How To Create an Event On Facebook… the Right Way

Facebook is an incredible marketing tool, and often it is also be a confusing mess. There’s so much going on that it’s easy to get lost, and Zuckerberg and company are only too willing to change the rules without warning. So to help you navigate the murky waters I’ve created a short video walking you through the steps to create a Facebook event page for your show.

Although I had been using Facebook for a while, I didn’t create my first Facebook event until the middle of 2012. I was promoting a show, and someone asked me if I was creating the Facebook event page myself or having someone else do it. Frankly at the time I had no intention of doing either. I had briefly investigated and discarded Facebook events the previous year.

Well things change fast online, and this outside nudge prompted me to dig a little deeper into Facebook events. One of the things that immediately grabbed my attention is the fact that everyone invited to a Facebook event will see the event’s updates until they specifically state that they are not attending the event. (I’ve written about how amazing event pages are on this blog before.) Since only a small fraction of the people that “like” a Facebook page see any given status update, this gives event pages a huge edge over traditional pages in my mind.

In case you’re wondering that show with my first Facebook event page was a near sell out. One early matinee performance had empty seats, but the rest of the performances – including a Tuesday 9pm performance – had us turning people away. The Facebook event page was a focal point of all the online marketing, and it was key to leveraging the personal brands of the cast members through Facebook.

So how do I create an event on Facebook?

It’s a lot easier to show you than to try to describe it. So I made a screencast video of myself creating a Facebook event. I also summarize some important points from the video right below.

Points from the video:

• You should create the event from the page of the venue or production company as opposed to your personal profile.
• If the venue has a Facebook presence, you can link to it and a dynamic map will be embedded in your event page.
• Event pages allow you to include a link to buy tickets online.
• Create a single event for the entire run of the production to reduce your burden on administrating the event and consolidate the social proof of people RSVP-ing and talking about the event.
• You can add additional hosts to act as administrators for the event.
• You can upload two event photos: a rectangular banner that appears at the top of the event page and a square image that appears next to the status updates from the event in the news feed.
• Although you create an event from the page of your venue or production company, you still only have the ability to invite your personal Facebook friends to the event. (So make sure everyone else is inviting people, too.)