How to Get More Reach With Your Facebook Event

Using social media to promote your small business’s event? Creating a Facebook Event for your launch party, workshop, seminar, bootcamp, activity, book-signing, class, screening, networking event, performance, or what-have-you is a great way to spread the word and get people out.

So here area few pointers to help you get more reach out of your Facebook event:

1) Upload a Photo – If you don’t include a photo with your Facebook Event, Facebook defaults to a cruddy generic graphic of a calendar with a giant “31” on it. This will accomplish 2 things: (1) it will cause your event to have little to no  impact when it appears in people’s streams (as opposed to a carefully chosen image that will stand out and get you more attention) and (2) it will confuse some people into thinking your event takes place on the 31st of the month (which may or may not be true). Pick a a relevant and eye-catching image to show how amazing your event is going to be.

2) Write Your Event With Care and Provide all Details – Your event’s name should be something “seductive” that explains what it is right away. Provide a concise but well-written description. Provide a street address, parking information, pricing and anything else your attendees might look for. If people need to register or buy tickets, provide a link to do that and draw attention to it.

3) Allow Non-Admins to Post on Your Event’s Wall – This way, you can chat with your attendees before the event date. This will help get people excited about attending.

4) Show Guest List – Now your attendees’ friends can see that they are going and news of your event will spread.

5) Join and Invite Your Friends – Now that you’ve created your Facebook Event, don’t make the mistake of thinking that it’s enough to “build it and they will come.” Actively invite your Facebook Friends to join as well, using the Invite Friends function that appears once you’ve joined the event yourself. Don’t invite ALL your friends, only those who might be interested, who live in close proximity, and who would be nice enough to share your event to their friends. If you make it a habit to invite people to events that don’t concern them, you’ll quickly get a rep as an “event spammer” and lose followers and friends.

6) Share Your Event – Use Facebook’s Share Event function to post your event on your personal profile, group(s) and business page(s). Again, you have to actively do this, don’t just sit around and wait for people to notice your event. Repeat the share a couple of times over the course of a few weeks leading up to your event (use your discretion, you don’t want to over-do things either).

7) Enlist Your Friends – Hey, what’s the point of Facebook if you can’t make use of your friends and referral partners? Ask your friends to Join, Invite and Share your event.

8) Follow Up – The great thing about creating a Facebook Event is that it makes it very easy for people to join. The bad thing is, it’s a little too easy and people often forget or don’t really commit. Make sure you follow-up with those who have joined and replied “maybe” to seal the deal. Facebook Events is a handy tool, but it’s not a miracle spell; throwing business events still requires hustle at the end of the day 🙂

Speaking of events… What a coincidence, I have one coming up for small business owners in Toronto. If you’re in the area and want to meet some great networkers, please check out Mix! Mingle! Network! See you there!

Need help publicizing your events with social media? Get in touch, let’s talk! – Nishi