Social media is a huge asset to managing a multi level marketing (MLM) business. It’s fast, versatile and it allows you to communicate with wide audiences from anywhere, virtually anytime. A successful MLM manager has a ‘work from anywhere’ business and using social media for MLM effectively will help you build your business and engage your network.
Using Social Media for MLM
A good MLM brand stands for quality and success alongside personal growth and they even give you the full road map. But there are do’s and don’ts which will affect how successful your MLM business will be, and they differ depending on who you are. First let’s shine a light on where social media can go very wrong for MLM. Something that puts a lot of people off from engaging with MLM businesses is posting about it on personal social media pages much too often. Try to avoid being repetitive to your social network, you could actually be blocking yourself off from a huge potential network if you put off your closest allies right from the start. By all means you will want to tell your contacts what you are up to, but keep it light, and save your sales pitch for those who are really listening.
Business is Business
Create a business page which is separate from your personal account. You can invite your contacts list to follow, and they will choose whether to take you up on that, or not. A common mistake is to rely on your personal network to become your MLM client base. That is a short term strategy and will hold up your growth. Believe in your business as a fully professional entity and treat it as such. Most platforms offer a business format. Posting about your MLM business from your personal account can accidentally put some people off. MLM does not mix with the nitty gritty of daily life – unless you are going to intentionally put that across. But any crossover needs to be a conscious part of how you are using social media for MLM. Otherwise your personal life shouldn’t punctuate your MLM social media promotion and vice versa. It dilutes your message and at worst pushes the audience away. On a technical note, it’s against the terms and conditions of most platforms to use a personal page for business, which is why business accounts were brought into play and they are easier than ever to use. Follow the prompts to learn what information you should include.
Be Authentic
Most multi level marketing brands will give you all the guiding steps to build your business. Usually a total how-to guide and a helping hand from your up-line manager. The number one mistake is to copy word for word. You need to filter the facts through your own personality and experience to create your own inspiring brand and get good sales. Do your research. Make sure you believe in your brand’s credentials. Does it speak to who you are right now? When you start out using social media for MLM you need to bear in mind to be yourself. Your audience wants to identify with you. Start by telling your audience how you got here. Why are you doing this? And be gentle. Ambition is great, but it’s hard to share in a dream that isn’t grounded in what your existing network already knows about you. So what was the switch? What made you believe in this brand? Maybe it was one product. Maybe it was one turn around moment. Take them on your journey. And keep it real. Number one focus is to be authentic. You will want to evolve with it over the course of time.
Show and Tell
Focus on building your A-Team. Those first customers will be crucial building blocks for your future success with your successful MLM business. Your first goal is to encourage your audience to value your products. Work on using social media for MLM to tell your audience all about the products you are selling. What can they do exactly? Remember you are probably trying to wean customers away from another brand. So start simply and confidently. Show them what it can do. And be real and relatable. Anything too generic won’t drag your customers away from off a supermarket shelf because it’s more convenient. Show and tell them why they should try yours instead. How can they use it and how will it fit into their lives? You want a group of people who see what you are saying and think “that’s me!” When they become a paid up product user, your discounts and subscription offers will be of meaningful value to them, so think about when to introduce those into your social story as well.
Steady Steps
Build a base. A good MLM manager will target their clients with a signature product and build a profile of complimenting lines to try. Happy customers will give you good testimonials and content. And that is what you need. Get to know your customers. Suggest complementing products from your MLM brand, not always everything your upline feeds you. Be discerning. A star product you believe in yourself for real, will filter naturally through your existing network. Use that as the steady core of your business and grow outwards from that.
Image is Everything
The aesthetics of using social media for MLM is all important online. You only have a fraction of time to hook your audience scrolling by. If the way your business looks online isn’t right in the flash of an instant, then you are not using social media for MLM effectively. Take good photos. Think carefully about framing simple shots. Your phone is good enough quality. Make sure you have good lighting and framing. You could invest in a selfie ring light and mobile phone holder which is inexpensive. The 3 most common mistakes are; a cluttered background, dirty surfaces and bad lighting. You don’t need to be an expert photographer or have lots of professional equipment, but following a few simple rules will help your images pop! Firstly, make sure your product is properly lit. Natural light is the easiest and most effective. Avoid full sun which makes everything look washed out. A common trick that influencers use is to make three or so small areas in their home that are insta-worthy, then the rest can be as lived-in as you like and no one will ever know. Make sure you never show a cluttered background. The worst offenders are kids toys, clothes, washing up and random flatmates! Think one tidy shelf, a window sill and even the floor is fine, as long as it is clean. A good, plain quilt on your bed is also fine, just watch out for what is visible in the background. Look on Instagram to see how other products are framed, the primary focus should be the product, but can it be helped by the setting and props? Don’t over complicate it, stick to your uncluttered areas. Practice setting up shots and see how they compare to the ones you see online. Remember to write it up properly. Spell out the benefits. Explain fully the what, why and how. Get descriptive and use an online thesaurus if you run out of adjectives. Try not to repeat your adjectives too much. A thesaurus can be a really handy tool when you are using social media for MLM and writing up your products.
Blog What You Know
Blogging and vlogging is an excellent way of using social media for MLM to build your own personal brand. You want the ability to take your clients with you wherever you go. Blogging is a platform that you can take with you, even if you switch MLM brands, or switch focus, you can build a following for yourself as your own brand, without bombarding your social network. You can post links and anyone interested in finding out more, will be able to find everything they need to know here on your blog. It’s also less time sensitive. A new recruit may look back in time and find a wealth of worthwhile information. Bear that in mind. Maintain a professional social media presence anywhere that your consumers might see you. A blog is a great, a simple way to start doing that. Focus your blog on what you know. How does your brand fit into the lifestyle you already have? What benefits do you love from your brand’s products? These simple things will be what is of benefit to the people you know. Don’t be shy to spell it out. Presume that your audience knows absolutely nothing about your products. Demonstrate how they can be used and how they form part of your daily routine. A blog allows you to take your time and write naturally with lots of detail. You can link to this content via social media. What’s even easier is that you can chop your blog into segments to form ready made social media posts. Think of it as the roots to your campaign. One last point to make is that people appreciate personality in a good blog, so be personal and let you shine through.
How to Videos
Make good, clear how-to videos. These make great content. These are especially good for showing your products in action. Once again lighting is key. A phone is still perfectly adequate, but make sure you have good lighting and framing. Here too a selfie ring light would be a good investment . Don’t worry about making mistakes, because you can edit them out later. Just think how you can demonstrate the products that you use from your MLM brand, set up a clear, well-lit space and off you go. Your options are Facebook, IGTV, Snapchat and Tik Tok. For a longer lasting shareable resource make a YouTube channel. And if you feel confident use facebook live streaming capabilities.
Create a Marketing Funnel
A marketing funnel is the customer’s journey from “awareness” to “purchase”. This includes post-purchase follow-ups which can increase retention and up-selling. Step one is directing traffic aka audience to your page. You can do this by creating SEO-friendly content that catches their attention. As leads progress through your marketing funnel, your outreach methods should become increasingly targeted until you close a sale. A good marketing funnel for MLM will filter out poor quality leads, allowing you to focus your attention on turning your good leads into many sales. Effective content marketing will drive high quality leads into your marketing funnel, which will give you a better return on investment (ROI). Interestingly consumers all act similarly when it comes to buying habits, regardless of product or the demographic of the buyer. The timespan, investment and complexity of consumer behaviour will vary according to the type of purchase, but the stages of the buying process remain the same, which you can utilise to create the ideal marketing funnel for MLM. The reliable stages of the buying process are: Problem / need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behaviour.
Create a Mailing List
Using social media for MLM can help you build a long term audience. Why not encourage them to sign up for your mailing list? A mailing list is a good place to put more in depth information, grouped together. This is a good place to use your branding to present your product news offers. Drive traffic from your social media pages to your email sign up page and on to your list. Most importantly, never, ever spam. Make sure you understand GDPR regulations with regards to email sign-ups, data security and how you use those email addresses and make sure you have a policy on this. Ensure sure you sign up to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are running a system which means you will be holding people’s personal data. Even a single email address is defined as personal data under GDPR regulations which came into force in 2018. Although this has actually helped marketers streamline their processes in many ways, as well as providing privacy protection for the public. There are many automated emailing platforms such as Mail Chimp that come with GDPR processes built-in. Make sure you do your research and that you have covered yourself legally.
Social Media Scheduling
Social media scheduling is an excellent time saver allowing you to plan your social media story and upload batches of content. This also means that you can assign time to using social media for MLM intuit having to plan your posting every single day, Most platforms offer an amount of analytics too, which can help you time your posts to achieve the most organic reach possible. You can also pay for increased reach, but it’s best to work organically to begin with so that you know and understand your audience and how they respond.
Consistency
Be consistent. Your audience relies on their tried and tested brands for their consistency. You need to rival that with your personal consistency. Scheduling posts is a great tool for achieving consistency when you are using social media for MLM. Your aim is to build a long term audience. Be consistent with your voice, tone and your message, put some planning into this. People need to know what you are about, why you use these products. What motivates you to use these products and how do you use them? Try to build storylines through what you are saying. Spell out the obvious. If it’s not clear then your audience will struggle to relate to you. The most engaging social media content is clear and concise. Be persistent, even if it feels like a struggle when you are not reaching too many likes. Convincing a small but dedicated audience is the best place to start. If you maintain your authenticity, that audience will grow over time.
At MLM Accountants We Know How to Help You
At MLM Accountants we can help you understand the best solutions for the success of your business. All you need to do is get in contact with us at MLM Accountants. Call us today 0203 237 2927 for help and guidance.