5.5 Tips that will to get folks to at least respond your Facebook event! For example: an image!

I would like to think this goes without saying…unfortunately, it does not! I can’t tell you HOW many events I see on, and get invited to, on Facebook….be it from friends or from professional organizations or businesses, that FAIL to properly intrigue me to attend by not providing complete information or anything visually stimulating!

If you were to receive a piece of paper via “snail mail” that simply read “Come to my event at 10:00 am at my house” and the writing was in boring, black print and there was no image or “flair” to the paper….what exactly would you do with that paper? If you’re like me, and I think you are in this area, you would wad up the paper and chuck it in the trash right? Of course you would! It looks like spam, it has NOTHING interesting…even remotely, that would intrigue you to learn more about the event and you’d be annoyed that someone wasted your time to read the paper.

Of course, the sender is probably wondering “why is no one RSVP’ing for my event?” If you have to ask this question, you’re probably offend numero uno!

It’s a fail and bad enough when you are a consumer of FB and you fail to create a proper event invitation because, at the least, it confuses

your friends and makes it difficult for them to differentiate your event from the 30 others they’ve received. It’s a CRITICAL FAIL if you’re a business or an organization that isn’t utilizing fully or properly the tools and capabilities of the Facebook events. Why? Differentiation mostly…but also because it’s social networking is about ENGAGING with people…yes, WE are people and WE people like to be stimulated and engaged AND we don’t like to see what equates to a “blank face”and a “blank” response is what you will get if you don’t give us a reason to respond.

No one is asking you to “pop the question”…but, I wonder if that’s how some folks feel when they’re reticent to provide anything engaging or thorough? It’s REALLY not THAT kind of commitment! hahahahaa I’m only talking about “Social Engagement” and that’s the reason and fuel behind the virility of social media.

I know it’s sounds “harsh”, but if you don’t have the time to provide all of the details, not to mention images for your event, then you can’t complain when no one responds and it’s probably best to not utilize FB to create one if you’re not going to spend the extra time on it. You will annoy your fans and your friends, they will remove themselves from your invitation and they may even block or ignore future requests fro

m you if you’re a “repeat offender” or if you send a LOT of events at once (which is another “no-no” IMO…but, that’s a subject for another blog entry).

In this modern age of media consumption and immediate gratification, it’s a simple formula; STIMULATION + INFORMATION =

INTEREST! Don’t begeneric! Generic is fine for milk at the grocery store…but, if you’re selling milk online….it better LOOK good and have some cookies next to it so folks will start to drool and dream about milk and cookies (which is both stimulating and engaging) and then they will go looking to buy milk and cookies!

#1. USE AN IMAGE for every event/invite that you send.

#2. Make sure EACH event has it’s own, separate image.

#3. Fill in ALL of the blanks. Do not leave any stone unturned. Remember, people are going to attempt to import this event into their calendar. It SUCKS to go to that calendar event and realize that all the necessary information is BLANK!

#4. Coordinate the event with other members of your organization so that the event isn’t being duplicated. Make other members of

your organization “ADMINS” of the event so that they can update and invite their friends accordingly without duplication.

#5. Respond to any questions, comments or feedback posted on the event. Remember, FB is about ENGAGING with your fans and friends. Don’t alienate them by ignoring them.

#5.5 Send PERIODIC updates to attendees and those who have not responded. DO NOT send an update/message every day. That will get you blocked or dropped by fans. But, remember, messages sent from FB Pages do not easily show up in message boxes. Folks have to change their viewing settings to see updates from pages. So, many folks may not see those right away or ever.

So VOILA! There you have it…super, simple and SUPERBLY effective! Watch your responses and probably your attendance sky-rocket!

~ by Fortuitous Photography on September 2, 2011.