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How to do Affiliate Marketing on Facebook Ads

The article focuses on leveraging AnyTrack, a Facebook Business Partner, to enhance affiliate marketing campaigns on Facebook. It provides a step-by-step guide on setting up an AnyTrack account, integrating it with Facebook Ads, and launching a campaign, emphasizing the importance of compliance with Facebook's advertising guidelines. The guide highlights AnyTrack's features, such as seamless integration, comprehensive tracking, and real-time analytics, which help optimize campaign performance and maximize ROI.

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🚧

Critical compliance warning

Before diving into the technical setup, understand that Facebook has strict policies for affiliate marketers:

  • Proper disclosure requirements (FTC compliance)
  • Prohibited content categories (health claims, financial promises, etc.)
  • Landing page quality requirements
  • Account suspension risks for policy violations

Always review Facebook's current advertising policies before launching campaigns.

Overview and prerequisites

This guide walks you through setting up Facebook ads for affiliate marketing using AnyTrack's conversion tracking platform. We'll use a real-world scenario: an affiliate marketer with a WordPress website promoting offers from both Impact (SaaS tools) and ClickBank (AI marketing courses) networks.

What you'll need:

  • ✅ AnyTrack account with property configured
  • ✅ WordPress website with admin access
  • ✅ Facebook Business Manager access
  • ✅ Impact affiliate account (approved for SaaS offers)
  • ✅ ClickBank affiliate account
  • ✅ Compliant pre-landers (landing pages)

Scenario: WordPress affiliate site setup

Meet Sarah, an affiliate marketer who runs a digital marketing blog on WordPress. She promotes:

  • Impact offers: HubSpot, Semrush, ConvertKit (SaaS tools)
  • ClickBank products: AI marketing courses, automation tools

Let's follow her complete setup process.

Step 1: WordPress and AnyTrack foundation

1.1 Install AnyTrack on WordPress

  1. Log into AnyTrack dashboard

    • Navigate to Properties
    • Click Add Property
    • Enter your WordPress domain

  2. Get your tracking code

    ! function(e, t, n, s, a) {
  (a = t.createElement(n)).async = !0,
    a.src = "https://assets.anytrack.io/YOUR-ID.js",
    (t = t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0]).parentNode.insertBefore(a, t),
    e[s] = e[s] || function() {
      (e[s].q = e[s].q || []).push(arguments)
    }
}(window, document, "script", "AnyTrack");

  3. Install in WordPress

    • Method A: Add to theme's header.php before </head>
    • Method B: Use a plugin like "Insert Headers and Footers"
    • Method C: Through your theme customizer

1.2 Verify installation

Step 2: Connect Facebook ads integration

2.1 Connect Facebook account

  1. In AnyTrack dashboard:

    • Go to Tracking Pixels
    • Click Connect Pixel
    • Select Facebook Pixel

  2. Authenticate with Facebook:

    • Select your Business Manager
    • Choose the correct Pixel ID
    • Grant necessary permissions

  3. Enable Conversion API:

    • Toggle Server-to-Server Tracking ON to enable the Conversion API
    • Connect your Ad Account
    • Save settings

2.2 Install UTM tracking template

  1. Copy the facebook UTM parameter template from AnyTrack:

    utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content={{adset.name}}&utm_campaign={{campaign.name}}&utm_term={{ad.name}}&utm_id={{campaign.id}}&ad_id={{ad.id}}&adset_id={{adset.id}}&placement={{placement}}&site_source_name={{site_source_name}}

  2. Add to Facebook Ads Manager:

    • Select all relevant ads
    • Edit → URL Parameters
    • Paste the UTM parameter template
    • Publish changes

Step 3: Impact network integration (SaaS offers)

3.1 Install Impact integration

  1. In AnyTrack:

  2. Copy the Impact postback URL (Below is the actual format, but your Anytrack account id is not set):

    https://t1.anytrack.io/YOUR-ID/collect/impact?ActionTrackerName={ActionTrackerName}&CampaignId={CampaignId}&CampaignName={CampaignName}&MediaPartnerId={MediaPartnerId}&MediaPartnerName={MediaPartnerName}&SubId1={SubId1}&SubId2={SubId2}&SubId3={SubId3}&AdId={AdId}&ActionTrackerId={ActionTrackerId}&ActionId={ActionId}&Amount={Amount}&Currency={Currency}&Payout={Payout}&EventDate={EventDate}&Status={Status}&StatusDetail={StatusDetail}&LandingPageUrl={LandingPageUrl}&SharedId={SharedId}&PromoCode={PromoCode}&RefCustomerCountry={RefCustomerCountry}

3.2 Configure Impact account

  1. In Impact dashboard:
    • Navigate to Event Notifications (cloud icon ☁️)
    • Click Edit (✏️ icon)
    • Paste AnyTrack postback URL
    • Save and activate

3.3 Add Impact offers to WordPress

Sarah's Impact offer examples (SaaS tools):

<!-- WordPress page/post content - HubSpot offer -->
<div class="offer-container">
  <h3>Get HubSpot Free CRM</h3>
  <p>Start growing your business with HubSpot's free CRM...</p>
  
  <!-- Impact affiliate link - AnyTrack AutoTags this automatically -->
  <a href="https://hubspot.sjv.io/c/169033/1328754/13053" 
     class="cta-button">
    Start Free Trial →
  </a>
</div>

<!-- Semrush offer -->
<div class="offer-container">
  <h3>Semrush SEO Tools</h3>
  <p>Improve your SEO with Semrush professional tools...</p>
  
  <!-- Standard Impact link - automatically tagged -->
  <a href="https://semrush.sjv.io/c/169033/1328754/13053" 
     class="cta-button">
    Try Semrush Free →
  </a>
</div>

How AnyTrack handles this:

  • AutoTag automatically detects Impact links
  • Appends subId1={click_id} parameter
  • Tracks the OutboundClick event
  • Sends data to Facebook Conversion API

Step 4: ClickBank integration (AI marketing courses)

4.1 Install ClickBank integration

  1. In AnyTrack:

    • Go to Integration Catalog
    • Search "ClickBank"
    • Install integration

  2. Copy ClickBank postback URL

4.2 Configure ClickBank account

  1. In ClickBank account:
    • Go to Account Settings → My Site → Advanced Tools → Edit
    • Find Instant Notification Settings
    • Add key: ANYTRACK
    • Paste AnyTrack postback URL
    • Select Version 8.0 (supports new tracking parameters)
    • Test and save

4.3 Add ClickBank offers to WordPress

Sarah's ClickBank offer examples (AI marketing tools):

<!-- WordPress content - AI Marketing Course -->
<div class="offer-container">
  <h3>AI Marketing Mastery Course</h3>
  <p>Learn how to automate your marketing with AI tools...</p>
  
  <!-- ClickBank affiliate link - automatically tagged with extclid -->
  <a href="https://1a2b3c4d.marketplace.hop.clickbank.net" 
     class="cta-button">
    Start Learning AI Marketing →
  </a>
</div>

<!-- AI Automation Tools -->
<div class="offer-container">
  <h3>AI Content Creation Suite</h3>
  <p>Create unlimited content with AI-powered tools...</p>
  
  <a href="https://5e6f7g8h.marketplace.hop.clickbank.net" 
     class="cta-button">
    Get AI Tools Now →
  </a>
</div>

AnyTrack processing:

  • Detects ClickBank format automatically
  • Appends extclid={click_id} (new parameter for Version 8.0)
  • Tracks conversion through postback
  • Maps to Facebook events

Step 5: Event mapping and optimization

5.1 Understanding event mapping for affiliate marketing

📊

Critical for affiliate success:

Event mapping is extremely important in affiliate marketing because different affiliate networks track conversions differently and use their own naming conventions. How do you optimize a Facebook campaign for the same conversion event when you have multiple 'conversion goals' from multiple affiliate networks?

The standardization challenge:

  • Impact sends conversions as Sale
  • ClickBank sends conversions as SALE or BILL
  • CJ Affiliate might send Lead or Sale
  • ShareASale uses Transaction

AnyTrack's solution: Event mapping enables marketers to standardize conversion goals across all networks. For example:

  • Impact's Sale → AnyTrack: Purchase → Facebook: Purchase
  • ClickBank's BILL → AnyTrack: Purchase → Facebook: Purchase
  • CJ's Transaction → AnyTrack: Purchase → Facebook: Purchase

Result: Facebook campaigns can optimize for Purchase events and aggregate ALL purchase events from ALL integrations, giving you unified optimization power.

5.2 Configure event mapping

Standard affiliate marketing event structure:

  1. OutboundClick - When people click on affiliate links

    • Impact offers: OutboundClick → Facebook: InitiateCheckout
    • ClickBank offers: OutboundClick → Facebook: AddToCart

  2. InitiateCheckout - Intermediate conversion events

    • ClickBank only: When visitors reach order page
    • Maps to Facebook: InitiateCheckout (standard event)
    • Note: Most affiliate networks don't track this intermediate step

  3. Purchase - Any conversion that triggers a commission

    • All networks: Purchase → Facebook: Purchase (standard event)
    • This is your primary optimization event

  4. Upsell - Subsequent purchases from same customer

    • Custom conversion tied to "purchase" category
    • For recurring sales, upsells, rebills from same customer
    • Maps to Facebook: Custom Upsell conversion

Sarah's specific mapping:

Impact Network (SaaS):
├── OutboundClick → Facebook: InitiateCheckout
├── Sale → Facebook: Purchase
└── Recurring → Facebook: Upsell (custom)

ClickBank Network (AI Courses):
├── OutboundClick → Facebook: AddToCart  
├── InitiateCheckout → Facebook: InitiateCheckout
├── SALE → Facebook: Purchase
└── REBILL → Facebook: Upsell (custom)

👍

Optimization advantage:

Now Sarah can run Facebook campaigns optimizing for Purchase events, and Facebook will aggregate conversions from both Impact SaaS trials AND ClickBank course sales, giving the algorithm more data to optimize with.

5.3 Advanced mapping for complex funnels

For marketers with multiple networks:

Unified Facebook Optimization:
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│     Facebook Campaign       │
│   Optimize for: Purchase    │
└─────────────────────────────┘
              ↑
    ┌─────────┼─────────┐
    │         │         │
Impact:    ClickBank:   CJ:
"Sale"     "BILL"      "Action"
    │         │         │
    └─────────┼─────────┘
              ↓
        AnyTrack: Purchase
              ↓
        Facebook: Purchase

Complex example - multiple conversion types:

Network Event → AnyTrack Event → Facebook Event
─────────────────────────────────────────────────
Impact "Lead" → Lead → Lead (standard)
Impact "Sale" → Purchase → Purchase (standard)
ClickBank "SALE" → Purchase → Purchase (standard)
ClickBank "REBILL" → Upsell → Upsell (custom)
CJ "Action" → Purchase → Purchase (standard)
ShareASale "Transaction" → Purchase → Purchase (standard)

5.4 Setting up custom conversions

When mapping to custom events like Upsell, AnyTrack automatically prompts you to create Facebook custom conversions:

  1. In AnyTrack event mapping:

    • Select source event (e.g., REBILL)
    • Map to custom name: Upsell
    • Click Setup Conversions

  2. AnyTrack creates Facebook custom conversion:

    • Automatically calls Facebook API
    • Creates custom conversion named Upsell
    • Sets proper category: Purchase
    • Ready for campaign optimization

5.5 Verify Facebook integration

  1. Check Event Manager:

    • Events should appear within 10-20 minutes
    • Verify server-side events only (no browser events)
    • Monitor match quality across all networks

  2. Validate unified tracking:

    • Test each affiliate network separately
    • Confirm all Purchase events aggregate correctly
    • Verify custom conversions appear in Facebook

  3. Use AnyTrack verify ads:

    • Go to Tracking Pixels → Facebook → Ads Integration
    • Click Verify Ads Settings
    • Ensure green checkmarks

Pro tip: With proper event mapping, you can now create Facebook campaigns that optimize across ALL your affiliate networks simultaneously, dramatically increasing your data volume and optimization power.

This updated section now clearly explains why event mapping is crucial for affiliate marketers and how it solves the real-world problem of multiple networks using different conversion naming conventions.

5.2 Verify Facebook integration

  1. Check Event Manager:

    • Events should appear within 10-20 minutes
    • Verify server-side events only (no browser events)
    • Monitor match quality

  2. Use AnyTrack verify ads:

    • Go to Tracking Pixels → Facebook → Ads Integration
    • Click Verify Ads Settings
    • Ensure green checkmarks

Scale at any level: from single offers to hundreds

👍

Enterprise-level tracking:

This example shows a couple of affiliate offers, but many of our users run blogs with hundreds of pages and hundreds of affiliate offers. Because of AnyTrack's AutoTag technology, ALL links are automatically tagged and conversions tracked - no matter how many offers you promote.

Real-world example: One affiliate marketer tracks 500+ Impact offers and 200+ ClickBank products across their network of WordPress sites. AnyTrack handles:

  • Automatic link detection across all pages
  • Real-time conversion tracking from multiple networks
  • Unified reporting in the Campaign Report
  • Cross-network attribution and optimization

Step 6: SEO + Facebook ads amplification

6.1 Connect GA4 for SEO intelligence

👍

Pro tip

If you also do SEO, connect GA4 with AnyTrack so conversions can be sent to GA4 too. This allows you to identify high-value audiences to target in Facebook ads.

Setup process:

  1. Connect GA4 integration:

    • Navigate to Tracking Pixels → GA4
    • Authenticate with Google Analytics
    • Enable Conversion API

  2. Map events to GA4:

    • OutboundClick → GA4: click
    • Lead → GA4: generate_lead
    • Purchase → GA4: purchase

6.2 Leverage SEO data for Facebook targeting

Sarah's SEO + Facebook strategy:

  1. Identify high-value content:

    • Use GA4 to find blog posts driving the most affiliate conversions
    • Analyze which organic keywords convert best

  2. Create Facebook audiences:

    • Build custom audiences from GA4 segments (high-value organic visitors)
    • Create lookalikes from SEO-generated converters
    • Target Facebook ads to similar audiences

  3. Cross-channel optimization:

    • Use SEO insights to optimize Facebook ad copy
    • Target Facebook ads based on successful organic content themes
    • Retarget organic visitors who didn't convert

Step 7: Campaign setup and testing

7.1 Facebook campaign structure

Sarah's campaign structure:

📁 Campaign: "SaaS Tools - Impact Network"
  📂 Ad Set 1: "HubSpot CRM - Business Owners 25-45"
     📄 Ad 1: "Free CRM" (Video)
     📄 Ad 2: "Scale Your Business" (Carousel)
  
  📂 Ad Set 2: "Semrush SEO - Digital Marketers"
     📄 Ad 1: "SEO Mastery" (Single Image)

📁 Campaign: "AI Marketing - ClickBank"
  📂 Ad Set 1: "AI Course - Entrepreneurs 30-50"
     📄 Ad 1: "AI Marketing Revolution" (Video)
  
  📂 Ad Set 2: "AI Tools - Content Creators"
     📄 Ad 1: "AI Content Suite" (Collection)

7.2 Testing protocol

  1. Test Impact tracking:

    • Click your Impact link from WordPress
    • Verify subId1 parameter in URL
    • Complete test trial signup if possible

  2. Test ClickBank tracking:

    • Click ClickBank link
    • Check for extclid parameter
    • Monitor conversion log

  3. Facebook verification:

Step 8: Performance monitoring and optimization

8.1 Key metrics to track

In AnyTrack Campaign Report:

  • OutboundClick Rate: Clicks on affiliate links
  • Conversion Rate: Actual sales/signups
  • ROAS: Revenue vs Ad Spend
  • Attribution: Which campaigns drive conversions

In Facebook Ads Manager:

  • Event Match Quality: Aim for Good/Great
  • Attribution: 1-day, 7-day view/click
  • Audience Insights: Build lookalikes from converters

8.2 Optimization strategies

  1. Audience building:

    • Create custom audiences from OutboundClick events
    • Build lookalikes from Purchase events (both standard and custom)
    • Exclude recent converters to reduce costs

  2. Creative testing:

    • A/B test ad creatives using conversion data
    • Focus on formats that drive outbound clicks
    • Test different value propositions for SaaS vs AI tools

  3. Budget allocation:

    • Increase spend on campaigns with positive ROAS
    • Pause ad sets with high click costs, low conversions
    • Scale successful Impact vs ClickBank offers separately

Troubleshooting common issues

Missing conversions

  • ✅ Verify postback URLs are active
  • ✅ Check AutoTag is working on affiliate links
  • ✅ Confirm tracking tag on all landing pages

Low match quality

  • ✅ Ensure only AnyTrack sends events to Facebook
  • ✅ Remove other pixel installations
  • ✅ Check for duplicate tracking systems

Attribution issues

  • ✅ Verify UTM template on all ads
  • ✅ Check campaign naming consistency
  • ✅ Monitor attribution windows

For detailed troubleshooting, see our Facebook Ads Troubleshooting Guide.

Compliance and best practices

Facebook policy compliance

  • ✅ Clear disclosures on affiliate relationships
  • ✅ Quality landing pages with real value
  • ✅ Accurate targeting (no misleading claims)
  • ✅ Regular policy reviews (Facebook updates frequently)

Performance best practices

  • ✅ Diversify offer types (SaaS trials vs one-time course sales)
  • ✅ Test different funnels (direct vs pre-sell)
  • ✅ Monitor competitor activity (Facebook Ad Library)
  • ✅ Regular reporting reviews (weekly optimization)

Advanced strategies

Cross-network attribution

  • Compare Impact vs ClickBank performance in the Campaign Report
  • Analyze customer lifetime value between SaaS subscriptions and course sales
  • Test different commission structures

Seasonal optimization

  • SaaS offers peak in January/September (business planning cycles)
  • AI/automation courses increase during economic uncertainty
  • Adjust budgets based on conversion patterns

Custom conversion optimization

  • Track trial-to-paid conversions for SaaS offers
  • Monitor course completion rates for ClickBank products
  • Optimize for different funnel stages (trial signup vs paid conversion)

Related resources

Summary

This comprehensive setup gives Sarah (and you) a complete affiliate marketing system with:

✅ Automated tracking across Impact and ClickBank
✅ Facebook Conversion API integration for better attribution
✅ Real-time conversion data for optimization
✅ Custom conversion tracking for specific business events
✅ SEO + Facebook amplification for maximum reach
✅ Scalable infrastructure for growth (hundreds of offers)
✅ Compliance framework for account safety

The key advantage of using AnyTrack is the unified tracking approach - regardless of whether conversions come from Impact SaaS trials, ClickBank course sales, or any other source, everything flows through one system to Facebook's Conversion API for optimal campaign performance.

Key features that make this scalable:

Updated 12 days ago