allows you to tell an even bigger story about your audience. It’s a small efficiency that will save you big time and give you big insights.
The benefits of using optimized event content on an online event calendar stretch from search engines to post-event analytics. Rich event content not only helps you drive more eyes on event listings and increase attendance, but it also helps you measure success like never before. Can you afford to not be implementing this?
Krystal Putman-Garcia is the vice president of marketing at Localist, an event marketing technology company that offers interactive calendars that help companies publish, manage and promote events. She is responsible for Localist’s marketing and partnership efforts, to ultimately help businesses make the most out of their events.