Sold Out! That is what we like to hear from our clients who choose us to help them with their Facebook event ads. WSI Connect has been creating and running Facebook Ads for our clients who host monthly workshops and annual events. Our ads have helped drive attendance for local events and increase awareness around services.
Are you using Facebook ads to drive attendance to your local events? Read on to discover our step by step approach we take in creating Facebook ads.
Creating Ads from your Facebook Page
If you are short on time and do not want to use Facebook Ads Manager, you can boost your event and posts directly from your Facebook page. Working directly on your page is easier, straightforward and quick.
Boost Event
From your event list, click on Boost Event.
A pop-up will open where you can customize your objectives, add an image, adjust targeting, and set the ad run time (1 day, 7 days, 14 days).
Boost Event, Increase Ticket Sales vs. Reach More People
The above images show how your event will appear to viewers based on your objective. Where one directs individuals to a ticket website, the latter objective drives awareness. People that click interested or going, cause your event to show up in their friends’ news feeds.
Boost Event, Ad Creative: Text
In this section you’ll want to describe your event and why people should attend. I like to keep the descriptive area to no more than a paragraph or two. For workshops, I’ve started using the following format:
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- EVENT TITLE IN ALL CAPS (or other priority information)
- Short Description
- DATE IN ALL CAPS
Boost Event, Ad Creative: Add an Image
When you click “Boost Event” the ad will automatically populate the cover image used on the event page. You can select a new image from your photo album or upload a new one.
Boost Event: Audience
Facebook provides a couple of prebuilt audience selections for you: People who like your Page and People who like your Page and their friends. You may also customize your audience based on interests, demographics, and location.
Boost Event: Budget & Duration
Choose or enter your desired budget and ad run.
Tip: For events such as workshops, run your ad 3 to 4 days before the date. We’ve seen better performance on ads the closer they are to the event date. If you’ve dialed in your targeting you should see a low cost per clicks and increased registration. All other types of events, you will want to time your ad runs with the heaviest concentration of budget leading up to your ticket deadline date or event date.
After completing the above steps, you’ll be prompted to enter a credit card for payment and you can boost your event.
Creating Ads from Ads Manager
I prefer to create ads from within Ads Manager because I can use multiple images and videos and duplicate successful ads easily. From your Ad Manager, select Create Ads and choose your objective.
Ads Manager: Objective
Awareness, Consideration, or Conversion
For events, I recommend “traffic” under the Consideration objective. The steps will be similar to above when setting your audience, budget and duration.
However, within Ads Manager you can edit where your ad is seen (image below). The majority of our clients are not on Instagram, so I always edit the placements and primarily use Facebook and the Audience Network choices.
Tip: If you are creating an ad strictly for Messenger, you will want to edit the placements to only include desktop and mobile feeds (as pictured below).
Ads Manager, Ad Format, Media and Links
You have several choices. I use a mix of single image ads, carousal ads and occasionally video ads.
Be sure to direct users to a meaningful, straightforward link that has the information they are expecting.
Tip: Be sure to enter the direct link to your ticket site or dedicated event page on your website. Users do not want to go to a main page where they have to hunt for more information. On May 10, Facebook announced that they are essentially cracking down on ads that lead to a low-quality web experience. In essence, ensure your link sends users directly to the information they are seeking, without disruptions such as pop-ups.
Whether you choose a single image or carousel ad format, choose images that clearly show the type of event and the purpose. For instance, in the above example, the images chosen were from the previous year’s event. The text creates a sense of urgency, the image gallery shows what happened the previous year: winning raffles, auctions, pre-party VIP, dancing, and food.
Facebook Ad Success Example:
The image below shows a workshop with a four day ad duration. Through targeting specific audiences and directing them directly to the registration page, this ad realized an ROI of 35x.
With over 1 billion daily active users on Facebook, your event is competing for attention. Learn how to do this correctly and your events will flourish.
If you have any questions about how to drive attendance to your local event with Facebook or any of our other services, schedule a discovery call with us today.
