Stage event
Harper and the Moths performing at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival.

How To Promote Your Show Using A Facebook Event

Harper and the Moths performing at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival.
Harper and the Moths performing at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival.

There is great value and exposure for bands that promote events on social media, specifically Facebook. You have the potential to reach several hundred or even thousands of users if you plan correctly. I receive dozens of invites to shows every week as part of my work with KWSS Independent Radio, and I’m always looking at how bands promote, as well as how they can improve. Here are some tips to receive the maximum benefits promoting your show on Facebook:

  1. Only create one event. UPDATE: You can now add all involved with an event! Please do this. Add every band and artist involved. All shows have multiple bands/artists performing, and sometimes I see 2 or 3 events for the same show. It’s confusing. It’s also not a good way to keep track of your RSVP’s. When planning the event, decide who will create the Facebook event. This could be the venue, the headlining artist, or the radio station presenting. Have a cover photo that best represents the show as a whole. Then only use that one event between all of those involved.
  2. Make sure the event is public. Facebook sometimes defaults events as private, which really limits who sees the event. There is also no way to change it after you publish. Check and double-check.
  3. Don’t forget to share! You can’t post once about the event and then again the day of  the event. Make the event part of your regular marketing plan. What? Your band doesn’t have a marketing/promotion plan? We definitely need to talk.
  4. Give it a boost. Facebook is a great place to advertise, because it’s cheap (perfect for the struggling artist) and you can target your audience. Work out a budget with the venue and others performing, and push your event. I suggest having two or three different ads created (all linking to the same event) to mix it up a bit.
  5. Build excitement. Post in the event. Share photos from rehearsals. Share your music videos. Have a contest for free tickets or merchandise. You can even use Facebook Live in the event, so give some real-time updates.
  6. Continue to post regularly on your Facebook Page. Even though you are posting in the event, and perhaps have boosted a post about event, reach can still be hit-or-miss. This is the nature of the algorithm now, but it can still work for you by doing this one simple thing: Be consistent. I recommend one post daily or every-other-day on your Facebook Page (including organic posts about the event) to supplement your boosted post. The two work hand-in-hand to increase your reach with followers to make sure that your event is seen by the max amount of people.
  7. UPDATE! Invite your friends. I had to add this one, because another thing I recently noticed is many brands create their event, then just expect people to see it and RSVP. Nope. Make sure you invite your friends from your personal Facebook account. That being said, be selective. Don’t invite all 3,000 of your friends, I’m sure many are not even in the state. Go through and specifically invite those you think would be interested. Yes, it could take a little time, but it’s worth the whole 4 or 5 minutes to get the responses and then have your event show up in other user news feeds.

Remember, people love connecting on a personal level with social media. It’s no different for a band. The more personal you make it, the more bodies you are going to get in the door because they have connected with you in some form online. Then you can do what you do best- rock their socks off!