Social Networking for Network Marketers: the New Era

Can you guess what the huge buzz is lately for network marketers? Social Networking! I will clarify why but let’s take a quick look at how it started. At first there was MySpace and Facebook, two huge social networking giants. Network Marketers have joined them in order to market their opportunities through these sites. It is a splendid way for that extra free exposure even even if the members of the networks aren’t entirely targeted.

But, the value of marketing on Myspace and Facebook is quickly dropping. This is due to the massive release of new and niche focused social networks. The fact is that this year lonely I have seen an increasing number of professional social networks geared towards network marketers launching and becoming increasingly well loved. To name a few: TalkMoola.com, Zenzuu, Friendswin, Yuwie, and Wowzza. A couple older ones are DirectMatches, AdLandPro, and even Ryze. Honestly I wouldn’t even be the least bit surprised to see a few more start-up this year – that is how much it is catching on! It is also obvious why they do become so well loved among network marketers, because there is no better advertising than targeted advertising. Exposing your business opportunity, system, or product to other network marketers is simply the most effective thing to do. Once a network marketer joins you they already have had their foot in the door and are somewhat knowledgeable about the industry and can greatly help your business. But if a random person from MySpace sees and joins your business they are not nearly as valuable to you because they most liable have no thought what they are responsibility or what network marketing is even about.

So when network marketers are invited with the skill to join a social network full of network marketers it is nearly a no-brainer. Just to clarify why I said “nearly”… It is because not all network marketers have caught on to the power of social networking yet or how to properly use social networking to explode their businesses. But the skill to further expose themselves and their business to other like-minded people is extremely valuable and profitable for most. The ancient way of network marketing is out, and I see the future holding tight to social marketing through professional social networks. Even so, many of these new business social networks are offering incentives for those who join. These range from revenue sharing, preside over affiliate commissions, and various MLM pay plans. Through this at the bottom of these new business social networks they will encounter the increased awareness and exposure that they deserve.

All professional social networks, but, are not made equal. Here are a few things you need to look out for when deciding which ones you will utilize in exposing yourself and your opportunities.

1) Somewhat Targeted or Extremely Targeted?

When looking over your social networks find out if the people caught up in the social network are the type of people who would be attracted in what you have to offer, or are like-minded to you. This means that if you are a network marketer looking to provide an opportunity to other network marketers then the people caught up in the social network should be strictly network marketers. Does the social network you are considering include members looking for a date or like? If the social network includes this or niches really unrelated to you then this weakens the potential of that network for you. But, if the social network is only network marketers or business opportunity seekers then it is an incredible source for you.

2) Are there limitations on contacting your friends in bulk?

Increasing your friends or contact list on social networks is the one major thing you must do in order to maximize your exposure and get to. This means accepting friend invitations from those within the social network and also seeking out other like-minded to add to your network of friends. The larger your list of friends the more committed you will appear to be and the more people will take heart to what you have to say. It also means more people who you can send messages to through the social network. Some social networks limit the amount of people you are able to send a message to at once. Let’s say you have 200 friends but you are limited to sending to only 30 people per message and you can only send one bulk message per day. Well this is a very negative restriction and even more so if you have a much larger network of friends. On the other hand, some social networks will let you add unlimited friends and you can send them a bulletin or message to all your friends at once anytime with ease. This is what you should be looking for because whether you have 100 friends, 1,000 or even 10,000 you can send them all a message just as easily as if you were sending it to one. This means potentially huge exposure for you. If you want you can even consider it like an instant contact list of targeted prospects! But, I do warn about sending too much unwanted messages to your friends, you should try to connect with them and send them as much feature information as you can instead and then lightly introduce what you have to offer. If you consistently send what they would consider as spam messages they will just block you or remove you from their friends’ network, so using the social network properly is vital.

3) Are the members free, paid, or both?

Another factor is the right feature of the member base. If the membership is frequently free then they are less liable to be buy ready. But, if the membership is all paid and everyone is used to paying to be a part of the social network then these are the highest feature members you can get in touch with because they will have the money to invest in working with you. Diverse is fine even if as this factor is not as vital as the first two.

4) How are the other site incentives?

This is the least vital but should still be mentioned. Other incentives could be the pay plot such as revenue sharing, affiliate commissions, or some type of matrix structure. It could also be other services provided with your cost of the membership such as training, tools, or other bonuses. Keep in mind, even if they do not offer splendid incentives but the rest of the above factors are positive I would still be excited to join.

Right now there is not a huge selection of targeted professional social networks but I am positive that the future will hold right for more and more becoming available. Personally I like to take advantage and join any social network because that is extra exposure for me, and any extra exposure is always a excellent thing. But when choosing to be most committed in select networks you may want to consider the above factors. I have made many strong relationships, learned a lot, taught a lot, and profited a lot from those relationships within social networks. You should take at least some advatange of each professional social network available, even if it is just setting up a profile to gain some extra exposure. If they are a niche social network that have like-minded inviduals akin to yourself then you should beyond doubt be more open to actively using that network. The benefits can be enormous.