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118 people interested in my Facebook event. Zero people showed.

by SmartAlx
6 replies
A little background.
I'm a dance instructor. I was hoping to do a salsa bootcamp today. It was a total disaster. No one from my extremely successful Facebook ad campaign showed up.

Previously I did two VERY successful events, WITHOUT ANY Facebook advertising. For those events, I promoted on Facebook groups' walls. Groups like Houston Events and Things to do around Houston. I got about 50 interested people and a half dozen RSVPs. The first event (a beginning bootcamp) I had 35 people attend! The second (an intermediate bootcamp) I had 30.

With this event I wanted to push for more success. I was worried that I had exhausted my welcome on those groups so I decided to supplement my marketing strategy with a facebook ad. In addition to my previous marketing strategy I ran a 4 day add with $11 a day budget. It was in my judgment extremely successful.

All told 118 people said they were interested in the event, which as extremely exciting. But only 11 people said they were coming, which was worrying because of the low level of commitment and also because almost all of them were from my Facebook friends list. Furthermore I only sold 1 online evenbrite ticket, as opposed to the previous 7 or 5.

But I was very optimistic because of the extremely high interest level.

To keep people interested I created posts as reminders to the event wall. What to wear. What to expect the next day. Things like that. Didn't help. Each post was only seen by 6 or 7 people.

I sent a reminder private message to the friends who said they were going.

I tried EVERYTHING to make sure this event was a success.

5 people showed up, NONE of them from the Facebook ad. Every single one of them came from my personal friends or from my Facebook friends list.

What did I do wrong?

These are the things that were different between the 3 events:
This event was later in the day. 4pm instead of 2pm.
I charged $5 more at the door and online.
I supplemented my marketing strategy with Facebook advertising to target an interested audience.

I am at complete loss as to how this event failed.
Can someone please give me helpful advice and words of encouragement? I am completely depressed now.
#118 #event #facebook #interested #people #showed
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by SmartAlx View Post

    I charged $5 more at the door and online.



    There's where you failed.

    Traffic is only committed If they show up and pay the fee ($5). If traffic doesn't show up they'll never be committed, no big deal or loss for traffic (nothing to lose).

    Only charge the fee online (Paypal, etc....) while running the ad campaign.

    Also split test an increased fee (ex: $25) to try and get traffic to show up.

    Did the one person that payed online show up?
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Keep in mind that a lot of social traffic are big talkers because they know they don't have to commit to anything (window shoppers) unlike very targeted traffic on a niche forum that's already proven they're dedicated to the niche (took the time to create forum profile for a specific niche, not random social window shopping).

    A social Like isn't usually a real world like, it's more of a I could live with it or without it attitude. Repeat for 10 other random niches per day...



    Previously I did two VERY successful events, WITHOUT ANY Facebook advertising. For those events, I promoted on Facebook groups' walls. Groups like Houston Events and Things to do around Houston. I got about 50 interested people and a half dozen RSVPs. The first event (a beginning bootcamp) I had 35 people attend! The second (an intermediate bootcamp) I had 30.
    So repeat this... tell the previous buyers they get in free If they bring a paying friend (free advertising).
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  • Profile picture of the author imnathanjames
    Hello Smartalx
    I feel gutted for you. Looks like you definitley put in the ground work.

    I agree with yukon, people on social media talk a big game.
    I feel Most of them are full of sh**.
    They know that other people will see that they have liked or committed to a page especially something as cool as what you are doing and maybe make them look a little cooler in the process...idiots.

    Another good point that yukon made was to take a prepayment via paypal.
    Get the commitment of them as early as possible.

    Also maybe give them something as a gift, a download of some salsa tutorials you have made. they could get these as soon as they have paid via paypal.
    or maybe the promise of a goodie bag when they arrive (but given when they leave) not sure what you could include. maybe a usb of great salsa tracks to practice to.

    Hope this helps, goodluck with your next one!!
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  • Profile picture of the author johnben1444
    What are your freebies and you may want to quantify it in $$$.

    Another thing you probably did wrong is not asking your previous participants how they feel about the event at the end of it, what they expect and suggestions.
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  • Profile picture of the author globalexperts
    You probably didn't target the right people who might be really interested in your event. Make sure that you targeted your audience well enough and gauge their interest based on the results (e.g. clicks, likes, shares, comments, etc.).
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  • Profile picture of the author gingerninjas
    That really sucks. I feel for you. I would say that unless people paid for a ticket (ahead of the day) then it doesn't matter how many people are interested they are all full of hot air until they have paid. I know these sort of promos do work, it may have been that your targeting could have been too broad or your event conflicted with another event for your target on the same day. Either way, you pretty much did most of what I would have done. However I would have probably only done prepaid tickets and no ticket sales on the door. Just to get an idea of numbers. Don't lose heart, I am sure your next event will be epic.
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