Facebook has updated its policy on Promotions, Sweepstakes and Contests. It no longer requires written Facebook approval to administer a promotion on Facebook or a minimum media spend investment to support the promotion, which was previously the case (at $10,000). 

Facebook said earlier this year that it didn’t have the resources to approve all possible promotions, and that all must be approved so the company wasn’t held liable for illegal promotions. They’ve apparently changed their stance on this. 

An email from a Facebook sales representative as highlighted by Nick O’Neill on AllFacebook says:

"This means that you are not required to have a media campaign on Facebook to run a promotion, nor do you need to ask for approval on the contest T&Cs from the Facebook team. Please note that all promotions are still subject to our Promotion Guidelines (http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php) and Facebook Platform Policies (http://developers.facebook.com/policy/), and that brands are responsible for ensuring that all contests fall within those guidelines."

"Promotions can be done for minimal cost, just the worth of the prize if nothing else, so they’re a natural type of marketing plan for smaller businesses," notes Eric Eldon at InsideFacebook.

The updated guidelines certainly open up a lot of opportunities for getting more out of your Facebook Page. Just be careful about how you go about doing that, because while you may not need to seek permission from the company, there are still a fair amount of restrictions. 

These include things like making entrants post content to Facebook in order to enter, administering a promotion that users automatically enter by liking your Page, checking in to your Place or connecting to your Platform integration, and notifying winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles or Pages.

The whole list of guidelines can be found here. Review them.