Event Booster! Why Live Blogs Aren’t Just Useful for Soccer Anymore

Thanks Eventbrite for sharing our CEO's thoughts for event coverage on your blog! Here is our translation for our English speaking users. We can’t imagine getting our sports highlights without them. Over the past few years, live blogs have become a beloved tool of numerous media providers. Those who don't have time to sit in front of a TV during the game can still get all the most important information in real-time on their smartphone or tablet. But if you believe that live blogs only make sense for the sports industry, then you haven’t understood the versatility this technology provides. Why report only on a last-second goal or a home run hit out of the park? Today, Naomi Owusu, CEO of Tickaroo, shares with us why creating a live blog is also a worthwhile endeavor for your event. Offsides: Deliver Information to the Outside World in a Controlled Fashion The year has only 365 days. No “Save the Date” email in the world can manage to ensure that everyone that should be at your event will actually make it. For those who can’t physically be there, the live blog acts as an additional service for your event from which both sides can profit. By creating their own live blog, organizers are able to make themselves the first contact point for interested individuals who are looking for information about the event- before, during and after the fact. The creation of one’s own channel means additionally, that event managers are able to decide for themselves which information needs to be communicated and how best to communicate it. The result: an organised storyline that readers can easily and better follow than an unstructured collection of social media posts. Extended Game Time: Expand Offerings of Insights and Specials However, current goings-on aren't the only things that can be shared with a live blog. Event managers can learn a lot from sports coverage, especially in terms of style- for example, how the online version of “kicker” Magazine is able to provide its users with a lot more information, through the use of team or player profiles. As an event organiser, you have the same opportunity! Use the live blog as a base to build a complete information platform which you can use to cover information about event partners or other relevant topics. Renowned speakers or event participates can be introduced via interview, or can even become reporters themselves. These tactics open up the wide world of storytelling for the event manager. An Amazing Win: Brand Building Thanks to Live Coverage For event companies, the construction of one’s own brand is often more difficult than for companies who have a concrete product or a service to provide. Events take a lot of energy, whether they last a day, a week, or even an entire month.Then once it’s finished, preparations for ticket sales for next year’s event need to basically get started. Nothing remains but the event coverage. It’s therefore advantageous for the organizer when this active, complete coverage of the event is clearly conceived and written by the organizer themselves. Journalists pick their favorite highlights, create their opinions, and compose news stories, that again increase the visibility of your event. Live blogs and their post-event preparation have the power and ability to clarify the concept behind the event, and thus can create a strong sustainable brand image outside of the media's hands. An added benefit is the authentic and personal atmosphere of live coverage. News from an event location in real-time, without long publishing processes, comes across as way more authentic and connected to the event itself. A New Coach: Olympic Games as an Example for Event Coverage An example of a successful live blog is the one that SPIEGEL ONLINE composed for this year’s Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. In only 17 days, the live blog had over 34 million page impressions and more than 3 million unique visitors. A live blog can also demonstrate what parts of the event the website visitors and non present fans are interested in. For example, the results of the Olympic coverage showed that ice hockey and biathlon were the most popular sports. While sports-related results are predefined by the various disciplines, event managers have more freedom to evaluate the thematic interests of their audiences through the available data, and thereby are able to use this knowledge for the planning of later events. Conclusion: Life is Live! The world in which we live is always becoming faster and more digital. Whether a soccer match or a business event, information is transferred all over the world as formless and unfiltered via social media platforms in real time. The event managers who use these external reports in combination with their own live blog to supplement what can be found in the media about their event will definitely have an advantage. Event managers now have the opportunity to expand coverage and storytelling of their own brand in the palm of their hands.