How to make money on Facebook

Short answer: start with the ways that have no minimum, such as brand deals, affiliate links and your own products sold through the link on your Page. Turn on Stars once you pass 500 followers, and Subscriptions when you reach Meta's audience and engagement goals. Content Monetization, the program that pays for views, is invite-only for now, so treat it as a bonus, not a plan.

The short answer

Facebook shows the earning tools you can use in the Monetization tab of your professional dashboard. What appears there depends on your followers, your engagement, your country and whether your content follows Meta's monetization policies. Everything outside Meta's programs, such as brands, affiliates and your own sales, is open to you today, even with a small audience.

Seven ways to make money on Facebook, ranked by what you need

The top of the list depends on you. The bottom depends on Meta's choices, which change often. Meta replaced three older payment programs with one new one in the last two years. That is the reason to build from the top down and keep at least one income Facebook cannot switch off.

Page or profile first

Facebook's earning tools are built for creators who run a Facebook Page or who turn on professional mode on a personal profile. Meta's branded content page lists one of the two as a requirement for paid partnerships. Do this before anything else:

1. Decide where your audience already follows you. If friends and family make up most of your profile, start a Page for your creator work. If strangers already follow your profile, turn on professional mode.
2. Write a one-line bio that says who you help and what you post, for example "Weeknight dinners for busy parents, new recipe every Tuesday".
3. Add one link: the place where people can pay you or buy from you.
4. Open your professional dashboard and look at the Monetization tab. Note which tools show as available and which show a goal.

Facebook's own tools

Stars

Fans buy Stars in the app and send them to you. Meta's creators site says you earn 1 cent from Meta for each Star, and that fans can send them on Lives, Reels, videos, photos and text posts. The listed requirements are 500 followers for 30 consecutive days, living in a country where Stars is available, following Meta's Community Standards and Partner Monetization Policies, and accepting the Stars terms. Stars come in most when people are watching together, such as on a Live. Thank each sender by name; it costs nothing and shows others that support is noticed.

Subscriptions

Followers pay you every month for extras such as a subscriber-only Group, Lives or behind-the-scenes posts. Meta's creators site lists 10,000 followers or 250+ return viewers, plus either 50,000 post engagements or 180,000 watch minutes in the last 60 days. Subscriptions are open in listed countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and are invite-only elsewhere. A Page that does not use any monetization tool yet goes through a review first. Only start one when you can deliver something extra every week; an empty subscriber Group is the fastest way to lose subscribers.

Content Monetization

This is the program that pays for performance. Meta says it pays on Reels, photos, text posts and stories, and that it replaces In-stream ads, Ads on Reels and the Performance bonus. Creators who move to it cannot rejoin those older programs. For now it is invite-only. Meta sends invitations through the app, email, Meta Business Suite and the professional dashboard, and you can show interest with a form under Monetization, then Content Monetization. Meta says it plans to open enrollment but gives no date. Meta does not publish a rate per view, so be careful with any article that promises one.

Brand deals and affiliate links

Brands pay for access to an audience they want. A local food Page with 3,000 engaged followers in one city can be worth more to a local restaurant than a general Page with ten times that. Build a one-page media kit (see what to include in a creator media kit), price from your time, usage rights and exclusivity (see how much to charge for a brand deal), and pitch brands you already use. Meta's Creator Marketplace can also put you in front of brands looking for creators. Our guide on how to get brand deals has a pitch you can copy.

Affiliate links pay a commission when someone buys through your link. They suit creators who already recommend products: tools, kitchen gear, books, craft supplies. Only link things you would recommend anyway, and say so when you earn from a link.

For both, disclose clearly. Meta asks creators to use the Paid Partnership label on branded posts. The FTC says to put the disclosure next to the endorsement in plain words like "ad" or "sponsored", not hidden behind "see more". Use both: the label, and a plain word in the post.

Selling your own things through your link

This is the steadiest money on Facebook because it does not depend on Meta's programs or your reach on a given week. You need one link that takes payments and delivers what people bought. Put it in your Page's contact info, in the first comment of a post that answers a common question, and in your Group's pinned post if you run one. Start with one offer, not five:

• A digital product answers the question you get most: the meal plan, the pattern, the checklist, the template. Price it with how to price a creator digital product.
• Custom work or sessions suit artists, coaches, tutors and makers. Write down what is included, the turnaround and the number of changes before you take the first order. See how to handle custom requests from fans.
• Tips or a membership fit creators whose free posts help people. A membership off Facebook can start long before you reach the Subscriptions goals.

A Loresta Page can hold all of these in one link: tips, memberships, digital products, custom requests, sessions and paid questions (payments are open to US creators for now). On the Free plan Loresta keeps 8% of each Page payment plus Stripe's processing fee, so a $15.00 guide leaves you about $12.99. Whatever you choose, test the whole path once yourself: tap the link from the Facebook app, pay, and check that what you bought arrives.

Turn comments and messages into sales without being pushy

On Facebook, buyers often ask in the comments or in Messenger: "how much?", "do you ship?", "can you make one for my mom?". A slow or vague answer loses them. A few rules that keep it friendly:

• Answer the question they asked first, then give the link. A link with no words reads like spam.
• Move price talk from public comments to a message when it is about one person's order.
• Keep a short note of your prices, turnaround and what is included, so every answer matches.
• Never message people who did not write to you first, and never ask for card details in a chat.

A copyable reply for a comment like "how much for a custom one?":

"Thank you! Custom pieces start at $40 and take about two weeks. I just sent you a message with the details, and you can also order straight from the link on my Page."

Our guide on selling digital products through DMs has more example replies. If messages pile up, Loresta's paid plans can draft replies to Facebook Page messages in your words for you to review, using answers you have approved.

A 30-day plan that does not wait for an invitation

1. Days 1 to 3: set up your Page or professional mode, write the one-line bio, and check the Monetization tab. Fill in the Content Monetization interest form if you see it.
2. Days 4 to 10: list the five questions people ask you most in comments and messages. Pick the one you could answer with a product, a session or a custom piece.
3. Days 11 to 17: make that one offer, put it behind your link, and buy it yourself once to test it.
4. Days 18 to 24: post three times about the problem it solves, each with a plain line pointing to the link. Go Live once if you can; it is where Stars and questions come in.
5. Days 25 to 30: read what people asked and bought. Write down one change for next month, and email two brands you already use with your media kit.

Mistakes to avoid

• Waiting for Content Monetization. It is invite-only, and Meta decides who gets in. Your own offers start today.
• Reposting other people's videos. Meta says accounts that repeatedly repost other creators' work without permission or meaningful changes lose access to monetization for a time and get less reach on everything they share. A watermark or stitched clips do not count as your own work; real commentary can.
• Running money through a personal profile full of family photos. Brands and buyers trust a Page or professional mode that looks like your creator work.
• Hiding ads. It breaks FTC rules and costs trust you cannot buy back.
• Buying followers or likes. Fake followers do not send Stars, subscribe or buy, and they hurt your standing with Meta and with brands.