Social Media Ad Budget Calculator for Free Events
Helps you turn a desired number of attendees into a realistic social media ad budget.
A guide that explains how the event promotion funnel works, how to calculate each step, where realistic numbers come from, and how this translates into a social media promotion budget.
An interactive calculator to apply this logic to your own event.
Notion Guide and Calculator
Web-based, no sign-in
Who is it for
People promoting events in small teams or solo projects
Non-marketers who are responsible for event promotion as part of their role (comms, community, project leads, coordinators)
Beginners in event marketing who want to understand how budgets and conversions actually work
Anyone who needs to plan social media promotion for a free event with limited time, money, or data
It helps you:
Turn a desired number of attendees into concrete traffic and budget numbers
Understand where people drop off in the event promotion funnel
See how assumptions about conversions affect the final budget
Plan social media ad spend more conservatively and avoid underestimating costs
Adjust expectations before launching ads
What’s inside
Interactive calculator: A simple web-based calculator to test assumptions, change inputs, and see how risk moves through the funnel.
Conversion guide: A clear explanation of how people move from ads to attendance for free events.
Working benchmarks: Realistic baseline ranges for key conversion rates, with notes on when and why to adjust them.
Additional notes and tips: Practical comments and recommendations based on real event promotion experience, plus links to further reading and reference materials.