The fear of missing out—or, “FOMO”—is more than a social media hashtag.

It’s a very real phenomenon among human beings. And according to the folks who study this stuff, it consists of two main parts: the perception of missing out and the compulsion to maintain the social connections you missed out on.

If you’re an event planner or marketer competing against a tidal wave of other event invitations, building a healthy amount of FOMO for your next event could be the thing that helps you hit your registration goals.

But we won’t lie to you—the noise is loud.

To build genuine FOMO for your next online conference or virtual event, you’ll need to work smarter before, during and after.

In this article we’ll share tried-and-tested tips for generating event buzz, plus a few new approaches you can add to your playbook.

You know the right amount of FOMO is crucial for hitting your event KPIs. But what practical steps can you take to generate the buzz you need?

Here are a few ways to make your event a true “can’t-miss” affair.

You’ve heard this one before. But the truth is, many marketers still jump into events headfirst, without taking the time to reflect on what their audience actually needs.

To generate true FOMO for your live events, your attendees should feel like they are about to miss out on a one-of-a-kind opportunity.

Here are some tips to help you get inside your attendees’ heads and position your event to answer real questions:

• Understand what your target audience wants at each stage of their journey, then design your event theme and content to directly answer those questions.
• Use customer stories and attendee testimonials to build a compelling narrative around your event and pique your prospect’s curiosity through organic social proof.
• Use engaging visuals and event-specific branding to create an eye-catching identity that’s instantly recognizable to new and existing audiences.

By taking time to unpack the problem your audience is up against, you can build an emotional connection that not only helps convert them to registration, but also keeps them coming back to your ongoing events.

At the end of the day, building FOMO isn’t really about fear. It’s about playing to your audience’s dreams, aspirations, and interests. The more they see themselves at your event, the stronger their FOMO will be.

For marketers, the old adage “out of sight, out of mind” rings painfully true.

People trust consistency. And in a business climate where it can take an average of eight touches to get an initial meeting or other conversion, you simply can’t afford to fall off your prospect’s radar.

To get attendees excited about your event—and make sure they actually show up—you’ve got to keep in touch regularly and effectively.

To be clear, this does not mean blasting inboxes with generic emails. Instead, you’ll need a solid plan and timeline for delivering valuable, relatable content that keeps your event top-of-mind.

Here are a few proven tips to get you started:

• Create your pre-event communication strategy. For example, if you’re planning a webinar email sequence, you might schedule your first reminder for one week before the webinar, your second reminder for a day before and your third reminder for less than one hour before.
• Speak directly to your prospects’ needs, wants, and interests to show (vs. tell) them why your event is a “can’t-miss” experience.
• Leverage various communication channels—email marketing, social media, blog posts, influencers, partner channels and more—to share event updates, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, and keynote announcements.
• Stay consistent by giving your audience regular opportunities to engage with your brand in the days and weeks leading up to your event.

Remember, a successful FOMO strategy isn’t about making people feel bad for missing your event. It's about making them excited to attend.

Use social media effectively, with teasers and visual zero-click content alongside branded event hashtags and other details about the event. Make sure your copy speaks directly to your audience’s existing knowledge gaps and how you'll address them during your event.

Once you’ve got ‘em hooked, all you have to do is keep it easy to register and attend. Tell prospects how and when to sign up, make it easy for them to find the event link, and use automatic calendar holds to make it simple for folks to click right into the event on the big day.

We all love to feel special. And nothing says “exclusive” like a VIP pass.

By adding a layer of appeal and exclusivity, offering a VIP or all-access pass can help you build even more FOMO for your events.

Here are a few tricks to try out:

• Limit the number of registrations to create a sense of urgency. For example, you might allow only a specific number of early bird registrants within a limited time, and highlight the number of spots left on the registration page. Adding a countdown timer is another great way to build FOMO, while letting people know how much time is left to sign up.
• Offer exclusive games, giveaways and other perks. For example, an exclusive offer, like a free consultation or an extended free product trial for a specific high-value segment of your audience.
• Highlight exclusive VIP offerings in all your event's marketing materials to let your audience know exactly what they stand to miss out on if they don't attend live.

And don't stop there. Continue your momentum and boost your event’s on-the-day engagement by giving attendees opportunities to win additional perks or experiences through contests, raffles, or games.

The right event gamification elements could be just what you need to take your event from ‘maybe’ to ‘heck yes’ status in the eyes of your attendees.

For example, we often see Goldcast users who like to reward attendee engagement with gift giveaways.

If you use a platform like Goldcast that integrates deeply with tools like HubSpot, Salesforce and Marketo, you can set up automations to easily create incentives and send a small gift to your most engaged attendees via tools like Sendoso. You can even update a contact’s program status based on their event activity, without wasting time on manual entry.

If you’re really ready to level up your event FOMO, visual content is where it’s at.

Event recaps, reels, highlights, and sneak peeks can help you tap into the power of video to capture and hold your audience’s attention.

Here are some easy ways to get started:

• Release an engaging post-event recap video using content from previous events, such as a highlight reel to remind prospective attendees of those priceless “I can't miss out next time” moments.
• Create a behind-the-scenes reel to get your audience excited and nurture a sense of involvement in the preparation for the event.
• Use pre-recorded event content to generate sneak peeks of what’s to come and tease any upcoming surprises—for example, VIP guest appearances, or exclusive content. Just be sure not to spill all the beans at once! A gradual and strategic reveal is the best way to build peak anticipation.

A great video sparks FOMO like no other format. By aligning a visual image with your event, it becomes easier for potential attendees to “see” themselves there.

For example, the below video recap of Preseem's WISP Virtual Summit features impressive stats on the 500 people who joined the event, plus the various points, prizes and rewards they racked up while there.

With a clear process for repurposing your event content, you can use AI to automatically generate clips of your top event moments to share via different channels.

One of the best ways of building FOMO for future events is to create a reputation for hosting events your attendees regret missing.

And in a highly competitive business climate, you can’t afford to cut corners.

Goldcast is the best-in-class digital events platform that keeps the buzz going from beginning to end, then back again.

With an easy and efficient registration process, you can increase registrations and reduce the risk of cancellations and no-shows. Fully customizable branding tools make it easy to deliver a consistent look and feel—from your registration pages to your email reminders and beyond. And a full suite of engagement features makes attendee interaction simple and natural.

After your event is finished? Bring it full circle by utilizing Goldcast’s AI-enabled Content Lab to instantly create bite-sized video content that keeps your attendees coming back for more.