A Facebook Page can be a great way to build your fan-base, engage with your customers and generally build upon your brand. However, if you want to run a promotion on Facebook, that’s going to cost you.

Facebook's policy says that you must get written approval from a Facebook account representative and in order to get one, you’ll have to spend about £6,000 advertising with the company.

So basically, without violating any guidelines, you’ll only be able to advertise by paying for Facebook ads. The guidelines state: "You may not administer any promotion through Facebook, except that you may administer a promotion through the Facebook Platform with our prior written approval."

"The business model, with pages, is to try to get as many people using them as possible, then make a little money from each person if they want to do paid advertising — the preview fee goes against this model to try to keep Facebook legally safe," writes Eldon. "The problem, as many people trying to build promotions for Facebook have been discovering on their own, is that the fee requirement is never clearly spelled out. And, neither is the rationale for the fee. The result is confusion among marketers and developers trying to build promotions for Facebook, especially for small-business clients."

You’ve probably noticed us talking about Facebook being a great way for your business to engage with your customers and increase your conversion rates. So this post probably may not be particularly encouraging. The thing is many businesses are still trying to figure Facebook out so it’s important for you not to miss guidelines like this.