How To Make Money With Facebook Social Ads
Now that everyone seems to be a member of Planet Facebook (which I’m sure has seen massive growth in the last 8 minutes), there has been a rise in new forms of communication and opportunities for online marketers. If you managed to not live under a rock the last 2-3 years, I’m sure you’ve been apart of at least one of the Social Conspiracy (I meant community) Networks. Depending on who you talk to, some say the “Facebook Generation” is out of control. Well, if it is, let’s find a way to control it…or, at least capitalize on the “out of controllness.”
With the fastest growing demographic on Facebook being ages 35+…this tells me one thing: CREDIT CARDS!
Since this is becoming such a hot market place, and one would be passing up a huge opportunity by ignoring it, let’s explore the simple (it still takes time) way of making money with Social Ads on Facebook:
What Are Facebook Social Ads?
The most common form of social ads are displayed on the left hand side of the page as well as news feeds and friend activity pages. This is why they are called social ads…instead of being general banner ads which are mostly ran by large companies…social ads are tied into the standard browsing habits of users. Taking into account the reasons stated above, these ads are more profitable than they used to be. Even though alot of ads on social networking sites get overlooked, the networks know this and have been doing a better job of ad positioning.
How Do They Work?
Just like other ad networks we’ve covered, Facebook ads are setup to run on a CPC (cost-per-click) and CPM (cost-per-thousand-impressions) model. When posting your first ad you have the option of purchasing credits which allow you to receive clicks. For example, if each click costs $0.25 and you purchase $10.00 of credit…your ad will run until you receive 40 clicks. Simple math. Of course you can purchase more credits and make modifications to your ad after the campaign is completed.
Let’s Make Some Money….
Don’t get me wrong, there are ways people have tried making money on Facebook which simply don’t work. The truth is, there are a few groups of people who will respond to your ads. Whether you make money or not will depend on several factors: ad category, presentation, ad content (picture, title, description)..etc.
The first step is determine WHAT works, and then increasing ad spend to maximize profit. Even if you only make a profit of $3.00 on your first go around…the key is to increase your spending and optimize in the profitable category.
* Choose a Category – Choosing which category to promote will be the determining profitability factor of your ads. There are certain categories Facebook WILL NOT let you promote: ringtones, alcohol, tobacco products…Be sure to check out the Facebook Ad Guidelines before you begin. Like I said before, some categories will not be effective. What do I mean? With some categories you will make more money than you spent. It’s called profit. Let’s take a look at a “money making” category: Online Dating.
There are a number of ways to promote online dating sites. You have the option of choosing an affiliate network such as: Azoogle Ads or CJ.com (just to name a few), or go directly through the specific site…Match.com, eHarmony.com, Singles.net – you get the point.
* Posting Your Ad – There are 4 crucial steps in posting your ad: follow this link to Get Started
# 1 – Enter your affiliate URL in the space provided for Destination URL. This is the jump link your affiliate company provided to track your commissions.
# 2 – Choosing your audience will ultimately determine the success of your ads. Targeting 35-year old MARRIED woman will not be very effective for an online dating site. That is unless you’re running an ad for Ashley Madison. Your ad will only be shown to the demographic you choose…so get with your affiliate manager and research this first.
# 3 – Creating your ad is just as important as picking who you’re going to target. It doesn’t matter how perfect the demographic is…if you can’t sale it, they won’t but it. There are no second chances for a first impression. Facebook allows up to 25 characters for a title and 135 characters for description. Adding a photo will also make your add more effective.
# 4 – Setting the budget determines how much you want to spend and how much will be allocated over any given period. You can pick a “continuous” option or pick specified dates. Be sure and check out how much you’re being paid through your affiliate program. For instance if you’re being paid $25.00 / sale and you have a budget of $11.00 this will represent a $14.00 profit. When determining how much you can pay for click, it will require a little estimating. If you think it will take you 50 clicks to acquire a sale, the use the following formula: $11.00/50 = $0.22. You should set your max per click bid no higher than $0.22 / click. Make sense?
How Much Can I Make?
Always try and assume the “worse case scenario.” This is risk management 101. Keep and mind in most cases, less than 3% of your clicks will actually result in a sale. That means, out of those 50 clicks…you’ll get about 1.5 sales. To prevent OVER estimating your profit, let’s go with one sale. A profit of $14 isn’t very much…but its not bad either. If the number’s hold true, try increasing your budget, optimize the ad and increase your profits.
Just Try it…
You won’t make any money just sitting there…open an account, find a product to promote and start making money on Facebook today. As always, let me know how it goes.
