How to Enjoy a Facebook Party

Yay! You’ve been invited to a FaceBook party!

What the heck does a FB Party invite mean?

Well, it means you get to enjoy a party FROM YOUR HOUSE. No worrying about make-up or babysitters or if you should bring a gift/plate/bottle of wine, no worrying about if you can have an extra glass of wine/beer or not.

Congratulations to the easiest party you’ll ever attend. (as is evidenced by my shameless make-up free, comfy clothes pics on this post – and yeah, that IS a stain on my pants – don’t judge)

Introverts, you don’t have to TALK to anyone. If you’re not having fun, you can leave and chances are likely, no one will notice.

Extroverts, you’ll get to meet a TON of new people to friend on FB and spend hours “chatting” with them at the party.

So, what IS a FB party?

FB parties are a great way for people to celebrate something without an actual venue. It could be a book release (ahem) or a sale party (Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Oragmi Owl etc) or anything else. It’s a way to get the word out and hopefully grow the number of people interested in your product/service.

What’s in it for you?

GIFTS! FREE STUFF! New friends (extroverts, I’m looking at you), pajama pants and being bra-less (and whatever the guy equivalent of this is) and the comfort of your own home (now I’m looking at you, introverts!) Basically, there’s something in it for everyone. 🙂 Especially because most FB parties are centered around giving away prizes to encourage participation. There will usually be free books, gift cards and other various things being raffled off.

OK, I’m interested – what do I do?

It’s actually really easy.

1. Click the link for the party. If you can’t remember where it was, click ‘Home’ on FB and look along the left hand list of selections, you’ll see ‘Events’. Click that and it’ll take you to all the events you’ve been invited to.
2. Accept the invite (click ‘Join’ which will change to ‘Going’ when you see the link again)
3. Wait for the date and tolerate the e-mails that come out.
   1. People will post about their party prior to the event to keep interest up. These posts will go to your e-mail. If you don’t want them, mark your calendar and make sure you join that day to minimize e-mails.
   2. INVITE PEOPLE to join. J Do this by going to the release party site (refer back to the ‘Events’ selection to find the link to the FB party and click it to be taken there) and you’ll see an option at the top with ‘Invite’ – select the drop down. Here you can either invite friends specifically or select share to have it appear on your FB timeline so ALL your friends will see it.
4. Show up – refer back to the ‘Events’ selection to find the link to the FB party and click it within the designated party time frame. If the FB party host knows what they’re doing, you’ll probably get e-mails periodically from them posting to keep up hype (here’s praying they don’t go overboard with it, because OMG that’s annoying). Usually you’ll get one the day of to remind you as well as a few of them throughout the party as new guests are introduced. You can stay from start to end, whenever you can make it, or you can be shameless and just visit when your favorite guest is scheduled to appear.

So, I showed up – now what?

I hope you’re comfortable, because that’s the main awesome of a FB party.  Most likely the host/hostess will open with a question and tell you what prize is up for answering that question. Then, the featured guests will show up at their scheduled time.

The hostess will introduce the featured guest(s) and they’ll post something about themselves or their product/service, etc. Usually they’re giving away something and that will be stated there as well.

All these posts will show up in the party just like a normal FB post. You can like, you can comment, etc. Chances are likely, the featured author will comment right back.

This is an awesome opportunity to ‘chat’ with authors you love if it’s a book release party. 🙂

How do I get my prizes?

Whoa there, cowboy. Not everyone wins a prize. Giveaway means of the people who comment (or whatever requirement is specified) is in the pool for a chance to win. Some hosts will pull the winners after the party is over, but some will actually wait a day or so to pull them in case anyone who can’t make the party want a chance to participate as well.

After the winners are pulled, the host will contact all the winners directly via messenger. *Note: if you are not friends with the host, this will go to your ‘Other’ messages, so please be sure to check those periodically if you’ve entered for a chance to win. Most giveaways do have a prize-claiming time limit.

Well, that’s about it. J You now know how to participate in a FB party 🙂 I hope you enjoy!! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below or even message me on FB on my author page: https://www.facebook.com/MadelineMartinAuthor (and please ‘like’ my page while you’re there) 🙂