How to Plan a Get Together Using Social Media Events Services

There are a lot of avenues for creating and sharing social media events with friends and business contacts. Email, phone calls, and old fashioned invitations still work, but nothing beats the convenience of a virtual RSVP. This holiday season, think smart and use social media events tools to make your next get together a huge success.

Plancast

Plancast is one of my favorite services. It's basically an online network based around plans. Create an event an invite friends or see what other local events are happening. I like that I can see what my friends are planning on any given night of the week. It's easy to sign up via Facebook or Twitter and get started.

Meetup

Meetup.com is a great tool. Use Meetup for events that occur regularly and have more people RSVPing more often. Meetup gives event creators the ability to mail it's members, schedule reminders, and give other users admin access. It works great for smaller more intimate gatherings (5 to 10 people) as well as larger get togethers (50+). It's worth looking into.

Biznik

This is a great social media events planning service for a variety of professional gatherings, classes, and business networkers. Biznik focus on the professional crowd and events are open to the general public. I like Biznik because it gives the event creator the ability to limit the number of RSVP's. Biznik's community is smaller than others, but the members are very devoted to the service and attend events regularly.

Eventbrite

On the down side, Eventbrite isn't free. On the plus side, it's one of, if not the most, professional social media events services. It's great for both free events and paid events. An Eventbrite event looks top notch and those who RSVP are usually very serious about attending. It gives your event instant credibility. It's the preffered choice for conferences, seminars, book signings, and events with a lot of attendees.

Facebook

How could we not mention Facebook? With it's built in 500 million + and growing member count, it makes a lot of sense to use Facebook for your next event. Facebook has a built in audience and creating events is fast and free. One thing to consider is that your friends may receive a lot of Facebook event requests, so event creators must work extra hard to make their event stand out.

Extra credit

There are a lot of additional things one can do to promote an event outside of social media events services. How about creating an email list? Maybe a LinkedIn event is more appropriate for the crowd you wish to attract. Maybe your event should be a Tweetup and you should do some heavy promotion via Twitter. The options are only limited by your creativity. Use these social media events services and you're next event may be your best yet.