Facebook: the place where today's youth go to connect with friends and the place where smart businesses go to advertise.I see no reason why every credit union shouldn't at least have a Facebook page. It's free, takes minutes to create and is a way to reach members in an instant. You can post content on any promotions or events your credit union has going on and send message blasts to everyone who is a member of your credit union's group or fan of your page. With Facebook's newest lay out you can update a status feed that pops up on the opening page of the people connected to your credit union's page. Everyday when members log in, they can get an update of any service you're offering or a promotion you're running.On average, I check my Facebook page four or five times a day, and each time I sign in, I see various ads on the side of my page. To me, that seems like an awful lot of exposure for your credit union.To learn the ins and outs of advertising onFacebook, I talked to Ryan Shell, marketingcommunications supervisor at Truliant Federal Credit Union. Truliant has been advertising on Facebook since last May.Shell said that the cost for advertising on Facebook is minimal compared to other forms of advertisement and that Facebook has a detailed tracking system.When you sign up for Facebook you choose a network to belong to. For example, I belong to the Marist College network because that's where I went to school, and I belong to the Hoboken-Jersey City network because that's where I live now.When placing an ad you can choose a city or network to target and it will tell you how many people belong to that network. This will give you an idea of how many people your ad is going to reach. You can also narrow it down by age if you want to target a specific age group. The ad will show up on the pages of people that fall into the groups you choose to target.Facebook isn't just for the young anymore either. One of the biggest gripes people my age have about Facebook now is that a good majority of our older relatives are using Facebook as well. My aunt is constantly on Facebook finding people she went to high school with and reconnecting with old friends, which means she isn't the only person over 40 that's using it.Credit unions are in a tough situation right now. There's never been a better time for credit unions to advertise and get the word out, but marketing budgets are usually the first toget cut.A Facebook page is free and advertising is inexpensive. If you want Gen Y to know you're out there then you have to come to where we are. If you don't have anyone on staff that's Facebook savvy, then hire an intern and make it their project or hire a young student part-time to set it up and monitor it. The way I see it, there's no excuse for your credit union not to be on The Book.–[email protected]