Sitting at my desk yesterday, I checked my tweetdeck and found a message from one of my tweeps saying that social networking is the future of direct sales. I tweeted back saying that, in fact, social networking is the now of direct sales. We had a great conversation discussing the various issues that consultants face trying to make a name for themselves in a wired world.

If you’re not familiar with social media sites like MySpace, Facebook and twitter, chances are good you didn’t understand half of that last paragraph.

That’s no excuse to stick your head in the sand! Social media is here to stay, and it’s a powerful tool to add to your direct sales arsenal. Professional marketers are reaping the rewards of online connections on a daily basis. They’ve taken the art of networking and building relationships from the offline world to the online marketplace, and cashed in on the revolution in the process.

But before you jump headlong into social networking, there are six concepts you need to understand. These caveats can turn your social networking into a lead generating machine – filling your inbox with leads and building your business in unprecedented ways.

1. Social Networks are not a PITCH fest. You can’t just join a social network and start telling everyone how great your company or product is. That’s the online equivalent of shoving your business card into the hand of everyone you meet without saying ‘hello’ first. Depending on the social networking site, you can share about yourself, your company and your products to varying degrees – but only AFTER you’ve established a relationship with your audience. Who is your audience? Anyone that’s following your page, signing up for your updates or trying to become your ‘friend’. The term is different for each service, but the idea is the same: people want to get to know who you are before they want to learn about what you have to offer.

Just like in the offline world, you need to show people you can provide value to them before you start talking about your company. Social networks essentially force you to share a bit of yourself with your audience before they’re going to respond to any offers you try to make. If you don’t, you’ll come off as pushy and people will stop following you – or worse yet, block you all together.

2. Brand YOURSELF First. It bears repeating, so I’ll say it again. YOU are the most important product your company has to offer. Successful consultants make a name for themselves even while they’re promoting their company’s products and services. It is up to YOU to promote yourself. No direct selling company is going to do that for you.

People have to know, like and trust you before they’re going to do business with you. It is your responsibility to provide the information your audience needs in order to build a lasting relationship with you.

Let your company handle the marketing and promotions for your products and services. You need to worry about making a name for yourself. Your company can’t stop you from creating your own website that is about your interests and your life. They CAN (and usually will) prevent you from using their product names, descriptions, images and trademarks. They have every right to do so. It dilutes their brand. It’s also a sign of a weak marketer to tie your marketing back to your company.

Some companies will let you use their content – but what happens if you leave that company? You have to start all over again. If instead, you promote yourself, then no matter what company you’re with, you’ve got a consistent social networking strategy that’s built around your reputation, rather than your company.

3. Don’t Do It All In One Day. Social networking sites are designed to be “sticky”. That means once you visit, they entice you with lots of content to suck up your time and get you to stick around for a while. You need to view social networking as a piece of your marketing puzzle – not the whole enchilada. Start with ONE site that appeals to you. Strictly limit your time, and be sure you’re using it for networking activities, not for mindlessly playing games or adding “apps” to enhance your page. Your time is best spent building and creating relationships with others on the site – not playing games with the computer!

Once you’ve “gotten the hang of it”, then consider other social networks, but realize that each site requires a bit of time to navigate and participate. Don’t commit to more groups than you can handle. Only YOU know your time availability and building marketing relationships takes time.

4. Social Networking Is Like Offline Networking. Just like offline networking groups, they are NOT the backbone of your direct sales business. Booking, selling and recruitng are the staples of a successful home party business, and nothing will ever replace that. Social Networking is a marketing tool that you can use to move beyond your family and friends and reach out to a global audience. The global audience can help establish yourself as an expert, but it doesn’t always help you get a show on your calendar for next week. Like all networking functions, building relationships takes time.

Social Networking should be considered as a way to enhance your traditional book, sell, recruit activities – not as a replacement for them. Just like you wouldn’t rely only on live networking events to build your business, neither should you rely completely on online social media to build your business. The Internet can speed the relationship building process along, but it still takes time.

5. Don’t Expect Miracles. You get what you give in social media. The more you interact, the more people will interact with you. The better content you provide, the more people will want to hear from you. Unless you’re already a celebrity, don’t expect that you’ll have overnight success with any social networking site. Miracles do happen, but to expect them would be social networking suicide. Often times, you can connect with other direct sellers, coaches, and trainers, and find yourself hob-knobbing with the rich and famous – people you might not otherwise have ever met – through social media. But this should not be your expectation or purpose for social networking. Connect and share with “regular Joes” like you and watch your network grow.

Twitter is a great place to start. With only 140 characters, there are no lengthy pages to read, and it’s easy to start. Plus it can work with some other social media sites as well. If you sign up, follow me and I’ll follow you!

6. Stories Sell. The best way to connect and build an online network is to share yourself – via stories and videos – and let your audience know more about you. A word of caution, though: don’t share anything you wouldn’t feel comfortable having the whole world know. This is the internet, after all, and anyone could see those pictures, that video or hear those stories. Transparency is one of the great qualities of the internet – it’s also one of the curses. It only takes a second for everyone in your social network (friends, family and business associates) to see those compromising details. Be sure you’re sharing quality information that builds your reputation.

It can be challenging for direct sellers that aren’t very tech savvy to get connected to social networks. Take your time, start slowly, and do what you can. Don’t get sucked into the time vacuum, and get distracted from your core business building activities. Great business relationships can be cultivated online, but you need to enter the fray in a controlled and meaningful way. Otherwise, you’re just spinning in circles.

After nearly 10 years in Direct Sales, Lisa Young stopped listening to her up-line and started seeking professional sales and marketing wisdom from the far corners of big business. Today Lisa offers ready-to-use insights, tips and inspiration to others in the Home Party Plan community looking to run their business like a business and achieve success. Lisa’s free monthly newsletter “PartyOn!” features articles from a business perspective designed to help MLM reps reach their booking, sales and recruiting goals. You can sign up for the newsletter at http://www.HomePartySolution.com

The power of Twitter is often less clear to direct marketers than the power of Facebook or MySpace. A lot of people initially react with “I do not get it. How does one-hundred forty characters answering ‘What are you doing now?’ be of use to my Network Marketing Business?” To Internet marketers used to 300 to 500-word articles, it sounds restrictive. To some, it’s just plain confusing.

Surely you cannot promote your goods and services, build your brand, develop powerful connections, generate interest in your opportunity, and create a community with such small amounts of content? Well, the answer is “Yes, you can!”  Twitter has, in fact, proven to be incredibly important to numerous businesses. And it’s a blast! Learn a lot more about using social media right now with our Social Media Marketing Course.

Below are 10 ways Twitter can assist your Network Marketing Company:

• 1) Important and easy way of finding unique product users and consumers.
• 2) Incredible networking tool.
• 3) Great way of learning all types of useful information.
• 4) Assist you in developing deeper relationships with your downline, your group, your customers, other businesses, and prospects.
• 5) Grow the reach of your branding, every kind of guru and their advice and suggestions.
• 7) Develop a strong influx of additional visitors to your site. Twitter is a great entry-point to your company site.
• 8 ) Gives you a channel for you to tell users who visited your sites anytime that you added new content.
• 9) Assist you in building lots of new connections and friendships.
• 10) Increase the image of your company.

In addition to all of that, Twitter can serve as great reading material, and it’s FUN!

At 7 Peaks Publishing, we can help you grow your sales force and maximize their effectiveness through Social Media Marketing!

There’s a reason why our tag line is, “Thinking Way Beyond the Book!” Our collective record with books is impressive: more than 300 best sellers for more than 1500 authors & 20 corporate clients, totaling more than 6 million in total book sales! This extraordinary record of achievement would not have been possible without our mastery of Internet and Social Media marketing and sales strategy and tactics. http://socialmediapartyrules.com/

What Is Social Media?

Social Media isn’t any one thing but are several things that allow many people to communicate via the Internet: Facebook, Twitter, chat rooms, MySpace, YouTube, Linkedin, Flickr, etc. would all be considered Social Media. Other means of electronic communication like e-mailing and texting would not be considered Social Media because they are “one on one” communication.

Why Should Social Media Be Interesting To Advertisers?

It’s a way to get direct feedback from customers and potential customers. If you own a furniture store, for example, people can comment on the store’s MySpace page about what they like and don’t like, and the storeowner or manager can, in turn, respond directly back. It’s a way to engage people and better manage an advertiser’s brand.

Is Social Media The Future Of Marketing?

Some enthusiasts say Social Media is the most important thing that’s happened to marketing in decades. The truth of the matter is, like the internet, TV, print, collateral, outdoor, POP, direct mail, Video On Demand, etc., Social Media is another arrow in the quiver of ever growing communication tools. It just so happens to be the latest thing so everyone is intrigued. Let’s look at an example. There may be 500 people in Nashville following the Nashville Zoo on Facebook – and those 500 people are important because they want to be engaged and communicate with the Zoo – but those 500 people aren’t enough to support the Zoo throughout a season. That’s why the Zoo also needs to produce TV commercials to speak to the other nearly two million people the region that are potential Zoo customers; and do print ads; and maintain a web site; and do promotions.

Is Social Media Free?

That’s a yes and no answer. Yes, it doesn’t cost anything to set up a Facebook page, a Twitter account, put something on YouTube, etc. But once those venues are established, a) customers have to know about them and, b) the venues have to be maintained. Someone of authority, knowledgeable with the company and its brand must communicate with customers. It also takes time to respond to and manage these venues. So the bottom line is a company winds up investing in SM more than it initially realized. A big thing to remember about Social Media is it is ongoing dialogue.

How Do Companies Get A ROI From Social Media?

That’s on ongoing developing process. Again, Social Media was built to be about dialogue, not about selling. And yet, in can be about selling in an indirect way. For instance, if someone needs heart surgery and has a good Social Media experience with a hospital where their questions get answered and they perceive the person at the other end of the keyboard as knowledgeable and empathetic, that heart patient may choose the hospital for surgery, and thus, a sale is made. Or, if a customer complains about a furniture store’s terrible service, and the manager of the store apologizes and invites the customer to come see him personally the next time they’re in the store and he’ll take care of them, that might impress another reader to give the furniture store a try, and thus, a sale is made. There are endless such examples. But the point is, any advertiser who uses Social Media and assumes it’s a direct sales tool that will give the advertiser a projected ROI by a projected timeframe is probably going to be very disappointed.

So Why Should Companies Do Social Media?

Some shouldn’t. It depends on the company. But very probably, most businesses that deal with the general public will adopt some form of social media in the not too distant future. To not do it is to risk giving an edge to your competitor.

Is Social Media A PR Device Or An Advertising Device?

It’s both. But some companies are already overdoing the Social Media thing. Does someone out there really care about what songs the employees of Company X are listening to on Blip FM? Or a news flash on Twitter that Company X’s president prefers soymilk over 2%? We already live in a society on information overload. So, a company needs to make sure that in its attempt to be accessible, what it is actually sharing is relevant to the brand.

What If I Take A “Wait And See” Attitude?

Given the current state of the economy, many companies will take this attitude. Especially since a direct ROI isn’t obvious. But remember two things: One, although there is a cost in the sense of an investment of time, it doesn’t cost anything to set up many SM venues. So, in this respect, it’s an inexpensive new way to keep a company name’s out there. Secondly, history proves time and time again that customers respond to innovation and, today at least, SM is an innovation. A year or two from now, it won’t be. So, if companies want to show customers that they’re “cutting edge,” the time to learn more and act is now.

Amplifier Advertising, formerly Frank Best International, Is The Nashville Advertising Agency That Clients Leave Their Big Agencies For. Located in the heart of Music City, Amplifier Advertising blasts creative ideas that generate results for local, regional, and national clients.

There has been a major increase of individual direct sales representatives over the past couple of decades. The reason for this increase is because people are looking for ways to avoid a traditional 9 to 5 job and want to control their own income. Direct sales is a way to avoid dealing with a boss or a set schedule, and a way to work from home and even love what you do!

With this increase of individual direct sales representatives on the loose, selling has become more competitive. The good news is that there has always been a huge market for direct sales agents. The convenience and quality of using the direct sales method to purchase products or services has created this market. Techniques that worked well for direct sales two decades ago still work today, but the popularity of the internet and other information delivery vehicles have given direct sales representatives new ways to accomplish their sales goals.

Mail marketing, print ads, and bulletin boards can still do wonders for your direct sales business, but there is competition out there and it is increasing. It is imparative that you stay creative in your marketing and try new ways to get yourself into the public with your products or services. Sure, you can just use the old techniques you have always used, but you may notice your sales go down, and the sales of your team go down slowly. Creativity can be what puts you above the rest in your area and creates the success you are striving for.

The internet has become the best way to market your team and recruit a solid group of direct salespeople under you. With some work and creativity, you can build a team across the world that is making you money. 20 years ago, it was rather difficult to build a team without filling your own territory with tons of competing salespeople. Now, it is easier than ever. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and all the other social networks online today can be one of your greatest assets when building a team. If you are already using these services, great! You have a jump start on the competition. If you are not already utilizing these services then start now, they are free and they will help immensely.

If you are in direct sales already, then you must remember that as the world advances and new technologies are introduced, you must embrace them and utilize what they have to offer. If you don’t use these new ways to promote yourself, your products, or your team, you are missing out because other people in direct sales ARE going to use them and leave you behind. Learn to adapt to your environment, whether it be technology or mentality. Use what you can to improve your marketing and sales generation no matter how new or old the methods are. Results are what matters and you should do whatever it takes to create more sales and more leads each and every day.

Make your social network earn money for you. Choose the right social network software to design your website, and provide the right kind of services to retain the users, helping them to invite their friends, in an attempt to build up large communities and groups. Provide them with enough opportunity to spend more and more time on your website, and slowly create that customer loyalty which is so very important in running a social networking website. The longer that the user remains on your website, they get more and more familiar with the name, and also get to know the products and the premium services that you offer. Your website starts to generate business as customer confidence builds up.

You would need to create a brand for big business coming your way. You would just need to see the kind of worldwide traffic visiting MySpace and Facebook, and spending considerable time in there. It is simply because the websites have been successful in creating a brand name for themselves, offering services that retain customers. The longer time that users hang around on your website, the more business opportunities are created for you. Your social networking software must be able to provide such facilities to the users, where the tools that you provide, help them to build their own identity amongst the groups and community that they join. Your website must be able to generate that interest in the users, making them spend more and more time in networking.

When you look at creating big business, your social network software must be able to generate interest in attracting advertisements from other well known websites. Last year, Google has paid nearly a billion US dollars to MySpace to put its advertisement on their site. Myspace also shared the revenue that was generated from the Google advertisements. That is big business. Your social networking website can earn money for you, when other business advertises on your site. But why should a running web business advertise on your website? Simple, since you have been able to create a huge database of the users. Obviously, advertising on your social networking website would prove to be advantageous.

Social networking helps to build up personal or professional set of relationships between individuals. It represents both, a collection of ties between people, and the strengthening of those ties as well. A website, which utilizes the right social network software, can provide a tool to measure of the loyalty that builds up by the continued presence of the users, and, at the same time, assists in determining how the information flows within the groups, building up and fostering the growing trust within.

There is good number of advantages in having your own social networking website. It has a great amount of value in internet marketing. It is also true that internet marketing could also be established without such a network, by getting involved in MLM with friends and relatives, purchasing email addresses and sending off flyer advertisements regarding your products, and many more. The marketing options become restricted than what it would be without a social networking website. For one, it is much easier to put together a large email address list by owning a social networking website. For such a website, you need to plan and have a marketing strategy, and with the deployment of the right social network software, much could be achieved.

In purchasing email lists, you need to remember, that the vast majority of the people in that email list is not interested in what business you have, no matter what it is. Most of your marketing email to the list would be considered as spamming, since there is no interest what-so-ever in what you have to offer. Even if you had tangible goods to offer for people to buy, there would not be any significant success in marketing your products, if you are restricted to email marketing using purchased email address listings.

So how would you benefit from having your own Private Social Network?  Here’s how:

• Build up your brand.
• Increase customer loyalty.
• Expand your customer base virally.
• Increase Traffic to your online content.
• Improve Communities.
• Up-sell Products & Services.
• Increase Market Differentiation.
• Boost Revenue.
• Reduce customer service costs.
• Retain customers.

If you are in a competitive business, where you need the attention of people, having your own social networking website is the only solution for you to build up customer loyalty and stand out more prominently in the marketplace. For such a website, you would need the right social networking software to provide you with the tools. As long as you can draw users on your website, more and more communities would develop, bringing in the customer loyalty that is so very much important for any business.

Ron McNeil promotes social network software to start your own MySpace clone and run your own community software site powered by WebScribble software located at http://www.webscribble.com/products/webnetwork/

When it comes to starting a new Direct Sales home business, there are many things you can do immediately to start promoting your business online.

Here are a few ideas that you can start today that don’t cost a lot of money.

1. Set up signature tags in your email program. Make sure every outgoing piece of email has your new web site link attached to the bottom of it.

2. If you belong to any online forum boards or networking groups, update your forum profiles to include your new business link and update your forum signature tags.

3. Find a few online web sites that have similar content to yours. Contact those site owners about doing a link exchange. It is very important to only exchange links with similar web sites.

4. Start a free business blog. There are many sites online that offer free blogs, Blogger and WordPress are two of the most popular blogging platforms online. It important for your blog to provide valuable information that you think your customers or blog visitors will want to read.

5. If you are not already networking on the popular networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn or Ning, I suggest you pick one or two of those sites and set up a profile page. You will want to include your personal and business information on your profile and then get busy posting and making some new business contacts.

6. Get your business listed in a few online business directories. You can go to any online search engine and do a keyword search to find directories that appeal to you and your needs. Some of these directories will charge a small fee to get listed and some will require a link exchange.

7. If you enjoy writing, you can try your hand at article marketing. You don’t need to be a professional writer, you just need good spelling and grammar skills. For article marketing to work, you need to write quality articles within your business niche. Once you have completed a few articles, submit them to a few article directories.

8. Contest sponsoring is another great way to get your business name and products out onto the world wide web. To find them, go to your favorite search engine and do a keyword search for contests, sweepstakes and blog contests. You don’t need to donate a big expensive prize, a lot of the web sites looking for sponsors, usually except a prize donation of less than $25.00 retail cost.

When it comes to advertising your new Direct Sales home business online, it is important to educate yourself on what works and doesn’t work. You can find numerous online web sites with Direct Sales articles and business tips to help guide you on a successful advertising path.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. Shelly Co-Owns a work at home business resource site with her business partner Sophia at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com for additional articles and home business tips.