We’ve already seen how effective and fabulously fun a Facebook party can be, right?

Click here to get the complete Guide to Organizing a Fab Facebook Party. 

Today, let me introduce you to another awesomely fun and interactive, engagement-boosting Facebook feature- the Facebook Q and A Session.

Like the Facebook party, this one too is free and will help you amp up your engagement instantly!

 What is a Facebook Q and A Session

A question-and-answer session on Facebook is just that. A question-and-answer session where your community asks you questions and you answer them. Easy, engaging and effective!

 Who Can and Should Organize A Yummolicious  Q and A Facebook Event

Anyone who has a Facebook page can organize this Facebook interview session with their community.

•  Bloggers with an eBook or book about to hit the stands
• Retail or product-based business owners who want to highlight a new launch or range of products or just find out what their community wants.
• Service providers who wish to spread the word about what they do, establish expertise and just be a go-to source for their community.

Yes, pretty much anyone or everyone can and should organize this fun event for more engagement on Facebook.

How to Organize a Sizzling Hot Interview on Facebook

Now that you know that you can and should be hosting a Q&A on Facebook, let’s see how you can go ahead and do that easily and effortlessly. Some of the steps are similar to that of organizing a Facebook party, so I wouldn’t go into too much detail for them:

 1. Identify the Q and A theme.

You can keep it absolutely Open House-style and have your community ask you just about anything under the sun. But if you are tying a marketing goal into this interview, it will make sense to have a theme.

For example,

“Ask me anything…about XYZ book/product/service.”

2. Fix a date and time.

This is the same like you’d do for the Facebook party. Pick a convenient day, date and time and announce it. Also, fix the duration of the interview- 30 minutes, 60 minutes or 90 minutes.

3. Set up an Event and Invite Friends and Your Community

To set up the event, go to the Offer, Event+ section of the status update section on your page, scroll to Event and click.

It’ll open up a window like this one. Fill in the details and you’d have created an Event page as well as an Event on your page.

 

From the Event page you can invite friends from you personal profile, tag friends and also, answer any event-specific questions.

You can also post visual and text invitations on your page, on other social media profiles, on your blog and of course, send one to your email lists.

 4. Post reminders about the Q and A Session

It’s important to post reminders pretty much every day until the day of the event for the Q and A session so that everyone on your page knows about it.

 5. Show Up, Get the Ball Rolling and Have FUN!

Finally, at the scheduled time, you or your community manager will announce that the interview or Q and A or Ask me Anything session is open and that you’ll be there on the page for 60 minutes answering questions, LIVE.

Lights, camera, action!

 Differences Between a Party and a Q&A

The main difference between the Q and A and the Facebook party is that for the party, each conversation starter or question will need a different post. For the Interview, though, you’ll have ONE leading post and then, you’ll answer questions in THAT post itself. 

Other difference is that for a party, you’ll be able to embed the individual posts in a blog post or turn them into a Storify but with a Q&A session, you can just take that ONE post and embed it into a blog post.

 It’s also much quicker to throw a Q&A session and it doesn’t need as much prep and planning as a party. Think of a Facebook party, like a fancy dinner party while the Q&A is more like, a conversation over coffee.

 Can YOU organize a Q&A session for your small business’s Facebook page? Which one do you prefer-the party or the interview?  Have questions for me, ask away!