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Creating a Facebook promotion is a great way to generate new customers and build some buzz around your business. In 2009 Burger King ran a unique Facebook promotion known as the "Whopper Sacrifice", where Facebook users were encouraged to download the "Whooper Sacrifice" application to “sacrifice” ten friends in exchange for a coupon for a free Whopper. To heat things up some more, the friend’s profile photo was set on fire through animation once the user chose to delete him or her. It was taken down after one week, due to application disputes, but only after 233,906 friendships had ended. Whether this was a success or failure is subjective, however it generated some brand loyalty, buzz and press about the company, which was likely, the overall goal. Promotions can be as fun, unique, or crazy as you want them to be, just as long as you do them right and follow Facebook's guidelines.

Although the Burger King example is a somewhat in-depth promotion, creating a promotion on a smaller business level doesn’t have to be difficult; in fact, it has become a social media norm for most.

1. What is your Goal? The first step to any new marketing venture is to decide on your overall goal, and what goals you are looking to accomplish through this promotion? Of course it’s to gain more exposure for your company, but specifically what would you like to gain from this? Information collection through entry forms such as e-mail addresses, newsletter opt-ins, etc. Or perhaps you’re overall goal is research, data collection of a specific targeted audience through a survey, or to inform fans through a video. What ever your goal, or goals, you must outline these as it will guide you through your promotion specifics.

2. Outline your Promotion. Will this be a contest or a sweepstakes? The difference between the two is that a sweepstakes is a random drawing for the specified prize, where as a contest can be more targeted towards fans with specifics for submissions based some form of skill such as essays, photography, etc. After you have decided on your promotion, you will want to outline the rules and regulations.

3. Prizes! What will your prize be for your Facebook Fans? Will it be a trip to Vegas, or certain dollar amount of merchandise from your store? What ever your prize, keep in mind that the prize needs to match the amount of effort put into the promotion by the fan. For example, if you were giving away a trip, requiring the fan to submit a video or essay of why they should win would be acceptable. However, requiring the same for a $20.00 gift card will not yield many entries. Also, be sure to target your prize to your target audience, and business.

4. Promotion. There are many options for promotion with social media. Anything goes for getting the word out, including: E-mail blasts, Facebook Ads, posting a link on your website, newsletter, blog, Facebook landing page, Facebook event - invite fans to participate, etc. Also, a great way to spread the word is by encouraging users to share with their friends on Facebook after participating. (Of course, prize and fan effort go hand-in-hand. The better the prize, the more effort a user will be willing to put into it)

Keep it fun and simple, but be sure to follow the guidelines for promotions on Facebook. Any form of promotion where a prize is given to a user on Facebook must be done with a 3rd party application such as Wild Fire , North Social , or EasyPromos

For some promotion ideas and examples you can check out what some businesses on Facebook are doing through the Promotion App powered by Wild Fire.