Social Media Platforms are the wave of the future, or more like the wave of the now! Lol! Not just for keeping up with friends and family but building a huge business of any kind unprecedented by any other marketing strategy in history! No other time was easier for your average everyday “Joe” to build a million dollar company without a huge price tag to do it.

But is it safe?

Hmmmm…

Having an online presence for your MLM business is imperative if you want to start attracting leads and prospects and building a business that actually turns a profit! And… does it without putting as much work time in as you would building offline.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube are what most network marketers are using to build their entire down lines and customer base, or at least try to…most are failing miserably, but that’s another story…

But..I’m here to tell you…that doing this is NOT  a good idea!

Yep!

See the real truth is…

YOU DON’T OWN SOCIAL MEDIA!

What that means is, at any time the owners of those networking sites can shut your biz down if you violate any of their rules or regulations. Or if someone decides they don’t like your content and flags your account.

You will get your accounts shut down without any warning or explanation. Without any real person to plead your case to. Without an opportunity to at least try and fix whatever policy you “allegedly” violated!

This is not exclusive to Facebook either…I’ve seen marketers have their YouTube account closed due to “violations” or a few haters who decided to devise a hate campaign to get them shut down. In fact, recently YouTube has been completely shutting down  you-tubers who are creating non-traditional news and content that apparently YouTube doesn’t agree with! And these marketers have massive followers!

Can you say censorship??!

Just recently my personal business coach just had her Facebook PROFILE PAGE shut down! Not her Facebook business page which happens a lot,  but her profile page!

Now that’s scary!

So basically, her profile page with 11 years of content; family photos, friends, vacation trips, value based Facebook Live training’s… All the things we use to place in photo albums or our camcorders (old school, I know! Lol!) disappeared within a space of a day.

Worst of all, she runs a multi-million dollar business and all of those contacts from her profile page would have been completely gone had she not had online assets and systems outside of social media in place. 

We’ll talk about those in a minute…

Not to mention, she’s not even in the direct sales industry, which is usually a main target because many social media platforms see MLM and Direct Sales companies as pyramid schemes or scams.

And let’s be honest… Most Network Marketers are notorious for looking like scammers because they are known for violating these rules and regulations. Unfortunately, they are taught by their companies to pitch, spam links and constantly sell directly from their social media pages.

Yes, Facebook is cracking down on people who are in violation of their TOS. That means if you are doing any marketing, including product demos on your profile page, do it at your own risk!

It’s no secret, you are at the mercy of someone else when you decide to use their platform as your business hub. Everything you upload to their platform is their property… not your’s!

Sucks right?

Especially when these sites are always encouraging you to upload everything that means something to you on their site!

Now don’t get me wrong, social media is definitely a powerful marketing strategy that I use in a very strategic way.

But… If you are relying solely on social media to building your MLM business, you are losing money, putting your business, your company and your personal content at risk.

Okay… So how do we avoid getting shutdown that these social media platforms put in front of us?

Words of wisdom: The only thing you own online is your website/pages and your email list!

This goes back to what I mentioned earlier about my business coach having her online assets in place vs just using social networks.

Social Media Platforms vs Online Asset #1- Your Branded Website

Having a hosted website is the only way you can insure you are building a business on your terms. Your website acts has your business hub. All of your content, links, offers etc. are housed here. If anything were to ever happen to your any of your social media sites, you will always have your website to fall back on.

Case in point: My Facebook business page was shutdown just last year. I had a little over 4K people following me and I woke up one morning locked out of my page and no way to communicate with my followers. No reason was given except that I violated a policy but, they wouldn’t tell me which one so I could fix it.

Because I had my own website up and running, my business didn’t suffer. I always made sure to drive traffic to my website and I was still making leads and sales without my Facebook business page.

Social Media Platforms vs Online Asset #2- Your Auto-Responder

I know MLM companies talk about making a list of a hundred or going through your personal email list. I’m not talking about that at all.  This is not about your .gmail or .aol contacts or anything like that. What I’m talking about is your Money List. That money list is created using a software system called an auto-responder. Your auto-responder creates a relationship with a list of people who have raised their hands to work with you in some shape or form. This type of list gives you the ability to nurture those relationship with your potential customers and prospects. This list gives you the ability to sell your products and get signups on a regular basis in an automated way, 24/7 while you sleep.

Nobody owns this list but you.

Where ever you go business wise, you can take your list with you.

The Money list is how 6,7 and 8 figure earners are able to build massive teams in any company they decide to join.

Social Media Platforms vs Online Asset #3-  Your Lead Capture Page

AKA, opt-in page, sales page or sales funnel. Your lead capture page is what gets people on to your email list. It’s like the “door” to your business. With this piece of amazing software, you can share your business opportunity videos, free give away, or your product promotions. Anything that you want to sell or present to your ideal customer or partner for the cost of their name and email. And you own it. And, it’s also working for you 24/7!

Social Media Platforms vs Online Asset #4-  CRM or Customer Relationship Manager

Not many people talk about this but, this is a crucial asset. Similar to your email list, this software is used to keep track of the actions your customers and your prospects do individually. You can label them and contact them directly through email. If it shows that they watched your opportunity video for example, you can label that task completed and then contact them directly to find out what they got out of the video. You’re able to make individual notes on your conversations, maybe you learned something about there personal situation or family life, you will be able to keep track of that information and then follow up appropriately.

The fortune is in the follow up, right!!? =)

I love this tool because it keeps me organized and makes following up super easy and effective. And of course, you own it. If you’re leaving your contacts in Facebook messenger or any social media sites for that matter, you’re setting yourself up to lose it all, just sayin’.

These are the  main tools you should be using to run your direct sales business on the web and keep your business safe from being hijacked by these social media platforms.

Reality bites! 

Understand that Facebook or any other of these social media sites does not care about you or your business. They don’t care how big your audience is. They don’t care if your whole entire life is on their platform.

Sad but true.

Because of this fact, here is a way to protect what you already have on Facebook…

Download all your Facebook data…immediately.

It’s not a cool feeling when your content, your coaching, your Lives, posts, photos, and memories get deleted… Besides getting you some online assets of your own, take these steps to get your sh$t!

1. Go to the top right of Facebook and click settings.
2. Click Your Facebook Information.
3. Go to Download Your Information and click View.

This way, you at least have something preserved in the event Facebook decides they don’t like you anymore.

Social Media platforms should not be the place you house you’re business, your livelihood. Click Here if you’re serious about your business and want to find out more about building your online assets.  =)

‘Til next Time..

April

P.S  If you're feeling stuck in your business even after you did everything your upline told you to do... Take a minute to Check out my 3 Step Marketing Blueprint to learn how to start marketing your business without feeling like a pushy salesman. CLICK HERE TO WATCH

"As an introvert entrepreneur I don't particularly enjoy chasing strangers online, networking events, talking about myself on social media or anything else you can think of that involves selling! But, because I learned how to market online the right way, I don't have to do those things."

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