Zack Crawford
Advertising
for events can be a tedious process. With hundreds, maybe even thousands, of
billboards, commercials, and magazine ads battling for every consumer’s attention,
trying to persuade people to attend an event can be not only difficult but down
right impossible at times. Although it may seem gloomy for event coordinators
and organizers across America and the world, there is a tool that is free to
use and, if used properly, can be the most effective use of advertisement
(Smith, 2012). This tool is none other than social networks. Networks like Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram can and should be used to create an easily accessible and
user-friendly advertising campaign to obtain the highest level of participation
at your events. This blog will walk you through the different features that Facebook
offers to maximize your social network propaganda. So sit back and enjoy the
ride!
We
will start with Facebook because of its complexity and abilities. When trying
to appeal to a large audience with an event, you have to first make all of the
details easily found and shared. The “Groups” feature on Facebook is a prime
example of establishing a community around a group or idea that can transmit
essential information to a vast amount of people in short amount of time. To
create a group on Facebook, you must first have a Facebook account. Assuming
that you have an existing Facebook account we will skip to the group creation
phase. If you navigate to the home page and look on the left sidebar, you will
find the Groups panel. Any groups that
you are currently associated with will be located there. However, there will be
an option for you to Create a Group. Click on that tab and a pop-up menu will
display. The display will require you to name the group as well as invite any
of your current friends to join the group. This is great for any smaller scale
events that someone plans to host such as neighborhood barbeques or wedding
showers.
After
you have named the group and invited all of the members, Facebook gives you the
option to make the group Open, Closed, or Secret. Open makes your group open
for all of the Facebook community to see who is in the group and what they post.
Closed makes your open for anyone to see the group and who is in it, but not
the posts. Secret makes the group completely private and only members can see
the group, the other members in it, and the posts. The best way to decide how
private you would like your group to be is to analyze the importance and
exclusiveness of the event. If you are planning a wedding shower then you may
want to set the privacy setting to Closed. If you were planning a surprise
birthday party for a friend or family member, you would probably set the
settings to Secret.
Now
that your Facebook group has been created to promote you events, the options
are almost endless. You now have the ability to post statuses, pictures,
videos, and poll questions, describe what your group is about under the About
tab, and even invite new members. Facebook gives you the ability to create an
entire community of people with just a few clicks of the mouse. However, since
this is a blog giving you an advise on how to promote an event, we will start
with the event feature.
When you navigate
to the homepage of your group there will be tabs across the top of the window. Click
on the Events tab. Once on the Events page, you can not only create a new event
but also search through an archive of past events. Let’s create an example
event. It will be a surprise birthday party for your father. Start by clicking
on the Create Event button, which is located on the upper right side of the
Event page. Once you have clicked on that button a pop-up menu will appear
giving you a few boxes to fill out.
·
First you will want to name the event. The name
of your event is a crucial part of promotion and can be the deciding factor for
someone to attend. It should be detailed but not wordy, giving the reader
enough information to understand what they would be going to. We will name our
event My Father’s Surprise Birthday
Party.
·
The second box to fill is titled Details. As the
title states, in this section you will give details about the event and maybe a
few reasons on why your invitees should attend this event. This should NOT be a
three-page essay or a deeply written historical background on your dad’s birth.
It should be concise and only prudent information about the event should be
installed. Our detail will be described as this: I am hosting a surprise birthday party for my dad this Saturday June
22,at my house. The set-up and decorating will begin at 5pm and anyone who is
available is welcomed to join me. Let’s make this a special event for my dad.
He deserves it.
·
The next event option is Where. This box will
let all of your invitees know where your event will be held. Since we stated in
the Details section above that the surprise birthday party would be held at
your house, we will insert the address to your house. With the Where box,
Facebook takes the address that is inserted and creates a Google Maps pinpoint
making it easier for the people you invited to get directions. Let’s insert the
address: 51 Main Street Perkinston, MS
39573
·
The fourth box that needs to be fulfilled is the
When option. Facebook makes it incredibly easy to adjust the date of the event
by selecting a calendar on the right side of the text box. If you click on the
calendar, a calendar will drop down making it simple for you to click the date
of your event. Once you have selected the date, you then can type in the time
of the event. This is prudent information for all prospective participants.
They must know when an event is taking place to see if there is time available
in their schedule to attend.
·
The final box to be filled out is the Privacy
drop menu. In this section you can be specific on who all obtains this
invitation.
o The
first option in the drop-down menu is Public. Public means that the entire
public can see the event and will see all of the details of what you are
planning. In the scenario of your father’s surprise birthday party, this would
not be suitable.
o The next option is Friends of Guests. If this
feature is selected, anyone who is friends on Facebook with someone who will be
attending the event will see the event. Again, this would not be suitable for a
surprise party.
o The
third option for Privacy is Invite Only. Invite Only keeps your event highly
exclusive by giving you the power to send invites only to people that you
select. If this option is selected, a check box appears which asks if Guests of
your event can invite their friends. This is a useful feature for semi formal
events on a small scale like a jewelry party or neighborhood barbeque.
o The
final and most effective feature for our father’s surprise birthday party is
the group title option. This means that only people who are already in the
group will see the event. Since we already made the group Secret as discussed
earlier, the event will be extremely exclusive and therefore keeping the party
hidden from your father.
Once you have filled all the text
boxes to your liking and are appropriate for your event, click the Create Event
button. Congratulations, you have successfully created your first event on
Facebook. It is that simple, quick, and easy.
As
you can see, with just one of the many features social networks offers, event
promotion does not have to be a headache.
The days of mailing invitations and making phone calls is over. With the
rapid spread of social communities and networks, what used to take days of
preparation for a surprise birthday party now takes minutes. I encourage you to
continue exploring different outlets and social network services to maximize
your abilities and to increase the participation and attendance at your next
event!
Works Cited
How
to promote events via facebook.
(2012, July 13). Retrieved
Smith,
M. (2011, March 22). Six ways to effectively promote events
on facebook. Retrieved from http://www.marismith.com/six-ways-effectively-promote-events-on-facebook-case-study/
As a new comer to the age of social network sites, and all that it has to offer I would consider myself a “dummy” in so much as understanding all the great functions available. Have I planned events before, certainly? Was the planning process tedious, absolutely? In fact, even the smallest event such as a family member’s birthday party can be a planning chore in itself. With all the phone calls, the invitations, and the element of secrecy most planners are so stressed that by the time the event happens, they just want it to come and go. With Facebook, you can
ReplyDeleteThe blog “Effective Promotion of Events” written by Zack Crawford gives step by step illustration and instructions on how to make any event planning process (using Facebook) fast, easy, and inexpensive. It has details from the initial phase of creating a “Groups” (assuming the planner already has a Facebook account, as mentioned) page, to the actual planning and promotion of an event. The step by step instructions detail how to navigate from the home page to find the Group panel; which as the blogger discussed will inform users of current associations.
The blogger then provides descriptive instructions on how to properly set up your Group on Facebook such as naming the group, and inviting members to join. He then goes on to detail the additional options available for communicating. Crawford does this by listing, and describing three options (open, closed or secret) and their levels of access for the Facebook community to view members and post. The next step the author describes is the event promoting, and it seems as if there are many options available.
Crawford breaks this process down into a five step tutorial with instructions, and examples on how to properly name your event with enough information to be identified, but not overly informative (i.e. Surprise Birthday Party for John). The next four options include detailing your occasions, setting the location of the event, establishing the date and time of your event, and the privacy options available.
The events application does have a few downsides depending on the type of event being planned. For instance if the planned event is reoccurring (weekly or monthly), it would not be supported by this application. The option would be to reenter the events details and create another friends list for those regular attendees. You can still use the event planning application you would just choose the new or “special” friends list you created (Catone 2009). Overall I think Crawford successfully instructs readers on how to plan events using Facebook, but more importantly for those of us who still use the old call and mail format, he introduces us to a faster, more cost effective, and energy saving way to enjoy planning the next event.
Works Cited
Catone, Josh. (2009) Mashable. The Awesome Party. Retrieved on July 13, 2013 from
http://mashable.com/2009/10/14/facebook-events-guide/
In this blog the writer has a very specific topic he is touching on. This blog can be extremely helpful when a reader is looking for information about planning an event using Facebook. The tips given throughout are very organized and clear, which is important in terms of writing a blog. Social media sites, as we all know have become a major part of our society. So it brings me to the question, why not expand even more in this blog and take a broader approach with the information given.
ReplyDeleteYes, the information in this blog is right on point but why stop at just events. Facebook is not only a resource for spreading the word about parties and events it can be much more than that. I think building on what is already presented can bring this blog to the next level and make it appeal to a broader audience. These groups that can be created on Facebook can be utilized for much more than event planning, and while, yes, that is important I think it would be beneficial to inform your readers of how else they can benefit from groups and what not on social media sites.
In a study it was discovered that citizens can find there voice by being involved in groups on social media sites (Bryer, 2013). Using social media sites to not only spread the word about events but to involve citizens of local or even national problems is now catching on. I think this blog would be a lot more relatable to readers if it covered a broader scope. Using these groups on social media sites can be a place where controversial issues are discussed upon as well. In one study it goes into detail that citizens were able to post their concerns in a civil manner but they were also encouraged not to be timid (Bryer, 2013). Informing readers about what all these Facebook groups can offer them will make this a more well- rounded blog.
Other than looking into to expanding this blog to relate to a broader audience I think the writer offers a lot of relevant information. His tips are worded great and I think it was very helpful how he broke each step down and gave examples. With Facebook changing daily this blog gives up to date steps on how to utilize a resource that can be a bit intimidating for readers who have never used it before. By breaking down this process step by step the writer makes this asset that Facebook has to offer a user friendly tool that anybody can utilize using the tips presented in this blog.
Works Cited
Bryer, T. (2013, March 1). Designing Social Media Strategies for Effective Citizen Engagement A Case Example and Model. Abstract, National Civic Review. Retrieved from .
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ReplyDeleteSocial networking sites have made connecting with friends, family and coworkers easier than ever before. With the click of a mouse or touch on a screen you are instantly communicating your ideas and thoughts to those in your social circle. Zack’s blog post focuses on the use of social networking sites specifically to promote a particular event. He uses an example of creating a birthday event via Facebook as opposed to calling your friends and mailing invitations out. Zack states, “the days of mailing invitations and making phone calls is over.” Sadly to say, but Zack is right, those methods are a little old-fashioned in today’s social media crazed world.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Facebook is one of the top social media sites when it comes to advertising specific events it is not the only one. Using Twitter along with creating a Facebook event will prove to be very beneficial. Both social media sites can be used to promote your business or event in different ways that can actually coincide together. For example, during the event make sure that you tweet frequently. This will show live action and lets your followers know what exactly is going on. On Twitter you can create a hashtag unique to the event, which helps you keep track of the user tweets. Make sure that you reply to other people's tweets along with the hashtag, to keep people engaged (Socialmediatoday.com).
Instagram has become a popular social media site and many businesses are taking advantage of what it has to offer. Instagram is an online photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that allows users to take photos and videos to share on a variety of other social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flikr (Wikipedia). Taking pictures of your event or posting videos will keep your followers up-to-date. Perhaps it will make those who didn’t attend the event want to attend the next one. Patrick Shea, a marketing manager at HubSpot, advises that social media should complement all of your marketing efforts when it comes to promoting an event (wiredimpact.com). For example, if you are already sending out an email newsletter then place the links to your social presence in every email newsletter you send out. In other words, make sure that all of your social media event promotion coincides with your other efforts. It also may be a good idea to connect your social media sites to ensure that you are tapping into their full marketing ability.
Given that social networking sites are free it only seems natural to take full advantage of them. According to GO-Gulf, businesses are spending quite a bit to promote their products on popular social media sites (mediabistro.com). Global social network advertising revenues are projected to double the 2012 figures by 2014, climbing from seven to 14 billion dollars (mediabistro.com). We live in a world where you don’t hear the word “free” anymore unless there’s a catch to it. Social networking sites have free written all over it and its time for you to learn how to use them to your advantage whether its promoting a personal event or advertising for your company.
Long, M. (2013, April 5). Social Media Advertising Statistics And Trends To Get Your Company Off Its Duff And Online [INFOGRAPHIC]. Media Bistro. Retrieved July 18, 2013, from http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-advertising-statistics_b39349
2010, December. "Instagram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 July 2013. .
"How to Get More People To Your Events With Social Media." Nonprofit Website Design | Wired Impact. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2013. .
Kaushal, Navneet. "5 Ways Social Media Can Promote Your Offline Event | Social Media Today." News & Analysis on Social Media Marketing, Strategy & Social Business | Social Media Today. N.p., 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 20 July 2013. .