By now, you’re probably investing some of your event marketing spend in Facebook Ads. Boosting posts can be a great vehicle to increase engagement, but when your top priority is increasing ticket sales, it’s best to dive into Facebook Ads Manager head first.
If you find yourself with ad paralysis after looking at the wide array of campaign objectives and targeting methods available in Facebook, fear not. We’ve picked three Facebook ad types that are tried and true for event marketers!
Event Announcement: Detailed Interest Targeting for Website Clicks
You’ve just finalized the details of your event, you’re on the cusp of on-sale day, and you’re ready to spread the word, so which ad is best? We recommend ringing the alarms with an event announcement ad! It will help you create event awareness and boost the size of your remarketing lists to use in future campaigns. Use the following template to reach new users who are likely to be interested in your event:
Objective: Select “Website Clicks” and Facebook will optimize your ad delivery to maximize website traffic. This will also help increase the audience size for the following recommended campaign.
Targeting: Use Detailed Interest targeting and select pages that are complementary with your event and your buyer personas. For a general event announcement, you can use broader targeting methods. If you haven’t already, check out our blog post on how to use Audience Insights to inform your campaign targeting.
Text: Use ad copy that excites your audience – this is the big reveal of tickets going on sale! Include a call-to-action, pertinent event info, and select “Book Now” as your button.
Reminder Ad: Website Remarketing Targeting for Website Conversions
It’s been a few weeks, your ticket sales are rolling in, and you’ve experienced a noticeable uptick in your website traffic. To keep sales up to pace, run a reminder remarketing ad to ensure your event stays in the minds of your consumers. Remarketing ads have higher ROIs and are easy are implement. Use the following template:
Objective: Select “Website Conversions” and Facebook will optimize your ad delivery to those who are most likely to purchase a ticket from the selected audience targeting method.
Targeting: Put your Facebook pixel to use to deliver ads to people who have visited your website and event listings, but have not yet bought a ticket to your event. Remarketing ads typically yield higher ROI because you are reaching an audience who has already expressed interest in your event.
Text: In a reminder ad, you want to highlight something that your market may have missed about your event before. For example, is there an addition to your lineup? A new attendee experience? Maybe there’s a different way to frame your original event announcement. Approach your ad copy with a fresh perspective to entice your audience to purchase this time around.
Facebook Event Ad: Page Engagement Targeting for Event Responses
If you’ve created a Facebook event page for your upcoming event, an RSVP may not necessarily equal a ticket sale. Still, creating a Facebook event is a great way to promote sharing, buzz, and virality. As an added bonus, once someone responds “Interested” or “Going,” Facebook will send them reminders that your event is coming up, and you can easily send out your own updates by posting on the event page. Also, utilize this page to reach users who would most likely be interested by targeting friends of those who’ve interacted with the page, keeping costs low and ticket sales high.
Objective: Select “Engagement – Event Responses” and Facebook will optimize your ad delivery for those who are most likely to respond “Interested” or “Going” to your Facebook event.
Targeting: Use Connections targeting to show event response ads to people who like your page and their friends to encourage shareability. To further narrow down the audience and ensure they’re a good fit for your event, layer key detailed interests that will apply to the friends of people who already like your page.
Text: A good way to increase event responses is to emphasize in the ad copy that you’ll post periodic updates and giveaways. Further, be sure to include all relevant details of your event in the actual event description.
Interested in learning more about your event’s audience? Be sure to check out our guide to using Facebook Audience Insights to improve your event marketing!