Digital Trends

Visa is paying Facebook $2 million to advertise its small business service on the site and is offering ad credits to businesses from the site that begin using its services.

Social networks are thought of as being for individuals, but Facebook has around 80,000 small businesses with profiles on the site. That’s an untapped market, which may be why Visa has just given Facebook $2 million in order to advertise and reach those small enterprises.

The ads are for Visa’s online service, which is intended to help small businesses run more efficiently. And to give an incentive to participants, Visa is giving a $100 ad credit to the first 20,000 businesses to download its service via the social network, the BBC reports.

Both Visa and Facebook believe that the ad credits will encourage small businesses to advertise their own services and products on the site, which could kick-start a revenue-generating spiral.

"That's certainly what we are hoping for," said Dan Rose, vice-president of product development at Facebook.