As of early 2019, Facebook proudly boasts over 2.7 billion monthly active users, with 500,000 new users daily. Despite recent criticism for data misuse and being a hot topic of debate surrounding privacy protection, with these figures, it's still safe to say that Facebook will continue to maintain its position as the leading social network in the future.
With such a large user base, Facebook continues to evolve into not just a social network but also a platform for users to rely on and earn additional income from various sources. In this article, let's delve deeper into the topic of making money from Facebook.
1. What is Making Money from Facebook?
The name says it all; it's the act of earning money by utilizing Facebook as a platform to make money. You earn money from something valuable that you provide to your audience. Among social media platforms, Facebook still stands out as the most lucrative platform for many years.
In fact, as Facebook's user base continues to grow, both Facebook and their user base may increasingly adopt a more business-oriented mindset and utilize the platform more and more as a marketing channel.
We'll discuss how to generate income streams with Facebook, specifically considering some key considerations for making money from Facebook, including dos and don'ts on this social network. Among them, the most important aspects of making money from Facebook will also be addressed, such as:
- What you need to know about Facebook's new guidelines.
- How to earn money from Facebook pages.
- Building your Facebook group.
- Earning money from Facebook ads.
Are you ready to get started? Check out some Ways to Make Money Online on Facebook here.
2. How Making Money from Facebook Works
Before delving into the intricacies of making money from Facebook, it's essential to be aware of some significant changes that have impacted everyone on the platform, including users and brands.
Facebook has recently undergone intense scrutiny for numerous privacy violations, all of which have made it the subject of many marketing debates. Hence, the question arises: Is marketing on Facebook worth the time and money at this point?
This is an intriguing question, but in the near future, it's just a daunting prospect that could diminish your earning potential.
Ultimately, while some are hesitant to invest in Facebook as a marketing channel, others are putting all their resources into it because they've achieved the desired results. Until Facebook's final day of existence, they will continue to push forward until they can no longer profit from it.
Important Privacy Policy and GDPR Update
Compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has become a primary concern for businesses operating on Facebook. In fact, this is the most recent significant update regarding Facebook's earning requirements.
Here's a quote from Facebook regarding the severity you'll face if you violate this regulation: 'Content creators and publishers with multiple violations may lose access to all monetization features.'
What is GDPR? It's a set of policies that mainly affect you if you intend to target users residing in the European Union. Specific features of Facebook affected are the Facebook Pixel and Custom Audiences.
What is Facebook Pixel?
Think of Facebook Pixel as a tracker. Pixel is a line of code you place on your website so that Facebook can help you track Facebook users to your website. This is an incredibly powerful feature, somewhat inconvenient with the GDPR in place. You can access Facebook Pixels and other business features through your Business Manager account. And now, let's see how it impacts.
Facebook provides some examples of the types of businesses that may be affected by these changes:
- Retail websites collect product information that visitors view to target advertising based on their website activity.
- Blogs use analytics tools like Google Analytics to collect demographic data from readers.
- News and media websites use third-party ad servers to collect data from visitors who have been exposed to their display ads.
- Facebook advertisers have installed Facebook Pixel on their sites to measure conversions and retarget visitors on Facebook.
If you find yourself in one of these situations and wonder if GDPR applies to your business idea, then you need to learn about Facebook's privacy information.
It must be said that obtaining GDPR consent from your visitors is a straightforward process: Use a banner or pop-up window to notify your visitors that you are collecting data and specify the type of data you will collect. When they agree, you're good to go.
But if you want to upload the data you just collected on Facebook to create custom audiences, then in the near future, you will be required to provide evidence of consent to Facebook.
Facebook Monetization Standards
Facebook likely has the most comprehensive monetization guidelines among online operating platforms. Below is a summarized list of rules you can refer to when starting your Facebook monetization plan:
- Share authentic content.
- Accounts must be at least 90 days old.
- Adhere to Facebook's community standards.
- Adhere to Facebook's payment terms.
- Adhere to Facebook's page terms.
- Adhere to content principles.
Make sure to thoroughly research each of these items and familiarize yourself with Facebook's monetization standards. Examining them in detail will help you gain the confidence needed to invest your hard-earned money in Facebook advertising.
Most people are aware that Facebook is not just a social network. It's also a data collection platform. Facebook aggregates and sells user data, meaning it's designed ideally as a marketing platform and channel. This allows Facebook to provide businesses operating on its platform with some extremely powerful tools.
Now is the time to explore ways to effectively make money from Facebook.
3. Facebook Monetization Strategy
Making money from Facebook can be easy. In fact, many people solely use Facebook to generate income. Here's what you can use to build a brand and a loyal fan base.
a. Making Money from Facebook Pages
Among the many ways to make money from Facebook, this article will focus on some methods to generate income while building a stable brand. Because Facebook is a social network, we can't just post and leave it. Instead, you need to interact, respond to comments, as well as share and like valuable content.
Making money from Facebook pages is often the traditional approach to building your business image on the platform.
If you want to make money from Facebook pages, ideally you'll need some investment capital. But no, here are some popular ways you can earn money from Facebook pages:
- Direct traffic to your blog by posting useful links from your page, where you have related offers, such as your own courses or Google Adsense banners.
- Sell your own products (you can easily do this by setting up a Shopify store directly on your Facebook page).
- Sell affiliate products.
* Developing Your Facebook Page
There's no quick and easy way to develop a Facebook page unless you're willing to invest. And unless you're confident you can make money immediately, it's not worth investing that way.
Developing a Facebook page takes effort because you want your page to be seen as a resource.
Because Facebook users know that primarily businesses are running Facebook pages for personal gain, they'll struggle to see your page as a resource. Instead, if they follow your page, they're more likely to be your brand advocates.
Here's an example of an outstanding Facebook page framed as a valuable resource:
Just look at the number of followers: 41,003. If you look at their posts, you'll notice most of them have over 100 likes and even shares. The content is what draws the viewers in.
When visiting their blog, you'll see advertisement banners, but none of them intrude to the point of disrupting the reading experience. And the best part? Their About section tells us they're just a couple of artful ice skating enthusiasts wanting to share their passion and knowledge with the world. Brilliant!
* Using Facebook to Drive Traffic to Your Blog
- Establish a Facebook page (select Business or Brand).
- Invite friends to like your page. Only invite those you believe will find value in the brand you're building (Ask friends privately via Facebook Messenger to enhance the chances they genuinely like your page).
- Inquire if they know anyone interested in your page.
- Request they share your page (The worst they can say is no. It's likely there will be refusals, but even for one or two shares, this step is worth taking).
- Begin sharing excellent content from the Internet related to your brand.
- Remember: The best content is what viewers find engaging and helpful.
- Start occasionally sharing your blog content. (Facebook favors regular and consistent posts that garner plenty of interaction, so strive to create and adhere to a content publishing schedule).
- Interact with all users leaving comments (they're likely to become your fans).
* The Secret to Boosting Your Facebook Page Content
Not all fans are alike. If you add random people to your Facebook group and page, you'll only confuse Facebook's algorithms and monetizing Facebook will become more challenging.
This means when you attempt to use tools to analyze your viewers, you won't be able to accurately determine their interests, or needs, or even who they really are. And what does that mean when you post your content?
The total interaction from your fan base will be low because those uninterested in your content won't engage by commenting or liking posts. Low interaction signals to Facebook that your content is poor, even if it's truly great.
Conversely, if you have a small but enthusiastic fan base, whenever you post content, you're telling Facebook that your content is valuable (one of the key metrics Facebook uses to assess your ad quality).
So, what's the excellent additional benefit you can achieve from this proven, slower approach? It's the low cost.
Because Facebook understands that your group or page has highly engaged and active members, advertising will cost you less over time. This also means higher conversion rates because the offers you advertise will be highly relevant to your target audience.
b. Affiliate Marketing: Earning from Facebook Groups
Affiliate marketing is a quick way to earn money from Facebook pages.
- Choose a topic you're interested in.
- Become an affiliate marketer by signing up for Amazon Associates or Clickbank accounts.
- Post about products and start earning commissions (some products pay 70% of retail price).
See the example above? Essentially, you don't have to do anything to sell shoes as they advertise and sell themselves.
c. Making Money from Facebook Groups
Comparing to making money from Facebook pages, earning from Facebook groups is much simpler. That's because Facebook offers more flexibility in how you can frame the context of the group.
For example, you can set the group as a Support Group with the purpose of helping your group members perceive it as a helpful resource.
This also makes persuading other users to join the group much easier. (Think about how much faster you can build your own Facebook group, where people come to see you as a resource and support, a place where they can directly interact on a social platform).
So how do you start making money from your Facebook fans and followers? It's a familiar tune with a Facebook page, but remember the context: This is a Facebook support group. Don't just think about pushing content. Here, you're building your brand and reputation. You're attracting loyal fans. On the other hand, your Facebook page is your business page.
d. Making Money from Facebook Videos
Facebook has recently undergone some major changes. The social media giant has been actively promoting the monetization feature of Facebook videos.
Just a glance reveals the impressive level of effort and energy that Facebook has invested in developing the monetization aspect of Facebook videos. In fact, notable publications have speculated about how the video monetization scene will evolve, considering YouTube as the platform that has dominated in this field.
Recently, Facebook has adjusted its video monetization features with the new Facebook for Creators hub, where the major media platforms act as a community.
Right after logging in, you'll be taken to the Get Started area, which is a long page full of tips on how to effectively make money from Facebook. From creating content schedules to video production tips, this area is a great tool to learn how to monetize videos on Facebook.
In addition to giving you access to dozens of music tracks that you can sample for free for your videos, Facebook also allows you to choose from countless effects to make your videos more engaging. When you reach the end of the Facebook for Creators page, you'll be prompted to connect your account and you're almost ready to go - but not quite yet.
Before diving into creating Facebook videos to make money from them, it's worth noting that there are no hard and fast rules for making money from Facebook videos. However, they've compiled a list of best practices for making money from videos, so make sure you consider them to save yourself time and avoid trouble in the long run.
e. Making Money with Facebook Ads
There's no guide to making money from Facebook ads here, but this section will focus on some factors that contribute to a successful Facebook ad.
Here are 3 important things to keep in mind when advertising on Facebook:
- Be prepared to dig into your pocket. Facebook ads are all about testing. Testing will give you the confidence you need until you start seeing positive results for your investment.
- Don't invest too much at once. Testing will determine what works and what doesn't over time. Once you see consistent results from testing with a small amount, you can decide whether it's time to increase your budget or not.
- Don't run brand awareness campaigns. Yes, we're all building a long-lasting brand, but these campaigns are designed for big brands with massive budgets. Remember: We're building a targeted audience.
* Guide to Creating Ad Campaign Channels on Facebook
You could end up spending a lot of money on Facebook ads if you don't know what you're doing. To make money from Facebook ads right away, you should have a basic sales funnel. Build a funnel by thinking about the steps your potential customers can take, for example if you're selling a course on how to make spaghetti sauce:
- Potential customers see your amazing ad and preview your free spaghetti sauce course. They may gain access by exchanging their email address.
- They give you their email address, then they're taken to another page which could be a thank you page, a link page where you try to push related products, a discount page with a promo code, or even links to your blog or other sources.
- You can start emailing them and try to initiate a conversation. Also, try to encourage them to connect with you through other social networks like Facebook, where you can continue building your loyal fan base.
* Text Overlay Tool: A Great Time-Saving Aid
Facebook penalizes ads containing too much text on images. But fret not because Facebook has made it easy for you to check whether an ad you're planning to run is compliant with the Text Overlay tool. This is a time-saving tool that takes just a few seconds to determine if your ad will be penalized for containing too much text.
In the first image, there's an excessive amount of text, and a yellow warning sign appears next to it with the note 'Image Text: High'. Conversely, the second image is marked with a green checkmark along with the note 'Image Text: OK'.
The focus of this article is building brand and long-term money-making on Facebook. Here's what you should remember:
- Whether you're building a Facebook fan base from a page or Facebook group, remember that not everyone is alike. Therefore, pursue quality over quantity.
- Making money from Facebook videos is another aspect. Facebook will show more favoritism towards its video creators.
- Focus on engagement, not just to cut down on ad costs but also to gain crucial insights and target your audience effectively.
Currently, making money on Facebook through livestreaming gaming is a trend among gamers. It's not far-fetched, especially with popular games like Mobile Legends, Free Fire, or classic ones like Age of Empires being streamed live. Viewers can support gamers by sending Stars (convertible to cash) to help them earn extra income. In summary, Facebook Live Streaming is incredibly popular both now and in the future.
