One avenue for making online that’s exploding in popularity is Facebook. With nearly 1.5 billion monthly active users as of June 2015, 968 million of which visit the site every day, Facebook is one of the best places to find potential customers online.
As a matter of fact, the use of Facebook for making money is growing by leaps and bounds. This is evidenced by the increase in Facebook ad revenues from $3.3 billion in 2013 to a forecast of $6.8 billion in 2015, and a staggering $10 billion by 2018. That kind of advertising revenue growth suggests that millions of business are already finding new customers on Facebook every day.
If you’re ready to start using the world’s largest social network to earn an income, read on.
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How To Use Facebook Ads
We have a few ideas for ways you can use Facebook to earn an income. But first, each of our ideas will require that you create a Facebook Page. Once you have a Page created, there are two primary ways you can use Facebook Ads:
- First, you can use ads to earn Likes and build a larger audience.
- Second, you can use ads to drive traffic to an external website where you earn income.
Facebook ad revenues were $3.3 billion in 2013, are expected to approach $7 billion in 2015, and are forecasted to exceed $10 billion by 2018.
Using Facebook to drive traffic to an external website, such as the Amazon listing for your ebook, an Etsy shop, or an ad-supported website, will generate income today. However, doing this is unlikely to generate Likes for your Facebook Page, so you’re spending on ads to earn an income, but not building an audience.
Before creating your first ad, think about which method makes the most sense for your business, and spend your ad budget accordingly.
Idea 1: Drive Traffic to Your Website
One way you can use Facebook to make money online is to use the network to generate traffic for your ad-supported website. This method of making money will work best if you already have an established website, with great content, that converts well into affiliate ad income. In order to use Facebook to create new traffic take the following steps:
- Create a Facebook Page for your site.
- Post some of your best content as updates to your Facebook page.
- Share your Facebook Page with your personal network and on your website to earn as many free likes as possible.
- Boost your Facebook Page to earn additional likes.
- Boost your best posts with paid advertisements so that users who haven’t already Liked your Facebook page will see them.
- As users click on the posts you’ve boosted you’ll be driving new traffic to your website where your best pages will convert those visitors into affiliate income.
Idea 2: Sell Something with FB Ads
Another way you can use Facebook to earn income is to find customers for something you are offering for sale. Whether you have written an ebook, created an online course, or offer handmade items on Etsy, there are users on Facebook who will want what you have to sell. To find them, here’s what you need to do:
- Create a Facebook Page for your product and grow your followers as suggested for the previous idea.
- Create posts advertising your best products.
- Use Facebook Ads to get those posts in front of a targeted audience that wants what you have to sell.
Idea 3: Use FB to Promote Your Traditional Business
Another way to use Facebook to make money is to find new customers for your traditional business. Whether you’re a realtor, insurance agent, or run a local small business, creating a Facebook Page is a free way to market yourself to potential customers. Here’s what you should do:
- Create a Facebook Page for your business.
- Promote your page to your personal connections and on your business website.
- Post useful information to your page to earn shares and new followers. If you’re a realtor, post tours of your best listings. If you’re an insurance agent, post tips for saving money on insurance policies. If you run a local restaurant, post information about special deals, such as a $20 dinner-for-two deal.
- By creating engaging content that your audience values, you can earn shares that will get your business in front of new customers.
(Bad) Idea 4: Sell Access to Your Network
If you come up with a new way to make money on Facebook, always read the terms of service carefully to ensure you don't wind up losing a popular Facebook Page or facing other penalties.
Rather than risk losing your hard-earned popular Facebook Page, use it to generate income using one of the other ways we’ve suggested, which are all completely in line with Facebook’s terms of service.
Conclusion
When you are on Facebook you are participating in the largest marketplace on the internet, and if you can find a way to use Facebook to find new customers, there is no ceiling to the earning potential you will uncover.
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