Can I advertise products on social networking sites such as tumblr or facebook?

[Catherine]

I want to advertise my dad's furniture products on tumblr or facebook, is that legal? Do I need a license? My dad owns his own shop but I want to put pictures of his furniture online so that buyers can browse online before visiting the shop.

[Penguin♥]

That should be fine, it's your own personal space on that website so I don't see why not. You see fanpages for companies all the time, and I often see people advertising their Etsy shops and stuff on Tumblr. Both sites are pretty good for advertising, and it's not illegal at all, because it's on your own blog.

You might want to consider getting your dad his own website for advertising, just to make it easier. There are plenty of sites that would host one for free, or you could buy a domain (.com or something similar) pretty cheaply.

But until then, you'll be fine advertising, go for it!

[Devin Pringle]

Absolutely. Advertising is how Facebook generates revenue, because obviously, membership to join the site is free. If you create a Fan page for your dad's business, you can add the site URL, and after you create the Fan page, then you can run PPC or pay-per-click ads that might take the user to a page. However, you'll pay for the clicks - there are a few coupons out there to test it out. If your Dad doesn't have a website, then do a little research on keywords using Google trends or others. For example, people often look for furniture stores by city. If you live in let us say, Lansing, Michigan, then you might want to purchase the website http://www.lansingfurniturestore.com When people search for that term in Google, then you're likely to have the number one spot. Also, if you use PPC ads in Facebook, you can send them right to the website. I suggest social media as a market channel in addition to a website, not necessarily the entire strategy.