Many marketers have tried affiliate marketing on Facebook and failed miserably, only to assume that it just doesn't work. That isn't the case - it can work exceptionally well - but you need to approach it the right way. In this article, we're going to look at several things to keep in mind when promoting affiliate offers on Facebook.

The most important thing you have to keep in mind is that people aren't expecting to be pitched some type of product on Facebook. They're there to be social - keep in touch with friends, play games, share pictures, etc. When you interrupt this with a marketing message, it will usually fall flat.

Instead, you need to integrate your marketing into their social stream so it fits into what they expect to see.

If you don't have a particular market or product type in mind already, one of the most effective things you can do is to set up a Facebook Page about a topic that people are going to be interested in, and want to be part of a community.

For example, you could create a Page about coffee and cover topics like the best types of beans, how to brew great coffee, what types of coffee machines are best, etc. There are a lot of people who are coffee aficionados and would "Like" a page like this.

Share updates about various things - new roasts you've tried, news about companies like Starbucks and Peets, etc. But you can also mix in some low-key promotions in the form of Amazon links or other product links. Which are your affiliate links, naturally.

Just make it more conversational in nature - not a blatant pitch for something.

You can also use Facebook to get new leads into your marketing funnel. You can create a Facebook Page that they can like, which adds them to your network. Then gradually push them to your own website off of Facebook, where they can sign up for your email newsletter.

Then you can put them into a more traditional marketing funnel, because you can contact them outside of Facebook itself.

Not everyone who is connected to you on Facebook is going to sign up for your email list, or even visit your website for that matter, but even if you only get a small percentage who do, that's more than you would have had otherwise.

Marketing on Facebook can be very effective, you just need to adjust your strategies to suit the mindset of people on the site, rather than using the stuff that may have worked on your own websites.