Facebook Events Are Killing Me!

[RoseAndrews]

I have had my last 3 hosts use Facebook events to invite people. They send me a smattering of email addresses and want to postcards. :thumbdown:

I have been coaching but they seem to think the events is the way to go. Have you had trouble with this? I have tried sending messages to the people invited on FB but got blovked for sending spam DANGIT. I also post my pws link in the event page and comment everytime someone else comments.

Anyone have tips or ideas to either maximize the FB events?

 

[pchockeymom]

I am not a facebook person but I always encourage my hosts to use it if they are. But, I also tell them this is in addition to the mini-catalog invitations and email invitations AND no matter what, they have to CALL people to remind them, get their rsvp, etc. No matter what way a host invites, it will not be successful unless they follow up. In my opinion, it sure makes people lazy-facebook that is. People assume they post it so everyone sees it and that's all they need to do! Not!

 

[raebates]

It really depends on the crowd. I've had successful shows where the host only did FB invitations. I've had really sucky shows where the host only did FB invitations. I try to remind my hosts to invite people in a few different ways, that way they're likely to hit everyone's preference.

 

[esavvymom]

And now you have real experience, so when coaching your next host, you can pull the "In my experience..." and say something about how just using hte FB Events alone has had very low attendance or sales, because people are just overwhelmed with electronic info (emails, posts, etc). Nothing replaces the personal invite or handwritten envelope in the mail for getting their attention!

 

[tiggerhale]

If you set up the event, invite the host & make her an admin, she can invite her friends and you can message them as part of the event. There's a lady here in NC that does it that way to have access as well as control the event. She does that in conjunction with mailing mini-cats, events on the personal pc website and making a flyer for the host to print and distribute. She says if you can 'touch' your guests in many ways - electronic invite, paper invite, phone call, they're more likely to come.

 

[Becca_in_MD]

And now you have real experience, so when coaching your next host, you can pull the "In my experience..." and say something about how just using hte FB Events alone has had very low attendance or sales, because people are just overwhelmed with electronic info (emails, posts, etc). Nothing replaces the personal invite or handwritten envelope in the mail for getting their attention!

I definitely tell my hosts that it makes a big difference to do both electronic invites (FB event, e-vites, e-mails) along with the mailed mini and flyer invite. This is in my first host coaching e-mail and I tell them this as well when they book their show. I think I need to put some hard #s behind this statement. I know that my sucky shows this year have been b/c they didn't invite many people AND they did not get me a mailing list. I need to be able to say "hosts who do both methods of inviting have XXX more in free product" so I need to do an analysis of my shows with the mailing v. the non-mailing and then emphasize the # of people they invited as well. I had a show where I was scared b/c I only sent 20 invites. Well, well, well, almost all of them showed up or ordered and it was over $1,300.

I know there are people who do not send invites for their hosts. Not sure how they're getting hosts to have good shows if the host is just doing electronic invites and postcards. I guess it all comes down to emphasizing the phone call/personal contact invitation.

 

[gussey30]

My host last weekend did only fb invites. I asked her and asked her for addresses and phone numbers.. and for her to call and follow up... only ONE person came.
but... she ended up joining (my first recruit !) and told me 'you were right.. guess fb isn't very good, I should had you mail the post cards and call people"
!

 

[loreo]

Good point Bobbi! I tried to give you a thumbs up but it said I had to spread the love before acknowledging you again

 

[mountainmama74]

If you set up the event, invite the host & make her an admin, she can invite her friends and you can message them as part of the event. There's a lady here in NC that does it that way to have access as well as control the event. She does that in conjunction with mailing mini-cats, events on the personal pc website and making a flyer for the host to print and distribute. She says if you can 'touch' your guests in many ways - electronic invite, paper invite, phone call, they're more likely to come.

This is how I do it as well. I'm not having as much luck getting my hosts to give me addresses to mail invitations. But they love being able to do things electronically. So, I do set up the event for them and make them an admin. I also encourage them to use the website and send e-invites from there. I haven't had any problems - my cooking show average is roughly $750!

 

[jla8279]

This is how I do it as well. I'm not having as much luck getting my hosts to give me addresses to mail invitations. But they love being able to do things electronically. So, I do set up the event for them and make them an admin. I also encourage them to use the website and send e-invites from there. I haven't had any problems - my cooking show average is roughly $750!

Yep - I do mostly FB events and make the host the admin. It is working good so far.

 

[dannyzmom]

This is how I do it as well. I'm not having as much luck getting my hosts to give me addresses to mail invitations. But they love being able to do things electronically. So, I do set up the event for them and make them an admin. I also encourage them to use the website and send e-invites from there. I haven't had any problems - my cooking show average is roughly $750!

I simply don't give them a choice.
"Ok, so we've got you pencilied in for june 3rd, great! Now in order to secure that date on my calendar (and you can see my calendar is quite busy!) I will need you to get your guest list back to me within 5 days from today. I will need everyone's names, addresses and email addresses. Now I understand we often only have emails or cell #s for our friends - but that's actually going to help us...because as soon as you step away from this table, you are going to send a text to everyone saying "Hey girls, I am having a party & need your mailing address so I can send out your invitation - please text me back with your addresses ASAP - thanks!" and when you get home tonight you're going to send out the same message via email. Within 24 hours, you will have everyone's addresses and we'll be able to move forward with planning your cooking show! I am so excited to help you earn tons of free products!"

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I LOVE Facebook Events! Many of my most successful shows have been Facebook Event Shows. I tell my host to invite me to the event also, and then instead of sending messages to people who have been invited (which personally, I would consider intrusive) I post little tidbits on the Event Page for people, and answer questions they may have about the show/products. I've had several $1000+ shows that were done just from a Facebook Event.

I also still send out invites for the addresses given to me - actually I have this flyer that I've used (and recently updated) with my hosts that explains it all.

 

[lkhartmann]

Becca,

Do you have email templates that you are willing to share? Thanks in advance if you do

 

[Teresa LM]

I always forget about the "bring a friend" thing. Duh! I need to rework my host coaching...

 

[Sheila]

My sister just did an online only fundraiser for me. She posted it on FB & sent out 142 invites from my web page. She collected about $900 in orders then noticed it was all FB people and the ones she expected to answer the online invites didn't do it. She then decided to e-mail all the ones who were not on FB who didn't respond to the online invitations and ended up at $1,726.25 in sales. FB can be a good thing, depending on the person hosting and their friends. But followup goes a LONG way!!! So I agree that FB should not be their ONLY method of advertising.

 

[RoseAndrews]

wow, these are amazing tips, I need see FB as a tool and not an enemy! You guys are awesome and sooo helpful!