The use of an event app is crucial to its success. But the participants must first know about the app. Using this concept for the marketing of event apps, you can create the ideal conditions to ensure the success of your event app.

The success of an event app is always dependent on two factors. Firstly, the app needs to be filled with the relevant content and, secondly, the subscribers must be informed about the existence of the app. If an app is not successfully accepted at an event, then, in 90% of the cases, it is because of the second point. A successful distribution concept of the app can be quickly created and implemented. In order to focus on more important tasks, this article introduces you to a simple concept that has been very successful in recent years. The focus is on the added value of the app for the visitor. Most importantly, this concept refers to an event app that is used only for communication at the event and for gaining feedback afterwards. Another concept of using event apps for the marketing of events and the sale of tickets follows this article on our blog.

Short briefing

The distribution strategy is divided into four promotion phases. The focus of communication is always the added value of the app for your participants.

Added Value of the App: Always up-to-date information about the event; individual agenda and favorites; feedback and survey opportunity; contact details and information about speakers, artists, and sponsors; site and site plans.

Early Phases of Promotion: Up to one month before the event. First information about the event app and integration into printed advertising materials. Highlight the basic use of the app.

Red Zone Promotion: 14 days before the event. Your visitors are more concerned with your event. Use social media channels and distribute the app URL through them. Focus is on the individual functions of the app such as surveys, individual agenda, favorites and live questions to speakers.

Last-Days Promotion: 7 days left. Switch to direct communication tools such as email and linking the app in it. This means that all participants have the app directly in their e-mail inbox. Focus is on up-to-date information and announcing changes via the app.

Event Days: focus is on persons on-site. Moderators and speakers should be briefed on the app. Advantages and use. Added value: up-to-date information, give feedback, live questions to speakers and individual agenda/favorites.

Added Value of the App for the Participants

People do not do anything without a reason. Therefore, you should always communicate clearly to your participants why they should use the app at your event or what benefits they get from it. The typical added value of an event app is always up-to-date information on the agenda, the participants, speakers, sponsors, and location. Participants receive direct messages from the organizer and can provide feedback on individual program items or the event as a whole. Through the app, they can ask questions to the speakers, create their own individual agenda and save speakers as favorites for later. They get location plans and maps and can be navigated to and around the event.

How you integrate this information into the communication with your guests is up to you and how you use the app.

Early Phase Promotion – One Month Before the Event

This phase starts about one month before the event. At this time, your guests will be busy with your event for the first time looking for event content. At this point, your app should be, at least partially, completed. It will now serve as a mobile information point.

If you also resort to printed materials for marketing, then it is necessary to integrate a QR code or the URL of the app here. You should always keep in mind with which instrument a person will search for the event when he gets such a flyer in his hand or sees a poster. That’s right, with his smartphone. Then offer him an information source which is optimized for such devices. In addition, you increase the substantive depth of your advertising materials and bring potential participants into your information channel.

In this phase, you should inform your visitors about the basic structure and content of the app.

Red Zone Promotion – Two Weeks Before the Event

Your event is slowly moving closer and it wanders more and more into the thoughts of your participants. Now you should at least start actively distributing the app across all your social networks. You should also link it to your homepage.

Now your guests are particularly interested in how they can actively use the app. So, tell them that they can find all the information about the agenda and the participants here. They can also create their own individual agenda and give feedback on program items or ask questions to the speakers.

Last Days Promotion – Seven Days Before the Event

The last 7 days of the event have begun and all your participants will actively prepare for it. For the distribution of the app, direct channels such as email or WhatsApp groups are most relevant. Most organizers send an info mail with all relevant information a few days before the event anyway. Here the app URL should definitely be integrated.

So close to the event, your participants are primarily looking for sources of information that will make their time at the event easier. In addition to the advantages already mentioned, you can focus on the timeliness of the data here. Explain that they always find the most up-to-date information about the agenda and the rooms in the app. You can also point out that spontaneous changes are only communicated via the app. This will avoid chaos and your guests will find their way around quickly.

Event Days

The big day has arrived and your event begins. Now the physical activities on site and your moderators and speakers are important. Digital instruments are less relevant but still a good foundation stone. The least amount of work is done by flyers or posters pointing out the app at the event location. Other creative possibilities are, for example, a reference to the app on the tickets or event badges. You could also use table displays with an image and the URL or QR code. The best way is a Wi-Fi network with the app as the home page.

However, announcements from the organizers and moderators are very promising. For the opening session, it is important to take a brief look at the app and its successful use. If you use the feedback feature for each session, speakers should always point out this feature. Your audience can also send questions to the speaker via the app. Or you can promote the app with a free give-away. So your guests could, for example, get a free drink at the bar when they use a code from the app at the bar or show the app.

What you should have learned

The success of an event app is significantly dependent on your guests even knowing about the app. The awareness of the app is neither coincidental nor easy to achieve. Having your own concept makes everyday life easier for you and should definitely be integrated into your overall event marketing. If you want to use the app primarily as a communication and information medium at the event, then it is sufficient to start one month before the start of the event with the distribution of the event app. Here you should bring your participants in touch with your app piece by piece and skillfully communicate the advantages of using it.

What do you think of this article? How do you market your event apps? Do you have any questions and alternative ideas?

“Megaphone” Icon created by Gregor Cresnar from “the Noun Project“.

The post The 4 Stages for Successful Event App Marketing first appeared on LineUpr Blog.

On our blog, there was already an article on the subject of App Marketing which has been oriented at different stages before the event. We have already enlightened you on the different phases of marketing.

Regardless of the time, this article will now deal with concrete ways and means of marketing, independent of an exact timetable. The goal should be for you, as the organizer, to achieve the highest possible usage rate.

When to Begin? The Sooner the Better!

Basically, you have to first decide whether you want to use the app for the promotion of the event or just to inform the guests in advance.

If your goal is to market the event using the app, then you should start relatively early. We recommend that the framework of the app, i.e. the date, the location, the content, and one or more speakers, are already registered when the registration portals open.

It’s best to create a post that notifies the participants of the unfinished status, declaring that there will be more info here.

Use Mail Campaigns Properly

The number one way to publicise your app is still by email. As soon as your participants have to register for your event, they have guaranteed to provide an e-mail address. That’s exactly how you should promote the app. The important thing is that the app is already finalized. Participants must be able to see what to expect. Use your Call to Action as an added value for guests: they can create their daily schedule or take part in a survey.

It’s a good idea to send a second message to those who did not click on the app’s link in the first mail. You should, therefore, track and analyze the emails properly.

Social Media: Generating Attention

Start distributing the app’s link on all sorts of platforms. In this way, not yet registered people learn about your event. In contrast to the e-mail, you can start very early with this. Report the details of your event by using the sharing option of the app. You will find this button in the programme items, the locations, and the line-up. If you click on the button, you can then choose the platform on which you want to share it. Then write a text and done! Sharing directly from the app adds many more participants and recognizes it as a medium of information that is always kept up to date.

Promotion by Print – It’s all in the mix

Surely you have also prepared one or the other poster or a flyer for the promotion of your event. A QR code and the link to the app must definitely be displayed on such materials

In the case of posters, the reason is quite simple: The interested parties directly reach a medium optimized for mobile devices and have all the information immediately ready. This can never completely fit on a poster.

If you put the code and the link on the flyers, you can effectively reduce the amount of print material you need in the long term. Many people will prefer to choose the digital way!

Convince the Last Undecided Person During the Event

Certainly, there will be visitors who have not yet used your app or who do not even know it exists. No problem – you can still draw attention to the app during onboarding and other suitable locations.

Brief your staff! Each visitor has to be made aware of the app once again while onboarding. Use a QR code and a nice short link that is easy to type. In addition, your colleagues can present the added values of the app: there will be surveys, we will distribute changes etc.

What Should You Have Learned

In this article, you should have learned the ways of promotion and how they work. Besides, we have once again made it clear why a good promotion of the app also helps you as an organizer.

What is your opinion about App Promotion? Have you already had your own experiences? We look forward to your feedback on this article.

“Promotion” Icon created by Gilberto from “the Noun Project“.

The post How to Optimize the Reach of your Event App first appeared on LineUpr Blog.

We love BarCamps! Therefore, we are always happy to support such an event. We think that such a young and innovative event format deserves all the help it can get.

We are often asked if there are any other good, and most importantly, free tools that are suitable for hosting BarCamps. In addition, we have been to some Barcamps and want to show you what the organisers use there.

The planning: Exchanges among Organisers

Everything starts with an idea. So that it doesn’t just end in talk, you should hold on to everything that comes to mind or is talked about. For this reason, it is important to have the simplest possible solution. That’s exactly what the initiators of Etherpad, an open-source tool allowing the simultaneous editing of notes, thought.

The inviting user can decide whether the invitees are allowed to edit, comment or just read. The functionality is good, and the app can be downloaded for Windows, Mac and Linux.

At http://etherpad.org/ you can get an overview of the functions. If you like it and you maybe still have a little money lying around, then the developers would certainly be happy about a small donation.

The Promotion: Everyone needs to know about it

In addition to the well-trodden paths such as Facebook, Eventbrite and XING Events, there are also providers who put the interaction of the guests at the centre of attention even after the event. And since the BarCamp format lives on year-round networking, you should use exactly such a tool. So instead of looking for new guests every time, just keep the already existing ones. Of course, content input is needed here, but if you organise a BarCamp for any of your favourite topics, the effort should be kept in check.

An example of such a platform is Meetup. At https://www.meetup.com/en-US/ you can register and start filling your group first with people and then with content. What we liked best: You don’t need to register if you want to look at a group. For those interested, you can also present content.

In general, we would not recommend you to just rely on one platform for the promotion. That is why the BarCamp list should also be mentioned here. Under http://www.barcamp-liste.de/ you can get in touch with the operators and get your BarCamp listed. There are a lot of camps listed in the DACH area and the site is ranked well on Google, which increases its findability.

Make a Buzz at Camp!

A BarCamp thrives on interaction with social media! So, ask your guests to post properly and to stream. This works even better if the participants can follow what the others are saying on a large screen. So-called social walls are perfect for this! A provider who uses a freemium model is walls.io and they even make a positive exception for BarCamps! Just contact the team and you will get free premium access from them.

Why walls.io? The social network options which can be tapped are endless. In addition, the surfaces can be adapted to your corporate design.

To get a better picture, just check out https://walls.io/

Before, during and after: Event App!

In case you didn’t now as yet: LineUpr gives, without exception, every BarCamp a free event app with our maximum range of functions. All you have to do is contact us. Email us at team@lineupr.com, call +49 351 32111650 or post a message to @teamlineupr on Twitter – any way works. We will then get back to you with a coupon code.

So, if you just want to digitalise your session board, conduct polls, and get feedback then get in touch with us!

Your solution was not included? Just ask!

If you have already chosen a special software that you would like to use, then don’t hesitate to pick up the phone! If there are people on your BarCamp that match the vendor’s product then the chances of sponsoring are good. Of course, you can help out with that. And even if you don’t get the solution for free, you can certainly talk about a decent discount.

Summary

In this text we have shown you a collection of tools and platforms that aren’t allowed to be missing from any BarCamp. They all have in common that they are either completely or exclusively for Barcamps free.

What is your feedback on Tools for BarCamps? What did we forget? What are your experiences with the tools we researched? Let us know in the comments.

Do you know someone who is organising a BarCamp? Then we would be happy if you share our article. You can find other helpful articles in our blog under the keyword “BarCamp”

The post Working with a tight budget – Free Tools for BarCamps first appeared on LineUpr Blog.