Now that your event is over, you can move on to the next project, right? Not so fast! Post-event tasks are just as important as the tasks you completed to put the event together. If you want to create a long-lasting relationship with your attendees, you must re-engage with them while it’s still fresh on their minds. We’ll explain the best ways to reconnect with your audience after an event so that they continue engaging with your organization.
Why Re-engaging Matters
Following up after your event helps to establish your relationship with your audience. Whether it’s showing appreciation or requesting feedback, keeping the communication line open is key to growing your nonprofit’s network. Your attendees will have your event on their mind even after the party is over if you continue the conversation with them.
Ways to Reach Out to Your Attendees After Your Event
Here are five things to do after your nonprofit’s event that will help you form connections and throw an even better event next time!
1. Send a follow-up thank you email or letter
The key to a successful thank you email/letter is to show appreciation and to provide something of value to your reader. Include photos from the event, notes from the speaker, or inform them of how many donations you were able to raise at the event. Letting your audience know that you appreciate them and that they made a difference will encourage them to participate in future events.
2. Request feedback through a post-event survey
People love to give their opinions on things and the survey results can provide metrics for measuring how successful your event was. Also, you can know what to improve for your next event. Asking your attendees to fill out a survey keeps the line of communication open and lets them know you value what they think.
3. Interact on social media platforms
If you created an event hashtag, look to see what your attendees posted to it after your event. You can "like" and comment on the posts to let the event attendee know that you appreciated their participation.
Also, update your social media accounts with pictures or links to blog posts about your event. You can post these directly onto your Facebook event page if you made one. This will keep the memory of your event alive longer in the minds of your attendees. Some followers may even share your photos on their feed which will increase awareness for your organization. Another perk of updating your social media is attracting interest for your next event. People who didn’t make it to your event can view your posts and become interested in going to your next one!
4. Create an email marketing workflow
If you wrote blog posts or created videos as part of your event marketing plan, then you now have valuable content to offer your attendees after your event. After you send your thank you email, you can send this content to your audience in a strategically timed workflow.
Your goal is for your audience to continue to engage with your organization by viewing your posts or videos. Be sure to relate the material back to your event so that it seems relevant to the reader and they are more likely to click through and interact with your organization.
Lastly, be sure to include a call-to-action button in these workflows with the action you want your audience to complete. For example, adding a button labeled Donate Now or Register to Volunteer will help motivate your audience to further engage with your organization.
5. Use remarketing advertisements
Think about what actions you want your event attendees to take after your event. Do you want them to donate? Or maybe register to volunteer? Whatever it is, you can remarket to them through Google and Facebook advertising. This will help keep your nonprofit on your audience’s mind and persuade them to perform the action that you want them to take.
Pro tip: You can take the list of your event attendees and create lookalike audiences for advertising your next event. These lookalike audiences allow you to find people like your past event attendees to market your next event to.
Using these five re-engaging tactics will help form long-lasting connections with your event attendees. You should take advantage of this opportunity and keep your line of communication open to grow your organization’s network. For more tips and best practices on nonprofit event marketing, click below to download our free eBook to make sure you have everything covered!
