I think the fact that social media promotion is so "obvious" but...

I think the fact that social media promotion is so "obvious" but hasn't been utilised suggests that there is more to the story than people posting appreciate. Now YOW management may have a massive blind spot and have missed it but they seem a pretty savvy group so if it was ineptitude I would quite very surprised. As Harpax explained so well above, I think people are just underestimating the expense of high quality social media promotion.

And more traditional media, I imagine it would cost a fortune to advertise on tv or paper across Texas. Even if it was limited to Dallas or other major cities it would cost a bundle.

While the Yow website and game were expensive and no doubt the funds could have been spent on a FB page I still think they were more of a selling point for retailers. If management went into Walmart and said "We have a Facebook page" Walmart would have likely said "So what, doesn't everybody?". When I was considering whether to invest in YOW, the idea of the tied in game was a selling point. If they had said we intend to have a FB page I probably wouldn't have even registered.