As marketers, we often struggle to get the word out and drive as much attendance as we’d like for our seminars, training, events, and webinars. One great avenue to add to your marketing mix is to take advantage of Facebook’s events feature where you can set up a recurring series of events or create individual ones to connect to users right where they frequent every day. Here are the three easy steps to setting up an event on Facebook:
1. Set-Up– Click on the “Events” link in the left sidebar of your Facebook Home page. Create a new event with a descriptive, attention-grabbing name and graphic. Put a complete 3-5 paragraph description of the event. If the event is in a physical location, be sure to have a clear and correct address (same for virtual locations). Of course, put in the time and date.
2. Invites– Don’t invite everyone who “likes” your page if the event doesn’t apply to all individuals on your list. For each event, invite prospects, customers, and colleagues who might benefit from that topic; the personalized touch of the invite will make the invitee more likely to respond to the invite. You can decide whether it is better to have the guest list visible to all invitees or make it invisible.
3. Promotion – When you post additional material on the event wall, those who are “invited”, “maybe”, and “attending” will get notifications. Don’t over-promote; however, it is good to post relevant material (articles, resources, etc.) once in a while to remind attendees of the event. Additional promotion should take place on your company Facebook account, Twitter, newsletters, website, and LinkedIn.
Setting up a Facebook event takes 5 minutes—and all the information you need is really at your fingertips. The majority of the time should be spent choosing which followers to invite; remember, the power of Facebook events is in the personal touch of the invite.
For more helpful marketing tipsand information on effective marketing strategies for your business, go to www.lookingglassmarketing.com or visit the Marketing Know-How blog.