Make cash from Facebook

This article first appeared in issue 223 of .net magazine – the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers.

Monetising your fans on Facebook: everyone wants to do it. But time and time again I’m approached by brands who just don’t see how to make Facebook work for them. They’re disillusioned by inactivity on social media and sceptical they’ll ever see any return on their investment.

I ask them: “What exactly are you doing in this space?”. They respond: “Well ... we have a Facebook page.” I say: “Great start. What else are you doing?”. And they reply “We post updates from time to time”. Right – there’s work to do!

What “monetisation” on Facebook (and social media) really means is creating some sort of value – and the meaning of “value” can vary from brand to brand. It can be a direct increase in sales/revenue, the spread of brand awareness, fan acquisition, traffic driving, or something else.

Focusing your initiatives on fan acquisition, for example, can provide you with a “real-time” audience that has opted into receiving regular communications from you. But like everything else, fan acquisition has a cost: it takes time, a managed posting schedule, a trusted and relevant voice, relevant content, and above all, a human presence.

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