In the past, Facebook users have tried everything from affiliate marketing to running ads through Messenger to selling items on Facebook Marketplace in order to make money. But making money on Facebook isn’t without its challenges: The average reach of an organic post hovers around 5% of a page’s fans—down from 7% in 2018—and those that pay-to-play via ads and sponsored content are seeing their reach dwindle over time.
The good news? Facebook is rolling out new and exciting ways to make money, largely aimed at entrepreneurs and creators with Facebook followings. Whether you’re looking to make some extra money on the side or find more customers for your existing business, here are six ways you can monetize your Facebook audience in 2022, plus the requirements you’ll need to adhere to in order to do it. Before you start: check your Facebook Monetization Eligibility
There are a handful of ways to make money from your Facebook content, but first you must be eligible to do so. This means your Facebook page and the content you post on it must abide by the platform’s eligibility requirements, which are grouped into three categories:
- Facebook Community Standards: these are the platform’s foundational rules, such as no graphic or unsafe content.
- Partner Monetization Policies: these rules are for your Facebook page as a whole, as well as the content you create, how you share your content, and how you receive and make online payments.
- Content Monetization Policies: these are content-level rules that apply for every piece of content you post, such as no violent or profane content.
Once you’re eligible to monetize your Facebook content, it’s important to stay eligible if you want to make a consistent income. Regularly review the platform’s Community Standards, keep your domain clean with high-quality content, and ensure you have the rights to post your content. If for some reason your page becomes ineligible, Facebook will inform you via the Monetization tab in your Creator Studio, along with the reason you’re no longer eligible.
1. Create videos with in-stream ads
In-stream ads attract the attention of a captive audience and are ideal for creators and brands with a sizeable audience. When a user is part-way through watching a Facebook video, they are more likely to watch the entirety of an ad if it means they can continue on with the original content—unlike a standalone ad in their feed, which they’re more likely to skip.
In-stream ads in action:
Bottled water brand LIFEWTR wanted to increase brand awareness and generate a positive, creative sentiment around its product. So it implemented short in-stream ads that ran in the midpoint of feed videos as well as properties like Facebook Watch, showcasing its community art projects through powerful visual stories. The campaign resulted in a two times lift in brand awareness and a 1.9 times higher lift in ad recall.
Why it worked: LIFEWTR used in-stream ads to tell a story and keep the attention of an already-captive audience.
Get started: Think about what you want to achieve with your videos and what stories you can tell about your brand. If you want to advertise mid-roll, try adding in one- to two-second natural pauses when you create your videos where an in-stream ad could slot in.
As well as meeting Facebook’s eligibility criteria, videos must be over one minute in length and influencers need at least 10,000 page followers to run in-stream ads. These tips apply to brands that want to pay to run in-stream ads.
2. Add a paid subscription to your page
Generate consistent monthly revenue through fan subscriptions, which encourage your most loyal followers to pay a recurring sum to fund your page. This is a great way for brands and creators with large, active audiences to monetize their page and reward fans with exclusive content and discounts. The “stars” feature lets users buy a pack of stars to send tips to their favorite creators for additional revenue.
Fan subscriptions in action:
The Vegan Baker has created a separate Facebook Group for supporters of the brand. Fans are charged $4.99 a month to access exclusive content and discounts. They are also able to send additional tips via Facebook’s stars feature for a piece of content they particularly enjoy.
Why it worked: The Vegan Baker can monetize its active audience while rewarding users with exclusive content. The stars feature allows the brand to see which types of content perform best and increase engagement with a tight-knit segment of its followers.
Get started: Fan subscriptions are only available on an invitation basis at the moment. Users can unlock fan subscriptions when they have 10,000 followers or more than 250 return viewers, and either 50,000 post engagements or 180,000 watch minutes.
Once you’ve received your invitation, you can choose what benefits you want subscribers to get, create a promotional video to launch your subscription service, and film a thank you video to welcome new subscribers.
3. Collaborate with brands
Create content with a relevant, complementary partner to increase your reach and diversify your content output. There are plenty of brands that want to work with influencers, creators, and other companies to reach new audiences and raise brand awareness, and this can be a great way to boost your follower count and generate engagement.
Brand collaboration in action:
StyleNow Feed partnered with Jasper’s Boutique to bring followers of both brands fresh content. The paid partnership allowed the two companies to collaborate on relevant content that aligned with the needs of both their audiences, and users could click on each piece of content to learn more about each brand.
Why it worked: The two brands are well-aligned and have similar but not identical audiences, which meant they could unlock a new segment of followers by reaching users who already had a strong connection with the partner brand.
Get started: Before you can start tagging business partners in posts, you have to request access. Once you’ve done that, you can access collaboration opportunities and view insights inside the Brand Collabs Manager.
This type of monetization method is best for Pages with an active, loyal following who post content that most brands won’t consider risky.
4. Earn money directly from your fans
Facebook recently announced it will be placing more emphasis on organic video content made specifically for the platform to push back against users simply sharing TikTok posts. Creators and influencers will be able to unlock monetary rewards of up to $4,000 a month by completing a series of sequential “challenges,” such as generating a certain number of views on a Facebook Reel.
Organic content rewards in action:
Paula Garcia has a large following and, by creating Reels especially for Facebook, can cash in on the number of views, likes, and comments she gets. Paula actually combines a number of the tactics used here to solidify her Facebook monetization strategy, like getting sponsors for her Reels and posting them organically on the platform.
Why it worked: Paula Garcia already has a large following, so it’s a no-brainer for her to tap into Facebook’s new challenges scheme that lets her cash in on the number of views she generates.
Get started: The challenges feature can only be accessed via invitation at the moment, and it seems that Facebook is targeting influencers with follower counts in the high hundred thousands or millions. Once the invite is accepted, the first challenge must be completed within 30 days or the feature will expire.
5. Run paid events online
Engage followers through a live event they can enjoy from the comfort of their own home. Facebook’s paid events feature lets you schedule, set up, and run events through your page, which is perfect for creators and businesses moving in-person events online.
Paid events in action:
Jasper’s Market hosts and advertises a number of events through its Facebook Business page. Fans can view a list of events and purchase access directly from the brand’s page. Seeing how many people are interested or attending creates a buzz around the event, while regular reminders ensure attendees don’t miss a single moment.
Why it worked: Hosting online events helps Jasper’s Market reach new audiences who are interested in different kinds of events. It also generates engagement among followers who may not all be in the same location.
Get started: Enable paid online events on your page and click the Events tab to create a new event. Choose the “paid” option and fill in the required information about your event, the price, and a co-host, if you have one.
Your Facebook account and page must pass Facebook’s monetization eligibility criteria before you can start creating paid events.
Engage followers through a live event they can enjoy from the comfort of their own home. Facebook’s paid events feature lets you schedule, set up, and run events through your page, which is perfect for creators and businesses moving in-person events online.
Paid events in action:
Jasper’s Market hosts and advertises a number of events through its Facebook Business page. Fans can view a list of events and purchase access directly from the brand’s page. Seeing how many people are interested or attending creates a buzz around the event, while regular reminders ensure attendees don’t miss a single moment.
Why it worked: Hosting online events helps Jasper’s Market reach new audiences who are interested in different kinds of events. It also generates engagement among followers who may not all be in the same location.
Get started: Enable paid online events on your page and click the Events tab to create a new event. Choose the “paid” option and fill in the required information about your event, the price, and a co-host, if you have one.
Your Facebook account and page must pass Facebook’s monetization eligibility criteria before you can start creating paid events.
6. Drive visitors to your online store
Direct shoppers from your Facebook page to your Shopify store through the platform’s social commerce features. This is a great way for brands who already have a small business on Facebook to capture consumers mid-scroll with shoppable ads and powerful calls to action (CTAs). You can turn well-performing shoppable posts into paid ads to drive more traffic and define a new target audience you’d like to reach.
Start selling your products on Facebook
Shopify comes with powerful tools that help you list, promote and sell products on Facebook and Instagram. Create product collections, showcase your brand and products, and make sales on Facebook and Instagram from one place. Start selling on Facebook
Shoppable posts in action:
Clothing brand QUEENSHOP wanted to boost sales among fans who had previously engaged with its content. It used Facebook’s Live Shopping feature to reach consumers who were online at that exact moment and direct them to the brand’s website through a product CTA in the bottom corner of the screen. The Live videos resulted in a 1.7 times higher return on ad spend and a 3.3% uplift in adds to carts.
Direct shoppers from your Facebook page to your Shopify store through the platform’s social commerce features. This is a great way for brands who already have a small business on Facebook to capture consumers mid-scroll with shoppable ads and powerful calls to action (CTAs). You can turn well-performing shoppable posts into paid ads to drive more traffic and define a new target audience you’d like to reach.
Start selling your products on Facebook
Shopify comes with powerful tools that help you list, promote and sell products on Facebook and Instagram. Create product collections, showcase your brand and products, and make sales on Facebook and Instagram from one place. Start selling on Facebook
Shoppable posts in action:
Clothing brand QUEENSHOP wanted to boost sales among fans who had previously engaged with its content. It used Facebook’s Live Shopping feature to reach consumers who were online at that exact moment and direct them to the brand’s website through a product CTA in the bottom corner of the screen. The Live videos resulted in a 1.7 times higher return on ad spend and a 3.3% uplift in adds to carts.
Why it worked: QUEENSHOP was able to engage fans who were actively online and ready to make a purchase. It reduced the number of steps in the buying process by directing shoppers straight to the correct product page so they could make an instant purchase.
Get started: Add your product catalog to your Facebook page in the Catalog Manager and link to relevant products when you post an image or video. To link to a product during livestreams, click Feature under the product or link you want to show after you’ve started your video.
Conclusion: Diversify your earnings
Starting an ecommerce business, selling services, and creating digital products or merch all benefit from using Facebook’s massive audience as a sales tool. With the platform’s new suite of features made especially for entrepreneurs and brands, it’s easier than ever to engage new and existing audiences.
But don’t get tied to just one feature or just one platform. Diversify your offering so that if one platform dries up you have other streams of traffic and revenue. This is especially important today, when the organic reach of mammoth social media sites like Facebook are dropping by the day and consumers are becoming increasingly skeptical of paid advertising campaigns.
Starting an ecommerce business, selling services, and creating digital products or merch all benefit from using Facebook’s massive audience as a sales tool. With the platform’s new suite of features made especially for entrepreneurs and brands, it’s easier than ever to engage new and existing audiences.
But don’t get tied to just one feature or just one platform. Diversify your offering so that if one platform dries up you have other streams of traffic and revenue. This is especially important today, when the organic reach of mammoth social media sites like Facebook are dropping by the day and consumers are becoming increasingly skeptical of paid advertising campaigns.