Top 3 CMS Platforms for Event Management in 2023

Planning an event in 2023? Now more than ever, it’s critical that your digital presence is sleek, user-friendly and responsive to the ever-changing events business. At the core of this is your Content Management System (CMS) - by choosing the right CMS for your business, you can streamline your communication to customers, create a state-of-the-art online ticketing experience, and make your event easy to find online through great SEO management. So how do you pick the right CMS for your event?

With so many CMS platforms out on the market, it can be hard to decide which one suits your business model. Some may prioritise scalability for large enterprise systems, while others prioritise speed to market and ease of use for business. Here are some of the key factors to consider when reviewing a CMS:

Ease-of-use

In the events business, things can change at the drop of a hat, and having a user-friendly CMS that allows you to update and publish content easily will allow you to communicate with your customers in a timely manner.

Publishing flexibility

As your event expands or changes, having a CMS that allows you to create, edit, delete or move different pages or content will ensure that your website is responsive and customised to your unique event.

SEO features

Is your website and event easy to find through search engines? These days one of the key ways for you to attract new event visitors is by having fantastic SEO, and your CMS system can either help or hinder you in that progress. A CMS with inbuilt SEO features and support will mean you can optimise your SEO without having to jump in between multiple platforms.

Cost

Last but certainly not least is the pricing. Consider using an open-source CMS, which doesn’t have a paywall restriction to access the platform, meaning you can spend your money where it counts - on design and development for a killer website!

With all of these things in mind, here are our top 3 picks for CMS systems for event management.

Our number one pick for the best CMS for event management is the Umbraco CMS - a powerful but flexible open source system with over 700,000 websites built on the platform. Umbraco is loved for its intuitive and user-friendly interface, fantastic inbuilt SEO-features and freedom for developers to create custom web experiences. Umbraco has the ability to create crafted ticketing experience and grow with you as your event grows.

Because Umbraco is open source, there is no payment barrier for the CMS, so you don’t have to pay large fees just to use the code like you would with some proprietary software. That means that you can focus your budget on creating a unique web experience for your event! 

Pros

• Open source
• User friendly
• Built-in powerful SEO
• Flexible and extremely customisable 

Cons

Custom solutions would need the support of Umbraco .NET developers - that’s where we come in!

You’ve probably heard of Wordpress, and there's a good reason for that! Wordpress holds the biggest market share of CMS systems in the world, and it’s known for being incredibly user-friendly and intuitive, with many finding it to be a great CMS platform for people who don’t have much CMS experience.

You are able to access a huge range of different themes and plugins, and create and edit pages on the fly. The CMS is incredibly flexible, and the plugins and themes are updated often. Wordpress is open source, so you don’t have to pay an up-front fee to use the CMS, although many of the plugins and important features require a subscription or payment for access.

Pros

• Large range of plugins and themes
• Intuitive interface
• Easy learning curve

Cons

• Third party plugins can cause bugs on your site if they are changed or updated
• Many plugins or themes are paid additions

Hubspot is truly an all-in-one CMS when it comes to creating and promoting your event. It has excellent features for email marketing, social media management and customer service, and the CMS itself is user friendly and easy to pick up with the help of Hubspot's help centre.  They have a huge amount of documentation on common issues, and guides to help you get started, so as a first-time-user you should be able to get up to speed pretty quickly. 

Hubspot customers also love the marketing automation features, where they can set up sales funnels for new leads and customers. The major drawback that users find with Hubspot is that the costs quickly add up - the starter plan is only $50 per month but in order to access some of the more powerful features that event managers often need, Hubspot could become an expensive option.

Pros

• Fantastic marketing options
• Extensive online help centre with guides and support articles
• User-friendly

Cons

• Can be costly to access more powerful features

It can be hard to figure out which CMS is right for you - that’s where we can help! As event website specialists, we love partnering with our clients to find flexible and future-proofed solutions for their events. Get in touch today for a no-obligations chat about your next project and how we can help bring your events’ digital presence to the next level.