Facebook Event Promotion 101

Maybe the title for this blog post is wrong and should be entitled "Why your Facebook invites get ignored?"  

FLASH FORWARD

I can't tell you why everyone usually ignores an invitation from a Facebook event but I can tell you why I ignore them.  Ok, let me be really honest here.  YES, I can tell you why people ignore Facebook invitations.  There are Actually 3 main reasons and they are:

• 1.  The majority of the time, they are spam.  I'll explain in a few paragraphs.
• 2.  They don't have nor do they hold any value.
• 3  After the invitation, what?

Let's be honest, on average, how many Facebook event invitations do you receive?  I know I get at least 3 or more a week.  When you get them, what's your initial thought?  Probably something like, "Oh, yeah, let me bookmark this so that I don't forget.  If you can relate to any of the above, you now know why people ignore them.  And now that you do and if you want to use them to their full potential, you're going to begin doing the following!

First think of your invitation as a "Press Release"  You're going to take the time to think of a well laid out plan.  When creating a press release the idea is not only to introduce an event, thought or concept, it's to make it informative and sharable.  You want the story to get picked up, read and shared.  This brings me to my next point.  When creating your Facebook invitation, you're going to want the title to use keywords that your idea client (invitee) is looking for.  Instead of saying "We're having a "wrap" party say something like "Drop one size before the wedding," or something like that.  
It's really important to factor in what you want to accomplish with the invitation.  And, as you continue to promote the event, this isn't a set it and forget it - hope everyone comes, page, you're going to remember to have additional links that bring everyone back to this invitation.   

Why do you want everyone coming back to the invitation?  Because just like a press release, all the information you want people to have will be  on the invitation/event page.  Here they'll find additional photos, handouts, the ability to talk to others attending the event and so on.  Now, not only does this help you to keep the event organized, it helps the attendees to have a place to find and share additional information now and long after the event has passed. Yes, it's in your best interest to keep the Event "live" long after it's done.   You should post here regularly, keeping in mind that you can easily increase your event/invite page with a photo or video.

Oh, oops, I almost forgot to ask,   How many event invitations do you receive that have nothing to do with anything that you're remotely interested in but someone thought enough of their event to hit "invite all."  A lot of them right?  

If you're the person who invites everyone, stop it.  Don't do it any more, it's very spammy.  You shouldn't want all your friends and family at an event.  Some of them want nothing to do with XYZ product/service, a few of them don't participate in group settings in real life so you can't expect them to even entertain the thought, virtually.  When you invite people to things they aren't interested in, you're telling them, I haven't taken the time to read your posts, listen to, or understand the things you care about but I want you to be interested in me and what I have to offer.    

CONSIDER THIS:  You & I know what happens when you get spam in your inbox.  Don't let that be your Facebook Event/invitation.

Stay tuned:  Next Saturday, we'll continue this discussion

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