Last August, Facebook launched a new paid online events option, via Facebook Live, in order to provide another way for businesses to generate direct income amid the COVID-19 crisis. 

Paid events enable businesses and creators to charge direct on Facebook for access to their online video programs, with exclusive tools and options available only to paying attendees. And recently, Facebook provided some tips on how to make best use of the process to maximize connection and opportunity, while also noting some coming features for the tool.

In the video, Facebook product manager Aurora Kurland outlines how paid online events work, and what people have been using them for during the pandemic. Kurland also provides a complete overview of how to create your own paid event from your Facebook Page, including some helpful notes on key elements to check off.

Kurland also discusses upcoming additions for paid online events, including improved controls to make it easier to see what you can do the within paid events tool, and updated promotional options to increase awareness of paid online events

Kurland also notes this interesting, and potentially valuable point:

“Many folks don’t know this, but if you host a paid online event, you can actually create a custom audience using Ads Manager, and that’s going to allow you to target the folks who said that they were interested in the event, or going to the event, or interacted with the event in some way, specifically for your ad campaign.”

That means that you can directly target event attendees, and even those interested, with dedicated promotions, which could provide another way to segment and categorize your outreach process. That could be a valuable option, which could make Facebook Events even more valuable than via the direct function itself. 

Kurland also notes that Facebook’s currently testing paid online events with Rooms, which would enable businesses and creators to run events where they could see more of their attendees, in variation to events in Facebook Live (which is more broadcast focused).

There are some interesting notes here, which could make Facebook Events a more valuable part of your strategic planning. 

Socialmediatoday.com