‘Explainer’ Video, Photo Upload and Organizer Data View – Service Improvements to Eventility

We’ve added some exciting new improvements to the site as well as a fab new homepage video.

The video explains more about us, what we do and how using our website can help you.  If you don’t have time or can’t view it on your device, here’s a roundup of the main points.

What is Eventility?

If you run a club, group, chapter or event, things can get complicated and confusing. With so much to organize it can be difficult enough just knowing where to start. It’s not just the organizing that’s the difficult part however – promotion is just as important because without it, how are people going to know about your group or events?

Eventility is built to help organizers, organize and people, take part.

Why Use Eventility?

We give you everything you could possibly need to help you organize your club, group, chapter or event and best of all, it’s free. You get lots of fantastic features including:

• Email tracking and SMS
• Sell tickets or invite attendees to RSVP to your events
• A mobile apps which allows you to manage everything on the move including scanning tickets
• A live feed to share photos, documents and comments and lots more
• Subscription/membership/dues collections
• Everything you need for promotion including professional web pages, social networking and plug-ins that integrate with your existing website
• And if you want to, the option for us to share your public information with our partners to make it even easier for people to find your club and events

Get Started – It’s Free

If you aren’t already signed up to Eventility and using it, then get started today – it’s free! Simply register or log-in and you will be guided through the quick and easy process so you can get organizing and promoting your club, group, chapter or event immediately. If you ever get stuck at any stage or have further questions, our support site has everything you need to know including details of how to contact us.

So What Else is New?

Upload Photos to Your Live Feed

It’s slick, it’s fast, it’s really, really, easy!  Posting photos to your club or group’s live feed is simple. Just browse and select, or drag and drop. You can also add a description of your photos so you know who was there and where you were.

Upload and share your photos here

Your Data at a Glance With Our Organizer Panel

Available on your own homepage and for every club, group or event you’re organizing. Get key stats on emails, membership, attendance and sales – all at a glance!

For clubs or groups, you can straightway see your total number of members, the percentage of members who have joined, the number of requests to join, and the percentage of those who have paid their membership fees/subscriptions/dues.

You can also see the results of the last communication you had with your groups via Eventility. It shows how many emails were sent, the percentage opened, clicked, bounced and the percentage of unsubscribes – so you know exactly what’s going on.

Login and view your very own Organizer Panel

How Social Media and Online Platforms Can Be Used Effectively in Event Organisation and Promotion

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Our Founder, Robin Brattel recently gave a talk at the 30^th anniversary International Confex show at ExCel. As an expert in his field, Robin spoke about how social media and online platforms can be used effectively in event organisation and promotion. He discussed how these platforms are currently being used in the industry, compared the different options available and vitally, measured the effectiveness of each.

It is becoming more and more evident that social media is here to stay and can be an incredibly powerful tool when organising an event. In fact, 72% of event organisers now see social media as a very important part of their job and 78% are planning to use it even more than they already do.

Exactly which platforms are those in the industry using however?

• 84% are using Facebook
• 61% Twitter
• 42% YouTube
• 42% LinkedIn
• 36% Google+
• 31% Blogs

If you’re not familiar with the world of social networking you may question why so many people are now using it. The most obvious answer is that with millions of people actively using these sites every day, what better way is there to reach out to people instantly, so easily and often for free?

If you are organising an event for example, social media can help you to collaborate with partners, colleagues, attendees and other people who may be interested but you wouldn’t normally have access to. Having the ability to post information and updates on these sites eliminates the need for so many emails which can be costly, it’s not intrusive because people have chosen to log-in and importantly, it enables them to share your news with others in their network.

With so many companies now realising the benefits of social media, you would struggle to find one that doesn’t have at least one online profile set up. This provides you with many great opportunities to discover suppliers, venues, caterers and any other service you may need. 61% of people now read online reviews before making a purchasing decision. This is hardly surprising when you consider that buyers can now see how companies interact with their customers and what people who have used them thought about the service.

Although social media can become a fundamental tool for event organisers, you have to work at it before you start to reap the benefits. In order to be successful, you need to become part of a community that knows and trusts you before you can activate it. There are generally six stages of online community development that as a brand, if you understand and work at, can help you to guide people from someone who simply follows you to a brand advocate.

Stage One – The Lurker – A lurker is someone who liked or followed your page  – they have taken the first step but that’s it. Chances are that at this stage they’re barely paying attention to what you’re saying and are highly unlikely to join in any conversations.

Stage Two – The Eavesdropper – Once you have said something that has captured the attention of an individual, they are likely to become an eavesdropper. This means that they’re beginning to develop an interest in what you’re saying but they are still unlikely to interact with your content.

Stage Three – The Acquaintance – Now you have said or posted enough things to catch someone’s attention, they are mildly interested in what you have to say. Just like an acquaintance in your neighbourhood, you will start to have some surface level interactions.

Stage Four – The Active Participant – As interactions become deeper and more meaningful, followers will start to comment, ask questions and even initiate conversations rather than simply just ‘liking’ things.

Stage Five – The Brand Loyalist – At this stage, loyalists will have an affinity for you over the competition, even if they are cheaper or more convenient. This is because they are buying more than a product or service – they’re buying into your mission and believe in what you’re doing.

Stage Six – Brand Advocate – Brand advocates are such strong members of your community that they will even start recruiting other members to join. They will encourage others to buy from you, share good customer service stories and willingly answer questions from people.  This is a great stage to be at because people trust recommendations and are more likely to buy from you as a result.

Stay tuned for the second instalment of Robin’s talk which focuses on getting your audience to engage with you. If you can’t wait until next week though, you can view his presentation on Slideshare.

Updates to Eventility.com – New Live Feed, Scan App and Extras

We’ve released a new version of Eventility.com with some fantastic new additions to our service to help you organise and promote your clubs, groups and events with ease.

Live Feed   

Not only can you post messages and reach social networks with one click, but now the ‘live feed’ (formerly known as the message board) on your club and event pages means you can share more.

We’ve added support from embed.ly and Dropbox which means we turn almost any link you share into embedded images, videos, audio and rich media previews. So if you use Soundcloud, Spotify, YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, Instragram, Slideshare, dropbox plus many more, you can share them on your feed.

It’s a great way to get people involved before, during and after your event.

 

 Scan App   

 

Our latest mobile app, Eventility Scan, has been developed specially for organisers to simplify the process of validating event tickets at the door and vouchers at point of sale – It only takes seconds to check-in your customers with Eventility Scan.

The scan app lets you scan the barcode on Eventility tickets and vouchers. It confirms validity, records the check-in against your account and prevents the same ticket/voucher being used twice. The app supports multiple devices and managers so you can have more than one person working the doors.

Eventility Extras 

 

We’ve simplified purchasing SMS and email bundles and extended the feature so that you can send SMS and tracked email directly to your contacts from your club/group/event/offer.

Texts are a brilliant way to drive footfall and to celebrate this release we’re giving away Bronze pack bundles of 100 SMS credits*

So login and head over to MyAccount/Extras to get up and running with SMS.

• Learn how our SMS service works

• Learn how our email service works

We hope you enjoy the new changes, so why not have a look around on Eventility and try out the new features.

We’d really love to hear what you think of the new changes or if you have any site requests, so contact us.

 

*To claim your free SMS bundle use the Promo Code: MemberList to receive a 100% Discount when you purchase a bronze pack of 100 SMS credits (RRP £10).

Some of the Most Frequently Asked Questions, Answered

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Although we aim to make the Eventility website as user friendly and easy to use as possible, sometimes issues come up that you may need a hand with. So, if you’re running a club, group or event, here are some of the most common frequently asked questions we receive and how to resolve them.

How much does it cost to sign up to Eventility?

Eventility is absolutely free for people involved with clubs, groups, events and associations. With your free account you have everything you need to organise and manage your club, group or event. You have access to everything you could possibly need including your message board feed, 2,000 email credits every 4 weeks, free tickets, photo galleries and much more. The only time you pay is if you want the extras we offer such as paid tickets, subscriptions, SMS bundles and high volume email send outs.

How do I change my password?

To change your password, simply log in to your Eventility account and click on ‘My Account’ at the top of your screen. Select the ‘Password’ option and complete the required fields by entering your current password and confirm what you want your new password to be. Press ‘Change Password’ and your new password will be activated immediately.

How do Eventility ticket fees compare to other services?

Eventility charges a set fee per ticket of just 50 pence. In addition there are processing fees charged by the payment provider (PayPal). Our closest competitors charge a higher set fee per ticket as well as an additional percentage per transaction. We pride ourselves on our competitive pricing and never hide our prices from our customers. To see a breakdown of our ticket fees compared to some of our competitors, you can do so here.

How do I import my contacts from my email address book?

Rather than manually entering in all of your contact details we’ve made it quick and easy to import your contacts from all the leading email programs.  We support Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, Plaxo and of course, Outlook. Whether you are adding new members or inviting people to your event just click the icon and follow the simple onscreen instructions.

How do email credits work?

Email credits are deducted from your account every time you send an email to:

• Club or group members by using the ‘Contact Options’ dropdown
• Event invitees by using the ‘Contact Options’ dropdown

Email credits won’t be deducted when you send an email to:

• Invite contacts to join your club, group or community
• Send invites to your event
• Send offers (applies to place subscribers only)
• Post to the message board/feed
• Eventility send out email reminders about events on your behalf

All accounts are topped up with a maximum of 2,000 free email credits every 4 weeks. To send out more emails that you have credits for, you can purchase a bundle in the extras tab.

How do I send SMS messages?

You can make sure that your club or group never misses out on any of your events or updates by purchasing an SMS bundle. You can send as many one off messages as you want – we make sure that it all conforms to the Phone Pay Plus Code of Practice so you don’t have to worry about any spam accusations. You can find out more about our SMS bundles and pricing here.

If you have a question that hasn’t been covered here, please feel free to post your query in our support section and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

The Power of Online Communities for Local Businesses Infographic

Social networks have long been seen as a ‘leveller’, enabling local businesses to compete with big brands for a decent share of customer attention. In many respects local businesses are better placed to take advantage of social media than big brands. They find it easier to create meaningful relationships with their customers – they might even be on first name terms – and, since the majority of their customers’ social media connections will also live locally, are well placed to benefit from recommendations.

As well using social networks to engage with existing customers online, businesses are also attracting new ones. The fact that there are over 1 billion smart-phone users and that 40% of mobile searches are for local businesses gives an indication of the importance of having a strong web presence and making your business easy to find.

Yet lots of small businesses are still not tapping into their online communities.

To help fix this situation – we’ve produced this handy infographic which highlights the importance of online communities and how local businesses can make the most of them.

One of the key things the infographic highlights is the sheer number of small businesses that are already using social networks and gaining new customers as a result. Almost three quarters of small businesses use Facebook and over half are using LinkedIn and Twitter. Added to that, research by Manta suggests that 78% of small businesses are gaining a significant proportion of new customers through social media.

Generation Y in particular are using social networks to inform purchase decisions, with 61% turning to social media to decide where to go when going out. Online reviews also play a significant role in this, with 52% saying that positive online reviews make them more likely to use a local business.

Promotions offer a great way to reward existing customers and to attract new ones, with 73% of consumers saying they search for discounts and promotions online. They are also a great way of increasing footfall, with research showing that 59% of consumers have gone into a store or business premises as a result of finding an offer or coupon online.

Of course, social media can’t stand on its own: email marketing is another hugely valuable tool for local businesses. There are roughly 3 billion email users in the world and 19% of all time spent online is devoted to reading and responding to emails. As a marketing tool it is clearly has value – 77% of small businesses have reported email marketing increases their revenues and as a result, 85% plan to increase their use of email in 2013.

It’s also important to consider the role that SMS marketing can play. It’s estimated that 8,000,000,000,000 text messages were sent last year (yes, try saying that number!) and 90% of them were read within 3 minutes. With such a high open rate, it’s a great way to advertise promotions to your community or to send reminders – so long as you’ve got their permission to text them.

Of course, all of this takes time and that’s why we created Eventility. If you haven’t tried us out yet – Eventility brings all of this into one easy-to-use online platform, offering an effective way to manage and promote your business.

You can manage your contacts, organise and advertise events, run targeted promotions, manage your social media engagement, collect customer reviews, add your location to online maps, deliver SMS marketing and send emails with in-built tracking – all using one powerful tool – plus we can power your website too.

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New Eventility Scan App Checks-in Tickets and Vouchers in Seconds

Eventility is pleased to announce our latest mobile app, Eventility Scan. Developed specially for organisers to simplify the process of validating event tickets at the door and vouchers at point of sale – It only takes seconds to check-in with Eventility Scan.

The Eventility Scan App lets you scan the barcode on Eventility tickets and vouchers. It confirms validity, records the check-in against your account and prevents the same ticket/voucher being used twice. The app supports multiple devices and managers so you can have more than one person working the doors.

Simply press the check-in button and use your device camera to validate tickets and vouchers. The Android app automatically installs a barcode scanner if needed. Scan the QR code and within a second we’ll validate whether it’s genuine and hasn’t been used before. You can then analyse all your check-in stats online.

The Eventility Scan app is available free on Google play to help make organising and promoting any event or offer really easy.

Social Media for Sports Clubs Infographic

Of the 6000 plus clubs, groups and communities that use Eventility.com to organise and promote their fixtures and events, sport is one of the most popular areas.  Local clubs and teams, as well as sports organisations such as the Sport and Recreation Alliance and spogo are turning to the web to help reach potential new members, communicate with existing members and organise their activities.

As our CEO, Robin Brattel, says: “Organising a team or club has always been a tricky business, frequently involving the time consuming process of emails and last minute text messages. But social media platforms like Eventility have the power to change all that by providing a free one-stop-shop for team or club organisation and promotion”.

With that in mind, we put together this infographic (below) to look at how sports clubs of all sizes are using social media platforms successfully – and some rather less successfully.

As you’d expect, the London 2012 Olympics were a huge social media triumph. There were over 150m tweets about the Games and 67% of British adults used social media to follow the action live. Spice Girls aside, Usain Bolt attracted the most mentions with tweets peaking at 80,000 per-minute following his victory in the 200m.

Of course, here at Eventility we’re especially interested in how local sporting events make use of the web. It’s encouraging to see that 76% of sports event organisers use social platforms to promote their events, but this figure is only 50% when looking at smaller events.

I’m sure this will improve throughout 2013 – and we feel we’re playing our part by offering an amazing free platform to help clubs stay organised. Just in case you missed our pitch: Eventility helps teams and groups to save time, effort and resources, and to communicate easily with members and reach out to new members.

Sport and Social Media – Eventility Infographic

Your Events – Simplified

Eventility V3.3 Introduces a Host of New Event Features

Here at Eventility we love your feedback and are working hard to over-deliver on our promise of ‘Organisation and Promotion Made Easy’.

This week, we’ve got a treat in store when you log-in to add or edit your event. We’ve taken all your feedback and released a new version of our Events Engine with an even simpler interface!

Click the image below or this link to play the 1 minute video overview

Here are a few of the key updates

• New events check-list guides you through five simple steps
• Flip from “Organiser View” to “Live View” and see how your event looks to others
• Event descriptions can be five times longer and include rich-text formatting
• Attendance tracking has powerful email reporting (opened, clicked, bounced, etc.)
• Ticketed events
  • Absorb our charge into the ticket cost
  • Ask up to three questions when someone orders their tickets
  • Create promotional codes
• Promote your event
  • Straight to Facebook or Twitter
  • As a Facebook event
  • With a button on your website
  • With a short link (http://evty.co/)

As always, we love to hear your feedback so please keep it coming. We’ve got lots more great updates in store just around the corner.

The Eventility Team

How to Sell Event Tickets Online

It’s a Sell Out!

Yes, you’ve guessed it, we’ve just launched our new ticketing feature.

We’ve integrated with PayPal so you can use Eventility® to organise, promote and sell tickets to your events in a snap. It really couldn’t be simpler, all you need is a free PayPal account to collect your revenue.

Configure your tickets when you setup your event and we’ll generate you a realtime revenue report, door list, and VAT report (once your event has finished).

Ticket sales can end whenever you want, so think about offering an exclusive purchasing period with lower prices for “Early Birds” or configure just a few special “VIP” tickets. You can even offer free tickets, though you may want to make your event private, or everyone will want one!