When you think of Facebook events, what comes to mind? For many, it could be birthday parties, housewarmings, maybe even high school reunions. For businesses, Facebook events can be a lot more. Whether you’re having a big year-end sale or hosting a charity event, Facebook events can be very effective in transitioning your online fans to offline customers.
However, similar to the housewarming or reunion you conveniently ignored or forgot about due to a flood of other event invitations, how can you get your business’s event to stick with your audience? Here are three tips to get you started.
Use Simple, Informative, Shareable Imagery
Hey, you can even use an acronym if you’d like: S.I.S. or if social security is your thing, S.S.I. Regardless, when promoting your Facebook event you will want to use images that get your message across. Follow these rules for your event image:
Simple: Not too crowded, easy-t0-see details of your event.
Informative: Include the who/what/where, and possibly why – though this can be answered in your posts. Don’t overcrowd.
Shareable: Ask yourself if your target audience would share your image. No? Adjust.
These rules can be applied to your event image, any News Feed images, and ad images. Remember the 20% rule for promoted images for any you choose to promote – this can be tricky but it’s doable.
Create a Facebook Event Early
You want to allow adequate time for fans to sign up for your event, so don’t be afraid to set it up early. Be sure to include all vital information and follow our tips above for your event image. If you have a registration page, include that as well in your call-to-action.
Check out The Home Depot‘s example for their Chicago Garden Party:
Test How You Promote
Depending on your budget, you will want to get your event out in front of as many people as possible, for as little cost as possible. There’s no guarantee that those who RSVP will show up, but you can try a variety of options.
First, be sure to promote the event on your page with a promoted or boosted page post. You will want to post a few times: about a week before, a few days before, and the day before. Add more or less depending on the size of your audience, and how they normally react to your content.
You can add in other promotional options as well, such as Event Response ads:
Event Response ads will show up on the right-hand column only. Make sure to tailor your bidding options to your goal for the event, whether it’s for awareness, RSVPs, or clicks.
Of course in addition to all tips, it helps if there’s an incentive or prize involved, and you have a cool event. Try out different techniques to see what works best for your audience, and you’ll definitely see some more online faces offline at your event.
Image credit: criben / Shutterstock.com
