Host a Virtual Launch Party to Promote Your New Website

The Importance of Promoting Your Website

Your website is a 24/7 sales channel. Similar to a brick-and-mortar, customers will only know to visit your website if you market it to them. So, what are you going to do to bring people in?

Why a Live Event is a Good Idea

Inbound marketing and digital advertising are both great options, but it’s also a good idea to branch out and be more creative. Hosting a live event to discuss your site gives you the chance to explain your business “face to face” with people who are at the top of your sales funnel. (Meaning they haven’t purchased from you… yet!) As a small business, you are the face of your brand, and a live event helps the customer’s experience feel more personal.

Setting Up Your Live Event

As with any type of event, the first thing you need to do is pick a date and time! You should take into consideration who you’ll be inviting (e.g. your ideal client), what time would work best for them, and what - if any - objections they might have to attending the event.

Keeping your ideal client in mind, choose the platform where they tend to be the most. Is it Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube? (If you’re having a tough time trying to decide, choose the platform where your business receives the most engagement.) Another option would be to use a service such as Restream.io to broadcast to multiple platforms simultaneously, but this does require a more advanced technical setup.

Marketing Your Live Event

Four Weeks Out

Start with some behind-the-scenes work by defining your “why.”

Why are you hosting this event?
Who are you targeting?
What are the benefits, risks and rewards?
Which platform will you be going live on?

This is also when you should choose a date and time to host the event.

Three Weeks Out

It’s almost time to start marketing to your audience!

Set up an event page on your website and social media channel of choice.
Create the visual assets for your event
Prepare two weeks - yes, two full weeks - worth of content
Create your list of attendees, identifying key customers and potential clients
Release some event information, similar to a “Save the Date” invite

Two Weeks Out

Ready, set, share! It’s time to launch your social media campaign.

Reach out to your audience directly to invite them to the event page, and suggest they RSVP. (Remember, roughly 40% of people who say they’re “going” will actually attend, and only 10% of those who mark themselves as “maybe.”)
Send out an email to your marketing list inviting them to join the live event
Personally RSVP to the event as “going” if the live event will be on Facebook, so that your friends and other connections will see it in their timeline.

It’s important that you’re posting at least every other day about your event to keep the momentum going.

One Week Out

Now that you’re closer to the event date, it’s time to up your posting schedule daily to get people excited! And, depending on the platform, create and share a countdown for people to refer to so they keep your event at the top of their mind.

Also, be sure you have your “day of” timeline or “order of” events documented so you know how the event should flow. A rough outline could look like:

Introduce yourself and your business
Explain why you have a new website, and how it benefits the customer
Start with your homepage, then show 2-3 other pages of what you think your customer would be most interested in. (This could be a new customer service feature, a faster way to access information, etc.)

Host Your Event!

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The Week After

Again, just like a typical event, be sure to share your gratitude for those who attended! This could be a social media post, or - even better - an email with some degree of personalization thanking them for their time and trust in your business.

This is also a great opportunity to ask for feedback, or link to a survey, about your website. As much as you hope your website is perfect, it’s helpful to understand how your customers are using your site so you can improve missed opportunities.

Marketing Platforms to Promote Your Event

On Social Media

The social media platform(s) you host your event on should be selected based on your ideal client demographic:

Facebook
- Users ages 25-34 years represent Facebook’s largest audience¹
- Facebook currently boasts over 2.89 billion MONTHLY active users¹
- Facebook video (in-feed) is the most popular type of video content on the platform (51% of users), slightly less than Live and Watch combined (57%)¹
Instagram
- 18 to 34 year olds make up the biggest share of Instagram’s audience, which is 60% of Instagram's total audience²
- 9 out of 10 users watch Instagram videos weekly²
- Gen X males are the fastest growing Instagram audience²
- 1 in 2 people have used Instagram to discover new brands²
TikTok
- 138 million MONTHLY active users in the U.S.³
- Customer spending on TikTok in Q4 of 2021 was $824.4 million³
- 32% of TikTok users are aged between 25 and 34³
- 57% of TikTok users are female and 43% are male³
YouTube
- One-third of internet users has watched a tutorial or how-to video this week⁴
- 30% of internet users report watching at least one video live stream weekly⁴
- In 2020, 56% of YouTube users were male-identifying and 44% were female-identifying⁴

Via Email Marketing

An email list is the most important asset to have for a small business, as it allows you to have an open line of communication with your customers.
Hopefully you already have a marketing list, but if not, be sure to generate one. You can ask for social media followers to subscribe, and add a newsletter form to your website to collect email addresses.

And, Duh, Your Website!

Create a marketing page for your event: one place to get all your information. This also benefits your onpage Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by having a centralized location of information, even if it links out to your social media channels.

Hosting a live event to showcase your website is more than introducing features. It’s really about opening a line of communication and allowing your customers to feel more comfortable navigating your website so you can better serve their needs. Aside from sales, this will also help develop stronger brand loyalty for your small business!

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