The Facebook community, now 901 million strong, has spoken. A majority of users expect a business page to give them access to exclusive content, promotions, giveaways and discounts in exchange for the Holy Grail that is their “like.” (Just how much is that “like” even worth, anyway?)

Well luckily for Marketers and crazy coupon ladies everywhere, Facebook has responded with a method to make giving our fans what they want easier on all of us – and it’s FREE. That’s right; we’d like to introduce to you Groupon’s new worst nightmare, the Facebook Offers Feature! This nifty tool allows local business pages to create what is essentially a coupon that those who have already liked their page can see, print out and redeem at the appropriate locations. And like all else that’s on Facebook, the offer is shareable, meaning the viral opportunities are endless.

But before you rush over to your Facebook page to set-up a new offer, take note of one detail I mentioned earlier: This tool is for local business pages. But all of our businesses are local to some degree, right? So don’t sweat it if you aren’t already marked as local. Just make sure you re-categorize your page on Facebook in order to take advantage of this tool and then think creatively to make the application work for you!

Please note that Facebook doesn’t provide a quick & easy cheat sheet summarizing the benefits/drawbacks to certain page classifications (consider this our plea!) But, our research doesn’t indicate any red flags for making the switch to “local business.”

So how do you create an offer? If you are categorized as a local business, the function will appear on your share function on the timeline. You can click “offer” to begin setting up your coupon with a compelling headline, redemption limit (or no limit if you choose!) and expiration date. Your fan-base will be able to click “get coupon” for a chance to print the offer or show it to a cashier on their mobile device to redeem it. It’s simple and filled with opportunities to build your Facebook fans while generating buzz, excitement and brand loyalty on your behalf. Cha-ching!

We, too, will be giving this new feature a spin, offering up free social media assessments to The Core’s Facebook Community via a Facebook Coupon. This assessment will feature a deep dive into your Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest presence and analytics with a one to two page summary of our findings. So far, even though we’re categorized as a local business, we’ve had some difficulty setting up our Facebook Coupon. Couponing can be a difficult process, and we will keep working with this new feature and report back our results along with opportunities for FRESH to take advantage. And keep an eye out for our coupon on the Core Facebook page!

Posted by: The Promoter (Mackenzie Michel)