So you want to run a Facebook promotion. We think that’s a great idea! Facebook promotions encourage user interaction, reward your customers for their participation and best of all, provide a clear call to action. However, there are several things you should know before you get started. Luckily, our friends at Mashable have broken it down for you in this article. Here’s a quick overview:

The first thing you should do is decide on the purpose of your promotion and the end goal. This will help you decide what application you will need to use to run it. Are you simply trying to gain more followers? Are you encouraging people to try your product through sample giveaways? Once you know this you have your starting point.

While you’re creating your promotion, there are a few things you should consider. Keep it simple. Your users should not have to do much work to participate. Along the same lines, your reward for participating should be worth the time and effort your users put into it. Finally, consider your specific audience and if this promotion is right for them.

Lastly, there’s the setup. Did you know that Facebook has strict rules and guidelines for running promotions? You can read them here. Make sure you understand them before you get started. Luckily, there are a lot of third party applications and other software out there that are inexpensive and will literally put the entire promotion together for you.

You don’t have to be a web developer to run a Facebook promotion. You just have to be creative and fun. Good luck!