When Mark Zuckerberg was involved with first launching the now giant entity that is Facebook, he had a smaller vision of how it could be used. Students would be able to connect with other students locally through his network and share ideas, friendships, and according to the movie The Social Network maybe gain a little fame for the little guy.
Now Facebook is on pace to be one of the World's largest companies. With over 800 million active users, 1.7m being Brand pages, it is a no longer a little guy; it is a very, very big guy. Large Corporations have moved in and setup camp with their Brand Pages, the have optimized their Timelines, and stolen "likes" and News Feed Views away from Small Businesses by flexing their wallets and utilizing their large Marketing Departments time and skill.
Zuckerberg and the now very, very big Facebook, have not let all the fame go to their heads and have decided to help out the little guy. Facebook has announced that they have begun rolling out News Feed "Offers" for Local Small Businesses. Once a option only reserved for the Loehmanns and Whole Foods of the Online world, now the Spotted Moth or The Bite Market can try to sway their local customers into local shops and have their own chance at a little fame.
Offers are available in beta to a limited number of local business Pages. Facebook plans to launch offers more broadly soon.
Here is a How-to:
1. Go to your Page
2. From the sharing tool at the top of your Page's timeline, click Offer, Event + and click Offer
3. Type a strong headline for your offer, ex. "Buy one shirt and get another for 1/2 off."
4. Upload a photo for your offer that will stand out in thumbnail size
5. Choose to limit the number of claims by clicking Unlimited and selecting a number from the dropdown
6. Set an expiration date by clicking today's date and clicking a different day in the future
7. Add terms and conditions of your offer
8. Click Preview
9. Review what your offer will look like, then click Post
If you want to make changes to your offer when you're previewing it, click Edit to go back and make changes.