Follow These Best Practices for Creating Events on Facebook

Follow These Best Practices for Creating Events on Facebook

Did you know that every month more than 400 million people around the world use events on Facebook to discover and connect with things happening in their communities? According to the social network, nearly 30 percent of all the events people connect to — such as concerts, community events, or special nights at bars and restaurants — are created by Pages.

Maybe you’re hosting an upcoming conference or webinar, or perhaps you’re celebrating customers with an in-store networking event. Whether virtual or offline, Facebook Events allow you to quickly create a listing, send out invites, and keep guests updated on every relevant detail. Here are some best practices to consider the next time you launch a Facebook Event.

Optimize Your Event’s Cover Image

Vibrant visuals are an important element of any marketing campaign, especially when you want consumers to take action. In 2013, Facebook gave members the ability to add a large banner image to their events. Choosing the right cover photo for your event could make the difference between throwing the party of the year and throwing a party not even you’ll want to attend.

In order to ensure that your guests are seeing the best possible image, you need to be aware of the image dimensions for each different placement. This article by Insights’ contributing editor Anna Washenko demonstrates how you can add a Facebook Event photo, how to choose one that’s the best size, and how to pick one that suits the style of your event.

Use Simple and Direct Titles

One of the recent changes to how events appear on Facebook is that members can opt to see invites in a calendar format. That means only four or five words of the title will appear, unless they click through to the actual event page. If you’ve created an event with a long title that doesn’t easily convey what will be happening, your followers might simply scroll past it. Choose a title that’s simple and direct so guests know right away what to expect if they RSVP “yes.”

You’ll also want to keep your description concise. Although guests can click through to continue reading, not everyone will do so. We recommend reserving the first couple of lines of your description for the most essential details. Invitees should be able to gauge what your event will be about from the first two lines of your description. And keep in mind that you can also pin posts to the top of your event page. You can use this space to include other important details that didn’t warrant prime real estate in the description box.

Promote Your Event

In a recent announcement, Facebook revealed its plans to make event promotion on the platform easier than ever. In the next few weeks, the social network will roll out a new ad unit that will help drive awareness for events as well as event responses. Previously, you could only boost a post about an event or purchase a right-hand column ad on desktop.

Moving forward, you will be able to create event ads for desktop and mobile News Feeds through the Ad Create tool and Power Editor. Considering members now spend most of their time within News Feed, this ad unit couldn’t have come at a better time. But you’ll also want to keep in mind how crowded the News Feed can become with multiple brands competing for attention. Make sure that you’re targeting the right audience for optimal returns.

Event hosts also have access to analytics with the network’s Insights, which can be viewed in the right-hand column of an event page. Insights include the number of people who’ve seen a link to the event on Facebook, the number of people who’ve viewed the event, and the number of joins, saves, and maybes the event has received. All of this data will help you determine whether additional promotion is necessary.

Last but not least, if you regularly host events, the Events tab on your Facebook Page is a great way to share upcoming events in a single view. We also recommend giving guests the ability to post to your event’s wall. This opens up the opportunity for engagement while enabling them to ask questions and share their experiences post-event. For more information about Facebook Events, including how to set one up, visit the Help Center.

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