Apart from Facebook’s role as a social networking website, it is one of the best advertising tools available for online businesses. Companies have expanded their customer base exponentially by advertising their goods and services on the platform. For instance, since ‘ShopClues’ tapped into the realm of Facebook marketing, it increased its return on advertisements 15-fold. The Indian startup ‘Inshorts’ was first established as a Facebook Page and later became a content discovery and distribution application. The application has subsequently gained much traction over the years.
Facebook has launched several tools that allow people to earn but has certain monetisation standards; some regulations being more obvious than others.
Some of the ways in which one can earn money on Facebook include-
1. In-Stream Advertisements
Facebook offers three different types of In-Stream Advertisements-
- Pre-Roll Advertisements: These advertisements run before the video starts and are increasingly effective for actively sought out pages.
Mid-Roll Advertisements: These advertisements run during the video.
Image Advertisements: These advertisements are static images that are shown underneath one’s videos. These are effective for videos that do not have an appropriate break for a Mid-Roll Advertising.
2. Fan Subscriptions
Fan subscriptions allow members of one’s audience to provide direct financial support to them and the content that they create. The subscription also provides users with access to exclusive content, discounts, perks, etc. This model works well for podcasters, video creators, authors, artists, etc.
3. Selling Facebook Likes
This is a debatable method of earning money using Facebook. There are forums that support selling ‘likes’ for a Facebook Page while others deem the system illegal. Regardless, several marketers pay those who send a particular Facebook Page to their ‘friends’. The ‘friends’ simply have to click the ‘like’ icon. According to various reports, including one published by National Public Radio (NPR), people charge as much as $75 to provide 1,000 ‘likes’ for any Facebook Page.
4. Facebook as A Traffic Driver:
Facebook’s algorithm is capable of examining the relevance of posts that appear on one’s feed depending on the previous usage of the platform. Using Facebook, one can attract the attention of potential customers by targeting certain demographics and directing them over to the relevant website. To boost traffic to the website, one needs to post regularly and ensure that all links to the relevant pages and social media handles are mentioned in the posts.
5. Operating a Facebook Group in One’s Niche
Establishing a Facebook Group where users encourage each other and share ideas is an ideal platform for displaying one’s relevant skills and posting advertisements, especially if such promotions provide support to those seeking guidance. Adding the feature of a Paid Membership on the Group further propels monetisation.
6. Selling Courses
If one has a particularly unique skill or has the knowledge to share, they can make an online course and sell it on Facebook. The phenomenon of detailed targeting, which would be employed by Facebook in pursuit of selling the course, attracts margins up to almost 90%.
7. Creating Facebook Content
The content can be in the form of audio files, interesting videos, a PDF explaining a concept or other types of content that may be of interest to Facebook users. There are several sites such as ‘22social’ where one can monetise such content.
8. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a system that can help one earn money by promoting a product, brand, service or company to one’s contacts through a Facebook page or Facebook Groups. Reputed companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, etc. pay those who promote their products. To do this, join the affiliate marketing programs offered by these companies and post their content onto your Facebook Page.
9. Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is a free facility through which one can market their products or services to an extensive audience. It allows one to list various items, services and deals and promotes them directly within the Facebook Community as per the Facebook Community Guidelines. The buyer can contact the seller, inspect the goods, finalise the price, shipping and other details.
10. Collaborate With Brands
The brand pays the content creator or influencer to promote products or services to their following, which can ultimately influence their purchases. Note that Personal Facebook Profiles are not eligible for branded content; only pages are.
The Brand Collaborations Manager portfolio should include:
- A section about you and your personal brand
Contact information
An introduction to your page
Partners you have worked with in the past
Featured posts
Metrics depicting the performance of your past branded content
A large percentage of the Indian population uses Facebook on a daily basis. Optimising this resource and utilising it to one’s advantage can prove to be a very rewarding prospect for monetary gain.
Written by - Saumya Seth
Edited by - Sravanthi Cheerladinne
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