In this article, you’re going to learn how get your business in front of 1000’s of local and potential customers FREE with Facebook Events.
The 2 examples are restaurant-related but Facebook Events can be used in any type of local business. You just need a theme ans a little imagination.
You don’t have to put on a party, a parade, or hang banners or posters in order to have an “event.”
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Your Event Can Be Anything You Want It To Be
An event can be a one-day affair or it can last all month long! Your event can revolve around a single item or a theme. It just takes a little imagination and a topic. The best way I can explain is with a couple of examples. Let’s pull an idea off of our March Marketing Ideas Calendar:
March 6th is National Oreo Cook Day. Take advantage of the popularity of this American favorite and create an Oreo Cookie Day Event!
If you’re in the restaurant business, you can promote Oreo Cookie milkshakes, Oreo cheesecakes, Oreo cupcakes, Oreo ice cream cake. Do you think there are some people around town who would be intrigued by the idea of an Oreo-inspired dessert selection? Of course, especially if it were a limited-time event.
But wait, National Oreo Cookie Day is just a 1-day holiday and maybe it’s not worth the trouble or risk of preparing all these Oreo-related desserts. No problem! Make your event last all week! Who’s stopping you? Here’s all you do: Announce how your restaurant is celebrating National Oreo Cookie Day by featuring Oreo Cookie-related treats all week (or all month, of you want) long!
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Here’s another idea: The month of March is Caffeine Awareness Month. Create an event on topic of coffee.
Your coffee vendor will be happy to provide free samples and personnel to entertain your customers with taste tests. You could market this event every day of the month OR just on weekends or just on Saturdays…whatever you want! Facebook lets YOU make the rules and they’ll keep marketing your event for as long as it lasts.
Use events to capture customers’ contact information so you can add them directly to your marketing list for future promotions/invitations.
You can even sell tickets to events by linking to a site like Eventbrite or a page on your own site which can sell tickets can collect money.
Facebook has created a smart phone app which millions of people have already downloaded. This app informs people of events going on nearby. People who don’t have the app still have the ability to see events in their news feed.
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Fewer and fewer people actually see your Facebook fan page posts due to recent changes on Facebook’s move to sponsored (paid) posts. However, events will appear in your Facebook fans’ Notifications. When someone clicks on an event notification, here’s an example of what they might see:
When someone clicks on Interested or Going, many of their Facebook friends will see this in their Notifications. Some people will want to share this information because, let’s face it, we want to share good times with our friends. Another added bonus is the ability to sell tickets to an event and the Find Tickets button allows you to bring ticket buyers to your website or to another destination, such as Eventbrite (another place to market your event whether you’re selling tickets or not).
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So when a Facebook Friend clicks Going to an event, this is what appears in her friends’ Notifications. This acts as social proof and starts the whole cycle again of possibly reaching more and more people who may otherwise never have known your business exists, so maybe they’ll end up as customers.
Supporting a cause will popularize and endear you and your business to a section of the population who feels affinity toward the cause. This locally-owned liquor store is running an event featuring food, wine and spirits and is donating proceeds to The Ronald McDonald House. I feel fairly certain the liquor and wine vendors will be supporting the store by sponsoring some food, drink, personnel, and maybe even some money for the event, all the while, driving customers to the store who will be obliged to support the cause by making a purchase.
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Need some help with ideas on how you can leverage Event Marketing on Facebook? All you need to do is ask, CLICK HERE.
Andrew Mazer, Founder of Mazer Wholesale, Inc. established since 1986. In 1996, I began marketing my wholesale business online. In 2009, I began helping other business owners market THEIR business online. I am the author of The Business Owner's Guide to Marketing Online, The Groupon Solution, and The One Good Idea Newsletter. Contact me at Andrew@smallbusinessu.org