The rough economy may have slashed marketing budgets for a number of companies, but free social networking Web sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter might provide a way to nab more business.

Patrick O’Malley of consultancy O’Malley & Assoc., spoke at the Great New England Credit Union Show about the vital importance of getting up to speed on how to use these sites.

O’Malley talked to financial professionals about how to get noticed on LinkedIn, as well as how to make use of Internet phenomenon Twitter, a site that has exploded in popularity in the past few months.

Twitter is wildly popular among the general public, but often misunderstood by the businesspeople who could make the best use of it, he said. Twitter is a site that allows users to write short, frequent updates about anything they please – businesses can use it both to post eye-catching tidbits as well as track potential customers through what they’ve posted online.

This can work for a variety of businesses, he said, including credit unions and banks. In a marketing environment like this, those types of companies need to exploit every advantage they can.

“[These sites] help the little guy catch up with the big guy for cheap marketing,” he said.