Note from Jen: In this article I discuss ways to use Pinterest as a direct seller. If you don’t know what Pinterest is, you may want to do a little pre-reading. Start here.

Pinterest is making big waves in the social media world. A quiet little startup that is suddenly one of the top 10 social networks in the world. And it’s growing quickly. The site is especially popular with females and people interested in arts and crafts between the ages of 25 and 44. And retailers are finding that it’s driving big traffic. (Source) I actually identified Pinterest as one of the top 6 media trends for 2012 for direct sales.

So what does this mean for you, the direct seller? Should you run out and set up your own Pinterest account immediately?

The answer is, maybe.

How Does All This Sharing on Pinterest Work?

First, let’s take a look at how Pinterest actually works. It’s not so face-driven as Facebook. Even though a lot of sharing of content is going on, it’s not typically shared because of my relationship with someone else. Rather, I share something just because I like it; it reflects my personality. And while we often see things shared by our friends on Pinterest by default, if you’re looking for something specific like recipes or decorating ideas, it’s easy to switch to what everyone on the site is sharing.

This of course means that you have an opportunity to share your content beyond your circle. But you have to do it in the right way if you want to have success on Pinterest.

Getting Started

When you first set up your Pinterest account, you have a handful of boards by default. You can begin loading content onto these, or create your own boards. I personally have created my own boards, with things like Fabulous (for clothing), Fabulous Shoes, Recipes, Causes I Love, Feed Your Head, etc.

I do not recommend that the first boards you set up have anything to do with your business, but rather focus on your passions. This will help you to get into the spirit of the tool, rather than just look at it for marketing (and the true purpose of any social network is the social aspect. Use them to help people get to know you as a person first.) So build boards using content you already love. If you love to cook, share recipes. If you love fashion, share outfits. If you love fitness or decorating, create boards for that. The point is, approach the tool as a user first, and get used to how others use it.

Direct selling companies have an opportunity here to craft a personality for their brand. By choosing content that helps to define the brand (not just the products) you can give a more human face to your company. It might be words of inspiration, tools to help grow a business (content from The DSEF could be a good place to start), it might be food related, it might be causes your company supports. Whatever you choose, remember that you have the opportunity to create a personality for your brand, based on the passions of the organization beyond just your product line.

The point is that both individual consultants and companies can use Pinterest successfully.

Moving into Business

Once you’ve used Pinterest for a few weeks, you’ll have a better idea of the types of content that people share. You will probably have figured out that content that is an outright sales pitch is probably not going to do as well as content that fits into the context of other people’s passions. So then you can start thinking about how to package content in ways that will appeal to the average Pinterest user.

So let’s say you sell home decor products. You may want to create a “Decorating” board. On this board you can place photos of products you sell (probably in lifestyle shots that show them in the context of a decorated room). Make sure they link to your website, where people can purchase the products. Categorize your board as “Home Decor” and it will be available to Pinterest users that search this category.

Also be sure to include descriptive keywords in the comments you include with your individual pins, so people searching for specific items (like “Picture Frames”) will be able to find your item if it applies. So for example you might include the comment “I love the black picture frames in this room. They really stand out against the yellow paint. I’ll keep this in mind when I decorate my living room.”  Then people who are searching for yellow rooms, black frames, and living rooms will be able to find your pin.

You can do the same thing with topics like fitness, arts and crafts or scrapbooking, cooking, etc. Create lifestyle boards related to your content and share both your own content as well as other content that’s applicable. Creative Memories does this through creating boards like “Paper Crafts” and even cute ones like “Scrappin’ Snacks.” Private Quarters does this through creating boards like “Beautiful Spaces” and “Comfort Food.” Note that both brands are making sure to include content that is frequently shared on Pinterest, and is of interest to the user base.

Does Pinterest Work for My Product Line?

This is an important question to ask yourself. Pinterest works best when your product line is highly visual, and of interest to the main user group on Pinterest (females between the ages of 25 and 44.) Cookware, recipes, crafts, decorating, fitness, books, and other items that fall into the main categories that Pinterest offers are probably going to do best. If you sell energy or insurance, Pinterest may not be your best social tool of choice. You can see a list of all the main Pinterest categories on the right.

Pinterest, Your Website, and SEO

I have personally noticed that Pinterest is generating incoming traffic to my blog. The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) benefits of Pinterest are certainly something to think about. Every time someone repins your item on Pinterest, it becomes an incoming link to your website. This is one of the reasons it’s important to make sure that your website pages are easily “Pin-able.”

It’s very important if you’re pinning to your own content to make sure it links to a place where people can buy the item. This is usually your personal website provided by your company. Each of your product pages should have a “Pin it” button that makes it easy to share that product on Pinterest.

You need to make sure that the picture of the product can be captured by Pinterest as well. If you house your pictures in a Flash movie, for example, Pinterest may be unable to post your photo. There are ways around this (upload the picture individually, then edit the picture by providing  a link to the page) but that’s difficult, and the average person won’t pin your content that way.

I recently saw a cute home decor item posted by a direct selling company that I wanted to pin. I went to the company’s website, but I was forced to go through a process of connecting with a consultant before I could pin the item, and then could only pin to that individual consultant’s website. While on the surface you may think that’s great, it’s actually a big hassle for the end consumer that could prevent your content from being shared. While you may want to make it mandatory for the final purchase to go through a consultant, people should be able to pin without that hassle if you want maximum exposure for your product line.

Final Thoughts

This article has only scratched the surface of Pinterest, and focused on products. I have also seen consultants using Pinterest for things like team support (sharing links to training and support tools), etc. You can also share videos and music on Pinterest, which means that you could put your opportunity videos and other items on Pinterest. The trick will be getting other people to want to share them, which could be harder on a tool that primarily focuses on the passions of others. I’ll be exploring more on this, and would love to hear your thoughts as well.

Are you using Pinterest? Is your company? Would love to hear your thoughts on Pinterest in the comments below.

The last few weeks I’ve taken a blogging hiatus. It wasn’t entirely intentional. My work schedule has been such that keeping up has been interesting to say the least. There have been fascinating new business consulting clients, speaking engagements, travel, new platforms from vendors to explore… In short, I just haven’t made the time for blogging.

This time last year I had been blogging daily for 2 years. It was a good exercise in helping myself stay current and in touch with all of you. And the blog has been a good tool for opening conversations about my other services as well. It has been and continues to be a great marketing tool (keep that in mind, folks. A blog is not something that works for selling directly, but it’s AWESOME to position yourself so people are interested in your products and services.)

But what I found is that people were getting overloaded. They weren’t reading everything I was writing. I began to question whether writing every day was worth the time it took.

And I’ve come to the conclusion that writing daily isn’t necessary for me anymore. Instead, I write when I have something to say.

The challenging part of this is that, without the habit of setting aside the time to write, I now have to remember to make time when there is something to write about. There is certainly much coming down the pike. Things like using Pinterest effectively, the Facebook Timeline being rolled out to everyone, the benefits of bulk texting services, and what you really need from a service as a direct seller. Plenty of topics to explore.

So I continue to seek the balance that provides the information that you need, allows us to stay in touch, but also doesn’t become too much information so that the blog becomes background noise that is no longer relevant. I suppose in some ways this is the evolution of a blog, and what works for us at one point may not be what works for always.

So staying flexible, nimble, aware…these are the things I’m striving for as I enter 2012 with this blog.

And I wonder…what would you like to see from this blog? What are the things you find the most benefit from? What questions can I answer for you? Would appreciate you sharing your thoughts in the comments below.

Do you pin?

I’m talking about Pinterest, a new social sharing site that users describe as “addicting.” Essentially, users find things around the web that they love, and then “pin” them to boards on their profile. What’s neat about this as opposed to other bookmarking sites is that the boards are all visual. When you enter a URL, you select a picture from the site to pin to your board. People spend hours pinning their own content, and then finding content on other people’s boards to “re-pin” to their own boards.

Now let’s think about this from a direct selling perspective for a minute:

• Many product lines in our industry are visual. In fact, one of the reasons people choose the party plan sales method is because the product needs to be shown to be fully appreciated.
• The target market that many of us are trying to reach is the one most engaged right now with Pinterest, and this will only grow as time goes on and the site becomes completely public.

Now this is not to say that you should recreate your catalog and try to craft a sales pitch on Pinterest. Rather, it’s an extension of your existing content marketing strategy…providing content people can use right now without spending a dime. But make sure you’re focused on the visuals that go with your content if you’re going to be using Pinterest, because that’s what helps your content spread here. For example:

• If you sell jewelry or clothing, create “looks” boards. Pair your jewelry and other accessories with outfits to give people ideas on how to put together a look.
• If you sell cookware or food, create recipe boards. Post delectable looking recipe photos, together with links to the recipe and the cookware you need to prepare the dish.
• If you sell skin care, create boards that have healthy living or skin care tips. Include articles about caring for your skin, products you love for skin care, etc.
• If you sell makeup, create boards of makeup application tips. Pin content that shows women how to apply makeup, products that work well together, the essentials for every makeup bag, etc.
• If you sell scrapbooking or card making products, create boards of your projects, along with pins of the materials you used to make the projects.
• If you sell vitamins, nutriceuticals, or other health products, create healthy living boards. Have a board for exercise tips, one dedicated to vitamins needed for healthy living, and what they do for the body, etc.
• No matter what you sell, you can use Pinterest for remote personal shopping appointments. If you have a customer with specific needs, create a board just for him or her with items you sell that would meet their needs, along with links to other tips and content. Invite them to check out the board on Pinterest, and let them know you made it just for them.

Are you beginning to see the possibilities here? The more time people spend on Pinterest, the more likely it is they will be exposed to your brand messages. And if you’re interesting enough, people might repin a specific item, board, or all your boards to their own profile, creating viral visibility for your content.

While the site is still invitation-only, some companies in our industry are already jumping in, like Creative Memories. And this is just the beginning. I predict that in the next year, Pinterest is going to become a big deal in our industry. Take some time now to jump in and get acquainted. Request an invitation, and just start playing.

Do you use Pinterest? How? Do you think it holds potential for direct selling? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

And if you’re on Pinterest, feel free to Follow Me. So far I’ve got boards for Recipes, Causes I Love, Fun Stuff, and, of course, Fabulous Shoes.

I recently purchased Purex Complete Crystals fabric softener. (All of you that sell this type of product, cover your ears and hum quietly to yourself. There is a point here.) This type of fabric softener is added to the washer, rather than the dryer sheets I’ve always used. What caused me to buy it? I met them at a blogger mom conference and they gave me a sample. I went home and tried it (not right away…it was when my regular brand ran out.) And I liked it. A lot. So a few months after receiving the sample, I made a purchase. And now I’m a regular customer, and this is what I buy.

But how on earth can the company equate their attendance at a social media conference to me becoming a regular customer?

They can’t. Because I purchased at my local supermarket.

When we talk about traditional ROI, a transaction has to happen. Money has to be spent. We just don’t always know what caused that transaction.

But what Purex did that was smart was that they participated anyway. Sure, I may not be the person they were totally hoping to reach. I’m sure the ideal was that an influential mom blogger would try the product and blog about it. And maybe they did. I wasn’t really paying attention. That might cause more people to buy the product.

I’ve recently had a few companies express their doubts about social media to me. “I feel like it’s valuable, but my board wants to see numbers!” It’s hard to justify the expense of a social media program if you’re not tying it into dollars.

But that’s the wrong way to approach it. Think about traditional PR. Think about your customer service department. Do these generate a lot of ROI? They’re important, though, aren’t they? Because social media is one of your public faces to the world. You are shaping opinion that may ultimately lead to a transaction at a later date. It’s about increasing positive sentiment about your brand. And it’s about being there to make things right when things go wrong. It’s the ultimate communication tool, connecting you to the end consumer in a way that direct selling companies have traditionally found to be extremely challenging.

Sure, there are things you can measure, if you set your website up right (something we have a challenge with in this industry), including:

• Entrance paths tracked through to conversion. Using Google Analytics, answer these questions: Where do people come from online? What do they click when they get to your website? Does that visitor make a transaction or complete a conversion on your website? This is the simplest way to measure ROI.
• Campaign conversion. The way direct selling companies set up their online ordering systems sometimes makes it hard for us to track entrance paths through to conversion, because our replicated websites are housed on a separate system. In this case, setting up individual (hidden) pages on your website for specific online marketing campaigns can help you get some of the data you need. Especially if those pages have strong calls to action that lead to some type of conversion (such as signing up for your newsletter or signing up immediately for the opportunity through the corporate website.) You can track the analytics on those individual landing pages to help measure your ROI.
• Asking them. At each customer touchpoint, ask customers where they heard about you. Present them with a list, or let them fill it in themselves. It’s not quite as precise, but it gives you data you wouldn’t get using Google Analytics. For example, if I meet you at a blog conference or see some of your tweets on Twitter, I might decide to attend a party in my local area. You won’t know that unless you ask.

We love to look at numbers like number of fans on Facebook, because numbers moving in a positive direction must mean you’re doing something right, right? But number of fans is NOT ROI. And so we need to define the conversions we want to see, and then set up tracking methods that allow us to analyze those conversions.

But we also need to realize that there will be some things you won’t be able to measure. Things like the fact that your consultants are happy that you’re online and talking to them, which gives them one more reason to stick around. Like the fact that your customers appreciate the support you give them online, which means they don’t have to sit on hold waiting for customer service on the phone, which means they’ll probably order again. (And that also saves some time for your customer service department to support other customers, adding to the efficiency of your customer support team.) Like the fact that you’re providing your sales force with content they can share with their own customer base, which helps them ensure that those folks are more likely to place an order, come to a party, or join the team.

Is your company finding a positive ROI on its social media efforts? How do you know? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

Yesterday I saw this simple video shared on Facebook from direct selling company Stella & Dot.

Can’t see this? Click here.

I love how simple, short, and clean it is. Stella & Dot has really nailed what ALL direct selling companies need to be able to do to communicate with today’s audience (and need to have someone ON STAFF to do…this is important.)

Here are important elements in this marketing video:

• It’s timely.
• It looks like it was shot in a take or two with a flip cam. This particular type of video does not need high production to have high impact.
• A few closeups taken after the main presentation add visual interest to the overall piece, and were added in during the editing phase.
• It was edited to be SHORT. The entire video is under a minute and a half.
• It provides simple 1-line takeaways. (“Red is a huge color this season,” “You’ll also want to consider adding some texture to your wardrobe this season.”) I can take that and use it right now, with or without Stella & Dot products.
• The video editor (this is who you need on staff, but it doesn’t need to be their full time job) added some very basic wraparound text, titles, etc. This gives the video a polished feel.
• The music feels like a fashion show. It’s upbeat and fun, perfect for the product line.

Don’t misunderstand me…there are times when high production value is necessary for your video. Things like your new consultant training video need a professional feel to set you apart. It’s one of the things I love about my associate Michael Vossler. His production company makes direct selling company training videos look professional and contemporary, and make you proud to be associated with your company.

But we don’t need EVERYTHING to look that way. Too often, we think everything has to be of such high quality that we miss the opportunity to deliver powerful messages in a way that nothing else can. Today’s generation EXPECTS video, and it can be used for marketing and training for your company. But if everything is an expensive production, there’s no way you can produce a steady stream of them.

How is your company approaching video? Are you able to produce simple marketing and training pieces in house? Or are you making it too hard? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments.

Social media marketing can be so overwhelming. As a direct seller, you may be looking at social media as ONE. MORE. THING. to add to your already overcrowded to-do list. Or maybe the policies of your company limit what you can do with social media, and you’re confused. Do you really need a Facebook Page? A Google+ account? A LinkedIn account? A Twitter account?…in order to be successful?

No you don’t.

You don’t have to do everything to experience success with social media in your direct sales or network marketing business. In fact, you can market quite effectively using just your Facebook Profile. (Remember, a profile is a personal account on Facebook. This is different from a PAGE, which is a business presence.) And the benefit of using just a Profile is that you only have one account to keep track of, and everyone you connect with is in the same place.

But there are some things to keep in mind if you decide to just use a Profile.

1. You can’t ask people to spend money through your Profile. No “Join My Team” and “Buy My Stuff” posts are allowed here, in order to comply with Facebook terms of service. Instead, you can talk about your business as it relates to you. So focus on posts such as: “I had such a great time at Sue’s Tastefully Simply party last night” or “I really enjoyed my USANA team meeting tonight…I always come home so energized!” or “Check out this gorgeous scrapbook page I made with my Creative Memories software of our latest conference…so fun!” These posts are a subtle way to let your friends know about your business, without beating them over the head with it.
2. Once someone expresses a need that your product or opportunity can meet, send a private message. If you’ve built a relationship with the person through your Profile, they’ll welcome your message, and that may lead to new business.
3. You CAN provide value that your target market is looking for. So provide links to articles you find on the Internet, and share content that your company shares on the company’s social media presences. By providing content related to what you have to offer, you attract the person who needs what it is you sell.
4. Don’t include your company name in your Facebook Profile name. A, it’s not allowed by Facebook terms of service; and B, it says to people “I’m trying to sell you!” before they even get to know you. Set up your Profile as it is intended…use your photo as the main Profile image, and use your real, full name as the Profile name. This is how people will find you if they search for you on Facebook.

Are you limited when you only use a Profile? Sure you can’t do everything you can do with a Page. But so many people spend so much time on their Pages for such small results, that sometimes I ask myself if they are worth it for everyone. If all you’re going to do on a business Page is hurl ads at people, you won’t get great results. Building relationships through a Profile will sometimes bring you better results.

Do you use just a Profile? How do you market there? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

The Lego® brand is alive and well in my house.

With 2 boys who love to create endlessly with Lego® blocks, I sometimes think that Legos® multiply like rabbits. The running joke in my house is, when looking into a dark corner or sofa crevice, you call out, “You’ll never guess what I found!” to which there’s always a resounding answer, “Legos®!”

Lego® has a magazine for boys my sons’ ages that anyone can sign up for, for free. About a week before it’s due to arrive, my boys start running to the mailbox when they get home, looking for the next month’s issue. When it finally arrives, they spend days combing over the pages, reading the comics, dreaming about the new sets, and enjoying the creations of their peers.

In short, it’s content marketing at its most brilliant.

You see, Lego® understands its target market perfectly. It’s not the mom or dad who make the decision to purchase a particular Lego set, typically. It’s the child who has been avidly reading the pages of the free magazine, and playing the Lego® games on its website. While other brands like American Girl® charge $25 or more for a subscription, Lego® guarantees that I’ll sign my boys up for their magazine…it’s free.

How can they afford to do it? Because it’s their catalog. American Girl® sends a catalog, filled with products and prices. My daughter looks through it, but it’s typically more of the same, and not very exciting. Lego® sends something its target market reads again and again, and looks forward to. What a brilliant way to use content marketing.

And it doesn’t cost them more than it would cost to send a catalog! So while the American Girl® catalogs get tossed each month, we have stacks and stacks of Lego® magazines that my boys read over and over. And each time they do, they’re exposed to a brand message that they carry with them in the toy aisle or when asked what they want for a gift. It’s brilliant.

And it’s something we as an industry can do too. Think about it…we all have catalogs. But how excited are your consumers to get them? How excited are they to visit your website? Do they return over and over just to enjoy the pages? Probably not.

But what if you re-imagined it?

• What if, instead of a collection of cookware and prices, you instead produced a cookbook, which highlighted products among the recipes? You could also provide an online community where cooks could share their own recipes, and get cooking advice. A home cook would return each week when planning her weekly menu.
• What if, as a jewelry company, you produced a fashion magazine? Your target market would flip through the pages when planning what she wants to wear for that special night out, or for work. Add to that daily features on the latest trends on your blog, and people interested in fashion would be constantly checking you out, to find out what they need to add to their wardrobe next.
• What if, as a home decorating company, you produced a home decorating magazine? Your market would review it when thinking about her rooms, and might even leave it on the coffee table for others to browse. Your blog could include home decorating, do it yourself type projects, before and after photos, etc. You could even create a community for consumers online where they could share photos of projects they did, and ask questions and advice of one another.
• What if, as a health and wellness company, you produced a magazine and website community devoted to healthy living, with healthy recipes, exercises to try, and more, right alongside your products. Your online site could also provide this content, healthy lifestyle quizzes,  along with a chance to ask questions of trainers, registered nurses, and more.

Sure, it requires writers. But if your target market comes to your catalog or website for pleasure, because it solves a problem or just is a source of joy for them, wouldn’t that result in higher profits? Instead of just getting brand exposure when they need something, they get a brand message every time they come for content. They may find things they didn’t know they needed.

And that’s the beauty of content marketing. On your blog or your social networks, think about how you can use this idea. You can provide content that gets people excited, and that solves problems for them. Not sure how? Peruse the magazine section of your local bookstore. Find a magazine related to what you have to offer. How do they position their articles? That’s what you want to do with your content marketing. Ask yourself: What will your audience get excited about?

How do you create and share content your target market gets excited about? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

I have to be honest with you…I haven’t given YouTube a lot of thought for individual direct sellers. Why? Well, to be honest with you, I’ve seen a lot of bad video produced by direct sellers. (Not to say it’s all bad, but there’s certainly a lot of bad out there.) I also don’t think that direct sellers who become video producers are getting a lot of ROI for their investment. I’ve been of the opinion that direct sellers should leave the video production to their companies, and focus on other social avenues to build business.

And I still believe a lot of this. However I attended a session at BlogWorld last week that made me approach this a little differently. (Yay, professional development!) There are a couple of reasons for this:

• Video is very powerful, and the videos your company is producing could have a broader reach, which will help with search engine rankings. Google now offers “blended search results.” If you’ve done a Google search recently, you’ll notice that you not only get website results on the first page. You also get videos and images. And those videos come straight from YouTube (a Google-owned property.) If you optimize your YouTube presence, you have a better chance of getting on the first page of Google.
• YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. People who are visual learners often go to YouTube and search on topics for a visual demonstration of what they want to learn.

And this all offers opportunities for us.

So how can you, as a direct seller, use YouTube to build your business, without getting stuck in the time suck of video production? Here are some recommendations:

1. Set up a YouTube channel where you share videos that your company produces. Name your channel with your full name and what you have to offer (as long as that complies with your company policies related to social media.)
2. Create playlists for the various types of content your company produces. So one playlist might be for events (convention, etc.), one might be for instructional videos (how to carve a turkey, etc.), and one might be for products. Take a look at the playlists on your company’s channel, and set up similar ones. To add any video to a playlist, just click the “playlist” link under the video, and choose the playlist you want to add it to.
3. Create playlists for other great content that shows how great your business is. For example, you might want to create playlists that include the Direct Selling Education Foundation’s ethics videos. (Their channel can be found at http://youtube.com/TheDSEF)
4. Be sure to include a link to your personal website on your YouTube channel in the Website and About Me sections. That way folks can find you!
5. Search out and subscribe to other YouTube channels related to what you have to offer, and engage so they subscribe back. By default, people are emailed weekly by YouTube with the latest videos from the channels they’ve subscribed to. It also helps you connect with new prospects for your business.

So you see, you can use YouTube without ever having to invest time in producing your own videos.

And what does it do for you? According to Julie Perry, who gave the YouTube presentation at BlogWorld, there are 2 BILLION video views on YouTube around the world every day. Wouldn’t it be nice if some of them were yours? What a great way to build exposure for your business!

To see the entire presentation that Julie Perry shared at BlogWorld, click here: http://budurl.com/YouTubeTactics (Really good stuff…you’ll be glad you clicked!)

Do you use YouTube to promote your business? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.

Oh, and I promised a giveaway this week! I have two books to give away from BlogWorld…a copy of Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents (signed by the author!), and a copy of Gary Vaynerchuk’s The Thank You Economy. Want to win? Leave a comment telling my why you’d like a copy. I’ll pick two winners…one for each book. And if you want an extra chance to win, share this post on Facebook and/or Twitter, and let me know here that you did. I’ll choose 2 winners at random on Friday.

And if you don’t win, click on one of the affiliate links above to buy your copy. You’ll be glad you did.

Good luck!

Many direct selling companies have online presences today. And a large majority of them are doing some really great things with them. They’re putting out great content that is easily sharable, from videos to articles to tips, and lots more. To have an effective online presence, really all you need to do is keep track of what your company is posting, and share what makes sense. (Well, you also need to be a friendly human being. )

So it really makes me shake my head when consultants, who do have an online presence, miss out on opportunities. For example, last night Thirty-One Gifts held an online fashion show. Cutting edge stuff. Customers and people hosting parties could go online and watch the president of the company describe special bundles that could be purchased at a discount that night only, as models demonstrated the products. It was a great opportunity to create some buzz around the company, and gave consultants something to talk about with their customers.

Yet some consultants missed out on the opportunity. Even if they didn’t have a party going, they could still have shared it with their customers. But some didn’t. And this is a classic example of why it’s so important to pay attention to what your company is providing to you.

So how do you stay on top of everything? Here are some tips:

• Check the company Facebook Page daily. Set a reminder in your calendar if you need to. If you see something you know would benefit your customers and other online contacts, share it immediately through your own Facebook Page.
• Encourage your customers to become fans of the company Page. It’s a great way for them to get a little reminder about all the great things that come from your company without every single thing coming from you. (And if you miss a day of checking the company Facebook Page, there’s still a chance your customers will see the information.)
• Read your consultant newsletter. If something big is coming, chances are your company will not only tell you about it, but also give you tips on how to take advantage of it. Make sure you take time to keep on top of this information. (And by the way, this is one of the advantages to working with a direct sales company, as opposed to running an independent business. You get marketing tips and resources from the pros!)
• Subscribe to the company blog. Have every post delivered to your inbox. Then, all that great content will come to you, and you don’t have to remember to go to the company blog every day. And when you read great articles that will benefit your contacts, share them through your social presences!

Your company works hard to give you great resources you can share through your social presences. Be sure to take advantage of them! You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. By using the resources available on your company’s social pages you can then use time otherwise spent on creating your own resources to get out there and build your face to face business. And that’s what it’s all about!

Now I’ve heard some consultants complain about having too many places to check. But I have a question for you: Do you want to make money or don’t you? Some consultants in your company can manage to check the company’s online resources. If you make a plan for it, you can manage it. Simply create a routine when you log on that allows you to check each of the company’s presences daily.

How do you take advantage of company online resources? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments below!

I help a lot of companies in our industry launch and manage their social media strategy. And along the way, we’ve learned a few things. One of the most important things is this…when you launch a social media presence, you need to hook people immediately with something they can easily share, and tell them how to share it.

I love how the Direct Selling Education Foundation is launching their social media presence this week. If you haven’t already seen it, one of the first things they put out is this video: (Can’t see it? Click here: http://youtu.be/2_ZE8KBAkjM)

It’s a fantastic video, and one that a lot of you shared with your own networks. Why? Because it’s useful, compelling, and says what you need to say. That is a powerful way to launch a presence. By providing something of value. You’ll come back for more because it’s already helped you.

Companies should consider launching their social presences with tools consultants can use right away to promote their own businesses. Consultants should consider launching with something their target market can share (style guide, beauty tip sheet, decorating guide…you get the idea.) It’s something that your target market can use and share. It’s about gaining viral momentum right out of the gate, and giving people a reason to come back.

There will be a new video highlighted each day this week on the Direct Selling Education Foundation Facebook Page. (Have you liked it yet?) Here’s today’s: (Can’t see it? Click here: http://youtu.be/qHI4JbU28sE)

How will you provide sharable value through your online presence today? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments.