Is There a Better Event Marketing Tool than Facebook?

Yesterday, we celebrated our second year with our Music & Technology Festival in Indianapolis. The event is a day of celebration for the tech sector (and anyone else) to take a break and listen to some amazing bands. All of the proceeds go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in memory of my father, who lost his battle a year and a half ago to AML Leukemia.

With eight bands, a DJ, and a Comedian, there’s only one online place to market and communicate with prospects, friends, fans, event staff, and attendees… Facebook. The fact that I could share videos and photos, tag groups and sponsors, and then promote the bands and sponsors of the event and bring them all together in a single place is just too simple. Add Facebook advertising, and we were able to expand the reach of our event significantly.

While the site had information, it would hardly be a thriving community like Facebook. Companies often ask us whether or not they should develop a community on their site, and I explain how difficult it is. People don’t center their lives around a product, service, brand… or event. This event was just one piece of a supporter’s weekend, and that’s where Facebook is a perfect fit.

If I had a couple wishes for Facebook Events, they would be:

• Allow ticket sales – we worked through Eventbrite for our sales but that still meant there was a huge disconnect between the number of folks that said they were going and the people that purchased tickets. How would it be if I could have handled ticket purchases, ticket discounts, and even ticket purchases for groups via Facebook?
• Tag Events in Photos and Video – let’s face it, we’re all too busy to hashtag every comment, photo, or video for an event. Wouldn’t it be great if Facebook allowed you to tag the venue and people… but also the event itself? Please leave it to the administrator to approve or remove the tag like you would on a Facebook Page.
• Allow Email Exports or Marketing – Now that I had the event… how do I go back and invite people to next year? It seems kind of dumb, but when I export the guest list, I get a list of names. How does that help me?
• Unlimited Invites – I set up a few administrators for the event, and we eventually hit a limit on the number of invitations we sent out, even though each person only got invited once. These are folks who are friends of mine or following me. Why would you limit the reach of event invitations like this?

If I had those options, I’m honestly not even sure if I would build an event site or use a ticketing system.

We also used Twitter and Instagram, but some bands didn’t have Twitter accounts, and others weren’t monitoring Twitter or Instagram. But everyone was on Facebook before, during, and after the event. Let’s face it – Facebook Events are the only game in town.