#LateNightRant : A Facebook invite is NOT an invitation. When I say, “Sorry, I did not hear about your event,” I often get the, “But, I sent you an invitation,” answer. Then it turns out that invitation was on Facebook. Hah.
Has anyone done any tracking on the response rate to Facebook invitations? I hardly ever even look at mine, and even if I do, it is usually on the day of, not ahead of time. Does anyone else look at their invitations closely? Maybe it is just me because I get so many.
But, if you cannot even bother to stick me on your email list (everyone else has), I dunno what to tell you. I just find Facebook invitations to be so impersonal. And they are so easy to ignore.
Not that I recommend not using them. They are good because they are easy for people to share with each other, to encourage their friends to go. (Not that I really believe that happens much). But, it is more as a support format, and it should not be the primary.
Cultivate your email list. It is still your bread and butter.
And for those who want to actually reach NEW people, remember that Google does not index Facebook. If someone is Googling for your event or something like it, your Facebook invite will not show up. Use the other sites available to you and post your events there, too. There are plenty of them.
That is all, just a rant against people who rely too heavily on Facebook invites.
/endrant