Facebook Tips: Events Simplified

Today Facebook made a simple change to make it easier to create a new event directly from your wall (on your Facebook Page or profile). It’s simple. Just click the calendar icon and fill in the details. After you’ve posted it then you’ll see a link to invite people to your event.

Remember that an event could be you came out with a new product, you opened a new store, etc. You can promote more than just events that people attend in person, but milestones or launches.

Also, if you missed it there also a link that lets you record a video directly from your laptop. You can either upload a video that you’ve already recorded or create one right from your computer. All you need is a webcam. I’ve noticed that short video updates usually get more comments.

I hope that you’ve already claimed your Facebook URL (http://www.facebook.com/usernames) for your brand and for your personal profile. For now, Facebook requires that your Page has at least 100 fans to get a custom URL.

I’m always trying to keep up on what is happening on Facebook. I recommend this 50 pages of Facebook Tips. The link goes to a guide from Joan Stewart. It is not free – it’s $40 but IMO it’s worth that because otherwise you’ve got to spend hours trying to figure it out by yourself. Following a conversation about Facebook (which helps you get context for the various features you can use to market your business), there’s a guide with screenshots. It explains a lot of confusing elements of Facebook and features you may not know about. I print it out and refer to it often. It’s quick to skim through and saves me when I forget how to do something.

If you want even more in-depth Facebook information, Jesse Stay writes about Facebook programming and features quite often. I’m hoping that he’ll update his book about Facebook. The guide I refer to happened this month. A book that takes several months to produce just can’t keep up with the changes.

Why should you be interested in Facebook? For starters, in 2009 Facebook had a 276% growth rate for people ages 35-54. It is essentially doubling every two months. To me Facebook takes a close second to Twitter (follow me! and Dream Systems Media) as far as social networks go.

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