How to Make Money on Facebook in South Africa

The digital era is upon us and not slowing down anytime soon. That means more businesses and content creators are bursting onto the scene and generating promising income through social networks. Therefore, learning how to make money on Facebook in South Africa should be your next priority.

If you’ve heard anything about earning on social media, you must have heard about how beneficial Facebook can be for your brand awareness and sales. This is thanks to Facebook’s three billion monthly users — the most significant aspect drawing entrepreneurs by the thousands.

While we’ve already covered how to sell on Facebook, it’s now time to dive deep into how to get paid from the platform. We’re covering everything you need to know, including different ways to earn and best practices.

Why should you consider Facebook to make money?

We’ve already touched on the biggest advantage of Facebook: the platform has billions of users from every corner of the earth. However, it’s not just an app that allows you to meet new people or stay in contact with loved ones – Facebook has evolved significantly since its inception. The platform now has complex features and ad policies, allowing merchants to flourish.

If you’re still undecided about making money on Facebook, perhaps looking at the benefits and drawbacks might help you.

Benefits

• Facebook helps you find a target audience to sell products/services to and make money. Sellers can discover, build, and manage their audience in Meta Ads Manager. Also, thanks to Facebook’s Commerce Manager tools, you’ll have access to valuable insights into how your audience interacts with your Facebook content.
• There are several ways to sell on Facebook. Whether you’re a small start-up business or want to sell second-hand items, the platform has a space for you. The opportunities to sell and earn money are plenty, from buy-and-sell groups to paid partnerships and Marketplace.
• Selling and advertising on Facebook is cost-effective, making more money for yourself or your business. This is because you don’t have to spend a considerable chunk of your budget to start listing products on the Marketplace or buying ad spots compared to billboards or pamphlets. Having a Business Page also provides you with excellent budget-friendly advertising tools that you can use to promote your eCommerce store.
• You can direct Facebook users to your website and make more money. For example, you can post promotional content on Facebook, like a Reel or Story about new or discounted items. Then, add a call-to-action such as “DM for more information”, enabling you to message potential customers with a link to your eCommerce store.
• You don’t need technical expertise, social media training, or even an eCommerce store to monetise Facebook. Anyone can sell on the platform as long as they have a target audience and a product that complies with Facebook’s commerce rules.

Drawbacks

• Consistently posting, listing, or advertising on Facebook to try and make money can be time-consuming. Think about all the engagement required to keep your audience’s attention. That means you must post high-quality content daily, build an audience, manage partnerships, etc. This can become too much for a small business owner or content creator who has limited time, so you may have to hire a social media manager.
• It can take a while to start seeing your desired results. Income from monetisation may be unpredictable and unstable when you begin. Plus, the income you make from Facebook can be inconsistent as factors like algorithms, policies, and user behaviour influence how much you can make.
• The ever-changing algorithms can be hard to keep up with. If you’re not on top of a platform’s newly updated algorithms, trends, and policies, your content may disappear into the background. To give you an example, video posts are currently blasting any other content on Facebook. Videos are more engaging, encourage interactions, and are more likely to be shared compared to text-only posts.

• on often requires you to share personal information with partners or sponsors. On the other hand, if you’re selling physical products and have no online payment processor set up, you may have to meet up with buyers to collect money, which can be risky.

Basic requirements for getting paid on Facebook

Before you start getting paid from Facebook, there are some requirements you or your business need to meet. Let’s have a look.

Check your monetisation eligibility

You need to meet Facebook’s Partner Monetisation Policies before you can earn money from your content. Here’s how you can check your monetisation eligibility for your Facebook Business Page:

• Step 1: Go to the Meta Business Suite desktop.
• Step 2: Click the Monetisation tab on the left side to see your status and Page eligibility overview.
• Step 3: Select the page you want to check in the drop-down menu.
• Step 4: This is optional, but if you click on View Page Eligibility, you can find more details about the monetisation tools your page has access to.

Alternatively, you can also check monetisation eligibility for your personal profile. You can earn money from your content if your professional mode is turned on and your profile meets Facebook’s Partner Monetisation Policies. Here’s how:

• Step 1: Turn on the professional mode of your profile.
• Step 2: Go to the Professional dashboard on mobile.
• Step 3: Click on Tools to Try.
• Step 4: Choose Monetisation and see what programs and tools are available in professional mode.

Skills needed to monetise Facebook

Making money from Facebook content can be done without experience. However, as a content creator, you may benefit significantly from having the following skills:

1. Video and photography: Apps like Facebook and Instagram rely heavily on visual aesthetics, so being able to shoot high-quality images and videos can increase your following since viewers appreciate beautiful visuals. On that note, check out our latest article about eCommerce photography for small businesses.
2. SEO and content strategy: Through good SEO practices, you can ensure that your content gets noticed by the right people. A solid content strategy involves data analytics, utilising keywords, and understanding your target audience.
3. Marketing skills: Knowing the basics of advertising products or content can help you put your brand on the map. That said, familiarising yourself with all the tools and resources Facebook offers for businesses and, essentially, marketing can help you a great deal. For example, Facebook offers business tools like Appointments that help your customers schedule appointments directly on Facebook. This is especially handy if you’re a local service provider and advertising your business through Facebook.
4. Writing and storytelling: Compelling writing and storytelling are vital to becoming a successful content creator. Whether posting blogs on your profile, streaming on Facebook Live, or vlogging, a good back-story can drive interest and engagement. Otherwise, simply posting content to make money may deter many of your followers since they may see you as inauthentic and greedy.

Facebook ad policies and commerce guidelines

Read through Facebook’s ad policies before you decide to promote your products or services on the platform. Then, also, ensure you meet the Commerce Guidelines before selling products on Facebook.

• Don’t promote and sell adult content, illegal, discriminatory, or misleading products and services.
• You must sell physical products on Facebook, Shop, and Marketplace.
• Ads for your products should not violate Facebook’s Community standards.
• Don’t sell anything that could harm someone’s life or promote social issues and political views.

Can you monetise Facebook Shops in South Africa?

Out of all the ways to make money on Facebook, creating a shop should be the most obvious choice, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case for South African businesses since Facebook or Instagram Shop is no longer available in the country. This includes creating catalogues and product tagging for your stores.

This means you can only host a storefront if your shop has checkout with Facebook & Instagram enabled in the U.S. However, the other methods of Facebook earnings mentioned below can make you money in South Africa and are worth pursuing.

Is South Africa eligible for Facebook monetisation?

Facebook monetisation is eligible in South Africa, allowing content creators to earn money from Facebook with ‘In-Stream Ads’. To qualify for monetised content, you should have at least 10,000 followers and 30,000 one-minute views on a video that is not less than one minute.

Best ways to make money on Facebook in South Africa

• Brand collaborations
• Creating videos with in-stream ads
• Adding paid subscriptions to your page
• Drive Facebook users to your eCommerce store

Top 16 ways to earn with Facebook

Now that you’re clued in on all the basic requirements, you can monetise Facebook. There are several ways to do so, whether you’re an influencer, independent seller, or small business owner. Here’s how:

1. Become a social media manager

While some businesses already have an online presence on Facebook, they may need your expertise to improve brand awareness and boost audience engagement. That said, if you’re skilled at social media marketing, online brands may want to hire you as an employee or freelancer. You can even promote your skills and experience on Facebook so that brands can find you.

2. Public relations

A social media PR campaign is designed to get people to discuss your brand through various channels, including Facebook and Instagram. Increasing awareness and building a positive brand reputation can put your business in the spotlight. This may result in more sales and a greater return on investment thanks to lower costs than traditional PR methods such as newspapers or magazines.

3. Side hustle promotion/gig economy

A gig economy is a free labour market that relies on temporary positions and freelancers. It’s flexible and offers avenues to earn additional wages for students and even full-time employees.

Facebook seemed to show an interest in building a service for gig workers to find gigs, and it appears to no longer be the case, but you can still market your services on the platform. You can join freelancer groups to promote and offer your services or side hustles on Facebook, from blogging and home repairs to tech support.

4. Promote your blog on Facebook

Thanks to affiliate marketing, blogging is an excellent way to make money. That said, you can increase traffic to your blog by promoting it on Facebook. One way to do this is to create a short video about your blog and upload it to Facebook Reels. The more people see your video, the more blog views you’ll get, allowing you to profit from blog ad revenue and affiliate sales.

5. Sell on Marketplace

One of the quickest and cheapest ways to sell online is through Facebook Marketplace. It’s one of Facebook’s online destinations where you can list physical items for people to browse and sell. It works well for local sellers, but you can also use shipping courier services to make your deliveries.

Marketplace works like Amazon or Takealot, where Facebook users see photos showcasing various items for sale, each with descriptions and selling prices underneath.

Tip: If you want to know more about Marketplace, read our extensive article about How to sell on Facebook Marketplace.

6. Direct users to your eCommerce website

If you have an eCommerce store, like Netcash Shop, and want to expand your business to social media, you can promote your website on Facebook. It’s one of the most efficient ways to drive Facebook’s massive traffic to your site, where customers can purchase your products.

This is possible if you direct users to your eCommerce website/store by including links in the content shared. For example, you can add links to your posts on your business page, descriptions, and comments or send them to potential customers via Facebook Messenger.

Pro-tip: Using LinkUp allows you to easily add a dedicated page with all of your most important links to your profile. It’s a simple addition to your Netcash Shop and can link to all of your social media accounts and shop links. This makes it straightforward to start selling with a link in your bio.

7. Create apps with Facebook

Developing an app on Facebook is possible through a Developer Account tied to your account. As a developer, you can create Facebook apps for any pages you manage. You’ll have access to various tools and resources: Facebook API, documentation, and support forums.

Developers create and manage their apps, offering Facebook users various features and services. This allows you to generate money from your app through in-app advertising, purchases, upgrades, subscriptions, etc.

8. Join buy-and-sell groups

These Facebook groups allow users to browse, list, and sell items. Each group has its own set of rules, and some may require you to pay a fee to join, depending on its size (number of members). By joining these groups, you can promote your services, sell products, or potentially earn money from affiliate marketing.

9. Earn through affiliate marketing

Facebook affiliate marketing is a form of social media advertising for small content creators to promote products and make money. Creators can add affiliate tags to content shared on Facebook and earn a commission on each sale. Affiliate content involves any content shared by an affiliate creator, including a link, tag, or mention of eligible products.

10. Work with brands

Earn money on Facebook by creating original content and partnering up with other brands your target audience will likely be interested in. This option is ideal for influencers/content creators who want to earn more revenue with their content.

After partnering with a brand, a paid partnership label appears on the collaborated content. Brands can discover influencers/creators through Meta Brand Collabs Manager with accounts and pages that are already onboarded and start working on a potential partnership.

The bigger the brand, the more you’ll earn, but you’ll first need to be approved by Facebook to collaborate with various brands.

11. Add paid subscriptions to your page

When you add paid subscriptions to your page, your supporters can pay you a monthly subscription fee because they enjoy or appreciate your content. This allows you to earn a predictable monthly income, and your fans gain early and special access to your content on Facebook and Instagram.

We recommend this method to accounts that can offer bonus or beneficial content to their supporters and have a large and active following.

12. Monetise Facebook Stars & gifts

Facebook Stars allows you to monetise video content, photos, and text posts on the platform. Viewers can buy Stars on Facebook and send them to you while you’re streaming, for on-demand videos with Stars turned on, and for text and photo posts.

Viewers can also send you animated, virtual gifts attached to different Star amounts. Facebook will pay you $0.01 (R0.18) for each Star you receive.

13. Make sponsored posts

You can get paid to post on Facebook by receiving sponsorships – this is how most content creators make money. To give you a better idea, these are posts that companies pay you to promote. They do this to boost visibility and hopefully score new customers. You’ll need two things to receive brand sponsorships: a large fan base and optimised videos for engagement and interaction.

14. Use video monetisation and in-stream ads

Facebook pays for in-stream ads based on how many views you get and where it is streamed. In-stream ads are image or video advertisements that play during, before, or after the videos that can help you earn money from Facebook. You can create videos to market other brand’s content or make ones for your business.

Facebook video monetisation rates are based on the cost per thousand (CPM) impressions the advertiser is charging. Additionally, the app will compensate content creators and publishers between $10 – $19 (R177,14 – R336,58) for every 1,000 views your video receives.

Making money on Facebook vs. other Meta platforms

Facebook is not the only Meta platform to earn some extra cash. Advertising through Instagram allows you to promote and sell to a younger audience since Millennials and Gen Z often prefer to use it over Facebook.

Alternatively, using WhatsApp Business to advertise and connect with your customers can boost engagement and drive sales. To give you more insight, if customers opt-in to receive messages from your business, you can notify or inform them of new items, sales, discounts, and special offers.

Read Next: Instagram advertising costs.

However, we recommend using all these Meta apps together to get the most out of your efforts. Facebook and Instagram work seamlessly together, and now, with WhatsApp Business, it’s even more convenient to keep in touch with customers than email.

How to get paid on Facebook

Now that you know how to earn money through Facebook, it only makes sense that we uncover precisely how these earnings will land in your bank account. Let’s have a closer look:

How do sellers receive their money?

If you’re going to sell products on Facebook via Marketplace or buy-and-sell groups, how you do it impacts the way you receive your money after a sale.

Your first option to receive payment is to meet with your buyers, which will also solve the delivery aspect. However, meeting with customers may not be the safest and most convenient option. Instead, consider having them pay you via your bank account or an online payment gateway, and you can courier the goods to their address.

How do content creators receive money from Facebook?

Like Facebook selling, earning money through content creation depends on how you do it, whether that’s through brand collaborations or affiliate marketing.

• Monetising content: You’ll need to set up a payout account to help you gain access to the money you earn from Facebook and Instagram. These can include anything from in-stream ads to fan subscriptions, etc. If your profile is approved for content monetisation, you’ll be prompted to set up a payout account, which includes personal and taxpayer information and bank account details.
• Brand collaborations: Unfortunately, some brands try to exploit content creators and so do not pay anything for partnerships. But, if you’re working with a trustworthy brand, they typically pay you via PayPal, Venmo, Google Wallet, TransferWise, and Google Pay.
• Affiliate marketing: How you get paid depends on the affiliate program, your contribution, and the seller’s sales. The merchant will pay you (the affiliate) a percentage of each sale, lead, or click into your bank account.

Monetising Facebook in South Africa

Suppose you’ve been wondering why we haven’t suggested making money on Facebook Shops yet. In that case, that’s because South African businesses can no longer use Facebook or Instagram Shop catalogues and product tagging for their stores.

This means you can only host a storefront if your shop has checkout with Facebook & Instagram enabled in the U.S. However, the other methods of Facebook earnings mentioned above can make you money in South Africa and are worth pursuing.

Is South Africa eligible for Facebook monetisation?

Facebook monetisation is eligible in South Africa, allowing content creators to earn money from Facebook with ‘In-Stream Ads’. To qualify for monetised content, you should have at least 10,000 followers and 30,000 one-minute views on a video that is not less than one minute.

Best ways to make money on Facebook in South Africa

• Brand collaborations
• Creating videos with in-stream ads
• Adding paid subscriptions to your page
• Drive Facebook users to your eCommerce store

Accepted payment options available to South Africa

The following options are available to South Africans for selling and buying on Facebook.

• Credit cards or co-branded debit cards, including American Express in one of their accepted currencies
• Mastercard
• Visa
• Cash
• PayPal is one of their accepted currencies

Alternatively, you can WhatsApp a payment request link to your customers. These payment links are a common way to securely accept payments via a payment gateway. This can be an attractive feature to buyers because it removes the need to share personal banking details with strangers. Alongside the benefits of being safer and faster, offering these methods to clients increases the chances of a successful sale.

Best practices for earning on Facebook: make it work for your small business

Before you jump into the exciting journey of earning from Facebook, it can be beneficial to consider some of the best practices to make Facebook work for your small business.

Best practises

• Collaborate with other businesses to increase brand awareness – if you partner with businesses with a large following, your brand can be exposed to these bigger audiences. It also shows users that you can be trusted since a more significant and reputable brand decided to partner with you, which leads to more potential customers.
• Post more video content – Regularly posting excellent video content on your business profile may increase your following and the amount of viewers you receive. The point is to have at least 5,000 followers, five active videos, and 60,000 total minutes viewed in the last 60 days. After achieving these requirements, you can monetise from in-stream ads since it’s eligible in South Africa. These include on-demand, live, or previously live videos.
• Promote your eCommerce website with free marketing tools from Facebook – Not only would you save on marketing costs, but the platform gives you tons of free tools to market your products on your page. These include Reels allowing you to showcase products with short videos, Stories enabling you to post eye-catching images and videos, and live videos to interact with your followers in real-time.
• Choose the right niche for your profitable Facebook Page – A niche constitutes the specific topic or subject matter that your page will focus on. Choosing the right one helps you define your target audience, assess your competition and highlight opportunities to monetise through selling your products, affiliate marketing, or sponsored posts.
• Use Facebook to find more customers – Facebook is an effective tool to help build customer relations and reach new audiences. For small businesses, this is great news, supported by the fact that it’s affordable, and you don’t need prior social media and marketing experience. For example, the platform provides free-to-use tools to help build your online presence, such as Live Videos, Reels, and Stories. You can also reach more customers by placing ads on your Facebook Page and by connecting with them directly through Messenger. The latter provides automated customer support, allows customers to chat with action buttons, and can help you close sales with customers one-on-one.

FAQs about Facebook monetisation in South Africa

If you’re still uncertain or curious about a few things, we’ve answered some of the most commonly asked questions about how to earn money on Facebook.

1. How much does Facebook pay in South Africa for 1k followers?

While Facebook itself doesn’t pay users directly to gain more followers, having more followers can increase earning potential through the various monetization methods covered above.

2. How much does Facebook pay for views in South Africa?

Firstly Facebook doesn’t pay you for the number of views you get on posts or videos. Instead, they offer a revenue-sharing program for creators and publishers called Facebook Creator Studio. This program allows you to monetize your content through ads, fan subscriptions, and branded content. That said, the more views you get, the more Facebook will compensate you.

3. How much does Facebook pay for 1 million views in South Africa?

Creators can expect to earn anywhere between $1,000 and $10,000 (roughly R17,500 and R17,5000) after their content has received 1 million views on Facebook. The exact earnings you receive depend on various factors, including video quality, advertiser demand, and audience demographics.

4. How much do Facebook Reels pay for 1,000 views?

For Facebook Reels, specifically, rates start at about $0.01-0.02 (R0.18-0.35) per view. This means that you can earn up to $20 (about R350.00) for every thousand views. The average figure is roughly $4.40 (about R78.00) per thousand views.

5. Is it better to post a reel or a video on Facebook?

Reels are better than normal video posts. They are flexible, short, and casual to watch. Due to the Facebook Reel algorithm, reels are also relevant to your interests and shareable. This means that you can cater to your target market more effectively and reach a wider audience because of their shareability.

6. Does Facebook Pay work in South Africa?

Also known as Meta Pay, this secure and seamless payment method is specific to Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and participating online stores. It allows you to make purchases, send money, and donate within the apps. That said, Facebook Pay is available in countries across Africa (including South Africa), Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North America.

How to make money on Facebook: Final thoughts

There you have it! All the different ways you can start making money on Facebook. We’ve covered what you need to know, whether you’re a small business owner or content creator in South Africa.

The biggest takeaway is that you can earn well enough on Facebook without a massive following since there’s more than one way to go about it. Whether you’re using Facebook as an advertising tool, or a means to earn money through an increased following, the possibilities are endless.

As you can see, it’s not just a place to connect with friends and family but a vast and complex platform filled with abundant opportunities. From side hustles to video ads, Facebook continues to evolve so your brand/business can grow.

Next Read: How to smash your eCommerce goals.