From Jennifer: W00t! It’s that time again. Guest column time! Today’s post is from my friend Dave Sattler, Web Marketing Strategist over at Scentsy. Now ya’ll better listen up, because Dave has some GREAT advice for you today. Have you ever wondered what your home office REALLY wants to tell you about how you’re using social media? It’s probably something like what Dave has written for you today. It’s great advice, so pay attention! 
This is how (and WHY) to use all those great web assets your company is providing you with.
What the Web Marketing Lead of your Direct Selling Company Wants to Tell You
by Dave Sattler
1. Even online it’s still just about relationships.
Don’t think that it’s different because it’s online. Some people think it’s some kind of wild, wild west or something; you still have to be personable. If you’re using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or my most recent fave, GetGlued, to connect, then actually reach out and connect. Get to know me; tell me about yourself and share. Don’t spam me or my contacts with sales pitches. Don’t think that I will recommend you or your product to my friends or network if I don’t think you’re remarkable. I’ve developed my network through trust and am not willing to betray that trust by recommending something to them unless I think it truly “Rocks the Casbah.” (The Clash)
Anyone that has ever run a small business knows that it is all about making connections and expanding your network. The internet can be an amazing tool to expand your network and meet more people in your industry. Think of the same best practices you’d use when at a leads group or a chamber “Meet & Greet” and apply those to connecting online.
2. Add Value.
Value in the form of relevant content is the biggest magnet for attracting visitors that actually convert on the web. There are 2 parts to the adding value equation:
- Create content that is valuable to the web community. Whether that value is humor, tips & tricks, vlogs about your topic, handy couponing tips, or best practices for whatever it is that you drives you.
- Don’t interrupt the conversation with shameless plugs – you add no value. For our sake and yours – making yourself an advertisement and not adding any value to the conversation is making yourself into an advertisement not unlike the ones that we all TiVo. You don’t want to train us to ignore you. For Direct Sellers of a company with a Facebook fan page: don’t post your URL on our fan page. If you think it drives traffic to your site you’re wrong. If you consider it to be “advertising” your business, then think about the message of your advertisement:
“Hi. I’d like to interrupt the conversation you’re having here and let you all know that I am such a good distributor of this product that I can think of no better way to find new recruits or sell products than by desperately posting on my company’s wall. Join my team now!”
If you think there’s an SEO advantage to spamming links across the Facebook-o-sphere through comments, go back and read #1.
3. Leverage what we publish; that’s why we publish.
Many companies publish videos on YouTube or other sites that are easily embedded on a blog or can be linked to and posted on your Facebook wall. We produce these for you so that you can share these as much as you’d like. It’s cheaper than handing out a bunch of DVDs. Comment or Like the things that we publish on our Facebook fan page, Twitter, YouTube, etc. – our intent is to help you grow your business by giving you top-quality digital assets that you can share with your contacts in a fun, casual way. Then your contacts can pull that content when they want to, and have a warm experience getting to know your product/business rather than the typical cold or push-style introduction that isn’t nearly as effective for you, and only drives people away.
Your company’s presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. is designed, in large part, to help you evangelize your business and “brand badge” yourself. We dedicate resources to putting together quality assets in these platforms and making them something that you’d like to appropriately use to connect with your network.
3. Be a brand flag bearer.
At Scentsy, we talk about the brand as being democratized. We believe that the brand perception is best carried forth by our evangelists – whether consultant or a customer. This new marketing relationship prescribes certain expectations for the company and the evangelists. In short it’s our job to produce a relevant product, amazing brand experience, and help you share the brand, and it’s your job to influence the relevancy of the product and carry the brand promise through to the end-user. Take a look at what Apple has gone through. Back in the day, Apple products, believe it or not, were less than relevant while PCs were; there was more software for PCs and the price point was more attractive to users. Enter Guy Kawasaki who quickly mobilized brand flag-bearers to respond to what was being said in the media. The brand flag-bearers – not a PR team – responded to the media. Be a part of that relationship with your brand.
Dave is a web marketing strategist and has worked with PetSmart, Intel (China), and MarketRx. Most of Dave’s work has been around helping consumer product companies identify word of mouth and interactive strategies to drive conversion and generate brand loyalty.
At Scentsy, Dave drives online marketing and branding strategies for Scentsy corporate as well as facilitating online evangelism by both consultants and consumers through the use of social media. Dave is a sought after presenter with casual, researched, and ROI driven presentations ranging from “Web Marketing Basics” to “Internet Marketing Using Google Analytics” as a University guest lecturer.
Dave earned an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management where he was selected to join the schools external consulting team specializing in consumer goods marketing.
Dave likes to play basketball, explore new gadgets and play with his awesome family. How to connect with Dave: http://twitter.com/davesattler, http://davesattler.posterous.com/, http://www.linkedin.com/in/getdave
When companies in most industries begin to use social media marketing, one of their first priorities is to develop is a group of brand evangelists. These are people who love the company, and will staunchly promote and defend it on the social web. A brand that is able to develop and mobilize its brand evangelists has a real asset, and a competitive advantage. After all, a company can’t be the ONLY source of the positive information shared. When other people also talk positively about your company, it’s more believable.