The Global Events Collective is an initiative that grew from an event called GMIDGoesVirtual in the Spring of 2020, right as the pandemic hit, and in-person events were halted. Comprised of event industry professionals from across the globe, the goal is to get people involved in an upcoming documentary as the collective’s first initiative.
I am part of the marketing team that has put the website together and is overseeing the current marketing strategy and implementation.
Website Design
The goal of the website is three-fold.
1. We need to get the evolved collective out there, and the information about who we are to our event industry audience.
2. We want people to understand what our first project is, and how they can get involved.
3. As a not-for-profit organization, having an option to partner with us and donate funds to help us move our initiative forward is key.
White space is the key to getting lots of information on the site, but without feeling like there’s too much information to sift through but adding pops of colour to buttons and headings where appropriate to tie in our branding for cohesiveness.
A WordPress platform was used, and we work with a Divi builder, so in case anyone needs to make changes in my absence, it’s fairly straightforward to use. We also don’t need anything super fancy, as we need brand awareness.
A blog was added to help us with SEO and tying in event industry news and updates with what the GEC is doing.
Digital Marketing Strategy
Social Media Management/Creation
Getting the Global Event Collective brand out in front of event professionals is the key to our success. A great tool for that is through our social media channels, with a huge focus on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Digital Marketing
SEO / Keywords
Optimizing the website for SEO is a key role for me in ensuring we rank in google, so we get increased brand awareness. Our first initiative is based on stories from all types of people, not strictly event professionals, so getting in front of the general population is important. With a rebrand, bridging the GMID Goes Virtual movement, with the new Global Events Collective is very important for brand awareness.
SEO is important in driving traffic to the blog and getting the visitor to convert on the website whether donating, joining our mailing list, submitting a story etc..
Email Marketing Campaigns
From the GMID Goes Virtual event in the Spring of 2020, there was a very engaged email database. This database was full of event professionals that were wanting to follow the grassroots movement, and where that movement would go. Once the website was launched, with the first initiative firmly in place, we began to contact our database and let them know what we had evolved into and how they can get involved.
As we move further along, we will be using our email marketing campaigns to target sponsorship and partnership opportunities.
Social Media ManagementÂ
The GEC is active on 4 social channels with LinkedIn & Twitter being our best performers due to the nature of the industry. Instagram has done increasingly well, likely due to the increased visual aspect, and a lot of event professionals that are no longer in the industry are staying in touch via their personal account.Â
PodcastÂ
The GEC has recently launched a podcast that has included podcast interview outlines, social copy and website copy. The purpose of the podcast is to showcase stories of impact and translate those episodes to social copy to help spread the word for more stories while increasing click-through to the podcast.
Ultimately, a long-term goal is to help increase sponsorship funding to the collective via the podcast, and the longer-term goal is to turn this into a documentary.
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