66 Responses to “Invite People To Your Facebook Event”

1. Terry says:

   November 22, 2011 at 12:40 pm

   ok, let me get this straight. My band has a page, I am the admin. When I post an event it automatically goes on everyone who “like’s” us wall? When I go back and look at the event it shows 24 invited but we have 250 likes. I don’t get it.
2. Charlene Kingston says:

   November 22, 2011 at 12:55 pm

   You have it wrong. When you create a Facebook event, it doesn’t automatically go to anyone’s news feed or show up on their wall. In fact, you can’t even invite the people who like your band’s page to your Facebook event. You can post your event on your band page wall. By doing that, a few of the people who like your band’s page will see the event in their news feed, but only a few and you can’t choose which ones.

   The most effective way to share the news about a Facebook event using Facebook is to ask your fans to share the event with their friends who might be interested. That’s it. Facebook makes it darn hard to share your event on Facebook.

   I recommend that you use your other ways to communicate with the band’s loyal fans, like an email list for your newsletter, and post information about the Facebook event there.
3. Ken says:

   November 22, 2011 at 10:05 pm

   So what is the point of having fans “Like” your page if you can’t invite them to an event or guarantee they will even see when you’ve posted an update on your Page wall?

   Correct me if I’m wrong but as a regular user I can create an event on my profile and invite my friends. They will then get some kind of “alert” letting them know about the event to which they can choose to RSVP or not?

   Would you say group pages are better for events in this regard?

   Thanks
4. Charlene Kingston says:

   November 23, 2011 at 6:23 am

   What is the point, indeed. Facebook Pages are truly limited in features, and they do not work like personal profiles. But if you are a business, you have no other option. If you attempt to set up a business as a personal profile, Facebook will suspend your account for violating the terms of service.

   In truth, Facebook does not work if it is your only or primary online presence. Every business should have a website/blog as it’s main presence, and have an email list for reaching out to people who want to connect with the business. Ideally, you should drive people from both Facebook and Twitter to your website and your email list. That’s the only way to really connect with them. I see so many businesses who adopt Facebook as their main presence because it is easy to use, and find themselves crippled by the lack of features. I feel so strongly about this that I’ve written about it (http://socialmediadiyworkshop.com/2010/01/facebook-as-a-social-media-hub/) and always advice my clients to focus on their website/blog over Facebook. I’ve also explained a bit about how Facebook decides which of your business page wall posts get into the news feed of people who like your business. (http://socialmediadiyworkshop.com/2011/06/6-ways-to-get-your-facebook-wall-posts-seen/)

   When Facebook is a secondary online tool, it can be very powerful and effective. But only when you have a strong website/blog with an email list.

   It’s been a while since I studied the terms of service for Facebook Groups, so I can’t comment on your idea of using a Group instead of a Page. Groups do have very different services than Pages. However, if using a Group for a business is a violation of the Facebook terms of service, you run the risk of getting your account suspended. I would advise caution and recommend that you do your research before taking that route.

   Facebook doesn’t promote itself as being the only online tool a business needs to connect with its customers and fans. When used as part of a larger online strategy, Facebook is effective and powerful. It just doesn’t work, however, if it is the only way you have to connect with customers and fan. Every business should prioritize a website/blog and email list over a Facebook presence to build an effective online strategy.
5. Allen says:

   November 23, 2011 at 6:26 am

   I have a more basic question. Why can’t I import a csv file to invite 1000 important business contacts to visit my Facebook business page?

   They’ve decided that this is an intrusive old-school style of inviting people?

   Is inviting now no longer allowed?
6. Charlene Kingston says:

   November 23, 2011 at 6:34 am

   There is a way around this, Allen. You have the email addresses for these people. I recommend that you create a customized message about your Facebook Page and send it out to your list. That works as a first blast. Then, add a link to your Facebook Page everywhere you are online, on your website, add a Like button to your blog, and add your Facebook Page to your email signature. That constant reminder will make it easy for people to find your on Facebook.

   The trick about Facebook is that the business cannot reach out to attract likes. It’s a one-way relationship with people and businesses on Facebook, and the people are in charge. The people control the relationship. The people get privacy. That means that your business must have other ways to reach out and connect. I recommend that you always drive people who find you on Facebook to join you on your website/blog and email newsletter. That’s where your business can reach out and send your message to everyone on your list.
7. Bijuterii Argint says:

   December 4, 2011 at 5:59 am

   Charlene, thanks for your great insights! What about the usage of mass friend invitation/mailing software (there are some promoted in the market)? Are they allowed by FB policy? Usage of such software can harm your Fun Page on Facebook if linked to it in anyway ?
8. Charlene Kingston says:

   December 5, 2011 at 11:54 am

   I am not familiar with these products. Can you give me the names of a few?
9. Bijuterii Argint says:

   December 6, 2011 at 4:43 am

   Hi Charlene, I have tested the free downloads of two such applications:
   - oCommunitySuite Facebook Friend Adder
   - Friend Blaster Pro

   They both seem to do the job more or less, but the question is: do they do any harm? can your Facebook acount/funpage be affected?

   To rephrase the question into more details:
   - does Facebook know that it is not a human that sends messages, friend requests and invitations to events? and is that against their policy?
   - does Facebook penalize you if you send to many messages, friend requests and invitations to events?

   looking forward to hearing your opinion on this!
10. Charlene Kingston says:

    December 6, 2011 at 9:36 am

    Thanks for sharing these product, Bijuterii. I was not familiar with these products.

    I can’t say whether Facebook will penalize you for using products like these. It’s outside of my knowledge. But I can say that using products like this go against the grain of the concept of building a community on Facebook. The important thing about your following on every social media tool is to fill it with people who actually care about your business. Tools like this can help new people find your business, but what will they see when they visit your page? Are you investing as much energy into welcoming new people? Are you providing valuable content that is focused on solving the problems of your audience?

    People do business with people they know, they like, and they trust. Certainly these tools can help increase your business visibility. They might even get some people to establish a relationship with your business (follow your business, like your business, etc.) But how are you moving people forward? How are you building up the “like” and “trust” parts of that equation?

    I favor organic growth of my following. I’d rather have a small list made of up people who like and trust my business than to have a huge list of people who heard of me once and have no intention of interacting with me in the near future. For me, it’s not a numbers game (where the larger the following the better), but it’s about connection and building relationships. I share good content to get attention, and the people who follow me share that content with their friends. That’s what I mean by organic growth.

    I’m not against doing some publicity for businesses. I have clients who regularly use Facebook ads to reach new people. But I advise them to have a great big welcome mat waiting for the new people who drop by to check them out. It takes time to build a relationship with new customers so they know, like, and trust you. I’m focused on the long-term growth of my own business, and recommend that strategy to everyone.
11. Bijuterii Argint says:

    December 9, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    Thanks a lot Charlene! This has helped me a lot to make the decision to keep growing our list naturally rather than boosting it with such tools.
12. Charlene Kingston says:

    December 9, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    I’m glad it was helpful, Bijuterji. I believe there are lots of benefits of having a small but mighty list of followers. And here’s something else that will help you. Make an effort to post things that people will find valuable. I post a lot of things on Facebook that other people wrote and created. When I find something that I know my target audience will find helpful, I post it. I want people to think of me as a resource for good things, whether I wrote the good things or I share what other people have written.

    Good luck to you.
13. Geri Lafferty says:

    December 13, 2011 at 11:37 am

    Thank you so much for this, Charlene. I found this post when trying to figure out how to invite people to an event from a FB business page. All of the information available from Facebook says “click “Invite Friends” in the upper-right corner of your event.” Well, there is not “invite friends” area in the upper-right corner of my event. They make no mention of whether the event is on a business page or a personal page. I am trying to invite people from a business page, which I now see is impossible, thanks to your post.

    Why the heck does Facebook not have better “help” features, or at least updated information in their user guides? (rhetorical question here – I don’t expect anyone to have an answer to that one.)

    Had it not been for you, I’d still be trying to figure out what the heck Facebook means in their very unhelpful help section.
14. Charlene Kingston says:

    December 13, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    I’m glad that I’ve been helpful, Geri. I try not to throw stones at Facebook, but indeed, I have wondered exactly the same things on many occasions. I can say that things are getting better. They are adding more useful features for business pages, and their help recently went through a major revision that is quite an improvement.
15. French property Tony says:

    January 26, 2012 at 4:35 am

    Many thanks for this – its not as obvious as one would hope to find out on FB itself how to actually do this. Great tip for our business
16. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 26, 2012 at 1:16 pm

    You are welcome, Tony. Best of luck to you.
17. Christie says:

    January 31, 2012 at 3:38 pm

    Thanks for the info. I also manage a band’s internet presence, and the inability to directly invite our fans is a definite hindrance, since most our fans like to interact with us via facebook instead of the website. I was thinking I was just missing something on how to invite, but now I see it is not possible.
18. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 31, 2012 at 4:23 pm

    I do recommend that you keep talking about your event, but in a not boring way. When you first create the event, post it on your wall and encourage people to tell their friends. Then a couple days later, talk about what you are doing to get ready for the event. Maybe show a rehearsal shot of the band, or post a 1 minute video of the rehearsal. Then a few days later, post about them deciding on stage clothes and post a picture. You get the idea. Keep building excitement and remind people about the event by talking about different aspects of it. That way, people who missed the original event posting get the news, but the loyal Facebook fans don’t get bored because you are saying the same thing over and over.

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