Affiliate Marketing On Facebook

Affiliate marketing on Facebook is a great way to make money online. With over 1 billion users, Facebook is a social media giant that offers entrepreneurs a huge potential audience for their affiliate marketing campaigns. In this article, we'll explore why Facebook is one of the best places for affiliate marketers and teach you the strategies that will help you take advantage of this huge audience.

It will cover both the paid methods, such as adverts and of course free methods, such as network marketing or content marketing. There are lots of ways a complete beginner can get started with Facebook as a marketing platform, that can work across multiple industries and niches. 

If you are looking at focusing on the organic methods, I would recommend checking out this. By far one of the best masterminds around building a social media presence. 

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliate partners for each customer or client brought to the site by the affiliate partner. The affiliate partner is rewarded based on a percentage of the sale or a fixed amount of money.

A customer clicks on an affiliate partner's advertisement (or link) and then purchases the product within a certain timeframe, that affiliate partner receives compensation for the sale.

There are many different styles of affiliate marketing, such as;

• Network Marketing
• Paid Ads & PPC
• Solos Ads
• Blogging & SEO
• Social Media Marketing

Each of these models are different in style but are essentially the same thing with slightly different methods on gaining traffic towards offers. 

Affiliate marketing on Facebook

This article is going to focus solely on Facebook as a traffic source, there are multiple ways to do affiliate marketing on Facebook, and we will dive into each part to explore how the work. 

Some of the methods are fairly new, coming out over the last 2 years, while others are as old as the platform itself, though they have changed a lot in how they look and feel. 

Why Facebook?

With over 1 billion active users, Facebook is the perfect place to advertise affiliate offers to a huge variety of audiences, from stay at home mums, pet lovers and bike enthusiast. There are huge communities and audiences eager to find new products or services. 

From a paid for point of view, Facebook is one of the best places for affiliate marketers because it offers unparalleled targeting options. You can target your audience by location, age, gender, interests, and more. This makes it easy to find people who are likely to be interested in your products or services and getting adverts in front of those potential customers. Unlike Google Ads, Facebook uses its own database of interests and flags that they have on every Facebook user. 

For those who focus on the organic side of things, it can be a great place to find groups and communities focused around particular niches and interest, which we will explore in a bit. 

How to get started with affiliate marketing on Facebook

I have broken this into a number of sections, as this will massively depend on the style or method you are going to take. For example, paid ads will require a different set-up to organic or network marketing.

The following will focus more on the free traffic side of affiliate marketing on Facebook. You may notice that the 2 'free' traffic methods start out in very similar ways, but the end part will be slightly different. Both of these methods are usually classed as 'Organic Marketing'. 

I am going to make an assumption, you have a product, or service you are part of and you want to promote. If not, check out this list of products. 

Network Marketing

Network marketing was a really popular method of marketing with MLMs, which is possibly why it got such a shit rap. 

Ever had Karen from down the street knocking on your door at 6pm asking you if your water tastes funny? Then carry on to explain how this 2.5 tonne machine she just lugged to your house can make rainbows appear while giving you the secret to eternal life...?

Yeah, welcome to network marketing of the 1800's..Sorry, 2010. 

The idea was that you would connect, or network with people, talk them through a random product you had found and magically they would order 6 small pineapple flavoured corgis and a baby mongoose.

Things have moved on since then, and can actually be a pretty decent way of building a business online with Facebook. So let's run through the steps you are going to need to get started with network marketing on Facebook. 

If you are serious about doing network marketing, or building up your authority within your niche, I would recommend checking this out. It really does give you every step you need to get started, and succeed.  

Content Marketing 

Content marketing is very similar to the network marketing style, though some people prefer to keep it separate and can get a little touchy if you mix them up. 

The major difference is that a lot of marketers who follow this path focus more on providing content, usually found within groups or their own timelines. 

As such, the steps to get started are very similar to those who may go down the network marketing route, but with a larger focus on producing content that can be shared or viewed across multiple platforms. 

Content is still king when it comes to affiliate marketing and building your business as an affiliate marketer. Content marketing includes articles, videos, and other related content that you can create and distribute while promoting affiliate products or services in a subtle manner. 

It can also be a great way to help with networking, or sparking conversations with potential customers.

The Basics Needed For Both Methods

Before we go any further, there are a few basics you are going to need to get sorted, no matter the method. After you have sorted the foundations, you can then choose if you want to go down the network or content secondary steps. 

Getting A Decent Profile Set Up

People skip this step, but really...it can be the most important one that you need to take. A profile is the window into the store that you will be showing later. 

You want to focus on the following; 

• A clean, fun profile image - People want to get to know you, and trust you. An image of a random dog doesn't add anything to this equation. 
• (Optional) A banner image - I actually just have a beautiful midnight scene from a holiday, a great conversation starter
• Use your Facebook Bio for affiliate marketing - You are basically missing a trick if you don't have a small intro inside of your bio. You can also include a link, so a great way to build a passive income through the clicks you will get on that link. 
• Additional Links - Facebook allows you to create more links below, if you have groups, or particular offers, add them here. 
• Pinned Post - A recent update allows you to pin a post to your own profile. I personally added a catchy titled post that leads to an offer (more on that in the content marketing below)

A good, clean profile can be the difference between someone actually accepting a friend request, or telling you to jog on. I personally like to keep mine fairly clean, with an obvious bio explaining what I do (Blogging of course!).

Identify Your Target Market.

A huge problem that occurred back in the day, was that most 'network marketers' would try and sell a lawn mower to Genghis Khan. Pointless really, what use would he have? 

You need to fully identify the market who you are going to target in the next steps. What does the product you promote actually do? Are you promoting an awesome make-up brand or a special kind of bath oil that can help people with aching muscles?

Sit down and work out who needs, or wants the product you are promoting. 

Join Groups Or Pages Within That Niche

Facebook is a gold mine of groups, pages and of course celebrities that cover thousands of niches. 

Take for example the above group, it's hyper focused on ClickBank and has 21,400+ members, that's a lot of potential leads. Though it's also worth keeping in mind the quality of the group and the type of users within it. 

Take a look at a few of the posts within a group to see if it's the kind of group you want to be connecting with, or if the quality is quite low. 

One tell-tale sign is that this post is offering to create ClickBank accounts for people who are on the ban list. Suggesting that this group may have a lot of members from Tier 3 countries. Not always a bad thing, but this may determine if they are the correct target market for you. 

If you are connecting with people to sell a particular product at say a high ticket price point, this might not be for you. Though if you are offering free training, or a low cost course such as MOS then it could be a great place to funnel people into. 

Other signs to watch out for, are the auto-comments and spam. If a group is simply full of thousands of people spamming messages, like the one above... this may also dictate the quality of the leads. 

Whereas, looking at a different digital marketing group, the admin are active, and sharing tips and strategies to help people get on their way. 

Other options you can look at are networking groups. These are specifically designed to help you to connect with other people, think of it as speed dating, but rather than hooking up for a good time, you are sharing business ideas. 

I guess that may be seen as a good time for some people. 

Next Steps With Network Marketing

Connecting With People

This part is the area in which I personally see the difference between network marketing and content marketing. 

Network Marketing is always seen as more direct, you actively going and pursing leads. Luckily, Facebook makes this part super easy. 

Every group has a ready made list of members, or potential leads, which in theory can be used as your outreach list. The beauty of this list is that you know these people will probably have some thing in common (the group). 

When reaching out to people, try not to be super vague or creepy. Just be up front and honest with people, and also try to make the first move. A lot like dating, don't just reach out, wait for them to accept and then ghost them. 

It pisses people off.

Starting Conversations

A huge part of this method relies on you actually being able to hold a conversation, but also your ability to conduct sales via messenger, or via calls if you so wish. 

Taking the time to understand the person you are talking too, feeling their frustrations or issues they might be encountering. There is a fine line between salesy, and simply friendly and putting feelers out. 

I would recommend checking Jamie's workshop on how he grew his affiliate marketing business to $30k+ per month with messenger. 

Next Steps With Content Marketing

This is not going to come as a surprise, after getting your basics set up, you are going to want to start crafting content. 

This can be done in a variety of ways, including;

• Facebook Lives
• Video (Long or short form)
• Posts 
• Questions or Q&As

Crafting Your Content

The type of content you create, will partly depend on what you are trying to achieve and of course your target market. If the post is inside of a group, I would say try to tailor it to what the group is about. If it's a group full of newbies, then talk about your own beginning etc. 

You should vary where you decide to post your videos or posts. For example, you can provide a useful solution to a problem you have seen in a group, providing 'value' (you need to be careful with this, your content should actually be valuable...not just buzz words and phrases).

If you are connecting with people, and sending friend requests or accepting friend requests then you can start to add Go-Lives or videos on your own timeline. 

Your own timeline is a brilliant place to really go wild, you can be unapologetically over the top if you so wish. 

I personally love creating posts that I can tie in with hobbies or things that I enjoy doing. The above post is a cheeky nod to the fact I love powerlifting and weight training, being accused of 'not being natty' for years. So adding a little bit of shock value, a cheeky hook that reels people in. 

To really make your content POP look at implementing the following;

• Use interesting or inviting headlines. A lot like email subject lines
• Try to leave a few blank spaces or breakpoints between the subject line and the start of your actual information (it can add the 'read more' button and that action will increase the ability for content to be seen by more)
• Play around with fonts or formats. Tools such as LingoJam can let you switch up the formatting. Though for some it can break the post...so be careful
• Have fun with different photos or videos in your posts. GIFs can reduce your reach, whereas shorts or 3d images can help boost the number of people seeing it.  

You should also look at adding a Call To Action on every post. Either in the post itself (such as 'hit me up') or within posts 

The beauty of content marketing, is that it brings people to you, which leads us to the next step, which does surprise some people. 

Connecting With People

Yes, to fully utilise this method, you are still going to want to connect and talk to people. Writing awesome posts and getting people to click on links or to take action can only go so far. 

Part of your CTA's can be to connect or to get in contact, essentially offering you a warm lead, as apposed to a slightly hostile cold lead (which can happen if you reach out to them). 

If you have a group, which we will talk about in a second, then you can also get people to join the group and connect with you from there. 

Creating Your Own Group

It's entirely your choice, as some people don't like building their own tribe, but groups can be goldmines. It also becomes yet another place to put out your images, videos, posts and questions. Your group is also an extension of your own timeline, though you can potentially reach more people, plus you can add more Call To Actions and be more salesy. 

To grow your group, use your own timeline, or messenger to invite people. DON'T just invite your friends list, it's a quick way to once again, piss people off. 

Try to produce more 'helpful' content in your groups, as it helps build engagement and people feel like they belong to your community. 

Finding Good Products To Promote

When it comes to affiliate marketing, choosing the right products to promote is essential for success. If you're promoting products that your audience isn't interested in, they're unlikely to buy.

If you are struggling to find products, then checkout these high ticket ideas, or recurring platforms.  

Here are some tips for finding good products to promote via affiliate marketing on Facebook:

1. Choose products that are a good fit for your audience. When you're starting out, it's important to choose affiliate offers that are a good fit for your audience. For example, if you're targeting stay-at-home mums, you may want to promote offers for home-based businesses or something that can be done in between caring for kids. You probably don't want to promote a product or service that means they have to be on the road for 14 hours per day. 
2. Research the products that you're considering promoting. It's important to know as much as possible about the products you're promoting. This will help you when it comes to selling or promoting it. If people have questions, then you can easily answer. It also means you can target the pain points that the product fixes. For example - People don't know how to set up their own blog? Well BlogFocused shows them step-by-step
3. Choose affiliate offers that are easy to sell. The easier your affiliate offer is to sell, the more likely it is your affiliate link will be clicked on and generate affiliate commissions for you. This seems like an odd thing to say, but products with complicated structures, sign up processes or tons of steps can be difficult to promote and sell. People want to get started right out the gate, not wait 6 weeks to find out if they can even join the product you have spoken about. 

Always ensure you understand the product and what you are promoting, when talking to people it can become apparent if you are unsure what the product contains or the benefits it offers.

The Benefits Of Affiliate Marketing On Facebook

Facebook has so many benefits and can be a brilliant place to get started with affiliate marketing, especially if you are on a budget. 

Some of these benefits include;

1. Unparalleled targeting options make it easy to find people who are likely to be interested in your products or services. This is true for those who want to focus on Facebook Ads
2. Facebook offers an immense amount of traffic, making it the perfect place to advertise affiliate offers to your target audience.
3. If you are doing network marketing, or directly talking to potential customers you can easily build a relationship, as people can see the real you. 
4. You don't have to rely too healthily on algorithms or random ranking factors to try and get your links or offers out. There are some limitations when it comes to getting posts seen by lots of people, though you can still get posts seen by a fair chunk of your friend lists or a group. 
5. You have greater control over links or offers, allowing you to directly hand over an affiliate link straight to an offer. There is a smaller chance that the potential customer will click elsewhere or decide not to buy. Utilising bridge pages is essentially if you are running ads, as social media sites can get pretty touchy about affiliate links and offers.  
6. With the ability to create groups or pages, you can build small communities of loyal followers, who may be more interested in the products or topics you talk about and share.

The Affiliate Marketing On Facebook Guide Conclusion - Worth Doing It?

So there we have it, a complete guide on getting started with the organic Facebook marketing. It can be a method that takes more effort or can be time consuming than say running ads, but it can be a great way of building an authority or your own brand.