Does FB convert well?

I know that conversions depend on a lot of factors, such as the product/service and initial sales page, but I'm wondering how well FB converts, given that people tend not to go there in search of things.

Facebook is the same as going for a coffee with friends, or a night at the pub. You might not be going there to buy. But there is highly targeted offers there, and you are buying without thinking about it. Consider the discussions that you see going on with your friends, about how they bought "blah blah" or went to "blah blah"

If those "blah blahs" have ads, they will get clicks and conversions.

Ya it does converts well if you use Ads on Facebook.
If you spam with Facebook, no it wont.
Spamming works well with dating offers which pays pay per sign up.
If you use content locking no use , People just close the shit when they see the survey.
But there are some people still who fills up the survey to see the contents but not much.

Entirely depends on your twist that you apply. If you have done it correctly, you will be banking seriously.
Try searching for Viral stuff and post there.

If you're promoting something that related to teens, you will make a very nice income.

Well yes. I make upto 3k$-5k$ a month with a few clicks. And I get better EPC than what one can get normally via search enginer traffic and other networks. Choose what network to sign up wisely. Promoting offers with credit card submit or something related to any products won't help you because most of the users are not in a mood to buy something. If you target something like giftcards and coupons which pay around 1$-3$ per lead, then it will work pretty well.

Promote Dating/Cams offer which pay per lead ! they will surely convert.
or try promoting adult-cpa offers .

What I have noticed is, until and unless your users or fans are mostly from adult traffic source, then dating offers might work, else it won't. It converts like shit for me atleast.

What about creating FB fan groups/clubs, and then promoting those groups/clubs with FB ads? Is this how a lot of you promote your products? Or do you simply advertise on FB's display network and call it a day?

Face book is full of youth so better to concentrate on free offers or something like that you will get good results.
thanks

Facebook has always converted well for me. However, it takes time, patience, and money to really start playing ball - just like with adwords.
You have keep on track with your conversion rates, image colors, ad titles..etc, and have a few dozen going at once on rotation. Then you will also have a better conversion rate if you segregate your ads...such as make certain ads for woman (such as white, purple, pink..etc) and having the titles directed more towards emotion. Then with men you would want bold (black, orange, yellow..etc (!!never red!!)) - along with more direct and less "fluffy" titles as to what you can instantly do for them and what they instantly get out of it or by clicking on your ad.

I actually prefer directing the ads towards my facebook page and grabbing friends or "Likes". That way I can do "sponsored" posts at a MUCH cheaper cost and higher rate of conversion.

It really depends.

If you are sending lots of untargetted traffic such as viral apps traffic you will have a low conversion rate.

Meanwhile if you are smart enough to target your traffic with different methods using fb graph search, you can get even 0.30 epc for a cpa offer.

Good luck buddy!