Hosting a public event is a great way for your small business to get in front of the public and grab the attention of potential customers who may not have previously been aware of your business.
Whether your event is free or has a ticket price or entry fee, creating a Facebook Event is a great way to get people interested in your event. 41% of Facebook users interact with Facebook events each month!
Not only can people use Facebook to find events that are in their area and fit their schedule and find out which events their friends and colleagues are attending, Facebook recently released their Facebook Local app to put a greater focus on places to go and events happening near each individual user.
Simply posting a Facebook Event doesn’t guarantee the event will be successful.
I use these tips when creating a Facebook Event
1. Make the Facebook Event public, not private
All Facebook users can discover public events and friends of attendees can see when they are “Interested” in or “Going” to your event. With a private event, only the people you invite can see the event. Note – by default, events created by a Facebook Page are public
2. Create your Facebook Event using a Facebook page as the event host
Then, add yourself as an event host. Setting up the event this way will give attendees a link to your business page. Attendees will be able to easily see all upcoming and past events you have scheduled. As well, by adding your personal profile as an event host, you will be able to private message attendees using your personal profile, if needed. You cannot private message a person from a business page.
Create your Facebook event with a Facebook page, then add yourself as a co-host
3. Include as many details about the event in the description as possible
Don’t make attendees search for the basics. You can never give too much information about an event. If attendees need to register for the event on a separate website, include that info first. Include the event agenda if there is one. Add any other relevant links about the event and/or speaker/presenter. Make sure all the super-important information is at the top before the attendee has to click “See More” in the event description.
4. Use a location for your event that can be pre-populated by Facebook in the Location field
When a location can be easily pulled in by Facebook, attendees can simply click the location to get directions. Also, double-check to make sure the location address on the event page opens the correct place in your Maps/Driving app on your phone.
5. Create a new event for each day of the event when the event takes place over multiple days
This is especially valuable for conferences. Include any information or details in the event description that may be unique to each day of the event (doors open time, end time, etc.). This setup will help get more exposure for your event and provide day-specific details for attendees for each of your event.
Create a separate Facebook event for each day of a conference – especially if beginning and ending times are different.
6. Allow Facebook users to post to your event page
When users can post on the event page, they will help get the conversation going about your event and get others excited to attend.
7. Require approval from an event host before publishing attendees’ posts
While you want to encourage conversation about your event, you need to make sure the conversation is kept clean (or on-brand), relevant to your event, and you don’t want people asking the same questions over and over. If you see the same questions coming up repeatedly, update your event description to address repeated questions and send private messages to people who are asking questions that have already been asked and answered.
8. Make the Guest List visible on the event page
When the guest list is visible, potential attendees can see all of their friends who are “Interested” in or “Going” to your event
When Facebook attendees are public, you can see all of your friends who are interested in attending.
9. Add an event cover image that fits the Facebook Event header space
The Facebook event header space displays at 1000px wide by 524px tall (Use my Facebook Event header Canva template). Make sure the event image is relevant to the event. Try to include all the important details: event title, date, time, etc. Don’t use an image of an event flyer, unless all the relevant information is visible in the default event page view.
10. Create only a single event, and invite relevant Facebook pages and people to co-host
If you have a group of people, businesses or organizations organizing an event, create only one single Facebook Event and invite other businesses, organizations and people to become event hosts. Don’t confuse potential attendees by creating an event for each business or organization.
11. Invite your Facebook friends to attend your event
Invite wisely. Only invite friends who may be interested in your event. Don’t send invitations to every single person in your friends list. Friends who live in England probably are not interested in attending your event in Kansas City. Cat owners (and anyone who doesn’t own a dog) probably aren’t interested in attending a dog park get-together.
Only invite friends to attend a Facebook if these friends may actually be interested in the event
12. Keep attendees excited about attending your event
Regularly post information, details and conversation starters in your Facebook Event page leading up to your event. Every time you post in your event page, all Facebook users who have checked “Interested” or “Going” will get a notification of the new post about your event.
13. Promote your event outside of Facebook
Share your event on all relevant local calendars. Share with your blog readers and email subscribers. Don’t rely on Facebook alone to pack in attendees at your event.
14. Follow up with attendees on the Facebook Event page after the event has ended
Share photos of the event, post a “Thanks for coming!” message, and ask for feedback about the event. Also, go back to your past Facebook Events and make a post announcing your new Facebook event. This will make sure past attendees are aware of your new event.
The event itself
Of course, you need to actually put on an interesting event for attendees. If your event lives up to the promise of your Facebook event title and description, you will have a built-in audience excited for your next Facebook event.
Share your tips
Do you have any Facebook Events tips to share with the world? Share your tips and experiences in the comments section below!
