First Fridays Ypsilanti

How to have a successful First Fridays Event:

1. Think of an idea for your First Fridays Event.  This can be anything from hosting an artist or musician in your space, to having extended shopping hours, to offering some other kind of discount or incentive to entice folks to your place of business. (Extended happy hours, poetry readings or anything else you can think of!)

2. Submit this Event Form (online) at least 5 days before the first Friday of the month. Late submissions will be accepted and on the digital map but that limits marketing time. ­

3. Promote your event within your social networks and contacts, this includes the contacts of your business, your artists/musicians/vendors, it doesn't hurt to encourage your employees to promote it on their social media and you should post about your event on your personal social media too. You can also print flyers and hand them out and add your event to your website. Use the marketing kit to include the First Fridays logo in all of these ways. 

3. Maps and posters will be delivered to your venue at the beginning of the season. Display them in a prominent place. If you need a refill, let us know by emailing malissa@firstfridaysypsi.com

4. Display the FFY flag on a front window of your space on the day of First Fridays, remember to take it down at the end of your event.  You should clean a small spot for the suction cup to get a good seal.

5. Network with FFY on Social Media: use hashtags: #ffypsi #ffy2024 #firstfridaysypsi Tag us @firstfridaysypsi on Instagram or @First Fridays Ypsilanti on Facebook.

6. Continue to post during your event and HAVE FUN!!

Here's what to expect on this form:

Be ready to submit one high-quality SQUARE image to promote your event.

Please follow the instructions! We ask everyone to submit their event descriptions in the third person.

To keep things exciting consider submiting a photo you haven't before.  It's great to show off your logo but you could also send in a photo of your store front or some other creative way to promote your business and event.

Photos and descriptions that don't follow the instructions will get a "please try again" message, and you'll have to submit a new form.

First, you will enter a name for your event.

Then, you will be uploading one square photo that we can use for all of our social media promotions.  The size we are using is a 1:1 ratio at 750 pixels by 750 pixels.  If the image is a little too big, that's ok, it will be resized automatically.  Keep that in mind for rectangular images though, it may crop out portions of the image. 

Below that you will enter a description of your event and photo.  Please write this in the third person. 

For example:

"Join (Ypsilanti Business Name) as they celebrate the art of (Local Artist Name) this First Fridays Ypsilanti!  (Ypsi Business Name) with be providing hors d'oeurves and NA drinks for the enjoyment of all. They can't wait to see everyone this Friday!"

You should also include a description of the photo you are uploading, which is nice for folks that need to have a reader for using the internet.  More things to add would be artist statements, mission statements or any other descriptive language for your event.

The last thing you will enter is the start and end times of your event.  Most FFY events take place between 5 PM and 10 PM.  This is the time frame with the most foot traffic but you can have your event at any time on a First Fridays.