Make money using Facebook

LAKE MARY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Four months ago, the Lake Howell Equestrian Center was close to shutting its barn doors forever. The owner blamed insufficient marketing. That's when horse owner Lauren Candito stepped in.

“I talked to her and told her to give me a couple of months,” says Candito, who’s the co-founder of Social Media Solutions in Orlando -- a consulting firm that gives businesses a presence on websites like Facebook .

Bottom line, Candito makes an earning using Facebook.

“Absolutely! Facebook can be a fabulous tool to make money,” she submits,

Being a Facebook consultant is just one of many ways to earn money with the online phenomenon. So says the author of " Facebook Marketing for Dummies ," Paul Dunay.

“I know of quite a number of folks out there who are helping businesses get started out there. It's a little bit like the early days of the Web,” Dunay says.

Another simple way to score dough from Facebook? Sell products.

“They have a Marketplace they're going to be launching. Something called "Storefronts" for any business that's currently there. It's going to be a boom for them. You can be selling products like you're selling on eBay,” says Dunay.

Develop apps.  “Some of the stickiest applications they have are things like Farmville and Mafia Wars, my son loves Mafia Wars,” Dunay says.

Become an ad mogul. "Help people advertise their business on Facebook,” Dunay adds.

Or, get paid for research. “You've got all these people that are captive there, why not poll a sub-sect of women who are over 40 who live in Greenwich, Connecticut and you want to target them with the message and understand their buying behaviors,” submits Dunay.

That's how Candito approached her Facebook marketing campaign for the equestrian center: targeting a tiny sector of horse fans in the area who already had Facebook profiles.

She saved the barn. Within two and a half months we had the barn at full capacity and we have a wait list now of 3 horses. Facebook was critical,” says Candito.

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On the web:

7 Ways to Make Money on Facebook

Social Media Solutions, LLC