Network Marketing is an awesome industry that has the power to change lives. Although I certainly believe that to be true, at the same time, we see massive failure. Partly because people give up too soon, and there is really not much you can do for quitters. But, mostly because the industry as a whole is still teaching some very useless marketing strategies.
I always say, some of the "Old School" marketing is still viable in today's market. However, with the advent of our modern technology, chasing after friends and family to join your network marketing business just doesn't make much sense. The fact is, most friends and family don't qualify as targeted prospects for our business simply because they have little or no desire to build their own business. What does that mean? It means that you will have to twist some arms (in my family, I had to literately detach some arms), and you can't build long-term residual income by force. You need a volunteer army. People that actually want to sacrifice and work the business until it succeeds.
That's where network marketing success via social media comes into play. The unfortunate reality is that good people are leaving this industry frustrated and embarrassed simply because while they are chasing and being rejected by friends and family, tens of millions of eager home business seekers that are roaming around social media forums are slipping through their fingers.
The fortunate thing is that we can tap into an abundant source of fresh, eager leads, via social media. As leaders we should learn, master and teach others the amazing resources available to us online. As leaders, we can and should DRAMATICALLY increase retention and help create network marketing success for our teams by teaching effective lead generation tactics. Allow me to share some ideas for using social media as a lead generation strategy.
Network Marketing Success through effective prospecting online
I enjoy socializing online. Obviously, many people do also. What I enjoy the most is seeing how people gravitate together in social media sites. You can find people of all backgrounds, all interest, all different types of activities people enjoy, and you can find them easily.
What that tells us is that we can easily build a Facebook account that is specific to any market we want to attract. And, just so that I'm not being misunderstood, you can do the same with Twitter, or LinkedIn, or any other social media site. The key is that we can "Laser focus" our friends, or followers, or whatever you want to call them. That is obviously the first step, socializing with the right people. But then what?
Contact, Comment, and Connect
I have to say this up front here, I ABSOLUTELY HATE people that push their business on my face every opportunity they can. Don't you? I'm sure you know the people I'm talking about. The second they become your friends they are hitting you with their websites. They are immediately posting links on your page that is trying to sell you something. That is very bad social media manners. You can instantly see people that have no clue on how to market online doing this.
Whether we are marketing online or offline, people join or buy from you for three basic reasons, they know, like and trust you. It's extremely hard to get anywhere in sales unless these three are in place. So, if you are serious about achieving network marketing success through social media, understand that you need to contact, comment and connect. When used properly, this is the equivalent of know, like and trust. Let me end this post by going over these three in some detail so you fully understand the power of approaching social media correctly.
Contact: Contact deals with you doing some research so that you know that the person you are approaching fits into your target market. I highly recommend that you read my blog post on identifying your specific target market.
Comment: Here you want to pace yourself and set some goals to spend time combing through your contacts to find something that you can comment on that they posted. This could be a picture, a status, a tweet, or anything that fits in well for a comment. But be sincere. Actively look for something that you really enjoy, that you really admire. Insincerity can ruin a relationship before it even starts.
Connect: For the most part, when you comment or like someone's post, they usually acknowledge the comment or like. This opens a dialog with that person. Now you can start building a relationship. And you do that by asking questions. Ask what they do. Ask what their goals are. And again, most people reciprocate by asking what you do and what your goals are. As you develop this relationship, you will have ample opportunity to mention your business.
Network marketing success online through social media is not very different from what you would do offline, build a relationship. The key is staying away from being perceived as a pushy car salesman. You cannot build long term Network Marketing Success being a pushy salesman. People MUST first get to know, like, and trust you. So start the process today. Set yourself apart from those that are doing it wrong. Take the time to Contact, Comment, and Connect and you will find that social media marketing can become your goldmine.
