The internet is a great place to advertise for your craft fair for little-to-no cost. In this post, we’ll go over the following ways to advertise online:

• As a Facebook Event
• As a Facebook Marketplace Listing
• In a Facebook Group dedicated to local craft events
• As an Instagram post
• On Nextdoor
• In your local paper’s event calendar

That sounds like a lot, right? Here’s the thing: It’s easier than it sounds, because you’ll need just 2 images, and a block of text that you’ll use over and over.

Here are the materials you will need:

Of course, when I say materials, I mean digital assets. Create a folder on your computer, and save the following inside that folder:

• A square image that advertises the craft fair and has the most pertinent details. For that, you’ll just need our Canva template!

• A rectangular image sized for Facebook. If you’d like, you can use the one below, just right-click, and save image!

• A paragraph of text that describes your fair. Here’s ours…feel free to copy/paste this into a text document, then edit it to make it your own. For example, if your fair is in the summer, you’ll want to edit the bit about Christmas shopping:
  • Get a jump on your Christmas shopping with original and unique crafts from the neighbors on Banyan Court in Loveland, on [date] from 9am-3pm. Vendors will have a variety of handmade items including jewelry, hanging plants in hand-thrown pots, Macrame wall hangings, doll clothes, handpainted serving trays, specially-made wooden pens, oven towel hangers, essential oils, dollhouse-size mini accessories, tamales, cookies and more! There will truly be something for everyone!
  • [Add this part to your Facebook event, and local craft fair Facebook group:] If you are interested in participating in selling items, please let us know your contact details and what you’re selling on our form, here: [Add a link to your form]
  • If you haven’t already created a form for your participants to fill out, here are instructions on how to do that.

You’re Ready to Start Posting!

First, 1-3 months in advance, create a Facebook Event. Go to www.facebook.com/events/, and hit “Create a New Event.” Add the rectangular graphic you saved from above. Add your other details like Date, Time, and Location. And in the description, add the paragraph you created. Be sure to add the link to your google form, for potential vendors to fill out. For extra free advertising, ask your friends and family, and of course your vendors, to hit “Interested” or “Going” on your event!

• In the Google form, we ask people to describe their crafts, and even send you an emailed photo of their craft if they have one. If you don’t receive either of those, you’ll want to bug people. Collect some photos and descriptions, and add posts to your Event page daily in the week leading up to the event.

Next, find a local craft fair group on Facebook. For example, for us, I joined “Northern Colorado Craft Shows/Fairs & Events.” Make sure your group is active and has recent posts, because sometimes groups of these kinds have gone a bit dead, and that won’t help you. You’ll want to do 2 things on this page:

• Advertise for vendors 1-2 months in advance. Here’s some sample text you can use. Pair this with the square social graphic you made in Canva: We’re looking for vendors for an upcoming neighborhood craft fair on [date]! It’s just like a neighborhood garage sale, but for crafts! All kinds of makers are invited. Even if you don’t live in the neighborhood, we have friendly households that are happy to host you in their driveway. The fee is $20. Half of that goes towards advertising, and half goes to your host in exchange for Wifi. Respond to this post with any questions, or if you’re ready to apply, you can fill out our easy form to get added to the list of vendors: [link to form]
• 1-2 weeks in advance, post on the Facebook group that your craft fair is coming up, with the square social graphic and paragraph you wrote above.

Two weeks before the fair, visit the website of your local paper, and find their online event calendar. Often, you can add a listing for a low cost, for example, our paper charges $10. You may need to shorten the paragraph if they have a character limit. Add the square social image or rectangular one (depending on which fits their post size best) if you’re able to.

One week before the fair, create a Facebook Marketplace Listing, under Classifieds. In the title, write “[Street Name] Neighborhood Garage Sale,” and add your paragraph of text, and your square social image. You can also add a few other images of people’s crafts if you have any, and you should also add a link to your event page.

Add an event post to Nextdoor, using the exact same details as your Marketplace listing.

Post to your Instagram, using the square image, and a shorter description like: For my local friends, I have an upcoming event I’ll be taking part in that I’m really excited about…it’s a craft fair for my neighborhood! Check out the Facebook event: [link]

That’s it, you’re ready to start posting! Be sure to have good responsiveness to people’s questions or posts!