Facebook, MySpace & Twitter: Free Advertising That Works

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By Sade Malloy

Story Published: Apr 12, 2009 at 7:17 PM PDT

Yakima -- Tough times have people rethinking their budget and businesses rethinking their advertising. Stores are going after free ways to hit their target audience with the internet.

Advertising is a big part of staying afloat and staying in the black for small businesses. "It's pretty much the shotgun approach not one way is going to be effective 100 percent so you gotta pursue and be creative and find all these outlets," says Tim Cook, Taste of Washington.

Radio, TV and the newspaper are the big three but they're also expensive. In March alone Taste of Washington spent $600 with the local paper.

But with MySpace, Facebook and Twitter becoming more popular local stores like Wild Lucy's are using social networking sites to advertise for free. "In January that was our primary form of advertising and the difference between January and February was almost double in sales," says Dawn Garland, Wild Lucy's.

Wild Lucy's has been on MySpace for a year and says that online marketing is more effective for their clients. It's now their primary source of advertising. Dawn Garland, Wild Lucy's says, "They're getting their entertainment, social through the computer quit a bit of the time, so that's why it's more effective."

Tim Cook and the Taste of Washington joined Facebook about a month ago and says the website is bringing in up to 25 people on the weekends. "That kind of advertising that you can switch and change up so quickly you can't put a price tag on it," he tells Action News.

Free advertising that works, it's a price any business can afford.

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