For most of us, Facebook is just part of our daily routine where we check for gossip and the latest news around the world. Most of us do not think about it in any other terms so would you be surprised if I said you could make money from your time wasting platform?

There are many ways which you can leverage Facebook to make money. However, you need to be careful because there are a few pitfalls that you may encounter.

In this article, I will take you through the process of making money with Facebook and give you a few tips on how to make money with a Facebook page.

How To Make Money Using Facebook

I will briefly summarize what you will do in order to generate an income from Facebook.

1. Create a fan, community, product or service page.
2. Post engaging and exciting content to build an audience.
3. Resist the temptation to post adverts and products until you have at least 100,000 likes – depending on the niche!
4. Keep posting great content for people to enjoy and share.
5. Once you reach 100,000 likes start to subtly post links to products and services related to your niche.
6. Start making money.

Initial Set Up

At first, you need to be clear about the distinction between your personal Facebook page and a fan page, or a community page.

You do NOT want to use your personal page to do this because your friends and family will not enjoy it., Trust me! Also, because Facebook will not allow you to use certain features which are vital to creating a long term and stable income. Such as;

• Offers and promotions
• Insights – stats on likes, action on page, post engagements, etc.

If you go to your Facebook, you can create a new page by clicking the little “Down Arrow” on the top right-hand side of the screen next to your “Profile” button.

Then click on “Create Page” From there everything is pretty self-explanatory.

Choosing The Right Niche To Promote

This really depends on what subject you are passionate about in the first place. It really does not matter what you make your page about, well as long as there are other people who like the subject at hand of course!

Example niches/topics;

• pets and animals – funny videos etc
• political
• product related – beauty, baby supplies, etc
• health related – diets, gym related videos, etc

Basically, choosing the right topic has the same consequences when you choose a subject for a blog. You need to choose a niche which you LOVE and can spend endless hours talking about and “Sharing” about.

At the end of the day if you hate dogs – don’t create a fan page for funny animals and pets. But, if you love smoothies and milkshakes – then why not create a fan page for recipes and videos related to smoothies?

Using Facebook In The Correct Way

One of the most important things when using a Facebook page is this; you have to be aware of the terms and conditions on Facebook. Such as;

• Copyright laws.
• Not using hateful or racist content.
• Knowing how to use affiliate links properly.
• Using promotions in the correct way.

You can see the full terms and condition here.

Personally, I think for the most part the only one you need to worry about is the copyright and branded issues. Make sure that you are not sharing videos are subject to copyright infringements.

For example; Don’t put up a YouTube video of a popular sit-com which someone has uploaded because the chances are it will be taken down, and you will get a notice from Facebook telling you that you have broken their rules. Not a pleasant notice to get.

I am not entirely sure how many warnings you get, but if you mess up once too many, then your account will be suspended.

Share content which you create yourself, such as articles. If you do share videos and gif’s, then check their source and listen to the audio to make sure it’s 100% safe to share.

If you share YouTube videos, then take a look at the author. If the creator has millions of followers and looks professional, then the chances are that the video is perfectly safe to use because those guys really do know their stuff.

However, if the creator has 100 subscribers and his/her videos are amateurish, and there is a Miley Cyrus song playing all the way through the video… then no, don’t share!

Building A Fan Base

This is where most people fail miserably. Why?

Well, because building a fan base takes time and can be tricky depending on your niche and subjects.

You need to share content which will create engagement from the readers, whether it be interesting, thought provoking or just funny material. As people share and engage with your content, your fan base will grow.

When you start off from zero likes on your fan page it is difficult, I must admit. However, as you go from 0 to 10… then to 100, more and more people will like and share your content. From there it becomes easier as every single post your share will create engagement.

It is also vital to engage with your audience. So, when people comment on your shared content you need to recognize them by replying to comments. If your readers feel a connection with you, then your page gets more personal to them, and they are likely to engage with future posts and videos you share.

Think of it as your local bar/pub. If the bartender acknowledges your presence when you enter the bar then you feel good about yourself, you feel at home. Treat your readers the same way.

Leveraging A Website To Make Money

Once you have a fan base, you will be in an excellent position to leverage your Facebook content to drive traffic to your website.

You can post articles and videos to your Facebook page – related to your niche – which entices people to read and watch your content. On these pages, you can have banner ads, sales funnels and you can collect e-mail addresses to follow up with targeted e-mail marketing.

For example;

Let’s say you have a website and a fan page for skin cream and beauty products. One day you write an article about a new skin cream that has been released. You post this article on your Facebook page to encourage people to visit your website and read the article.

You write and interesting and engaging article about this new skin cream and, within your content, you can have a clever CTA – call to action – offer for a free sample of this cream. Your readers will get a free sample, and you will get their e-mail address and a couple of dollars as a commission for bringing business to the skin cream manufacturer.

You can find cool “freebie” offer on websites like Peerfly where you can get paid $2/$3 per email address you collect for companies that offer freebies.

This is of course just one example – there are countless ways to leverage content to your advantage. You will learn as you go along on your journey.

How Long Does It Take?

Well, it is NEVER really finished because you always need to continuously grow your audience. Even if you have 1 million likes, you still need more.

Your niche also is a major factor. Let me give you some examples;

If your niche is “Pet Accessories”, then your fan base will grow very quickly. This is because pets are cute and if you share a video of a funny dog doing silly things then people will like and share that all day long.

However, these likes are considered “cheap” because even people who have no interest in pet accessories will like your page. So, even though your fan base is large, it is untargeted, and you may find it difficult to sell certain products.

Nevertheless, you will have a lot of traffic to your website, so you will find different ways of making money, I can guarantee that.

On the other hand, if your niche is something less glamorous and more specific like “Running Shoes” then your fan page will have MUCH FEWER likes, but they will be more targeted and more likely to buy what you are promoting.

Making money from a Facebook page is essentially a balancing act between the number of likes, the relevance of these likes and how you leverage your content and niche in your favor.

Just because you see a Facebook page with 10 Million likes does not mean they are making tons of money because their fan base may be cheap and non-engaging.

A cute video of a funny cat may have 5,000 likes and shares, but not many will buy anything as a result from that because it is  a frivolous “Aww, how cute I am gonna like this” like.

Whereas an article on a pair of the latest running shoes with only 100 likes and shares will result in a few commission because they are targeted and specific.

Please do leave a comment below if you have any thoughts or feelings on the subject!  I would love to hear from you.