So, you’re volunteering for your favorite charity and they put you in charge of promoting their next fundraiser…where should you start? You know social media will be a key element and a quick Google search pulls up 119,000,000 results. After culling through the first three pages, it becomes apparent the rumors that Facebook has died are far from true. Facebook for event promotion dominates the suggestions for the best place to start a social media campaign. Here are 7 easy steps to setting up an event page and getting on the road to promoting your event on Facebook.
- Choose a great name. The name should be concise and relevant so people can remember it. Be creative to find something ‘sticky’ that’s informative and enticing. Shorter titles also perform better on Facebook since most users are viewing on a mobile screen.
- Eye-catching cover image. If a picture says 1000 words, be sure your event image conveys a message about your event. Pick an original simple image,1920 x 1080 pixels are best. Don’t add a lot of text on top of the picture, it distracts from the image and will reduce your reach on Facebook.
- Event details. Be clear and accurate with all the main points; who, what, where, and when so the Facebook algorithm can promote the event.
- The #hashtag is your BFF. Picking a hashtag seems like the easiest part but is often done wrong. Be clever and go beyond #BrandName or #EventName. The hashtag can be used to connect your social media strategy and promote engagement.
- Now it’s time to ‘share’ your event. Some people stop here but there’s more work to be done to generate traffic to your Facebook event. You may want to think about how to target your audience rather than promoting your event to a large group of people who might not be interested.
- Create awareness for your event. It’s important to create awareness to engage your audience and convert them into participants. Create original and relevant content to post on your event page. The goal is to educate your audience about your cause in a way that persuades them to participate in your event.
- Keep it fresh. Updates to the event, such as a list of who is participating, are more effective than multiple notifications. Facebook’s own research shows that sending more than a few notifications can annoy people enough to turn them off.
These are just a few of the basics to get you started using Facebook to promote your event. If you want to learn more, Facebook offers many resources to help you. If you are a visual learner check out Five Minute Social Media (FMSM), they have a great video library on event promotion from beginner to advanced. Here is one on best practices in creating a Facebook event.