You may have a lot of people as your Facebook contacts but you do not have all of their email addresses. This is a waste of your large contact base! Do not worry. You can get them to be part of your list through a non-traditional way – through a Facebook Event! You can invite them all to an event and create a registration form to join. It’s easy!

First, you have to think of an event that is relevant to your local business and would be interesting enough for your Facebook friends or fans.

• You can hold an event in your store or elsewhere that would offer discounts, great sale deals, introduction of a new product, free trials, etc.
• You can hold a webinar with an expert or a popular individual that is related to your business.
• You can hold an actual seminar that would give people more knowledge about your industry that would be beneficial to them personally.
• You can sponsor a concert, charity lunch, etc.

Then, you should set up a landing page on your website, solely about that event. Include important information like dates, schedules, the guest speakers, celebrity participation, etc. You shouldn’t forget the registration form that they can fill up online.

After that, you can create your Facebook event through this link: http://www.facebook.com/events/php. Do this at least two weeks before the said event. You should supply all the important information regarding your event, especially the destination URL. Then you can send invitations to all your Facebook contacts. Once they agree to join your event, it will show on their newsfeeds.

You can create more buzz about your event by posting status updates at least once a day for at least two weeks. Your Facebook friends or fans will be able to see that on their newsfeed. You can also send them direct messages about the event. You should also persuade people to “share” your event and all related posts to their Facebook friends. You will then be able to gather more and more email addresses as more and more people agree to attend your event!