Today, social network Facebook has become a major player in the world of online advertising. Facebook accounts for more than one and a half billion active users every month!
For event organisers, it represents a powerful pool of potential customers.
In this series of articles, we will help you understand the basics of Facebook advertising before you start.
Why Facebook? The basics of online advertising
If you master this channel, it is possible to get very good results in terms of return on investment. The reasons to get started on Facebook are therefore multiple:
- Millions of users,
- Precise targeting: wherever you are, whatever the theme of your event,
- No minimum budget: whatever the size of your event,
- Flexibility in terms of the ad message
Do you have a Facebook page? Create an advertising account by filling in your basic data and a payment method. You will then be ready to create your first ads!
When creating your campaigns, keep an idea in mind: the more granular the structure and segmentation, the more effective the optimisation will be, and the better and more profitable your campaigns will be.
1 / Your audience
Targeting is one of the most important elements in a campaign. Accurate and precise targeting will allow you to reach people interested in your event (rather than all Facebook users). In particular, you need to think about some main criteria:
- Gender: men, women, both?
- Age: You can reach internet users aged 13 to 65+
- Geographic area: Would you like to target the UK? Any specific region? A few specific cities?
- Interests: What are the interests of your target audience? (Similar events, industry, relevant influencers …)
- Electronic device: Mobile and laptop
Important: Facebook and mobile are interrelated. You cannot run Facebook campaigns without thinking about mobile. Thus, by running separate campaigns, you can create mobile ads that are more appropriate, with a suitable bid adjustment.
Furthermore, it’s essential to keep an eye on your competitors and stay updated with the latest trends. Using tools like the FB Ads Library can provide valuable insights into your competitors’ strategies, helping you refine your targeting and create more compelling ad campaigns.
2 / Budget
There is not, strictly speaking, a minimum budget required to advertise on Facebook. It can range from a hundred to several tens of thousands of Euros. Nevertheless, you should know that you will not be able to set a daily spend under €5 for each set of advertisements. You must, therefore, monitor your spending very closely for the first few days of the campaigns to avoid bad surprises! You should consider beforehand the overall amount that you want to spend promoting your event and spread it over a specific period
3/ Schedule
Your event has a limited duration. It is therefore not useful to communicate all year long. So, when to start the campaigns? When should I start reaching out to people?
Generally, I recommend launching campaigns 3 weeks to a month before the start of the event. But this will depend on your budget and the scope of your event. However, if I have any advice to give you, it is to spread the budget over the period. Do not spend everything in the first two days. Divide your budget for the number of days and try to stick to it. Otherwise, you will cut off part of the population. Also take the time to think about the structure of your campaigns, before launching them.
4/ The two types of campaigns
The most important thing here is to talk about your event to attract as many people as possible. Ideally, you should consider two types of campaigns: a first set to generate clicks to your website and a second to generate likes on your page.
The first set will allow you to reach people with specific interests and redirect them directly to your website. The goal is, of course, to generate clicks and thus to encourage the user to buy a ticket.
The second set will allow you to gain more fans on your Facebook page. Once campaigns are stopped, and as soon as you publish a post, the broadcast will be wider. The more fans you have, the more updating your Facebook page will make sense!
You’ll find in our second part How to promote my event on facebook? 2/2:
- The KPIs to track and optimisations
- Bidding strategies
- The main optimisations
- The top 10 expert tips
You too can plan your event easily with Weezevent by clicking below:
