This article was updated on November 25, 2018
As Facebook continues to evolve new advertising options for business owners, several free options have been eliminated including the easy to use, but discontinued, “check-in deal.” One lesser known option still remains and is highly effective as a free promotion tool for small businesses. The “Facebook Offer” is an advertising option that has outlasted its predecessors. The fact that this offer can be created without a budget and instantly posted on a page is very useful. The following steps are used as a resource by my own social media crew.
- Go to your Facebook Business Page.
- Click the Offers link on the left side of the page.
- The Offers page will open. Click “Create Offer.”
- The “Create an Offer, Discount, or Deal” popup window will open.
- Under “Offer Type,” choose the kind of offer you wish to make. Choose from “Spend X Get Y Off,” “Free Shipping,” Discount Percent,” “Buy X Get Y Discount,” Discount Amount,” and “Customized.”
- Upload an image. Use an image with little or no text.
- Specify the type of offer under “Discounted Items and/or Services.”
- Set an expiration date by clicking today’s date and then clicking a different date in the future.
- Under “Where can people redeem this?” click the box next to “In-Store” or “Online.” If your offer can be redeemed online, type the complete web address where it can be redeemed.
- Add a promo code (optional).
- Add a description that will become the headline for your ad. Use a strong, clear headline for your offer such as “Buy one pair of socks, get another pair free!”
- Review your offer.
- Publish or schedule your offer using the button in the bottom right corner of the window. If you’d like to schedule the offer to begin at a later time, click the arrow next to the “Publish” button. The “Schedule Offer” window will open. Set the date and click “Schedule.”If you’d like to publish the offer right away, click “Publish.”
For more Facebook and other related articles visit our How To posts. Feel free to contact us for more specific requests for service.
The Ink Blog 
Wooow! A free facebook advertisement? I never heard about this before and I am a successful internet marketer who had thought he had heard about every method of online advertising. I am definitely going to have to give this a try. This looks amazing. Great post. Thanks
Thanks! Let me know how it goes!
Great information!!
Have you tried this technique out yet Carl? 🙂
Nice post Brian! And very actionable. I have a slight addiction to FB ads 🙂 So I might have to give this one a try now.
Great, let me know how it works out for you. I use it every Monday for a fast food client and it gets great results! We have a 50% redemption rate of offers that are claimed on Facebook. 🙂
When I create a new post it doesn’t give me an option to click offer so it just looks like a regular post on my page any suggestions?
Are you creating the new post/offer in the ad management tool like this blog describes? What is your Facebook URL?
is it still free to create an offer this way?? and to promote on my facebook page? I was under the impression this now was costly..?
Hi Lana, yes, you can still create a free Facebook promotion using this method. You have the choice of extending the reach of the this FB offer by adding an advertising budget to the campaign, but setting up the offer and posting to your FB page is still free.
I want to try this for my small business’
Go for it.
May i ask u a question Mr. Loebig.So it is not necessary to create offer in this category.one can also create advertisment.Right?My boss is bugging me to create free ad on facebook.It would be great if u explain me this in detail.Pls
Hi Ankita, I see i need to updated this old blog post. You can still create a free Facebook advertisement/offer on a business page, but the steps are different now. I’ll be updating this blog post in the near future! Facebook would not call it an ‘advertisement’ nowadays however, since ads now are assumed to have a paid campaign associated with them. However, you can still create a free “Offer” and encourage page followers to take advantage of it.