Today, we can see affiliate marketing happens everywhere online, where affiliates use their custom links to help brands draw traffic and boost leads. Facebook affiliate marketing is no exception – it’s a really big market worth a whopping $12 billion, of which the US holds $4.5 billion or 39%.
So, you’re looking to enter this potential field, earning money with your affiliate links on Facebook? This ultimate guide will tell you the basics of using Facebook for affiliate marketing and specific steps to earn money through it.
Table of contents
What Is Facebook Affiliate Marketing?
Facebook affiliate marketing is essentially the use the platform’s wide reach to boost sales and earnings. It works by promoting products to Facebook users through pages, groups, or external sites. With Facebook being a massively popular social network, it offers a vast pool of potential customers.
Affiliate marketers tap into this by finding and engaging with the right audience for their products or services. This involves creating communities of like-minded individuals interested in specific niches, thus increasing the likelihood of successful promotion and sales.
Facebook Affiliate Marketing: Pros & Cons
Here’s a simplified table outlining the pros and cons of Facebook affiliate marketing, so you can have a general idea whether it is the right choice to dive into the pool or not:
Pros | Cons |
✅ Access to billions of active users | 🆇 Need to use paid ads for serious marketing efforts |
✅ Low barrier to entry | 🆇 Free traffic is scarce |
✅ No need for domain or hosting | 🆇 Generating profit can be challenging |
✅ Suitable for digital nomads | 🆇 Business can be impacted by ToS updates |
✅ Minimal expenses (mostly ads) | |
✅ Can leverage existing traffic |
Can I Do Affiliate Marketing On Facebook?
Yes, you can do affiliate marketing on Facebook. Both Amazon Associate’s Terms of Service (TOS) and Facebook’s TOS allow affiliate links on personal and business pages. However, remember to check the terms of the affiliate network you’re using to ensure they permit posting links on Facebook.
While affiliate links are allowed on Facebook, there are strict policies regarding their use in advertisements. Failure to comply with these policies could lead to your account being suspended or terminated. Therefore, it’s essential to understand and adhere to these guidelines to conduct affiliate marketing effectively on Facebook.
How To Use Facebook For Affiliate Marketing
After answering the question, ‘Can you do affiliate marketing on Facebook?’ we shall move to the main section: step-by-step guide on using Facebook for affiliate marketing.
Join relevant Facebook groups
The first step to start your Facebook affiliate marketing plan is to draw a certain audience base to your page. How? Join relevant Facebook groups for affiliate marketing in your niche.
Before creating your own group, you can take advantage of existing communities. Use Facebook’s search feature to discover groups that align with your niche. Look for groups where your target audience is active and engaged.
For example, if you’re running affiliates for a fashion brand, join fashion-loving communities or groups that share tips or ideas about dressing: Once you’ve joined these groups, refrain from spamming them with affiliate links. Admins may remove you if you’re overly promotional.
Focus on providing valuable and relevant content to the group. As long as you establish yourself as a valuable contributor, members will be more likely to trust your recommendations.
After gaining trust and credibility in the group, subtly incorporate links to your website or blog in your posts or comments. Directing members to your site can increase traffic and potential conversions.
Bonus tip: You can encourage members to sign up for your mailing list by offering valuable freebies related to your niche on your website. Include an opt-in email form where members can subscribe to receive updates or exclusive content.
Create a Facebook group or page
After appealing to a certain number of users, consider creating a Facebook Business Page or a group related to the niche or topic of the products or services you’re promoting. This is a free and easy way to establish an online presence. Instead of spamming your friends with affiliate links, send them a message to friends who you believe would be genuinely interested in your page or group. Avoid wasting time on those who are not your target audience.
Also, send an email to your existing network informing them about your newly created Facebook Business Page or group. Clearly communicate the topic or niche of your page or group to attract those who share similar interests.
Facebook page vs Facebook group: Which is better?
Here’s a simplified comparison to help you decide: Facebook Page:
- Ideal for individuals looking to establish their personal brand.
- Interaction primarily involves you posting content, and your audience responding.
- Centralized control over all posts on the page.
- Limited organic reach due to Facebook’s throttling of organic reach in 2016.
- Requires a budget for paid ads to build a following.
- Less moderation needed compared to groups.
Facebook Group:
- Allows members to create their own posts, fostering more interaction.
- Requires moderation to manage user-generated content, especially in large groups.
- Organic reach is generally higher compared to Pages.
- Moderation can be done by yourself, unpaid volunteers, or paid moderators.
- Popular groups can experience exponential growth, but this brings its own challenges.
In short, Facebook Pages are suitable for those focused on personal branding and controlled content dissemination, albeit with limited organic reach. On the other hand, Facebook Groups foster more interaction and have higher organic reach, but require more moderation and management due to user-generated content.
Build engagement first
In lieu of bombarding your audience with ads, focus on establishing yourself as an authority in your niche. Share valuable content, offer helpful tips, and engage with your audience to foster a strong relationship.
>> Expert tips:
Follow the 80/20 rule for content posting:
80% of your posts should be educational or entertaining, providing value to your audience and encouraging them to engage with your content. This could be engaging quizzes, informative infographics, entertaining videos, or educational blog posts. These posts should be shareable and resonate with your audience’s pain points and interests.
Reserve 20% of your posts for promotional content, including affiliate services or products. The moderation on affiliate marketing and prioritization of value-driven content help avoid overwhelming your audience with sales pitches. Do you know what can encourage engagement? Sparking discussions, questions, and soliciting feedback. This interaction helps to build a sense of community and strengthens your relationship with your audience.
Facebook for affiliate marketing isn’t only about simply adding affiliate links – it’s about sharing them strategically and ethically to maintain a positive experience.
First, you need to create clean and concise affiliate links using custom URL shorteners or URLs to make them easier to remember and share.
Next, adhere to Facebook’s advertising policies and guidelines when sharing affiliate links to avoid penalties or account restrictions. When promoting affiliate links, explicitly state your affiliate connections to maintain transparency and comply with legal requirements. You can do this by including a simple statement such as ‘This post contains affiliate links’.
Also, include additional information or a description of the affiliate link’s nature when posting on Facebook. Mention that it is an affiliate link and disclose the potential compensation if a purchase is made. Or, add relevant hashtags, such as #promotion, #affiliate, #sponsored, or #ad, to indicate the nature of your work when sharing affiliate links on Facebook.
Use Facebook ads
Facebook ads are a fantastic way to jumpstart your Facebook affiliate marketing efforts on the platform. By paying for ads, you can ensure your content reaches the right audience.
If you’ve never run Facebook ads yourself, we highly advise you to go for a Facebook Agency Account For Rent. The support from a trusted advertising agency (like SpeedX!) can ease you from the hassles of managing & optimizing an ad campaign and help you successfully reach more potential users.
You can either rent Facebook agency account directly from a reliable partner agency or add an agency to your Facebook ads account. Once you’ve got everying set, start creating your first ad using Facebook Ads Manager.
This platform provides tools to customize your ad and target specific demographics. When using sponsored ads for affiliate marketing, it’s better to start small and target a focused audience. Narrow down your target demographic to ensure your ads reach the most relevant people.
Remember, a successful advertising campaign relies on a solid organic basis and a convertible landing page. Make sure your content is engaging and your landing page is optimized for conversions.
>>> Refer more article: Facebook Marketing For Attorneys: Is It Worth It? Law Firms Should Read This
Useful Tips For Affiliate Marketing On Facebook
- Disclaimers for affiliate marketing: According to the FTC, it’s necessary to disclose your affiliate marketing efforts on Facebook posts. A simple disclaimer stating, ‘This blog includes affiliate links. I may get a certain commission if you access the links and successfully make a purchase,’ can keep you compliant.
- Link Amazon with Facebook affiliate marketing: Amazon offers a popular affiliate program with competitive referral fees. However, Amazon doesn’t allow affiliates to promote Facebook posts containing affiliate links. To work around this, create a blog post with affiliate links and promote it with Facebook Ads.
- Use Facebook ClickBank affiliates: ClickBank is another popular retailer with a high commission rate. However, promoting ClickBank links directly on Facebook posts or ads is not allowed. Instead, create your content like a landing page or blog post promote it on Facebook.
Wrapping Up
Facebook affiliate marketing is absolutely a promising opportunity for beginners if approached with the right strategy. Simply spamming links across the platform won’t lead to success. However, by investing time in building a dedicated following through pages or groups, or by directing traffic to valuable blog content, Facebook can become a powerful tool in your affiliate marketing career!