Social Media can be a great tool for those in the direct sales industry. Places like Facebook and Twitter can help you get information out to a large group of people quickly. Things like blogs are great places to go to look for tips and information on how to grow your business. For Every Home uses Facebook and a Blog to communicate with our consultants and also customers or fans of our company. While these are great tools, there are many pitfalls in using social media. While here at For Every Home we do not claim to never make these mistakes, there are some things you should avoid if you are using Social Media to promote your business.
One DO is to create a separate Facebook or Twitter account that you use only for your business. That way all of your friends or followers realize that they will receive product updates, product tips and opportunities from you without feeling like they are being spammed. Also if you have a separate account you will be keeping personal topics away from your business that could cause you to lose clients such as political topics and religious topics. (Disclaimer: We fully support everyone having their own personal views and beliefs and in no way want to alter these, we just think that they are best left out of business dealings.)
Another DO is to create personal relationships with those you interact with online. Facebook can be very impersonal and you want your customers to still feel like they are important to you. After all, direct sales is all about having that personal relationship with your customer.
A DON'T is to complain about products, compensation plan or other consultants on the corporate Facebook page. The corporate Facebook page has Consultants AND Customers who can view posts. While it may seem like a no brainer, it is important not to post these kinds of things because it could be your customers seeing what you are saying! And if a customer sees you putting your company down, do you think they are still going to want to buy products from you? (Disclaimer #2 – We value your opinions and love to hear what we can do to make this a better company! There are just better places to voice your opinion then on Facebook. We provide a discussion board that only consultants can see and you can also email or call the company directly.)
While there are many more do's and don'ts' on social media etiquette, there are people who do a much better job than me explaining them. One of my favorite blogs that I follow is all about direct sales and social media. It is www.jensfongpeaks.com. There are lots of other blogs out there about the direct sales industry that can help you with ideas and ways to get your business up and running and to keep the momentum. I encourage you to go out and find some of these and find what will help you in your business.
Danielle Lloyd
