Hello again, savvy savers! If you are anything like me, you spend an ordainment amount of time on social media sites, especially Facebook. When I first joined Facebook I couldn’t make heads or tails of what was going on. But after several years of participation, I have a different outlook and actually enjoy my Facebook habit. Why you may ask? Because there’s money to be saved—and made—by spending time on Facebook. So, for this weeks Saving To Go, With A Cup of Joe, I want to share five fun ways to save and earn on Facebook!
1) Host a virtual yard sale.
In every city, town, or community, Facebook has (or can have) Buy-Sell-Trade Groups. These moderated groups allow users to:
- Take high-quality photos of the items you want to sell or barter away.
- Set a price for each item.
- Create a Facebook event for your yard sale.
- Describe the event and post the pics with prices.
- Be on hand during the event to answer questions.
- Arrange for shipping or local hand-offs when items are sold.
- For those looking to host actual yard sales, Facebook sites such as the above, are a good way to increase, or double, traffic to your sale.
2. Sell your creativity.
Whether you like to paint, bead, photography, or are a musician, Facebook is a great way to build a network of enthusiastic fans-turned-customers.
- You can create an event page for seasonal sales events.
- You can also create a company page for your work and start building a fan base.
- You can direct people who “like” your page to your website so they can purchase your work.
- You can offer incentives to people who invite their networks to “like” your page to expand your reach.
- For current Etsy sellers, you can create a fan page, which will not only highlight your goods, but allow you to cast a wider net for potential sales.
3. Snag freebies, deals and coupons.
Facebook is one of my favorite places to find online coupons, deals, and sweepstakes. Every big name company, and many up-and-coming natural, fair trade companies also list coupons deals, and contest on their perspective pages; this is one of my favorite ways to use the site over the past few years.
To get started:
- Select a business or product.
- Visit: https://www.facebook.com/…. and add the name of the company or product.
- Scroll to see past coupons and sales notices.
- Look on their tag bar for features such as “contests, sweeps, or special savings.”
- You can “like” the page to be notified of future page posts so you can snag coupons and take advantage of sales pricing.
4. Barter, borrow and trade.
If you have things you want to rent or sell, or things you want buy, or things you need to borrow, Facebook is the place to do so at!
What to do:
- Let’s say you need a ladder.
- So you post on your Facebook wall asking if anyone in your local network has a ladder they can lend or rent you.
- You can do this with any item where it doesn’t make sense to buy (or sell) it, but you can loan it out, rent it, or borrow it from a friend for short-term use.
5. Earn extra referral and bonus points using Facebook apps.
I am a huge fans of apps that help us save and earn. As it turns out, our favorite apps also offer rewards when we use Facebook!
What to look for:
- Use Swagbucks as an example.
- Visit: https://www.facebook.com/swagbucks
- “Like” the page to get alerts when new earning opportunities are posted.
- You can also visit the page to find out about Double Swag Bucks Days and other earning events.
- You can do this for any app or business you like and snag coupons, deals, discounts and earning opportunities just by “liking” their Facebook page.
So I hope these fun tips can help you further save the next time you are on Facebook!
Here’s to saving,
