In the first blog post on how facebook can be used effectively for event planning we covered using facebook to market your event, creating an event on facebook, what and when to post on the wall and we started to look at promoting your event. In this post I am going to cover sharing your page, facebook ads and live check-ins.
Sharing Your Page
You should promote your facebook page in the usual way - through your email signature, blog posts, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. However there are other ways in which you can try and increase your page's reach by sharing your page. By posting a link to your event page on other facebook pages and groups you can start to promote your event to a wide audience. However it is worth nothing that it is best if you engage in these pages/groups first before promoting your event and only add your link if it is relevant and useful to the followers of that group. Try not to be over salesy when promoting your page or your post could come across as spammy. Outline what your event is and why you think people from that particular Facebook group will find it interesting and relevant.
Remember not all Facebook groups will allow you to promote your event, ensure you carefully create and craft your message before you post it. You may need to explain what the event is, why it's relevant to that group and when they can find out more about the event.
Facebook Adverts
Promoting our event page via Facebook adverts can be effective, if you have quite detailed information into the kind of delegate you are targeting, Faebook adverts can help you access these groups of people. Their adverts will allow you to specify:
- Age range
- Typical interests
- Gender
- Geographical location
- Language
- Likes and interests
- Connection targeting (target people who are friends with your connections)
- Birthday
- Relationship status
You can use Facebook adverts to promote your Facebook event page or link it to the actual event website. However, research carried out has shown that adverts are more successful if they promote a Facebook event page - as people like to stay within the Facebook platform.
Live Check-In's
Facebook have recently launches a new live check-in facility. This works in a similar way to Foursqaure and Facebook Places, to the "Attending" guest list of the event. When someone arrives at your event, they can check-in using their smartphone. When they do check-in this update is included in the Newsfeed of their friends - again giving your event additional exposure that you might not normally get. You can actively encourage people to do this by including it in presentations and marketing material through the actual event.
Enabling event check-in's insires delegates to RSVP and check in more often. It will also draw attention to eents that are in progress and give event managersanother way to guage success. Users don't need to have RSVP'd to an event to check-in, they just need to be within close proximity whilst the event is going on. Friends can be tagged (as in the normal Places check-in feature) and anyone checked-in is automatically added to the "Attending guest list of the event.
Event managers and organisations that run events are not just using Facebook but all social networking platforms, if you would like more information on event management & social media, email our events team and request our free ebook events@evocos.com or call us and discuss your requirements on 0800 3698677.
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