How to Make Money on Facebook [Step-By-Step]

Curious about how to make money on Facebook? Explore these 7 ways to earn and discover your next side hustle (or maybe main income!).

  • Facebook offers multiple ways to make money, catering to diverse users.
  • Create content, sell items, or manage social media for income.
  • Earnings depend on chosen method and dedication level.
  • Understanding your target audience is key for success.
Brett Helling
Founder, Gigworker.com

Brett Helling is a gig economy expert who has been running his own small business for over 10 years.

Facebook has a jaw-dropping 2.9 billion users. Whether you're an active user or one of the many people that grew out of it, you have to admit that's a lot of users! And where there are people, there's an opportunity to make money.

It's well worth exploring all of the options available because Facebook is a great way to make passive income (or even be your main income).

If you're wondering how to make money on Facebook, let's explore seven different possibilities together and more in this post.

Can You Get Paid on Facebook?

Yes, Facebook offers a wide variety of ways to make money. Whether you're an individual, an influencer, an established business, or a new business, there's a way for you to earn on this social media.

Here are your seven best options:

  • Create content (videos, reels, and posts) and receive Facebook ad money
  • Collaborate with brands as an influencer
  • Monetize your page via a subscription fee
  • Run online events and promote them via Facebook
  • Sell items as an individual on Facebook Marketplace
  • Create a Facebook Shop to sell items as a business page
  • Become a social media manager

Each of these requires a different level of commitment. Some will need a financial investment upfront, while others you can do for free. Some will need you to consistently work, while others you can start and stop as you like.

How Much Can You Make on Facebook?

Your earning potential will depend on the approach you choose to take and how aggressively you pursue it. The different opportunities mentioned previously offer a huge range of earning potential, so here are some highlights:

  • Content Creators: Full-time Facebook content creators make an average of $78,429 a year or $38 per hour. Independent creators will see a wider range of income depending on their success and route.
  • Social Media Managers: Full-time workers average $31 an hour or $64,375 per year as a salary, while freelancers charge their decided rates. These can range from $500 to $10,000 per month per business.
  • Brand-Sponsored Content: Income averages around $100 per 10,000 followers on most platforms.
  • Sellers: This one is dependent on the size and prices of your business. With proper investment, selling can become a full-time income.

What You'll Need to Make Money on Facebook

There are some basic items and skills you'll need to get started with making money through Facebook. Ensure you have these before starting.

  • Facebook Account: You must create an account or use your existing account. This is easy to set up.
  • Strong and Reliable Internet Connection: Since you'll need to access the Facebook platform often, you need a strong and reliable internet connection. People may be messaging or commenting, and quick response times stand out.
  • People Skills: It's social media, so it's all about people. Understand how to interact with diverse groups of people.
  • Social Media Marketing Knowledge: Having a basic understanding of digital marketing will be helpful as you build your page or business.

How to Make Money on Facebook: 7 Ways to Get Paid

Among all the alternatives to make money on Facebook, it's up to you to figure out which sounds the most fun and appropriate for your skills.

1. Content Creation

You can publish content as a business or on your personal Facebook page. Facebook will pay ad revenue for content that receives high views once your page achieves monetization status.

You have the option to work with different mediums of content:

  • Posts: Text and photos that'll appear on the newsfeed for other Facebook users.
  • Videos: Video content is found in its own tab. This newsfeed strictly shows video content from sponsored, suggested, and followed accounts.
  • Facebook Reels: Facebook Reels are short videos within the video section on the Facebook platform. These are popular and can be up to 90 seconds long.
  • Stories: Stories appear at the top of the newsfeed and are typically images (or videos) with text on them. They're most often used for highlighting other content that you've posted.
  • Facebook Live Videos: Live videos are a form of streaming. Followers are typically notified and tune in to watch you live.

A personal account or business page can use any mixture of these types of content. It's a good idea to use a mixture to cast a wider net across the platform.

What You Need to Do

Start your personal or business page and post content.

You need to track your engagement to understand what works and what doesn't. Facebook provides metrics such as reach, plays, average watch time, profile clicks from a post, and more. These will be found underneath your post, and only you have access to this information.

With consistent posting, you'll gain a following and eventually achieve Facebook monetization eligibility. You'll need 10,000 followers, at least five videos, and 600,000 minutes of viewership in the past 60 days on your page. Facebook will then place ads on your content.

How Much You Can Make

The amount you can make depends on the type of content you post, how large your following is, and where you're located in the world.

On average, Facebook creators make between $8-10 from ad revenue for every 1,000 views of content.

Keep in mind that 45% of ad revenue goes to Meta. This gives you 55% of the profits. Payment goes straight into your bank account within 24 hours from Meta, the parent company of Facebook.

Things to Keep in Mind

  • A business page won't be publicly associated with your personal account, but you need a Facebook account to start a page.
  • You'll need to fine-tune your content to get more views. It's a learning process to understand the Facebook algorithm, which is the behind-the-scenes process where Facebook chooses what shows on users' timelines.
  • As a personal profile, you need to ensure you have professional mode turned on to be eligible to receive ad money. You also need to pass a set of rules that Meta created.
  • The ads on your content vary depending on the user watching. You'll be able to select where the ads go for some of your content, such as reels, but not for others, such as videos.

2. Work With Brands

Creators with high views and followers can get paid through sponsorship deals with brands. You'll work with brands to advertise their product on your page.

What you post will vary based on your contract with the brand. For instance, they may require multiple postings, certain styles of content, or ask you to attach an affiliate link. Ensure you're clear on what a brand is asking you to do before signing any contracts.

This style of influencer marketing is increasing in popularity, particularly on Facebook. 60% of US video views on Facebook in 2022 were influencer marketing videos.

What You Need to Do

You need a large following for brands to be interested in working with you. Also, brands seek accounts that have high views and engagement and relevant content to them.

Once you gain your following to a few thousand or more, start reaching out to brands that align with your image. Email them or shoot them a message on Facebook to show your account and pitch your ideas.

Eventually, brands will contact you with offers.

How Much You Can Make

Sponsorships include affiliate programs, brand ad campaigns, referral programs, and more. Income averages around $100 per 10,000 followers on most platforms. Both of these numbers will vary based on your location and the size of your following.

Things to Keep in Mind

3. Monetize Your Page via a Subscription Fee

One of Facebook's newest features allows pages to create exclusive and high-quality content for fans that pay a subscription fee. Using this way, you could earn predictable income each month, as you'll know exactly how many subscribers you have and how much you'll earn.

What You Need to Do

You'll need an invitation from Facebook to start a subscription plan on your page, so you must start by building up your loyal following. You need to have at least 10,000 followers, 250 return viewers, and either 50,000 post engagements or 180,000 watch minutes.

Once you achieve this, you'll likely want to run a Facebook campaign to market your subscription launch. Facebook has useful tips for how to approach this.

How Much You Can Make

You make as much as your subscribers give you. This strategy is best for those that create unique valuable content. You'll need loyal subscribers and a reasonable subscription price for what you offer.

Things to Keep in Mind

  • Your followers can also send you stars, which they purchase to give out as tips to their favorite creators. Each star is equivalent to $0.01, which Meta will pay you out into your account.
  • You can choose how much your monthly subscription fee is.

4. Host Online Events

If you host events or have the knowledge to do so, Facebook is a great platform to market them. This platform allows individual users or businesses to create event pages and share them across the platform.

You can host in-person or online events. With over 1 billion people attending Facebook events each year, there's a huge potential market for events.

What You Need to Do

To create an event, you'll need to use your personal page or business page. The event page requires the name, date, time, location, and any other details you'd like to add.

The key piece to hosting events is marketing them well. Both Facebook ads and Facebook groups are invaluable options for this. To find Facebook groups, search using keywords that are relevant to your event.

Join these groups and share your event in their newsfeed. For example, if it's a plant-based cooking lesson, then you can find plant-based eating Facebook groups to share it with. Get creative and think outside the box on who would be interested!

And to create a Facebook ad for your event, you can find the "boost an event" option under your Facebook page's promote tab. It'll let you choose your ad, audience, duration, and budget for the campaign.

How Much You Can Make

This will depend on your success. If you manage to gain a loyal following or popularity with events, you can bring in thousands in revenue.

Online events are beneficial because you have more reach across the entire platform, and people aren't limited to their location. However, people are more likely to show up to in-person events.

Facebook doesn't charge any commission, but you'll need to sell tickets independently on a website of your choice.

Things to Keep in Mind

  • If you're a business page, events can be beneficial to attract attention to your Facebook business.
  • You'll want to be careful advertising in Facebook groups, as many of them have strict rules or policies that limit advertising from businesses. You can avoid issues by reading each group's independent rules.
  • Facebook requires you to be transparent on any costs for tickets, so ensure you include this in the details. Now you've got an event posted!

5. Selling as an Individual on Facebook Marketplace

Selling things online is one of the best ways to make money, and Facebook has an entire feature for it—Facebook Marketplace. It allows users to buy and sell products locally.

You could sell things you own or make, items you buy and resell, or cheaper bulk products that might sell individually for more.

To give you some starting ideas, the top-selling products on Facebook Marketplace are sports equipment, baby supplies, seasonal items, books, and furniture or home decor.

What You Need to Do

Create or use your personal Facebook profile. Choose what items you want to sell and list them on Facebook Marketplace. It's a good idea to start small and become familiar with how Marketplace works before listing too many items.

Interested buyers will message you on Facebook Messenger, and you'll need to communicate with them to sell the item. But be prepared that they may ask for more information or a lower price.

Depending on the conditions you agree on with the buyer, you'll either meet with them or ship the item.

How Much You Can Make

You make as much as you sell. If you sell lots and find your rhythm, there's significant earning potential as a side gig.

And the good news is there are no fees for individuals buying and selling on Marketplace. Be warned, though, that if you do ramp up and become an official Facebook business page, this changes.

Note that buyers will want to pay you via bank transfers, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, or cash. Educate yourself on how to avoid scams and ensure you get paid.

Things to Keep in Mind

  • People will check your profile when you sell things, so ensure it has a personal touch to add legitimacy. Facebook Marketplace draws in scammers, so people are hesitant to trust empty profiles.
  • When listing, you're able to hide your listing details from your Facebook friends if that's a concern for you.
  • Don't share too much personal information, and meet in public places that feel safe. Many people bring someone with them for safety.

6. Selling Goods or Services as a Business on Facebook

Facebook allows businesses to use its platform to advertise their goods and services. You'll use a mixture of Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Shop.

You can either start a business or use an existing one.

What You Need to Do

If you don't already have one, you'll need to create a Facebook business page and ensure you select the shopping category upon set up.

Head to the Facebook Shop integration to create your shop. To begin, you'll attach your page to your shop and fill in important information like your business email, your business website (if you have one), and your starting product catalog.

It's key to learn how to manage Facebook ads for your shop. Research the best strategies for targeting your market and implement them on Facebook Ads Manager. You can take digital marketing courses or find free content online to learn these skills.

How Much You Can Make

The success of your shop will determine how much you can make. With a large user base that's active daily with the purpose of shopping, the potential is high.

Unlike most sites, it's free to list your products. Meta only charges a 5% selling fee, notably less than eBay's selling fee.

It'll pay you directly into your bank account or have users go through your personal website, which you have the option of selecting.

Things to Keep in Mind

  • To use the Facebook Shop and Marketplace features, you must follow the commerce policies and terms in the Facebook Seller Agreement, so be sure to read up on those.
  • If you have a business page that isn't under the shopping category, you can always go into settings and change it so that it can become a Facebook Shop.

7. Become a Social Media Manager

Social media managers work with businesses to run their social media accounts and campaigns. There are both full-time and freelance opportunities.

Facebook marketing knowledge is fundamental to the position. Typical duties include running Facebook ads, creating content, and maintaining a strong Facebook presence for brands.

What You Need to Do

The pathway to becoming a social media manager takes more initial effort. Many of the people in these positions have a relevant degree or experience in the field before landing a job.

The best option for those that don't have experience is to look into digital marketing courses. Some programs will give you a certificate and the proper skills for this job.

Once you feel qualified, think about whether you want to get a full-time job or freelance. To get an idea, look at full-time job postings on job sites like LinkedIn or freelance postings on Upwork or Fiverr.

How Much You Can Make

Full-time workers average $31 an hour or $64,375 per year as a salary, while freelancers charge their personal rates anywhere. These can range from $500 to $10,000 per month per business.

The only fees or commissions come from freelance websites to get the jobs. The top two sites for freelancers, Upwork and Fiverr, charge 10% and 20% commissions, respectively.

Things to Keep in Mind

  • If you're considering freelancing, you'll need to seriously be ready to build a business. Although you have flexibility, you're not guaranteed work, and it can be hard to land jobs when new to a field.
  • One of the most popular courses for digital marketing is on Coursera, which can be found here.

Why You Should Consider Facebook for Making Money

Countless people around the world are using Facebook to earn money, so why not you too? Let's see why you should consider this type of work.

  • Lucrative: You can make big bucks once you find your rhythm. You can ramp up when you want to make more, and each effort builds on the last to make even more.
  • Broad Opportunity to Grow: Once you understand the basics of building accounts, you can start up more projects and let the existing ones run themselves without too much effort.
  • Flexibility: Making money on Facebook makes you your own boss. You can set your hours and timeline for things, allowing you to create the work-life balance that you want.
  • Sociability and Fun: People find it quite fun working with social media. Much of the work you do is communicating and meeting interesting people from around the world. The network you make could be fulfilling.

Problems With Working on Facebook

While Facebook has many lifestyle benefits if you can make it work, there are parts of this type of work that need to be considered before fully jumping on board.

  • Significant Effort Without the Security of Income: Compared to a traditional job, there's no security in this type of work. You're not guaranteed income and may even need to put money forward to start it.
  • Competitive: Be prepared for steep competition. Many people are chasing these opportunities, and you'll need to be creative to stand out. It's a world of people intentionally trying to cut others out to increase their profits.
  • Facebook Takes a Large Cut of Revenue: For some of these methods, Facebook takes a large cut of the revenue you make.
  • Constantly Changing: The landscape of social media is always changing, so you must be adaptable. Your strategies may not work once they change the algorithm, which they do often. It can take a toll on you as an individual to constantly have to adapt and learn. This may also impact the security of the cash flow for you.

Things to Consider When Making Money on Facebook

It all sounds incredible when reading through it, but it's important to truly understand what you're getting yourself into when you're making money off of Facebook. Consider these key things to ensure it's the right decision for you.

1. Know Your Target Audience

For social media, you can't just throw endless random content out there and see what sticks. It's a huge landscape with far too many users for that to work.

Successful accounts build a brand and know how to reach their brand's target audience. It'll save you plenty of time and money to know exactly who you want to target. Use tools from marketing websites to help you identify this.

2. The Facebook Algorithm Is Hard

It takes significant time and effort to understand the Facebook algorithm, and it frequently changes, so be patient with yourself. Check out guides on websites like Hootsuite and SproutSocial to get started.

3. A Lot of Social Media Time

Doing this type of work on Facebook requires extensive screen and social media time. It's well-known that social media can be bad for mental health, so it's important to monitor and manage your health when doing this type of work.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Kind of Digital Marketing Strategies Should I Be Learning?

Some methods to get you started in your digital marketing are:
- Running contests or giveaways
- Collaborating with other influencers
- Use relevant Facebook groups
- Create Facebook events
- Optimize posting times
- Use Facebook Analytics
- Cross-promote on other platforms

How Long Will It Take to Make Money on Facebook?

This varies for everyone. Some successful Facebook creators or merchants get lucky and gain popularity within weeks, while others have spent years building their networks. Advisors typically recommend giving yourself 90 days to become profitable when starting a new sales funnel.

Similar Ways to Get Paid

Check these similar ways to make money:

  • Become an eBay Seller: If the complexities of Facebook are too overwhelming for you, then consider selling on eBay. It's a good alternative if you want to take the selling route that requires less digital marketing and social media strategies.
  • Become an Influencer: If you're good at getting a page popular quickly, you may consider becoming an influencer yourself.
  • Become a General Social Media Manager: As you can see, social media can be challenging! If you enjoy running it, you may consider running other accounts for people and getting paid for it.

Wrapping Up

The new digital world has opened endless chances to make money online. It's a great way to add extra income to your life and even create a main source of income for some. Facebook is one of the best ways to do this.

Take an honest look at your skills and interests before jumping into one of these side hustles. They each require a different approach, and you'll enjoy doing the work more if you take the time to pick the best one for you.

If this post helped you, don't forget to leave a comment below or share it with your friends.