More than ever, people are eager for events to begin. And the best way to gather your brand’s fans and new customers is by using Facebook.
According to Facebook, 35 million people view a public event every single day. With that reach and Facebook’s incredibly easy-to-use targeting features, it’s one of the best places to promote your event.
But the difficulty is that there are multiple ways to promote your event using Facebook. You can create Facebook Event pages, Facebook Event Ads, a brand’s page or an individual’s account.
As a general rule, you need to ‘pay to play’ on Facebook, meaning Facebook event ads will be essential.
Whether your event is online, in-person, or a hybrid combination, consider the following ways to create more buzz around your event.
Before you create a Facebook events ad, you’ll probably want to create a Facebook Event. This can be created by you as an individual or by your business page.
Facebook events can be in-person or virtual. They can be almost any type of activity. From business events to sporting events to fundraisers, the options are near limitless.
Create the Facebook event to describe what the event is about, when it’s taking place, and where. Add images and regular posts to make it more intriguing to potential attendees.
Events are an incredible resource because they’re free to use and offer a range of features to boost attendance, ticket sales, communication, and organization.
Once you’ve created a Facebook Event page, you can promote the event by creating an Facebook event ad directly on the Event page, using a business page on Facebook, or an individual’s account.
Facebook event ads are what you use to promote your Facebook event. They help you drive awareness, request RSVPs, and sell more tickets directly on Facebook.
There are two ways to create a Facebook event ad—from Facebook Ads Manager or directly from an individual’s Facebook page.
You can create an ad with an ‘Interested’ button or a ‘Get Tickets’ button.
Before you jump into creating and boosting your Facebook event ads, you’ll want to create an Event Page, which can serve as a landing page for your event.
Maybe it seems obvious, but your event will be most successful if you start with optimizing the Facebook events page.
The Reimagine Jobs Spotlight shows how simple yet colorful and informational a banner can be.
2. Make sure to pick a short and memorable event name. According to Facebook’s events team, events with longer names tend to perform worse on the platform. One reason for this might be that 54% of all users only use Facebook through a mobile device - longer titles typically won’t look good on smaller screens.
3. Add information to help Facebook share your event. In the ‘About’ section, expand on the purpose of the event, the date and time. Include a link to your event registration tool. Facebook has an algorithm that will recommend events to users based on a number of factors. It’s important that event organizers input the correct information about where the event is being held, and when it’s starting so that the algorithm can promote the event.
4. Create discussion around your event. It’s important to create discussion around your event because public events above a certain size can no longer send out notifications to the entire list of interested people. Instead, update attendees using the ‘Discussion’ feed.
On the SXSW Online event page, event organizers shared information about speakers and their latest announcements. These regular updates leading up to the event stirred up interest in the online event.
5. Be sure to also select the appropriate event category. Popular categories include: conferences, festivals, meet-ups, and concerts.
6. Invite friends to your event. In the top right corner, there is a ‘Invite’ button. When you click this, Facebook will present you with a list of suggested groups and friends to invite. Monitor who responds to the invite with the Insights bar on the right side of your event page.
7. Add Event to Your Company Page. Facebook makes it simple to add your event to your company page, where you can boost the gathering using paid Facebook event ads. Click the ‘...’ button and on the drop-down menu, you’ll see the option to add it to a page.
Source: Facebook
While a Facebook page will come and go (event pages aren’t relevant after the event happens) a company page should have a longstanding following.
Event marketers should utilize Facebook company pages as a way to promote an upcoming event to an audience of people already interested in the services or products the company provides.
You can make the events tab accessible at the top of your business page. This way people who like your organization can easily click the Events tab to see what’s coming up and what’s already passed.
Edit the tabs by clicking “More” and then “Edit Tabs” on your business page. Facebook provides templates that shape which tabs are available to you. You can edit them with the toggle switches below.
Source: Facebook
Once you place ‘Events’ in the tabs, the front end will appear like this to page visitors:
See how the nonprofit, Do Space, lists its events under its clear and accessible ‘Events’ tab.
Post and pin upcoming events to the timeline. Simply sharing an upcoming event with those who are following a company page can be a good way to generate interest, especially if shared multiple times well in advance of the event.
You can promote an event directly from your business page by clicking “Promote” on the top right of your page.
You will be given these options:
You can promote an event directly from your business page by clicking “Promote” on the top right of your page.
You will be given these options:
Select ‘Boost an Event.’
When you select ‘Boost an Event,’ you’ll get to fill out the information for ad creative and copy. You’ll also be able to choose the audience you want to target and set your daily budget. You’ll also identify the duration of the campaign. Remember to give the campaign a couple of weeks so plenty of people will see the promotion.
Then, hit ‘Boost Now.’ It’s as simple as that.
When it comes to promoting an event, promoters should keep an previously referenced statistic in mind:
98% of active Facebook users access the social media network on a mobile device.
That means that if promoters are hoping to maximize ad efforts, ad campaigns must look perfect on mobile devices. Images should be clear, powerful and accompanied by “tap-able” copy.
Moving on...
There are six different types of ad formats in Facebook:
Photo: Leverage the power of eye-catching photos to get more attention for your event brand and raise awareness of a product or—in this case—an event.
Video: Create video ads for different use cases: quick attention-getting videos, longer form videos and CTA-forward videos that can push a person further down the sales cycle.
Carousel: Share up to 10 images or video within a single ad—each of which can contain its own link to elsewhere. This is great for highlighting different speakers, sessions or event sponsors.
Slideshow: Combine images, animation and text to provide a rich, yet light-weight ad experience. These ads are cheaper than standard video ads and run well even in poorly connected internet connections.
Collection: Collection ads narrow the bridge between people and a product or service. With a collection ad, you can feature (and event sell) different product offerings or different aspects of one offering.
Messenger: Messenger ads are launched in-between conversations in Facebook's Mobile Messenger app.
Call-To-Action Buttons: There are several advertising functions Facebook can support to help organizers promote an event, with multiple call-to-action buttons.
Some of the most common are ‘Learn More,’ ‘Book Now,’ ‘Sign Up,’ ‘Shop Now,’ or more depending on you business goals tied to the campaign. You can also direct people to your event registration page.
Source: Facebook
If you’re working with a partner to plan and market an event, consider utilizing your partner’s Facebook influence to help generate buzz and increase registrations.
On the Facebook event page, the organizer has the ability to add “Hosts.” Doing so will allow host companies to add the event to their own Facebook events module and tab (as discussed above).
This tactic is most effective when a co-host has an established audience who is already following the co-hosts’ events calendar. Adding co-hosts is a great tactic for those hosting artists at an event.
Often, major music festivals or concerts will add co-hosts so that it’s easier for organizers to reach potentially interested fans.
Desert Trip has become one of the most talked about music festivals thanks to consistently extraordinary lineups that feature the likes of The Who, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney. In order to further market the event, organizers added some of these headline performers as co-hosts.
Enable existing attendees to act as evangelists. For those who have already signed up for your event, they are excited about who else is attending and are interested in seeing the behind the scenes work that goes into executing something spectacular.
Sharing pre-event content to further excite existing attendees is a great idea because it further engages them, and because providing your most excited audience with awesome content will encourage them to share your event with their friends.
In short, sharing exciting content will help to generate pre-event buzz by giving your most loyal audience something they can use to spread the word.
One of the most effective ways to capture attention is with Facebook Live. Delight your fans and show off your brand to new audience members by displaying what your brand is all about with video.
NASA is great at keeping up with fans via Facebook Live.
Tracking your Facebook Live Insights can help you better understand your audience in order to create more content and events they love.
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