{"id":1803,"date":"2018-06-14T18:54:35","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T18:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildapricot.wpengine.com\/?p=1803"},"modified":"2025-05-12T05:29:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T05:29:48","slug":"promote-event-on-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wildapricot.com\/blog\/promote-event-on-facebook","title":{"rendered":"5 Best Practices to Promote Your Event on Facebook and Boost Registrations"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019d like to learn more on this topic, listen to our free webinar “How to Start Using Facebook Ads to Reach a Big Audience with a Small Budget<\/a>.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Are fewer people attending your events these days?<\/p>\n

Are you hoping to dramatically increase attendance at your big conference this year?<\/p>\n

Rather than relying mostly on email blasts, word-of-mouth, and social media posts, many organizations are turning to Facebook ads to fill up their events.<\/p>\n

Advertising on Facebook works well for event promotion for two reasons:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You can have your ad pop up in the Facebook feeds of everyone in your network.<\/li>\n
  2. You can promote your event to new audiences that wouldn\u2019t be possible through other channels.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you\u2019re new to creating Facebook ads, here are the five best practices for boosting event attendance.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    1) Why You Need to Crunch the Numbers<\/h2>\n

    The biggest mistake I\u2019ve seen nonprofits make with Facebook ads is this: they don\u2019t create a budget.<\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s say you want to sell 10 tickets to your annual fundraiser, and sell them for $100 each.<\/p>\n

    How much should you spend on Facebook ads to achieve this?<\/p>\n

    Well, 10 tickets x $100 = $1,000.<\/p>\n

    This means that you can spend $999 on Facebook ads, and still receive a positive return of $1.<\/p>\n

    But say half of each ticket\u2019s selling price goes to covering expenses for the event.<\/p>\n

    That means you can only spend $500 on advertising tickets \u2014 this is your budget for Facebook ads now.<\/p>\n

    Without crunching the numbers ahead of time, you run the possibility of going over budget without even realizing it.<\/p>\n

    Now you can keep an eye on these metrics throughout your campaign, and tweak your ad to hit the number of attendees you need while remaining under budget. Since Facebook requires that you enter a daily budget for your ad, calculating this beforehand ensures you won\u2019t go overboard.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    2) 3 Ways to Promote Your Ad to the People Most Likely to Attend<\/h2>\n

    The great thing about Facebook ads is they allow you to target very specific groups of people. Here are three ways to do it.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Step 1: Add an Email List<\/h3>\n

    People who are already familiar with your organization are among the most likely to attend your future events. You can target these people by adding an email list to Facebook. For your fundraising event, you could create an email list from people who have attended your past fundraisers or who have donated to your organization. (You can find more information on how to do that here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

    When you add an email list to Facebook, you\u2019ll create an audience that you can target your ad to. When anyone from this audience is on Facebook, they\u2019ll see your ad pop up.<\/p>\n

    If you promote your event to this audience by email as well as Facebook ads, you\u2019ll increase the chances of these people signing up. As you probably know, lots of people ignore their emails these days, so Facebook may be the only way to reach them.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Step 2: Retarget Past Visitors<\/h3>\n

    Let\u2019s say a potential donor once visited your website. You have no way of ever finding them again, right?<\/p>\n

    Wrong. With Facebook ads, you can also target visitors who\u2019ve left your website.<\/p>\n

    All you need to do is add the URLs that you want targeted to Facebook\u2019s back end, and you\u2019ll be all set.<\/p>\n

    For example, if you want to target people who visited your donation page as well as your event page, you can enter those URLs and they\u2019ll see your ad the next time they log in. Maybe seeing an ad on Facebook will be just the push that potential donor needed to start contributing!<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Step 3: Apply Facebook Targeting<\/h3>\n

    If you want to reach out to potential attendees who aren\u2019t yet in your network, Facebook also provides a way to do that.<\/p>\n

    And you don\u2019t have to worry that they won\u2019t be the right fit, because Facebook\u2019s targeting options are almost endless. From life events to education level to income to interests, you\u2019re able to precisely select the right audience for your ad.<\/p>\n

    \"promote<\/p>\n

    (Image from Wordstream)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

    In this step, you might also want to target people who live near the venue for your event.<\/p>\n

    By combining these three targeting options, you\u2019ll be able to reach out to the right audience \u2014 even if they weren\u2019t in your database to begin with.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    3) Pull out Your Mad Men Skills<\/h2>\n

    There are two types of ads that are best for event registration, both of which you\u2019ve probably seen on Facebook yourself: photo and video ads.<\/p>\n

    To continue with the fundraiser example, you\u2019ll want to choose a visually compelling image that represents your fundraiser.<\/p>\n

    The most successful image posts tend to have people in them, and not too much text in the ad. Here\u2019s a great example:<\/p>\n

    \"promote<\/p>\n

    As for video ads, you\u2019ll want to keep it short \u2014 between 2 to 5 minutes is what I\u2019ve seen work best. Make sure to include closed captions so your audience can follow along even if their sound is off.<\/p>\n

    And don\u2019t worry, creating a great ad doesn\u2019t mean you have to spend lots of money on images.<\/p>\n

    Stock sites like Unsplash<\/a> and Pexels<\/a> are free and can help you create a professional-looking photo ad without spending a dime (and check out this post on 10 inexpensive and free nonprofit marketing tools that create stunning visuals).<\/p>\n

    As for videos, you can create one using only your iPhone camera (that\u2019s what we did at first!). This can be just as effective as the most professional video agency.<\/p>\n

    When it comes to Facebook ads, messaging matters more than image or video quality. That\u2019s why, regardless of which kind of ad you choose, writing the right kind of copy will help you get more clicks.<\/p>\n

    Short, punchy lines that appeal to both the emotional and rational sides of your audience are the most successful. According to research by AdEspresso<\/a>, the average length of the text used is just 14 words \u2014 meaning that short and sweet is best.<\/p>\n

    When it comes to your fundraiser, consider how you could present the benefits of attending your event. For example, if you show exactly how a donation will benefit the population you serve, your audience will be more likely to register.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    4) Give Them a Soft Landing<\/h2>\n

    You can have the best ad in the world, but if you don\u2019t have an easy way for people to sign up, your ad won\u2019t perform well.<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s why your ad should link to a landing page that makes event registration easy (WildApricot can help with this<\/a>).<\/p>\n

    Some best practices to keep in mind for your landing page include:<\/p>\n