How to Leverage Content for Event Business Success

If the pandemic has taught the events industry one thing, it’s that content is the new currency in the events industry.  

No longer are events just single-time gatherings; they’ve become content generation powerhouses with the potential to propel event business year-round.  

For event planners, organizers, and marketers on the prowl to maximize returns, this article will shed light on how to leverage content for event business success and how recording, reselling, remarketing, and repurposing event content can transform an event business model from one-off occasions to continuous content creation hubs. 

Event Stages as Content Studios

Imagine every conference, seminar, or panel discussion as an opportunity to capture invaluable content. Turning the spotlight on the fact that stages now double as studios, here’s how you can transform live moments into lasting content: 

  • Record keynote speeches: Capture high-definition videos of keynote presentations to share post-event. 
  • Share panel discussions: Record panel discussions for bite-sized educational material for your audience. It’s GREAT for social sharing.  
  • Conduct onsite interviews: Create engaging interviews with speakers, exhibitors, and attendees to showcase insights and testimonials – not just a highlights reel! 

Year-round Engagement With Repurposed Content

The end of the event should never mean the end of content. Here’s how repurposing content can help engage attendees and attract new audiences: 

  • Create highlight reels: Condense hours of footage into engaging highlights to keep the excitement alive. You can create at least 4-8 shareable clips in one session. 
  • Develop educational series: Turn presentations into a webinar series or e-learning modules for your event community. 
  • Produce podcast episodes: Extract audio from sessions to create thought-provoking podcasts for your audience to enjoy on the move. 
  • Transform presentations into blog posts: Repurpose presentations into blog posts and articles to keep the conversation going and attract new audiences with valuable content. 

Generating Revenue Through Targeted Sponsorships

Here’s how to turn your cache of content into a lucrative stream of income: 

  • Offer event content sponsorship: Enable sponsors to affiliate with specific pieces or channels of content. Hypertarget their offering with relevant sessions and increase your sponsorship revenue. 
  • Sell on-demand access: Provide exclusive paid access to high-value content, like in-depth workshops, specialized panels, or keynote speakers. 
  • Package data insights: Use attendee engagement data and content analytics to offer sponsors targeted advertising opportunities based on segments of your audience or event. 

From Live Event to Content Hub Transformation

We’ve just covered opportunities to capture content and repurpose it for year-round engagement, but what does it take to turn your live event into a content hub? 

  • Invest in quality recording equipment: Ensure you have the tech to capture content in the best possible quality. Higher quality means higher engagement.  
  • Plan for content life cycles: Design a content calendar to release content over time strategically. If you release it all in one go, people will soon forget. Plus, you’ll lose added SEO benefits if you don’t strategically release content.  
  • Build a dedicated content platform: It doesn’t have to be complicated; most web platforms allow this today. Create a go-to destination for your audience to access and interact with event content and easily share.  

Do It Right: Record, Edit, and Transcribe

Capturing content is only the first step. Next comes priming it for consumption to ensure you’re giving your event audience the highest quality content experience. 

  • Quality over quantity: Record moments offering unique insights, trends, or takeaways. If you only have time to edit two sessions effectively, focus on making the content from those recordings exceptional.  
  • Professional editing: Invest in professional editing teams or software to ensure a polished and viewer-friendly product. Aesthetics goes a long way in ensuring content is enjoyable and easy to engage with. 
  • Transcription accuracy: There are great tools such as Otter AI or Descript that create near-perfect transcriptions, but they’re exactly that… near-perfect. Add the human touch to ensure they’re accurate.  
  • Optimize for SEO: A lot of event content is SEO-friendly, as topics are typically trending in the industry. Be sure to use keywords in titles, descriptions, and tags to increase the chance of content appearing in relevant search queries. 

Snackable Content: The Bite-sized Takeaway

There is a myth that people only consume short content – they don’t. They binge-watch TV series, read long articles, and engage in hour-long podcasts. However, snackable content has its place and is perfect for social sharing and attracting audiences to your long-form content. 

Snackable content refers to small, bite-sized information that is easy to consume and share on social media platforms. These can include short clips, infographics, quotes, or images that quickly convey a message or idea from your event. Here’s why snackable content is your best friend: 

  • Infographics from key data points: Turn complex data discussions or presentations into easy-to-digest infographics. 
  • Quick tip videos: You don’t need to create a 10-minute video version of your article, but you could share top takeaways or strategies from your recordings in quick, consumable videos. 
  • Social media stories: Use snippets for stories or posts to generate buzz and share knowledge. Think along the lines of 30-second videos that are soundbites from keynotes. 

Is Content the New Currency for the Events Industry?

As the curtain closes on an event, the action continues off-stage in many forms. Today’s events must be multidimensional – not just gatherings but content generation arenas that keep the narrative going long after. With the right strategy, events can produce a goldmine of valuable content that educates, engages, and earns well beyond any singular occurrence. 

So, to the forward-thinking event planners, organizers, and marketers, embrace the evolution and let event content enrich your business model, turning live experiences into a year-round dialogue and a robust revenue stream.  

Remember, in the bustling marketplace of ideas, content isn’t just currency – it’s capital.