While approaching 7 million Facebook fans, Domino’s Pizza crosses the $1 billion mark in online pizza orders. What! Yes, you read that right, that’s a billion with a “b”. Not only that, they generated those online orders in a one year time period! I’m amazed at these numbers and with Facebook.

So what does this tell all of us who own and operate a retail business: never underestimate the power of a Facebook “Like”. The idea for Domino’s social media campaign was that once a person ordered their first pizza online they ordered a second and then went the Domino’s Facebook page and hit the “Like” button where they received another incentive. This caused their friends to “Like” Domino’s and the fan base rapidly increased. Domino’s started taking online orders for pizzas in 2008 where they now account for 30% of all Domino’s U.S. sales.

In 2011 Domino’s introduced their iPhone app, which was widely used for ordering pizzas. Just a few months ago they introduced their Android app and the results have yet to be tallied.

At the end of last year the company also launched a successful social media campaign to promote online orders of its new artisanal pizzas. As a test, Domino’s gave away e-coupons for the pizzas through a Facebook application that customers had to redeem on Domino’s web site. At times, the giveaways reached 1,000 pizzas per minute; Domino’s gave away 100,000 free pizzas in all.

If you’re a retailer, capturing the essence of social media is powerful and Domino’s mastered the new ‘Facebook economy’ with giveaways, coupons and order fulfillment. The value of the “Like” for businesses large and small should always be considered with your marketing initiatives you have planned in the future.

Have you noticed lately that companies who advertise on television prominently display their Facebook page instead of their website?