As you may know by now, I make a decent amount of side income through both passive income streams as well as doing online and offline work. My favorite side income stream is, of course, my passive income endeavours, but I’m still always trying to find ways to make more money, so I can use that income to generate even more passive income.

All of my side jobs are service based. I staff and ghost write, offer blog commenting and consulting services, and make some decent affiliate income from my blogs. However, lately, I’ve been looking at product based side businesses as a way to diversify my income and also give me something fun and new to do.

I’ve made a few hundred dollars from re-finishing and flipping furniture, and while I have fun with that, it’s not my product-based side income idea; my idea is something else entirely, that would rely almost 100% on online sales.

Facebook as a Marketing Tool

I am getting married in just a few months, and that’s how my side business idea came to me. I was doing something wedding related, which it turns out I have quite the knack for.

I posted the finished product to a social media site, to show off the craft, and I got a lot of positive feedback.

I thought “what if I could make this into a viable side business?”. I haven’t dabbled in product based businesses in years, so before I jumped on the perceived opportunity, I did my research into the different marketing tools (free or otherwise) available on the web.

When I opened my mind to it, I noticed how strong of a tool Facebook can be for certain niches, and weddings is one of those niches.

Building Personal Relationships

As a small side business, building personal relationships with clients is a huge deal. Facebook definitely helps with that.

I’ve seen businesses (specifically the ones that my Facebook friends have started) really take off because of Facebook. I’ve actually seen Facebook based businesses – their website is their Facebook page and people buy things, or services, right off of Facebook.

I think people like to know who they are buying their products and services from; specifically if it’s for a special occasion, such as a wedding, birthday party, or another special event. In the example below, I was not only able to look at a portfolio of examples, but also get to know who it was that was offering the service.

You’re able to build personal relationships on Facebook so much easier than just having a website, for instance.

Facebook and Word of Mouth Marketing

I came across the power of Facebook for word of mouth marketing accidently. I am a member of a wedding buy/sell/swap group, and I put out a message to the other members (about 2,500 people) to find a good hair dresser.

I quickly got dozens of responses from women in my own and neighboring towns, suggesting people and showing me pictures of their own hair that their favorite hair dresser did.

They were sending me links to Facebook fan pages, the hair dresser’s Facebook pages, and their own (as examples). I got to window shop before I picked the hair dresser that I went with.

This just touches on the power of Facebook as a marketing tool. Shopify digs deeper into Facebook strategy and promoting your business on Facebook. If you have a business that could benefit from Facebook (and it surely could), make sure to take advantage of the powerful tool.