Facebook, the social media giant, will be partnering with American Express to launch the “Facebook Big Break for Small Business” contest which will run from April 25 thru May 20th.  

With the Facebook Big Break for Small Business contest, 5 U.S. small business owners can win  $20,000 cash prize, free one-on-one consulting  about their current use of Facebook, and a two-day advertising and marketing boot camp at Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto, CA. The training will include best practices for using Facebook, pages, ads and social plugins. 

For the lucky winners, this tutorial could be particularly helpful, especially as four out of five U.S. businesses with 100 or more employees is expected to be engaged in social media by 2011.
“75% of businesses have increased their projected social media budget this year,” says Black Box Social Media Co-Founder Nick Bridges.  “This number shows that social media marketing is here to stay.”

To enter the Facebook and American Express Small Business contest, small business owners need to visit Amex’s page on Facebook and provide answer  to a questionnaire about their company. Amex will pre-select ten finalists and then Facebook fans will vote for five winners.  The link to apply:  http://www.facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday?sk=app_171126146271518