Many people dream of making money online. There are a lot of different ways to do it, and one of them is creating and effectively using Facebook groups. We have a guide here on How To Make Money on Facebook Groups without going through any blackhat method like buying followers or artificial clicks.
Yes, you read that right – you can earn money with FB groups. Keep on reading to learn how.
Anyone who is already active on Facebook and tries to earn money online with the help of Facebook groups should definitely take a closer look at this possibility. With the right strategies, this can be a profitable and future-proof source of income
Table of Contents
What You Will Learn From This Guide
- What are Facebook Groups?
- Do Facebook Groups Make Money
- Why It Is Necessary to Monetize a Facebook group?
- 13 Methods On How To Monetize A Facebook Group
- Bonus Points on How to make money on Facebook?
Facebook groups offer people the opportunity to connect based on their interests in a specific topic. They are different to Facebook pages as they allow all members to interact and post threads while only an admin can publish a post on a Facebook page. Groups are essentially a forum that is Facebook based.
There are hundreds of thousands of groups around the world on all sorts of topics. The groups are a place where everyone gets a platform and can get in touch with like-minded people and exchange ideas. No wonder Facebook groups are so popular as humans are social beings in their essence. Groups also offer semi-private space for the most unusual topics or hobbies.
Also, Facebook keeps tweaking their offering with regard to Facebook groups, so we now have a lot of different types of groups like buy/sell groups etc.
Do Facebook Groups Make Money? How To Make Money on Facebook Groups?
Yes, people who run Facebook groups and admins of FB groups can make money off them. This article will teach you how to monetize a Facebook Groups.
Reach is everything. If you have a lot of people in your group and the group is fairly active, meaning it is shown in the users’ timelines, you will almost certainly make money with it.
First, it’s important to have some information about when it’s worth getting into money making with a Facebook group. This depends on several factors.
1. Pay attention to these factors …
First and foremost is your group’s reach, because of course it is important to reach as many people – and therefore potential customers – as possible.
If you have more than 1,000 group members in a group, you can already think about how to monetize that potential. This is however an absolute minimum value. It becomes really worthwhile thinking about earning money from the group once it grows to 5,000 – 10,000 members.
Of course, it is self-explanatory that these need to be real people who voluntarily joined your group – no black hat method will help you if the group members are actually not interested in being part of your group.
Note: If you have a very clear and defined niche, you can also start with a smaller group. In addition, it is a completely different beast if you have other reach channels (blog, podcast, YouTube channel, etc.) that you supplement with a Facebook group. Some of our friends earn money with such setups from as few as 100 group members.
This guide is more focused on broader niches and assumes you have no other marketing channels to reach your audience other than the group.
2. Activity is of utmost importance
The activity in the group is also extremely important.
A group with many members who are mainly passive or who only use the group to advertise themselves, their products or their services has a low level of active participation and Facebook algorithm won’t give it too much love or visibility.
For example, a smaller group with a very active membership can be much more beneficial to the business than a large, passive group.
In order to maintain the right balance between reach and activity, it is important to create a group on a topic that you really know and enjoy. This results in an authentic and positive environment, because the greater your motivation, the better impression you leave on your members.
It also makes sense to look for niches when creating groups, i.e. topics that are unusual but in demand, and have no or little competition in the form of other groups.
Why It Is Necessary to Monetize a Facebook group?
Now let’s get to the individual steps you should make as they are important when creating a group that will earn you money.
Research on possible topics is before the creation of a group. Here you should really look around in all possible niches so you will increase your chances of finding something that will become a magnet for new members.
The name is also an important element of your group’s appeal. It is the important first impression and decides whether people join the group or not. It is therefore worth investing some time and thinking when deciding the group name.
Methods On How To Monetize A Facebook Group
There are several options but most important ones include affiliate links and product placement is one of the most popular way on How To Make Money on Facebook.
1. Resell other people’s services
This is the bread and butter of the world’s economy – businesses mediating between producers and end consumers. It is commonly referred to as a white-label service, a term especially popular in the online world.
You find businesses that have a customer profile that fits well with your group members. Reach out to them and ask them to either do an overt affiliate partnership or create a white label service where you market the service/product under your brand and they do the actual production and delivery.
A good example for this, in the digital world, is people reselling Fiverr gigs as their own.
2. Drive Traffic To Your Website
Another way I make money on Facebook is using it as a traffic generation machine.
(In my case, the site is monetized primarily through affiliate marketing and Google Adsense).
Every time you post something interesting on your site, post it on Facebook group and encourage your members to comment and share it so you get some virality behind it. There are rumors that big traffic from social media even helps with SEO efforts.
This is a best way on How To Make Money on Facebook by driving traffic to your blog and make peole to buy your stuff or share your services.
3. Start a YouTube channel and drive traffic to it from the FB group
Another way to utilize your group is by starting a YT channel. Once you set everything up on YouTube, invite your group members to subscribe to the channel and ask them to help you out in building it out by sharing and liking your videos.
If you decide to go this path, check out Tubebuddy or VidIQ – two must-have YouTube tools that help you boost your channel’s visibility and traffic.
4. Become a social media manager
A lot of brands are starting to get into the Facebook group game, but it can be a long road to growth (as you may know!) and quite frankly, a lot of professional social media marketers don’t have the budget, time, or savvy to effectively grow groups for their clients.
This is where you and your group building and managing skills come into play.
According to Sendible , the average social media manager salary is $45,000 per year.
Once you have a group or two under your belt, you can reach out to brands relevant to your audience and offer your services while using the groups as the ultimate referral and testimonial to your social media skills.
5. Affiliate links
Affiliate links are a tracking method for affiliate or performance based marketing – you place links of products or services in the group and if someone clicks through and buys that product or service, you get a commission. This is one of the best ways on how to make money on Facebook groups.
For each product sold through your link, you will receive a commission. This commission is usually rather small, but with enough volume, you can expect to earn solid money.
Since people don’t just buy something immediately, the link must be placed at the right place and time. That requires some skills in human psychology and marketing funnels.
6. Promote products or services
The other option on how to make money on Facebook group is product placement. With a large group that reaches a very specific target audience, the group becomes interesting for providers of products or services that fit the theme of the group.
Here, as the admin of the group, you can become a partner who recommends certain products or services to the members of the group.
If you have an opportunity to actually test the promoted procut, that is the best way to do it. Product testing can increase credibility, and people also have added value from the testing experience.
7. Buy Stuff on Facebook Marketplace to Re-Sell Elsewhere
Aside from being a huge discount market and sales outlet, you might find Facebook Marketplace to be a great spot to source deals.
You could perhaps turn around and sell those products to a broader audience on eBay or other sites? One Reddit user described sourcing textbooks on Marketplace to flip on Amazon.
Another has mastered selling of second hand drones which he then sells via eBay or Craigslist.
8. Build your email list
There is a popular adage in marketing circles – the money is in the list. That is one of the safest audience pools one can build – you don’t depend on third-party platforms like Google or Facebook that can ban you and you have a traffic source on demand. Lists are very useful during the big sales days like Black Friday or Cyber Monday. If you generate revenue from your email list, Facebook can help you make money by being a source of new subscribers.
This can happen in a number of ways:
- Optins via an optin form on your FB page as a tab;
- Optins via traffic sent from FB to your website or blog;
- Optins via Facebook ads to a landing page or simply use Facebook Leads ads.
9. Charge membership fees
If you are running some high value-added groups as a coaching or networking club and get opinion leaders, influencers or experts in it, you can charge a membership fee for people who want to join.
If your members can always get resources and support from your group, you can also propose a monthly subscription fee. Share useful information and expert insights in your group. Hold webinars with Facebook Live and organize online events for your members.
10. Sell pinned posts or cover photos
There are a lot of brands that are working on raising awareness about them and their company. Having their name, logo and company message seen by lots of members every time when they open the group is definitely very attractive to brands.
Depending on your group’s size and activity, you can ask for a hefty weekly fee.
11. Get hired as a Facebook group admin/manager
Some people are making a living by running Facebook groups. This is not just a side hustle for them, they are real pros at it. And they always need a good crew around them while scaling their business.
If you are good at managing Facebook groups, you can seek a career as a professional groups admin or moderator. You will be surprised at how big the demand for this role is.
12. Sell your group
Even though this is against Facebook ToS, a lot of people sell their groups. Facebook group is an asset, a digital asset, after all. And, just like any other asset, you can sell the Facebook group as well. Just make sure to be aware of scammers and fake buyers who are looking to hijack your group. Never add anyone whom you don’t trust as a top-level admin.
It is a wise idea to use services like Escrow.com or Indiemaker when dealing with purchases and sales of digital assets.
13. Collect donations
Surprised to see this here?
Don’t be. Everything in life is a value exchange. If you provide enough value for your group’s members, they will certainly be willing to chip in a buck or two for you every month. You can set up a Patreon page for this.
A buck or two from only a small percentage of thousands of users will make a nice supplementation to your budget.
Just add a PayPal pay link or even bitcoin address and let those dollars drop in.
Additional pointers on how to monetize Facebook group in 2022 and beyond
Always be mindful of Facebook terms and services and also other regulations pertinent to digital activity. Also, keep your transparency high as people can see through weak attempts of selling them low-quality products or information. Always mark your ads and brand cooperations as such, this is better for the longevity of the group because reputation is one the main currencies online.
If you lose it, you can’t buy it back.
Also, when growing the group, it is always better to keep things ethical and non-spammy. If you join other groups to promote your group, it is best to get in touch with moderators of the group and ask them politely if it is ok to put up your link occasionally in the comments or main posts. If you are a well-established member of that group, I am sure nobody will take issue with you linking out to your group.