Audience engagement is the ability to keep your audience’s attention on your product during an event, presentation, pitch or party.
So why do businesses place such a high value on it? Simply put, it’s important because if you lose your audience’s attention, you cannot convert them into customers.
Why Do Businesses Need an Audience?
Whether you’re a new business owner or you’ve had your business for a while, you need an audience. Most likely, you’ve done the research and come up with your target audience, which is different than any ol’ audience. Why are they great?
They already have buy-in and a level of engagement to your product. Plus, when you throw events, they are the ones who’ll engage on social media about it and tell their friends.
Having a target audience doesn’t mean you can’t sell to the rest of the world. It simply means that you’re concentrating your efforts to a certain someone. If anyone else is attracted to your product, perfect!
How to Keep Your Audience Engaged at an Event?
Great question! To keep your audience engaged at all times, take away any little thing that can distract them from your product. To do this, we recommend hiring an expert who knows the ins and outs.
Many companies plan events with successful event apps, which are designed by audience engagement experts who know why keeping your audience engaged is great for business and the types of strategies that will accomplish this.
Why Throw an Event?
There are many reasons to throw an event. Here are some of them:
- Audience engagement
- Getting your name out there
- Brand recognition
- Audience giveaways
- Selling your product
All of these are great reasons, and we support them all. The most important one, in our opinion, is audience engagement.
Without your audience being pumped and engaged, you have no conversion. Keeping your audience engaged during an event is the single most important thing you can do for your growth.
Avoid the Binder
Every little thing counts at an event, and your audience will notice. If you’ve ever been to an event for a brand you loved, you may have been given the ominous “Brick Binder.” This is the binder you get right after your name tag, and it has the information for the whole event, including an agenda.
Having the information contained in the binder is great! What’s not so great, however, is having to carry around the binder. It’s clunky, cumbersome, and simply too big. Sometimes, all you really need from the binder is the agenda and the notepad offered.
Avoid turning off your audience with the binder by having an event app. It truly gives your audience a one-stop-shop for your agenda, speakers, important information, and such.
At the end of the day, most of us throw away the contents and keep the binder for a different use at home. Save the Earth some trees and your audience’s time by using an event app for the same purpose!
Other Tips for an Event
Simply banking on the fact your audience loves your product won’t do. For example, when you go to an event, you know there’ll be vendors, food, and such. That’s the minimum. What else keeps you engaged? Here’s what we recommend:
- Greet your audience right away with the most pleasant person on your staff. First impressions have always been, and still are, everything.
- Make the name tags easy to find and get markers that don’t smell like paint. The smell is disturbing and will keep your audience focused on it for a long time. Avoid this being the topic of conversation!
- Make yourself available. People want to meet and shake hands with the person responsible for all the fun!
Bottom line: Events are an excellent way to convert. Keep your audience focused on your event by making it easy for their attention to stay on your product. The more they’re focused and engaged, the more your product is allowed to shine. They’ll remember the event, and they’ll tell their friends.
