Targeting the Band Show Invite on Facebook

I was on facebook yesterday. Ok, I'm on facebook everyday. Anyway, I saw a thread from one of my favorite journalists complaining about the number of fan suggestions he's receiving from bands he doesn't know. Reading the thread, all I could do was nod my head in agreement. Right now I have over 100 fans suggestions that range from real estate in other cities to metal bands (which sorry, just isn't my thing) and I'm finding it entirely difficult to actually motivate myself to go through it to find the ones that are legitimate.

That's just the fan suggestions. Then there's the show invites I receive from every place other than Detroit where I live. So as much as I would love to head to a show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, chances are pretty slim unless I really really love your band.

This all brings me to my point about targeting your list to those who would actually be interested in your music, rather than just clicking on every friend in your box to become a fan of your band, a friend's band or inviting to a show there is no way they'll ever be able to attend.


So here's a little cheat to target your list by market and only send to those who live there (and would be interested)!

To target those who are already a fan, facebook makes it easy (I recommend doing this before inviting friends, because it will save you time with having to select friends one by one who are already a fan).

Simply create your event like you normally would and publish it to your fan page so everyone can see it.
Under the photo of the event, you will see a list of options. Select "Update fans of..."
Check on Target this update and select by city (you can select more than one if there are surrounding cities that make sense).
I also recommend including a message of why it would be of interest to them and giving it a subject line they would open in the first place.

If you are planning to send to personal friends on your list you should create a group list based on that city.
Click on friends on the left of the page.
At the top, click on New List and name it. For instance, one of mine is "Boston Music".
Then select those friends who live in the city of the show (and would be interested).
Go back to your invite and click on the link to invite friends. Select the filter friends drop down and then select the list you'd like to target. Again, include a message of why you think they would be interested.