Affiliate Marketing Case Study Week 5: My First $1/Day Facebook Ad Test

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Welcome back! This is affiliate marketing case study week 5, and this week’s focus inside the Wealthy Affiliate Bootcamp was running our first $1/day Facebook ad experiments to drive reach, engagement, and ultimately referrals.

This was my first time boosting a post or running any kind of paid online ads. Spoiler alert: things did not go quite as planned! But every lesson moves me forward, so I’m sharing it all right here.

Week 5 Focus: $1/Day Facebook Ads

The Week 5 goal was to set up and run three separate ad experiments to identify the early winners. The focus was low-budget learning – not performance perfection.

This was something completely new to me, as I’ve never run any kind of paid online ads before – on Facebook or anywhere else.

Official Week 5 Tasks

These were the official week 5 tasks. It doesn’t seem to be that many, however, I had a learning curve because I’ve never run ads before. So I had to take valuable time at the beginning of the week just becoming familiar with how it all works.

• Prep: Confirm FB Page + business access, payment method
• Choose three posts to boost/test
• Create WA affiliate links with tracking tags
• Prepare first-comment CTA (no link in post body)
• Build saved audience(s) in Meta
• Launch three $1/day ads with different objectives
• Monitor performance and comment quickly
• Adjust creatives and duplicate winning ad
• Stay compliant and control spend
• Submit updates to class with screenshots and next steps

What I Accomplished

• I successfully boosted my very first Facebook post ever – a huge step for someone who has never run online ads
• The post topic was about AI – which I thought was fun and timely – but it turned out to be a lightning rod for negativity
• I tried to build my first Facebook audience, but I messed up the setup

• I intended to target adults 50+
• Instead, I accidentally included ages 18+
• That probably completely changed the tone of the engagement by attracting a younger audience, but as I don’t yet know how to analyze the ad metrics, who knows!
• Negative comments rolled in fast – some of them rude, dismissive, even personal.
• The reaction was upsetting enough that I froze, and after two days I paused the ad
• Because I paused the ad so early, I didn’t move forward with: the 2nd and 3rd ad, headline/background testing, etc.
• I also fell behind on creating new conent on Smart Online Journey because I was shaken and overwhelmed.

I was trying to follow every step the right way… but when the comments went south, I questioned everything:
• “Why am I doing this?”
• “What if I can’t handle ads?”
• “Do I even belong in affiliate marketing?”

This week felt like a disaster to me – not because of the metrics, but because of how it made me doubt myself.

What I Learned

This week taught me about more than Facebook ads. It taught me about myself.

• Controversial posts can bring unintended audiences – and unfiltered reactions
• One small setup mistake (audience age targeting) can derail tone and engagement
• It’s easy to take comments personally even when they’re not
• Online strangers will always have opinions – but I control whether they derail me
• Being uncomfortable doesn’t mean I’m failing – it means I’m learning
• I don’t have to prove myself all at once – this is a marathon, not a sprint
• Asking myself tough questions is part of becoming a stronger marketer

Most importantly:

I learned that I don’t want to give up just because one test felt scary.

This is new territory. New skills. New emotional muscles. And I’m still in the arena.

What I Will Improve in Week 6

• Choose calmer, more helpful topics to promote
• Tighten audience: 50+ US/CA/UK for my target demographic
• Launch all three ads as instructed, even if the first scares me
• Be prepared for negative engagement – don’t take it personally
• Catch up on required weekly blog posts

I want to show up consistently in the bootcamp and stick with the process. This week kind of threw me though, and I had a lot of doubts about what I was doing after the debacle of the one Facebook ad I had running.

Conclusion

This week humbled me. It scared me, which may sound silly, however, this ad thing just really made me feel uncomforable. But it also reminded me that making mistakes means I’m actually doing the work – not just thinking about it.

This wasn’t the week I expected, but it was one of the most valuable yet. Running ads brought me face-to-face with the real online environment – both the good and the not-so-good.

But I’m still here. I’m still learning. And I’m ready to try again.

In case you missed earlier weeks, you can follow along with my entire Bootcamp Case Study and see what’s going on.

Is it your turn now? Thinking of starting your own site? Wealthy Affiliate’s free Starter membership gives you hosting, tools, and training to get your first site live in 24 hours. If I can do it in a week, so can you.