Promoters and nightclub owners are always looking for way to engage their audience OUTSIDE of the brick-and-mortar structure of your venues and parties.  Integrating Facebook into your nightlife website is an easy and free way to include a social dimension with the rest of your website business activity.  Whether you’re a event marketing group like Empire Events or a nightclub like Pacha NYC, Facebook provides a selection of plugins….FOR FREE!

My goal is that by the time you’re finished reading this article, you’ll understand your options for turning your nightlife website into a social hub.

Let’s get started.

#1: Like Button

The Like button lets clubbers share pages from your site back to their Facebook profile with one click. When the user clicks the Like button on your site, a story appears in the user’s friends’ news feed with a link back to your website.

The Facebook Like button is HIGHLY recommended for your:

• Home Page
• Photo Gallery
• Events Page

#2: Send Button

The Send button allows your clubbers to easily send your website content to their friends. It’s different from the Like button in that the content sent between friends is communicated via a Facebook message and not, by default, through a public news feed posting as a “Liked” item would be. This button is great for content that might be better served individually.

For example, on your nightlife site you’ll want to use the Send button for:

• Individual Photos
• Individual Events

#3: Comments

The Comments plugin lets clubbers comment on your site. A lot of WordPress websites come with the commenting feature built in.  We would recommend you disable that and install the Facebook commenting plugin feature.

You should definitely be allowing commenting on :

• Photo galleries
• Event Pages

WARNING:  Moderate your comments frequently by coming back to check them.  You can delete comments you don’t like if you are the admin of the site.

#4: Activity Feed

The Activity Feed plugin allows you to show users what their friends are doing on your site through Likes and Comments. Basically, it lists the most recent activity people have undertaken on your website.

A nightclub wouldn’t have much use for this.  But an event promotions group that drives a lot of traffic back to their website for photos and interaction might get some use.

If you’re going to use it, put it as a widget on the right side of your back pages, but don’t make it prominent.

#5: Recommendations

The Recommendations plugin lets you give users personalized suggestions for pages on your site they might like. These “personalized” recommendations are compiled automatically by the plugin, using information from the most common activity on your site.

Again, a nightclub wouldn’t have much use for this.  But an event promotions group that drives a lot of traffic back to their website for photos and interaction might get some use.

If you’re going to use it, put it as a widget on the right side of your back pages, but don’t make it prominent.

#6: Like Box

The Like box enables clubbers to Like your Facebook Fan page and view its stream directly from your website. This is VERY IMPORTANT for your website.  It is a MUST HAVE if you want to build more fans on your Facebook page.

If you’re going to use it, put it on the homepage or add it to the footer of your website so it’s always there as a reminder to get more ‘LIKES’.

#7: Login Button

The Login button lets you show profile pictures of the clubber’s friends who have already signed up for your site in addition to a login button. This is not so useful for venues, but very useful for event promotions companies who want to build a community on their site.  This is only useful if you’re also going to add in a Registration function (below), which allows you to create a community of website users who are logged into your site.

When Facebook users login to your site with this plugin, they are also giving permission for your domain to access all the network-available personal information they’ve shared on Facebook, which allows your event promotions company a greater understanding of the kind of users engaging with your website.

#8: Registration

The Registration plugin allows users to easily sign up for your website with their Facebook account. The registration process is simple for users, and generally includes input fields that are pre-filled with the users’ personal information if they are already logged into Facebook in another tab.

Event promotions companies with community style sites will find great use out of this.

#9: Facepile

The Facepile plugin lets you display the Facebook profile pictures of users who have Liked your page or have signed up for your site. However, it only displays the pictures of a user’s friends.

It’s a cute way to dress up your site.  I would put it on the header.

#10: Live Stream

The Live Stream plugin lets your users share activity and comments in real time as they interact during a live event. This plugin is similar to the Comments social plugin in that a visitor to your website can leave a comment on a page and also post that comment to his or her Facebook profile.

If you’re hosting a major concert or event, it could be a cool added tool to build your community, especially for people who really wanted to come to your event but couldn’t make it.

What do you think? What social plugins do you already have on your website? Are you planning on adding any more? Leave us your questions and comments in the box below. We’d love to hear from you!