Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

A promotion is giving the customers a call to action, something limited time. So it could be price, limited time flavors, in store demos. Limited edition gift packs.

Doing limited time flavors will help you build specials that will be ongoing, timely, and give customers something to look forward to. Combine limited flavors with special pricing and you are driving sales without discounting the entire line.

No matter the special, the main key is promotion. A FB tactic I like is specials based on milestone fans. Done properly that helps others refer friends to you FB page. If you are at 5K fans, run a special "help us get to 6K fans and we'll give a coupon for..."

More customers from existing friends or more new customers?

If it's the latter, Facebook ads might be the best route for you. In the ad you could offer a discount coupon, with a link that leads to a specific page from which the coupon can be printed in exchange for a LIKE action.

You can then use the social proof of this to post on your main wall "X number of new people have already claimed their X% coupon, tell your friends how THEY can save and enjoy the same delicious treats you've come to know and love".

However, the attraction element about social media in general is that Facebook is less about selling and more about engagement, so attracting new customers might not be the best thing to aim for. What might be a better goal is to build a stronger and more engaged community, one in which your current supporters are more prone to share your content with THEIR friends. This creates a ripple effect because it's less a marketing tactic and, because the message is coming from a friend and not from you, its credibility (in the minds of new supporters) bears greater weight and therefore, more validity because it's come from a friend.

Another tactic is to ask for shares on Facebook. Asking people to share images of people enjoying your cookies with the request to "Share this if you love milk and cookies!" or "Share this is you love oatmeal and raisin cookies!" and so on.

This approach works because it uses an under the radar combination of embedded commands and association with group norms, both of which are types of NLP that drive specific actions.

Good luck to you.

Why is it important to use Facebook for your promotion? What if there were a promotion approach that would sell more stuff but didn't utilize Facebook? Would that be OK, or are you really committed to Facebook as the vehicle to carry your promotion?

What's the objective of this promotion? How do you distribute the product? Where do consumers buy it?