Practical suggestions for event operations!

Event operation is an operation method that our organization/enterprise is very familiar with. No matter how big or small our organization is, or what kind of training we do, we have all held a few events to a greater or lesser extent. The purpose may be to increase the activity of existing customers or to acquire new customers. The form may be online lottery voting or offline summer camps or salons. Think back at this moment to a campaign you did recently, how effective did you feel it was? Are you satisfied with the results?

Event operation is also a powerful tool to quickly increase traffic in a short period of time. As an offline organization that is unable to start work due to the epidemic, we should consider how to quickly regain popularity after the epidemic is over. At this time, it is very necessary to organize an activity with clear objectives, careful planning, strong execution and detailed review.

01. Systematically understand activity operations

Event operation, literally speaking, is "event" + "operation". "Operation" is the goal we want to achieve, and "event" is a way to achieve the operational goal.

1. What is event operation?

Achieve operational objectives through activities. In the process of operating our organization, we will encounter many problems, such as low user activity, single customer acquisition channel, poor customer perception of the brand, low repurchase rate, etc. There are many ways to solve these problems, such as community operation, new media operation, and advertising. Event operation is also a common and effective method.

2. Activity operation system

Event operations have a complete operating system. First of all, we need to clarify the needs of our activities and think clearly about what problems we want to solve through this activity.

1) Establish requirements

In fact, there may be multiple solutions to these problems, but when we think that event operations are more appropriate, we need to establish clear goals and confirm the key indicators under this goal.

2) Establish goals

The various indicators broken down under the operational objectives are specific measures of the effectiveness of achieving the objectives. When we evaluate how well an event is done, we cannot just rely on "good" or "bad", but must implement it specifically at the data level.

For example, if an event requires users to pay to participate, how much profit do we expect? How many registrations are needed for the dissemination phase? What is the reading volume and forwarding rate of the article? How many people actually came to the event? How satisfied are users with this event? We need to think clearly about these indicators before planning the event.

3) Activity establishment and planning

At this stage, we need to design activity plans and arrange activity budgets.

The specific content will be explained in the next chapter.

4) Activity preparation

That is to say, according to our event planning, we will prepare various conditions before the event starts, such as online and offline promotional materials, confirming event information with guests, etc.

If the event is longer, consider preparing lunch or coffee breaks.

5) Activity Execution

Activity execution is also important, but relatively simple. The main thing here is to determine the division of labor among personnel and to keep a good record of the activity process through photos, videos or live broadcasts.

6) Activity summary and review

After the event, what results were achieved and how the various indicators were completed based on the event goals we set. We need to do such summaries and reviews so that we can learn from the experience or lessons for the next event.

7) Subsequent dissemination

The end of an event does not mean the end of marketing. We hope that the event can influence more people and enhance our brand value. At this time, we need to do a good job of follow-up communication of the event.

The recorded activity materials should be shared with users in a timely manner. When recording the materials, high quality should be ensured, and the various sharing psychology of users should be cleverly utilized (this will be highlighted in the last chapter).

3. About event operation positions

Specialized event operation positions are uncommon in the market. As a mode of operation, event operation runs through almost all types of operations, including new media operation, product operation, user operation, and community operation. Every position is inseparable from event operation.

Most of the event operation positions in the market come from e-commerce companies because the e-commerce industry has frequent demands for event operations. As an offline organization, we have very low requirements for the frequency of event operations. Many organizations may not hold a large-scale event once a month.

It sounds like event operation is a miscellaneous job, but often the more miscellaneous the job is, the more it requires a complete knowledge system. Next, we will take a closer look at this system.

02. Project establishment and planning of activities

1. Activity establishment

Project establishment is a relatively important action. Generally, project establishment is only required for very important activities. Such activities often require huge investment of manpower, material and financial resources (such as Tmall Double 11 and JD 618), and may also be related to the survival of the company. Our daily small and medium-sized events can go directly into event planning.

2. Event Planning

There are roughly five key points in event planning, namely event purpose, event form, event design, copywriting planning and competitor research. First of all, we need to clarify the purpose and form of the activity.

Based on our purpose, we should think about the forms in which the activities can be carried out. In addition to some forms that everyone is using, we can also use our creativity to try more fun and interesting ideas.

Next, it’s event design.

How should the activity be designed specifically? First of all, the basic information of the event must be determined, including the time, location, scale, price, participation methods, etc. The next step is to design the activity theme. When designing the theme, we need to do some user research and design some interesting, useful and attractive content based on user preferences. Here we can refer to the SMART principle:

In summary, the theme of the event needs to be specific and executable, the effects must be quantifiable, the operations must be feasible, it must be highly relevant to users, and it must have a clear time frame.

Then, it’s copywriting planning.

That is, to organize the copywriting content involved in the entire event process, including the promotional copy required for event warm-up, the text content required for offline materials, the copywriting on posters, and the push of WeChat public accounts.

Finally, you can also do some competitive research.

What activities did organizations of the same type as ours do and when? HOW DOES IT PERFORM? What pitfalls have you encountered? These are all worth our reference, learning from the good experiences and drawing lessons from the bad ones.

3. Budget

The budget refers to all the expenses needed for an event. The more detailed the budget is, the better. Here is a picture to summarize it:

There is a real problem: lack of money.

What can you do when you have a small campaign budget?

Here is a method for your reference:

Through this form of cooperation, multiple institutions can achieve win-win results and share the cost of the event.

03. Preparation and execution of activities

1. Activity Preparation

After the event planning and budgeting were completed, we entered the preparation stage for the event. At this stage, we need to consider personnel division of labor, event warm-up, venue confirmation and material preparation.

1) Division of labor

Everyone is responsible for different tasks and only by coordinating and cooperating with each other can the activity be carried out better. For example, if there are sufficient staff, it is best to have someone responsible for photography and videography, and someone responsible for handling on-site emergencies or debugging equipment.

2) Activity warm-up

That is, the early publicity and promotion of the event, which includes the copywriting planning work we have to do, such as public account push and poster design. Let me focus on the publicity channels.

The introduction may not be comprehensive enough. For activities with higher expectations, you can also try some paid promotion channels, such as local public accounts and small V placements. In fact, the price is not expensive. Although the number of fans is not very large, it has strong local attributes, the push is relatively accurate, and it is easier to obtain high conversions.

3) Site and material preparation

Confirm the venue, negotiate the price, and arrange the venue. Place orders for promotional posters, leaflets, offline display boards and other materials, and these can also be packaged and handed over to professional exhibition service providers.

2. Activity Execution

If the activity is well prepared, execution will be a natural thing. Pay attention to three points:

1) Execute according to the division of labor;

2) Keep good records of activity materials for future marketing use;

3) Be prepared in advance for any unexpected events that may occur at the event site.

04. Activity review and subsequent communication

1. Activity review and dissemination

After the event is over, it is necessary to review the results of the event, refer to the various indicators set previously, and evaluate the effectiveness of the event to determine whether similar activities should be carried out again and how to do better next time.

In terms of communication, event materials should be shared with event participants in a timely manner, and public account pushes, press releases and other content should also be produced as soon as possible. It is recommended that the templates be prepared during the event preparation stage. In addition, the event site can induce users to help spread the word, please refer to the picture above for details.

One more thing:

For event operations aimed at "attracting new customers", sales activities should be followed up in a timely manner after the event ends, especially when the event is effective, the success rate of conversion will be higher.

2. Design of communication elements

The picture above shows the seven deadly sins of human nature in Western Catholic doctrine, which are often referenced when making products and content. These seven sins represent seven weaknesses of human nature. By utilizing these weaknesses of human nature and awakening people's emotions, our products, content, and activities can gain better participation and dissemination.

Here I still recommend that you watch the video of this course (return to the top of the page and scan the QR code to enter the course playback). You will understand it more clearly by combining it with case analysis.

If you think the seven deadly sins of human nature are not clear enough, then we can be more specific about "the N internal motivations that trigger sharing behavior." These internal drives include: sexual desire, curiosity, laziness, showing off, comparison, identity, greed, enjoyment...

The following is a direct example analysis:

1) Why does Tmall’s Double 11 sales reach new records year after year?

a. Preferential treatment, discounts, and large subsidies take advantage of the greed of human nature, which may lead people to make irrational consumption and share goods in order to obtain preferential treatment;

b. Because of the herd mentality, people may feel that it is unreasonable not to buy something on this day, thus generating some irrational consumption;

c. Because of the psychology of comparison, people may buy some non-essential goods, and if there are discounts on Double 11, they can buy them.

2) Why does NetEase’s H5 appear on the screen so frequently?

The case is NetEase’s recent H5 that went viral, “100 Things You Must Do in Life.”

a. I want to tell my friends that I have accomplished many things that I am proud of, and use the sharing factor of "showing off";

b. In fact, no one in your circle of friends cares about what you have accomplished. You are just having fun by taking advantage of the sharing factor of "narcissism";

c. Even though you know no one cares what you do, you still want to get likes because you want to be "approved" by others.

3) What psychological factors did the Sanlitun Spartan Warriors incident exploit?

Although the event was quickly stopped by the police due to its vulgarity, it still had a good dissemination effect on the Internet at that time.

a. Muscular men, naked bodies, and male hormones are naturally eye-catching;

b. All the models are foreign males. The format is very novel and takes advantage of human curiosity.

4) Why are car shows and car models always linked together?

a. Lustful and voyeuristic, all for the sake of hype and attention;

b. Most car enthusiasts are men, and in front of women (especially beautiful women), men prefer to show off their wealth and status;

c. Of course, there are many people who go to auto shows just to see the car models.

The above examples are intended to convey to everyone how to use these sharing factors to help your activities gain more participation and spread. We can design them based on the attributes of the education industry. Of course, in order to maintain a good brand image, we’d better not use some vulgar means. After all, most of our users are children.

Author: Easter Egg Marketing Studio

Source: Easter Egg Marketing Studio (ID: CDmkting)