Affiliate Marketing is an awesome way of making money online promoting stuff you love and can allow you to really get involved in your chosen interest. Some will tell you affiliate marketing is dead and will not go on that long. Trust me, it is only growing as more and more merchants get on the affiliate marketing train.
Don’t get me wrong, it is highly competitive as more people do get started with it, but as long as you get the right training you can still benefit massively from affiliate marketing.
Facebook is a one of those platforms. Pretty much everyone is on there and this can lead you being able to promote your affiliate links via Facebook to a huge audience.
Facebook already allows you to connect with like-minded people in the subject you want to choose for your affiliate marketing campaigns and combining the two is a way for you to hopefully make money. Let’s get into how to start affiliate marketing with Facebook.
Share Them on Your Personal Profile
Whilst this might seem like the most obvious answer, it is actually the one that will yield the least effective results.
This is because you will be posting to your friends and family who trust you, but if they start seeing you starting to sell things to them, it can easily turn them off.
Imagine if you are in a showroom, just browsing and you keep getting sold to by the over-enthusiastic sales person… That is what it can seem like in the Facebook environment. People do not want to be sold to, the best piece of advice I can give you around affiliate marketing in any format is – Help People, do not Sell to People.
You are obviously promoting certain products or services as that is what Affiliate Marketing is. But it is the way you do it that will make a huge difference.
Think about the way you word posts, include useful information about how these products or services could help the people who see your posts.
Consider this a small audience base as this will be your friends or family on Facebook, the next stage is where you can start to be seen by a bigger audience.
Create a Facebook Page
If you already have a blog set up, this is an ideal step for you to take as you can start to provide useful information, promote your blog as well as your affiliate links via Facebook on your own business page.
A Facebook page is a great way of keeping people informed around your niche and any other useful information which should draw them in to liking your page and seeing anything you post – which will be your affiliate link products and services with helpful information that will lead to conversions.
Do not just post affiliate links on your page, you want it to be a useful page for people to find out stuff around your niche and also find your links interlinked with your normal posts.
There are two reasons why I say this, people will turn off from your page if all you do is promote products and the second reason is Facebook might consider your page as spam if all you do is post affiliate links.
There is a fine line between promoting affiliate links correctly and just filling people’s timelines up with spam.
Create a Facebook Group
Creating a Facebook group within the niche you are using for your affiliate promotions is another great extension to a Facebook Page. Whilst a Facebook page is more of an informational type format. A Facebook Group is where you can really start to engage in your niche and other people who are also really interested in that same niche and are more likely to want to see your promoted links with useful information around it all. These are the people more likely to engage with your affiliate links and click on your links (which will make you money)
Why a Niche
You will notice that most people who really know their stuff with affiliate marketing will always suggest you get started with a niche and not just pick a broad subject. That is because if you start too broad you are going to finder it much harder to actually get going.
By picking a niche (a smaller segment of the market) you will find it easier to target the right audience for your affiliate links and also make yourself known as an authority in that niche where people have trust for what you say and will be more likely to click on your links.
This is how you grow your Facebook Group and Page – Become that authority in your niche via the Group and Page that offers help, support around topics in your niche and have a few affiliate links included. Make sure it looks like a natural fit and it will work.
For example, if your niche is around coffee and you are promoting coffee makers. Do not just promote them, give people helpful information around the types of coffee makers there are. The benefits and concerns about each type and then include some helpful reviews around them and people will be more inclined to follow your suggestions and buy something through one of your links.
If you saw a page that just included direct links to coffee makers without any useful information, they will scroll on and keep looking.
Keep that helpful mentality going and you will find success with affiliate marketing.
Promote Your Posts & Utilise Facebook Ads
This is more for when you know what is working and what is not, but when you create a Facebook Page you can start to promote your posts or even your page to reach a wider audience.
Please note, this is a paid option and is really for when you know what your target audience is as it can be a trial and error form of marketing.
But if you are finding that people are clicking on your links and you can narrow down the audience you have on your Facebook Page (age, gender, location, etc). You can start using the promote post function to target more of that market to bring them to your Facebook Page, Group and ultimately your affiliate links.
Facebook Ads can work, you just need to make sure that you are really relevant when you are choosing to pay to promote.
People often just pay to reach a certain number, but relevancy is key with affiliate marketing. You need to right audience to see the right offers for them to interact.
With free marketing (SEO), you do this via keyword research with paid ads you need to get it right first time otherwise you will end up spending a fortune and having no one click on your links.
Personally, I would only venture into paid ads when you know who your audience is, what they like and do not like and what they really want from you.
If you cannot answer those, then it is too soon to get into Paid Ads. Whilst it is really easy to do on Facebook and you might get a few more likes on your posts or Facebook Page. Those do not necessarily lead to money.
What you really need is to target the right people who are engaged into your niche or are more interested in your niche and will ultimately click on your affiliate links.
If You Want to Succeed with Affiliate Marketing – Get a Website
Whilst you might make some money through Facebook with affiliate links, it is not the ideal option. Social media has a love/hate relationship with affiliate links and you may find that some of your affiliate links are not allowed on there.
Our recommendation is that you have your own website where you can not only promote your affiliate links on it, but you can also promote your blog on Facebook and all of the other social media platforms too.
Your links to your blog will be much easier to promote on social media without any restrictions unlike affiliate links.
If you feel like you lack the skill to start a website or plainly feel a little intimidated by it, don’t. Creating a website is no more complicated than creating a Facebook page or group.
We have included a step-by-step guide below to help you create your own free website using WordPress.
If you are serious about becoming an Affiliate Marketer you need a website, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay for one until you are ready to.
What we are offering is a free website, that comes with 10 free lessons on how to become an affiliate marketer and you will also get our personal help to getting started too.
Step One: Choose a Domain Name.
Make sure it is really relevant to your chosen niche and then type it into the box below to make sure it is available.
Step Two: Sign Up to a Free Wealthy Affiliate Account
You will get much more than just a website with Wealthy Affiliate. Their training is why we have learned so much about affiliate marketing and is the perfect partner for an aspiring affiliate marketer. Just fill in your details to create your own free account.
Step Three: Choose a Website Name & Choose a Theme
Give your website a title, and then give your website the look you want. Just pick from the selection of themes and you are good to go.
Step Four: Click Build It
Confirm your choices and you now have your very own free affiliate marketing website. You will also gain access to 10 free lessons to get you started and ensure you fully understand affiliate marketing and how to effectively promote your links correctly.
Now that you have a website, your primary focus will now be on creating a ton of content. But if you truly want to be successful, the training at Wealthy Affiliate is a fantastic guide to make sure you understand what it will take, and we will be there to help you along the way whenever you need help. Just get in touch if you ever need to.
If you truly want to see your affiliate marketing business grow and earn you money, you will find no better training platform than Wealthy Affiliate. See what they have to offer in our “How Does Wealthy Affiliate Work” post.
Thanks for checking out our guide, if you have any questions just write them in the comments below and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Thanks
Facebook …it has always been my number one issue. I know I need to learn how to use it but I have always hated Facebook and now that I am starting a marketing business I know I need to pass my hate stage and learn to appreciate it and use it the best way I can. Thank you for reminding me of that. As far as Wealthy Affiliate Goes I am 100% with you I joined them and since I did I have learned so much it is unbelievable. I would advise it to anyone that wants a good course to learn marketing period.
Hey Barbara,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. I get where you are coming from. The way to look at it is the fact that the largest online community is Facebook. So whilst you might not like it, there are plenty of people who do. That is where you just need to get on and do it.
Wealthy Affiliate has plenty of training material on Facebook, which can make it easily to tackle. If you ever need help, let us know.
John
Great job on your post. I found all the facebook information extremely interesting. I have been trying to master the art of promoting my own website on facebook, Your post really provided me with all the information that I didn’t know about facebook.
It is amazing all the things we really don’t know about the social platforms we use. Once I started my own website, I really started to try to find out anyway that I can help promote my site. These types of post are very helpful.
Good job.
Hey Coralie,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. Social Media is a great tool for website owners, allowing us to communicate with others, but the love/hate relationship with affiliate links makes it not ideal to put your eggs all in one basket. So definitely use affiliate marketing, but taking them to your blog is a much better strategy. Glad you found our post useful.
All the best
John
Thanks for this article, it was a big help for me. I am actually already involved with Wealthy Affiliate (which I love by the way) but what I have not yet began is implementing social media such as Facebook with my affiliate marketing business. I was a bit apprehensive about how to get it going but after reading your article I feel more comfortable about doing so. I also feel like I know a little more about the whats and hows with placing ads on Facebook. Thanks so much!
Hey Shannon,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. Glad we could be of use to you. If you ever need any help, just let us know.
thanks
John
Hi John. I really like your article! I’m new to Affilate Marketing and am looking for every way possible to increase any potential traffic to my website. I’ve been thinking about social media and what to join for marketing purposes. Do you think it is worth the extra work that is involved with managaing your website and also managing your Facebook page as well?
I’ve also been looking at Pintrest and Instagram as possibilities.
HI Chris,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. It is totally worth it, you need traffic to make money and social media is a great way of getting traffic. I don’t see it as extra work, it just means you are engaging a bigger audience. My advice would be is to share your content to all of the social media outlets, and then only focus on one social media platform to engage fully in. The choice would depend on your niche, I find Instagram quite engaging, but you might find your niche lends itself to another a bit better.
hope that helps
John
Thanks for the tips. I listened to the podcast the other day and they recommended about creating a Facebook group, so people who have the same niche can join and it is like a community that we can exchange information. I am actually want to start that group now but got stuck in between it all, writing blogs, full time job and youtube video. I am going to start it now though, no exception! This Facebook Group can lead potential traffic to my website.
As for Facebook Ads I might use it when My site is older and has more contents.
Hey Nuttanee,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. A Facebook group can be a great way of introducing traffic to your blog, as long as you don’t overdo it. Remember to manage your time between the group and creating content on your blog.
All the best
John
Hello John. I started used social media but not Facebook yet(have Twitter,Tumbl, Pinterest) but i’m planning to make one Facebook acc in the near future.
Social media is essential because you can maintain a more stable traffic(audience) because with SEO your ranking might change with google updates.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to start your online venture and if you go through the hardships that go with it(It takes time to create content and traffic from search engines) you can succeed and get an income online.
Nice article and easy to read. Maybe you can make posts about using other social media the correct way too. Cheers.
Hi George,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. Social Media is important towards your brand, but that doesn’t mean SEO isn’t too.
A healthy balance is the key to building up your audience and trust for both channels and to inevitably earn money.
Thanks
John