BizSugar.com › Advertising › Visa offering free Facebook advertising to small businesses

As part of a small-business network Visa designed for Facebook, the world's largest credit and debit card processor is paying for $2 million of advertising on the socializing site. Visa is giving a $100 advertising credit on Facebook to each of the first 20,000 U.S. businesses that download the Web application needed to join the network, which debuts Tuesday. About 80,000 small businesses already have profiles on Facebook.

Visa's service is designed to provide small-business owners with tools and tips on attracting new customers, trimming costs and other ways to make more money. Businesses that belong to the Visa network on Facebook also will be able to communicate with each other to share ideas or even negotiate deals.