When most people have a special event coming up, the first thing they do is to head to Facebook to spread the news. Facebook Advertising for Event Planners, it’s a no-brainer. It just might be a money maker if done right.
Because whether it’s a wedding, a corporate meeting, or just the monthly get-together of the Ancient Order of the Great Owls, people publicize their upcoming events through the popular social media platform. Today, some people even forgo the traditional invitation and send out invites online.
Event planners miss a huge opportunity, then, if they don’t advertise on Facebook. With all these potential customers just waiting for someone to step in and make their event a success, event planners need to make Facebook advertising a top priority.
Most event planners have a lot on their plates already, though, so many shy away from what they think will be a tedious process, hampered by Facebook’s long list of do’s and don’ts. That’s where they’re wrong, however. With only a few simple steps, event planners just like you can have lucrative ads up and running on Facebook in no time. Here’s how:
First—and Most Important—Identify Your Target Audience
Facebook ads appear in potential customers’ news feeds. The key to success, then, is to get your ad in the right people’s news feeds. Many advertisers, though, miss the boat. As digital marketing expert Neil Patel puts it, “People…don’t truly understand their target audience, so they place ads in the news feed of the wrong people…” Your task, then, is to get your Facebook ads in front of people who should consider hiring an event planner to make their upcoming event a success.
People near you who just got engaged? Of course! Local corporations known for their lavish annual meetings? Check. Non-profits in your town who hold regular fundraising events? Yes, indeed. Your local college or university? Jot down all the potential customers in your service area. You’ll need this list later.
Look at How Facebook Uses Data to Target Ads
Facebook collects data on users and organizes the information into “interests,” demographics” and “behaviors.” When you fill out your profile they learn of your age, gender, income, interest and variety of other information. Your activities on Facebook help fill in the fields for demographics and behavior. This data allows Facebook to match advertisers with users who are likely to be interested in their services and products. From a users’s perspective, it’s better to see ads that are of interest than irrelevant ads. I mean, we have to see the ads anyways so the may as well be relevant to our interest. From the advertiser’s point of view, Facebook provides a unparalleled method of laser targeting the ideal customer profile.
Because the ads are “native” and blend in with the user experience as part of the news feed, they don’t annoy users, as do obnoxious video pop-up ads on news sites or YouTube. Making the ads blend in and not be recognized as such, to the untrained eye, is one of the secrets behind Facebook’s huge revenue growth. It can be the secret to yours, too.
How to Create a Facebook Campaign
- Create a Page For Your Business: Only businesses can use Facebook ads. Your event planning business should have one, anyway. It’s a great place to get the buzz going about the fabulous events you have planned. During the page creation process, put your target audience list to use. Set your country, state, and city, and the general age range and gender of your target audience. Select “likes” that attract your target customers.
- Start with Ads Manager: Busy event planners usually should start with the user-friendly Ads Manager dashboard to create your first campaign. As you become more proficient with Facebook ads, you can also start using Power Editor. Power Editor it typically used to manage multiple campaigns and accomplish bulk editing.
- Set your objective: After you sign up for Facebook’s ad platform, a prompt will appear that asks you to create a campaign. Your first task will be to set your objective. Do you want more likes for your page? Do you want to get people to subscribe to your e-newsletter? Do you want to convert prospects to clients? Enter what you want to get out of the ad. Typically you will want to run campaigns with the objective of “Lead Generation” or “Conversions.” These two options provide the most direct path to new leads and new customers.
- Build your ad sets: This is where the real work is done. While building your Ad Sets you will need to create your audience. Thoughtfully build out your audience by incorporating what you know about your ideal customers. Take the time to review current customer profiles and to conduct online research for your target market to build high converting audiences.
- Narrow down your target audience: At first, try to reach fewer than 10,000 people. A smaller list of targeted people will net the best results. Trim down the age span to a 10-year range. For example, if you want to reach newly engaged people with a wedding planner ad, you may try whittling your list down to those between 20 and 30 years of age. Select all the “recently engaged” categories as the relationship status. If this narrows the list down too much, also include “in a relationship,” since some people with this status may also contemplate marriage.
- Set a budget: Start small at first, say $5.00 per day. Set the end date for a month from now. Optimize your ad for “Conversions.” For bidding leave the default on automatic bidding unless you have a specific reason to manipulate bids manually. Start small for now. Under “Ad Scheduling,” set to run ads continuously. Set “Delivery Type” to “Standard.”
- Select images: Select up to 6 images for your ads. Use your own photos of successful events for best results. Never use copyrighted images without the written permission of the owner.
- Create a catchy headline: Make your headline stand out. You only have a second or two to catch a reader’s eye. If you’re offering something free, say so. If you’re offering a discount, say so. Otherwise, use other words to catch potential clients’ attention. Use newspaper and online ads that catch your eye for inspiration.
- Write your ad: Finally, write the copy of your ad. Make it short, sweet, and to the point, yet compelling. End with a call to action (CTA). Calls to action are the parts of ads that ask the reader to take action: subscribe to your mailing list, like your page, or request a phone call for a consultation. Make a pitch your readers can’t refuse. Select the “Learn more” button for best results. According to Patel, that button produces more results.
- Place your order: After you create your ad, a prompt will appear. Select “place order,” and wait for Facebook to approve your ad. They will send you a notification via Facebook when they approve it.
Analyze and Make Adjustments
Once your campaign has been running for a few days you will want to analyze the results and look for optimization opportunities. Below are a few common areas that can be tweaked to promote better results:
- Placements: If you notice your ad is receiving impressions and spending money on a certain placement but is not receiving any clicks, you may want to disable this placement. The idea here is to only spend money on placements that are first producing clicks and later producing conversions.
- Ads: If 1 or 2 versions of the ad are getting all the action, you will want to stop the other ads. Often one ad will be generating a great click through rate while the others are struggling. Time to stop non performing ads, let the winner run and consider adding new ad creative.
- Age and Gender: Breakdown the performance by clicks and gender. Again, you are looking to stop spending on segments that cost you money but don’t drive action. Optimize around the gender and age combo that is driving the desired action.
Eventually, you’ll refine your technique until placing Facebook ads is like second nature for you. As you become more experienced and you see that your ads convert, you can pour more money into your event planning service’s Facebook advertising budget.
We at Lounge Appeal strive to make event planners’ lives easier—not only with great tips like these—but with providing quality furniture rentals that can solve the challenge of finding comfortable, luxurious furniture for guest seating. To learn more, contact Lounge Appeal today