Valentine’s Day is a fabulous opportunity for your party plan or direct sales business.
I’ve listed five ideas that you can swipe to maximize your February!
Shower your customers with love
Declare February “The Month Of Love.” This month, pamper your customers and show them how much you appreciate them. Perhaps you can offer a gift with every order, free shipping, or a discount.
The gift doesn’t have to be big or expensive. For example, I recently made an online purchase and received a small heart-shaped soap as a gift. How cute is that for February? Another option is adding chocolates to every order to make your customers feel special.
Declaring February as your “Month of Love” allows you to promote your special deal all month, not just for Valentine’s Day.
I’ve created some tiles you can use to promote your Month of Love on Social Media. Please scroll down to grab them.
Shower your leaders with love
If you have a party plan or direct sales team, you can use Valentine’s Day as the inspiration for a “Share the Love” recruiting incentive.
Encourage your team to focus on promoting the business opportunity during February by sharing their love for their business. For example, leaders can offer heart-shaped jewelry, luxury gift boxes of chocolates, or other Valentine’s Day-appropriate incentives to teamies who recruit.
Bonus tip: wait until after Valentine’s Day to buy your incentive prizes when they’re on sale!
The direct sales opportunity is a gift. Please share it with as many people as possible in February.
Make Buying Easy
Make buying gifts super easy for your customers by creating gift bundles.
Gather a few of your products that make an excellent set, and add a gift that complements your bundle. Think of gift items like a bottle of wine, a tea towel, a candle, etc.
The best way to promote this is to buy some nice boxes or baskets and create a few different bundles at various prices. Use gift wrap, cellophane, and ribbons to make your gift look stunningly attractive.
The benefit of pre-purchasing and preparing your gift bundles is that you can offer last-minute gifts (as you don’t have to wait for the stock to arrive) and have something physical and pretty to promote.
Start taking them to your in-home parties a few weeks before Valentine’s Day to promote your bundles. Also, take some photographs and share your bundles on social media focusing on the men in your customers’ lives.
Depending on your products, you could even take these gifts to workplaces and offer men these gift packs for their loved ones.
Add Valentine’s to your display.
A great way to promote Valentine’s Day and spark the gift-purchasing impulse at your in-home parties or vendor events is to add some Valentine’s Day-themed items to your display.
Just as a window display is designed to entice people to enter the shop, your display attracts people to purchase products or book an event.
In the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, add some lovely heart-themed props to your display to promote gifts.
Don’t forget Self-Love.
I want to expand the meaning of Valentine’s Day to include self-love. At your events and on your social media, encourage your customers to treat themselves to something special.
Self-care is vital for our mental health, so let’s make sure that people treat themselves in February, so they feel fabulous!
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I hope these ideas sparked your creativity to make the most of Valentine’s Day. And I’m curious to hear what you’re doing in February to maximize the special occasion!
Your Facebook Group is your hangout, your clubhouse. That’s where you engage with your fans, where you’re most likely to make sales and get bookings, and where you’re likely to recruit.
Additionally, many companies have strict policies on what you can post publicly, with more relaxed rules for private groups and personal messages.
So you want a Facebook Group. If you don’t already have one, create one right now!
Then the next question is, how do you get people to join your group?
Funnel people from your business page to your group
When you post about something new and exciting, such as a special or a new product launch, you want to link to your group:
Oh wow, look at this new product – it’s so amazing! Join my group to see more information [link to your group]
The new catalog is here with exciting new products. Join my group to see more [link to your group]
You can do something similar when you do Facebook Live. For example, if you do a Live video about a brand new product, you can say at the end something like, “Join my group to get more information.” Then, pop a link to your group in the comments so people can easily click through.
Once people join your group to find the information, you want to make it super easy for them to do that. Inside your group, you pin a post with an image of the product. Include the information and how to buy it.
By pinning the post at the top of your group, people will immediately find the information they want to see.
Ask party guests to join your group
At in-home parties, make it fun to join your Facebook group. Ask people to join your group, and everybody who joins on the spot gets a bar of chocolate or some other little prize.
You can reward people with party points or lucky draw tickets in online parties when they join your group.
An entertaining way to get party guests to join your Facebook group is to make it part of a game. The What’s On Your Phone game is designed to get people to join your group, and it’s a super fun game to play.
Be loud and proud
If people don’t know your group exists, they won’t want to join it. So make sure you post on your business page about your group. You can talk about how grateful you are for your fantastic group and publicly thank them when people share your group with others.
You can also ask your group members to post about the group. Perhaps do a little giveaway for everybody who posts about your group on their page and tags a few friends. Don’t ask people to invite their friends. It isn’t polite just to invite people who aren’t expecting it.
When your group reaches a milestone, like 50 or 100 members, celebrate that.
Content is king
Content is king in your group. People will only stay if they get something out of it.
Post fun content (it doesn’t have to be business related) and educational, and helps them to connect with you. Videos are a great way to check all these boxes!
And, of course, if there are company specials and new offers, your fans will want to be the first to know about it!
Since the pandemic, the way direct sellers engage with customers has changed and evolved.
Most direct sellers around the globe have been forced to run their business online.
I was ahead of the curve in 2016. At the time, my daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia and we were in and out of hospital for two and a half years, so I learned how to go virtual.
Sophie is healthy and thriving now but what I’ve learned came in handy when Covid-19 took hold. It meant I could help my team and go entirely online.
Over the past few years, I’ve noticed that there’s no one set formula for online success. As a result, direct sellers adapt and change tips and ideas. However, a few best practices work for everybody, so let’s look at those to help you thrive online with your direct sales business.
Which Social Media Should You Use?
I recommend focusing on one or two platforms if you’re new to starting. There are two considerations when choosing which platforms to use.
Firstly, where are your customers hanging out and which social media are you most comfortable using? Secondly, most people are on Facebook, and you’re likely to find an older audience there.
On the other hand, the younger demographic and more affluent people tend to hang out on Instagram, and the digital natives like to use Tiktok and Snapchat.
Once you’re confident and happy with your one or two leading platforms, you might consider adding content to YouTube as well. YouTube is great for longer-form content, especially with an educational slant. In addition, it will help you to establish yourself as a knowledgeable and competent consultant.
Be Consistent
Consistency is key. It’s no use posting five times a day on Monday but nothing for the remainder of the week. So scheduling your posts and updates is super helpful to maintain consistency.
There are many schedulers around, and if you’re using Facebook, you can also utilise its scheduling functionality.
I use Cinchshare and sit down one afternoon a month to batch all my posts. Then, I leave room in my posting schedule for spontaneous updates. For example, when my company sends me flowers to congratulate an achievement, I’ll post about that in the gaps in my scheduled posts, so it’s relevant and new.
Be Professional
Remember that what you post publicly is a reflection on your business too.
Show Your Personality
To stand out, you want to let your personality shine.
You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be you. So bring elements of your personal life into the business.
For example, you can show how the flexibility of your business means you have lots of time for your rock painting hobby. Showing your style and personality online will make you unique and relatable.
Showcase Your Knowledge
Aim to become the go-to person for tips and information on the products you sell.
Keep in mind that it can take a while to build an audience online. Keep trying new things. Be consistent. Be persistent!
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Learn how to pull people towards you and build long-term online relationships without being pushy or spammy
The Facebook Algorithm is a piece of software that decides what to show you in your newsfeed and in which order. Everybody’s newsfeed is completely different because the algorithm takes your own behavior as well as other bits of information into account.
When you open Facebook, the algorithm looks at all the stories posted by your friends and by the pages that you follow. The algorithm then looks at things like who posted the story and how often they publish, any negative feedback on that author, what time it is now, what device you’re on, what engagement stories already have, because the more engagement they have the more likely it is that you’ll see it in your feed.
The Facebook algorithm uses all that information (and then some) to make a prediction on what you’ll like and in what order to show you that.
How do you get the algorithm to like you? There are some general recommendations:
Complete your Facebook profile.
Publish regularly.
Create content likely to elicit positive feedback from your audience (positive comments, likes, or reactions. Reactions affect post ranking slightly more than likes). But do not ask for shares or likes – this is frowned upon by the algorithm.
When you want to post a video use Facebook Live or upload videos to Facebook directly, instead of linking to your YouTube videos.
Publish content that promotes engagement and an investment of time from your audience (games and video content is great for that).
Post content that’s informative and shareable.
Not just the algorithm, but people also value Live videos. Through a Live, it’s easier to feel connected to you as you’re showing your personality and passion.
It’s one of the best things you can add to your social media strategy – and it’s free!
I have noticed that many consultants don’t know what to talk about on a Facebook Live, or they are out of ideas after a couple of videos.
So in this article, I want to help you with some ideas that you can use on your Facebook page or in your Group.
Facebook Live Ideas for your direct sales biz
1: Unboxing This is a video where you can show your passion and excitement about the product. It hops on the bandwagon of the ‘blind bag hauls’ and unboxing craze that’s still popular on YouTube.
If you’re brand new to your direct sales business, you can give your biz a boost by unboxing your kit on a Live.
If you’ve been in direct sales a bit longer, you can do an unboxing when you get a delivery with new products or when you’ve earned free delivered products.
2: New Range First Impressions
People love new products. When you get a new range for your kit, get excited, do a Live review, and share your initial reactions. Tell your audience who you think this product would be suitable for and any other information you think they’ll want to hear.
You can extend this with a follow-up Live a week later with further observations on the products and how you’re using them and finding them longer term.
3: Product Reviews
Choose one particular product and talk about your personal experience with it. Then, if you can, plan to do a weekly review at a regular time to build a consistent audience.
Perhaps you can even theme your reviews per month. For example, for one month, you could review concealers or mascaras. Other topics could be how to use throw rugs, the best cupcake recipes, etc.
You can even link a product give-away for attending (or watching the replay) of your Facebook Live. During the Live, you give them a code word to collect, and at the end of the month, everyone who collected all the code words will go into the draw for a prize.
4: Share Your Story
Talk about why you joined and what you love about your direct sales business. This is great ‘attraction marketing‘, and it also helps people get to know you better. Sharing your own story helps people to feel a stronger connection with you.
5: Behind the Scenes
People are fascinated by the inner workings of a business and love to peek behind the scenes. You can go Live while setting up for a party when you pack customer orders and when deliveries are ready to go. You could tour your messy office when unpacking deliveries, etc.
You don’t have to go Live long. But, a quick, exciting, or funny video will go a long way in building that connection with your Facebook tribe.
6: From an Event
Next time you attend a big company event, a team meeting or a training session make sure you go Live. A quick Live video before or after the event (or even during the break) is a great way to show off your direct sales business from a different angle.
7: Exciting Reveals
When there’s a new special, a host or customer special run a Live. Your enthusiasm and excitement will be contagious. Don’t forget, you can also create your incentives for party bookings or joining your team.
8: Top Tips & Product Hacks
Offering your tips on making the most of a product will be appreciated by your tribe. This is not a review but more of an educational video. Videos on how to use a product in an unexpected way (a hack) are very popular online.
9: Tell Stories
Have you ever heard the saying ‘facts tell but stories sell’? It applies to your Facebook Lives too.
The back story about how a product is made, where it’s from, or some specific ingredients is a great way to talk about your products without being salesy. You can also talk about your company, the founder or some of its history.
10: Interview a Customer or a Team Mate
If you have a customer who’s achieved great results with a product you sell, they might be happy to talk about it in an interview. This is a very powerful testimonial.
You can also focus on the business side and interview a teammate who can talk about how the business changed their life.
When you start with Lives, you might find that your audience is small. That’s okay. The replay will still be available and rank high. (Also, you can re-use suitable videos in your Facebook parties – bonus!)
If you’re consistent in showing up Live, you will build your audience over time.
Are you camera shy? Is this dilemma holding you from reaching your highest potential as a direct seller?
I know it can be scary to get started on video if you’ve never done it before. So if you’re a bit shy about being on camera, read on for tips on overcoming that fear!
Video content is vital to your online presence and social media popularity. To gain success on social media, you must create your own videos because social media algorithms highly value unique content.
But this doesn’t have to be difficult or technical.
I like to keep things simple and cheap! Sounds good, right? Keep reading for easy, no-fuss tips to level up your video content.
1. Easy Equipment for Your Videos
Use what you already have!
Don’t buy expensive cameras unless it’s your hobby! You can use your smartphone, iPad, or laptop.
If you want to use your smartphone or iPad, you probably want some way to prop it up while you’re filming to keep it stable. You can use anything that will keep it steady, like books, a mini bean bag or a paperweight. Be careful you’re not muffling the sound. Also, make sure the microphone is free to record your voice.
Alternatively, you can grab yourself a cheap tripod – eBay or Amazon are full of very affordable and easy to use options.
Use the rear camera
Don’t use the front camera on your smartphone or tablet. Use the back camera instead. The rear camera is much higher quality, so use that to record your videos instead of the ‘selfie’ camera at the front.
Also, try to record in landscape mode (horizontally). This will give you good footage on larger devices, not just phone screens. You may have to record different video versions to suit different platforms or use an app to resize it. Many editing apps can resize for various socials for you to shoot once and then edit it for other social media platforms.
2. Lighting
The difference between having the window light up my face (left) or having the window behind me (right).
Lighting is crucial in videos, and fortunately, it’s pretty easy to get right if you pay a little attention.
Natural Light
Natural light is best, so sitting near a window with natural light that lights up your face is perfect.
Face the window and don’t have it behind you to get the best lighting. Then, check the image to see the difference between facing the window and having the window behind you.
Using Lamps
If you can only film at night or your house always looks shaded, you’ll need to get some lamps to light you up. Use any lamp to light your face from the front. You can use desk lamps or other lamps you already own without buying anything new. Try to get a warm shade as fluorescent lights are very harsh and don’t favour you.
Ring lights are cheap and popular and made for videos, so that’s a great option if you record regular videos. In addition, affordable ring lights are easy to find online.
Tip for people with glasses
Angle your lamps or ring light to shine down on you, and you don’t get distracting reflections in your glasses. It doesn’t have to be straight above you. Just slightly above and angled will do the trick. Practice a few times until you get the angle right.
3. Video Backgrounds
Try to have an uncluttered background that isn’t distracting the viewers. For example, consider using a banner with your company logo. You can also place a few products strategically on shelves behind you.
If you want to use your shelves to highlight a few products, keep the shelves mostly empty so they stand out, and it doesn’t look cluttered and distracting. Also, make sure you stand out from the background: don’t wear a white sweater if you’re in front of a white wall.
4. Make-up
I recommend that, at the very least, you use bright lipstick. Also, if you’re using make-up, apply it a little heavier than you usually wear – the camera loves it!
Bright colors attract attention and look great on camera. However, I have specific lipsticks that are too bright for daily wear, so I wear those colors when recording videos.
5. Editing
Do as little editing as possible. You probably need to trim the start and end so that you don’t have a weird “is this on?” moment, but instead, start with your ‘hook’ to get people interested.
On your phone, you can edit with the free app Inshot or Quick (both free on iPhone & Android). If you like using your computer, iMovie or Kapwing are excellent options. If you want to use the green screen effect without using an actual green screen, check out Unscreen, it’s also free. And if you’re a Canva user, they have great video templates with some editing features.
6. Timing
Keep it short. Videos of 2 to 3 minutes perform well on social media. Besides, if you’re only just getting started with recording videos for your direct sales business, it’s easier for you to do short videos too.
Be aware that some social media platforms require videos to be shorter. If you want to post it on multiple platforms, aim for 30 seconds to the 1-minute duration.
7. Uploading
Always upload natively. That means uploading the video to each social media platform instead of linking to a video on another platform.
On Instagram, you must always upload your video. You can’t link it, but on Facebook or Twitter, you could link to a YouTube video. Try to avoid that and instead upload your video to every platform, so it’s ‘native’. Social media algorithms prefer native video better, so more people will see your video.
8. Captions
Many people watch videos without sound. If they can understand your video without unmuting, they’re more likely to watch to the end! The good news is that YouTube auto-captions videos for you.
Most editing apps also allow you to add captions to the screen without much effort.
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Imagine this: You’re chilling out in your pajamas, chatting on Facebook, and making money! Do you want to make this a reality? Then read on because this article is about direct selling parties on Facebook. I want to help you with some tips, hints, and games to help you increase fun, sales, and bookings.
How to Train Your Dragon Facebook
If you want great results from your Facebook parties, you have to “train” Facebook. Or, more accurately, the Facebook algorithm.
An algorithm is a formula or set of steps to achieve something or solve a problem. In Facebook, the algorithm decides what to show you in your newsfeed and in which order. Everybody’s newsfeed is different because the algorithm takes your own behavior as well as other bits of information into account.
So when you open Facebook, the algorithm looks at all the stories posted by your friends and by the pages that you follow. The algorithm then looks at things like who posted the story and how often they publish, any negative feedback on that author, what time it is now, what device you’re on, what engagement stories already have (the more engagement they have the more likely it is that you’ll see it in your feed), if a friend has already commented, and much more.
The Facebook algorithm uses all that information to make some predictions, such as how likely you are to click on a story, watch a video, share a story, etc. This helps the algorithm decide what to show you in your newsfeed and in what order.
How do you get the algorithm to like you? There are some general recommendations:
Complete your Facebook profile.
Publish regularly.
Create content likely to elicit positive feedback from your audience (positive comments, likes, or reactions. Reactions affect post ranking slightly more than likes). But do not ask for shares or likes – this is frowned upon by the algorithm.
When you want to post a video use Facebook Live or upload videos to Facebook directly instead of linking to YouTube videos.
Publish content that promotes engagement and an investment of time from your audience (video content is great for that).
Post content that’s informative and shareable.
You need to teach the algorithm that the people in your event want to see your posts. Next, you need to ensure that you’re getting good engagement (which is measured by comments, likes or reactions).
When posts have good engagement, the algorithm will value them higher and show your posts to your guests in their daily newsfeed. And this means they don’t just see your posts when they choose to go into your event.
Having your posts showing up in their newsfeed serves as a great reminder of your party and increases the likelihood that they’ll come back to the event.
So, in addition to the general recommendations to “make the algorithm happy” (see the Facebook Algorithm Quick Explainer above), you need to publish posts that create engagement from your Facebook party guests.
But, how do you do that?
Videos Rule the Ranking
One way to get engagement is to create videos for your parties.
You can do a quick Facebook Live to get the party started or demonstrate products.
With Facebook Live, you get a chance to show the authentic you – it’s unedited and “raw”. And people respond to that.
Another reason why Facebook Live works so well is that you can connect with your audience. You can talk to them while you’re doing the Live when they comment so they feel valued and “heard”. The audience can also ask questions and you can immediately answer them, so a Q&A session works well for Facebook Live.
Of course, once a Live is over, the video will stay accessible inside your event so people who’ve missed it can view it later—never done a Live? Check out this guide with screenshots.
If you’re not comfortable doing Lives, at least pre-record a few videos that you can stream for your Facebook parties. Videos rank well, and people enjoy them, but Live videos rank even better (and you don’t need any special software!).
People Love to Play
I’ve also collected a few games and posts designed for a bit of fun and engagement. I’ll talk about each of them below, and I’ve included a bundle of downloadable tiles that are ready to go at your parties (scroll down to download).
Tell Us Your Unicorn Name There’s something about these types of posts that draw people in. I always get great engagement when I post something like this.
I use these posts for seasonal holidays (Elf Names at Christmas or Easter Bunny Name around Easter), and generic ones such as Unicorn Names, Tropical Names, Pirate Names, Hippie Names, etc at other times of the year.
Guessing Game Contests For these types of games, I always have a small prize for the winner (the first person to guess correctly), which increases engagement and guests enjoy it.
You could play “How well do you know your host?” Guests have to guess which of four of the options in the image the host likes best.
When you post the image, explain the game and mention the host by name (they may otherwise confuse “host” with you, the party plan consultant). And, of course, tell the guests what the prize is! Then let the guessing begin.
To make this game work for you, create your tiles with pictures of your company’s products. For example, you could have the guests guess which of the products in the image, the host likes best. Another version is to have the guests think about which 4 to 6 products are your company’s best sellers.
These games work well because there’s a bit of competition, and with the product version, the guests will already be thinking about what they’d like to buy!
(Don’t forget to show the host the images in advance so she can let you know what her favorites are!)
Party Points This game really appeals to the competitive people out there.
In the pre-party post, I include the image, explain how it works, and let the guests know I have prizes for the people with the most points (you can choose to give prizes to the top 3 or reward the number 1).
With this game, you encourage engagement, sales, and bookings!
To make this game work better, provide a leaderboard update a few times throughout your Facebook party.
Book a Party, Pick a Prize This is a great way to entice people to book their own Facebook or in-home party with you.
People love mystery prizes! You can choose to give hints about each number. You could tell them the type of prize, give them an approximate value, or keep it a complete mystery.
You’ll find a few versions of this booking tile in the bundle, including a Halloween and a Christmas version.
Key Takeaways
Facebook uses an algorithm to decide what to serve in a person’s newsfeed
You need ‘train’ the algorithm that your Facebook party guests want to see your posts
Use video to increase engagement and increase the time people spend on your posts
Facebook Live ranks incredibly well in the algorithm
You can make your parties more fun and increase engagement with games
I’ve got a whole bundle of tiles for you that you can use at your next Facebook party. They are ready to go, all you need to do is create a fun post for your Facebook party event!
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Your Facebook business page is like your shop front and Yellow Pages ad all in one.
It’s where people get to know you and your business. It’s how they stay in touch. It’s where they can re-order a product or arrange for an event, and it’s where they ask questions, it’s a clubhouse. It’s all that and so much more.
You cannot go without a Facebook business page as a direct seller or party plan consultant.
Seriously, if you don’t have a business page yet – go and make one right now before coming back… I’ll wait here for you.
6 Tips to Boost Your Business Page
1. Post Every Day
Aim to post on your page once a day. Of course, every day is best, but the minimum you want to work with is 5 times a week. This doesn’t mean you have to remember to post every day – this is where the magic of scheduling comes in! I set time aside at the start of each month to schedule most of my posts for the month. Then, when I get busy, my page will still get updated with quality content. I use the scheduling function of Facebook itself rather than a 3rd party tool, and I personally schedule 4-5 posts a week. That leaves me some room for spontaneous posts or Lives.
2. Quality Over Quantity
I know I just said it’s important to post often – but it’s even more important to post quality content! Facebook values unique content and will give content that’s not unique (such as company images that every consultant uses) a lower rating. Also, it would be a bit boring….why would your customers follow you on Facebook if you don’t provide them with interesting, unique and quality content?
A great rule of thumb is the 9-1-1 guide. I came across the 9-1-1 code in a book by Karen Clarke – ‘Social Media For Direct Selling Representatives’. This guide says that you post 9 entertaining or informative posts in a posting cycle, 1 promotional post, and 1 personal post.
Once you’ve started doing this, you’ll notice what your followers engage with the most, and you can post more of that type of content.
3. Don’t Ignore People
When people reach out to you with a comment or question, reply to them as quickly as you can. You would never ignore someone face-to-face, so don’t do it on social media. It’s not just unprofessional, Facebook will downgrade your rating if you’re slow to respond! This means that your posts will not feature as high in people’s newsfeeds, and they might forget about you. If you’re not an avid ‘Facebooker’, set a reminder on your phone or computer to check your page regularly and respond to messages or comments.
4. Maximize Your Reach
You can maximize your reach by understanding how Facebook prioritizes content.
The top priority is Facebook Live – step out of your comfort zone and start recording Live videos.
Native videos are uploaded to Facebook, not linked from somewhere else. If you’re not comfortable doing Lives, you can record a video and upload that to your business page.
Hook your audience – Keep in mind that most people watch videos without sound and decide whether they’ll keep watching in the first 3 seconds, captions will really help!
Page reach – non-unique images and YouTube links are given the lowest priority. If you post too many non-unique images or YouTube links, your page’s overall reach will decline.
5. Competitions
Only Facebook business pages can run competitions. Personal profiles can’t. (Another reason you really want a business page!)
Competitions are a great way to boost engagement on your page, but there are rules. Government rules on competitions apply depending on where you live, and Facebook also has limitations. You can check all the Facebook rules here, but a big one is that you’re not allowed to ask for ‘shares’ or ‘tag your friend’ as part of the entry conditions.
So what can you ask for? Here are a few ideas:
6. Link A VIP Group
If you don’t already have a VIP Group…you’ll want one! First, you have to set up a Facebook group and build it into a customer community. Then, you can entice people to join the group by telling them they’ll be the first to hear about sales and new offers.
My business page is the shop front that I use to attract people into my ‘store’ while the group is a community of loyal customers that can lead to new team members, more bookings, and higher sales.
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Learn how to best use social media to maximise your direct sales business
Video is the number one type of content on social media and continues to grow in popularity. Here are some statistics:
72% of consumers prefer learning about a product or service through a video
Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it through video
Social media posts that include a video have 48% more views than those that don’t
By 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic (15 times higher than in 2017!)
62% of people said they were more interested in a product after seeing it in a Facebook Story
However, so many direct sellers miss out on this tremendous marketing opportunity because they’re uncomfortable in front of the camera. And that’s such a shame! So, if you want to change that and add a video to your social media marketing toolbox, this article is for you.
How to become more comfortable in front of a camera
Practice
Many of us now do regular Zoom or Teams meetings for our jobs. If that’s you, take that opportunity to practice. Turn on your camera in online meetings to get used to it. Ask questions and speak up! You might as well get paid to practice speaking in front of cameras, right?
Self-talk
The next tip is about self-talk. Try to reframe your worries about creating videos into positives. For example, if you’re worried about stumbling over your words, know that this makes you human and relatable to your audience.
If you listen to conversations around you or watch other people’s videos, you’ll notice we all stumble over words or restart sentences all the time. It’s human and normal, so don’t make it into something huge that stops you from creating videos.
Another worry lots of direct sellers have about creating videos is what their friends or family might think of the videos. First, your friends and family are probably not your ideal customers or hosts, so the videos aren’t really for them. Secondly, your friends or family might surprise you with how supportive they can be – give them a chance. But if they truly worry you, start doing videos in places where they don’t hang out: your private Facebook Groups, online parties, TikTok, etc.
A great way to change your self-talk is to embrace the word ‘yet‘. If you find yourself thinking, “I’m so uncomfortable in front of a camera,” or “I don’t know what to talk about,” or “I waffle and get off-track,” or “I don’t like the way I sound,”, use the word ‘yet’ to change it up:
I’m scared in front of a camera
I’m not comfortable yet in front of a camera
I don’t know what to talk about
I don’t know what to talk about yet
I waffle too much
I don’t have a structure yet
I don’t like the way I sound
I don’t like the way I sound yet
This is a little psychological trick to get your brain to accept that this is not a fixed thing that’s set in stone but that it’s changing and changing for the better. It’s telling your brain that there is a future in which you are comfortable in front of a camera, in which you don’t waffle, in which you do know what to talk about and in which you do like the way you sound! I know that using the word ‘yet’ seems like such a little thing, but there’s great power in adopting this practice!
The other psychological trick is to adopt a compassionate phrase every time you beat yourself up over a perceived mistake. Let’s say I stumbled over my words in Facebook Live, and I felt awkward. Afterward, I might be hard on myself – which isn’t helpful and only makes me feel bad. The way to combat this habit is to say to yourself, “Even though I stumbled over my words, I still love and accept myself“. It’ll feel a little strange at first, but just trust me and keep saying it until you feel better about the ‘mistake’.
I know it sounds a little woo-woo, but monitoring your self-talk and being kinder to yourself makes a measurable difference. Besides, if you’ve been hard on yourself for years and you are still afraid to get in front of a camera, being mean to yourself doesn’t seem to work too well. Isn’t it time to try something new?
Use an outline
I don’t recommend using a script, it’ll make you sound lifeless, and if you go off-script, you’re likely to panic or waffle.
Instead, use a super simple outline with bullet points. Put that on your screen or paper and refer to that when you need to. Here’s how to structure a quick and simple video:
Hook: a fun fact, bold statement, or question. You only have 3 seconds to draw people in, so start with something that grabs interest.
Problem: talk about the problem your customers face and your product solves. Such as messy handbags (your product is a handbag organizer) or dry skin (moisturizer), or not enough time (planner).
Solution & Tips: show the product that solves the problem and give a usage tip or two. For example: use this pocket for your emergency cash, dab the moisturizer doesn’t rub, or the planner has a special page for shopping lists, but you can also use that for your water intake.
CTA: end your video with a ‘call to action’. The call to action is what you want the viewer to do. Do you want them to engage and comment? Or do you want them to message you to order? Have a clear call to action, so the viewer knows what to do. Many people miss out on this step in their videos, which is a missed opportunity.
Embrace your mistakes
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Your videos are never going to be perfect. And that’s a good thing! You want to be human, you want to be you, and you want to be relatable. Learn to embrace your mistakes and be kind to yourself (“Even though I made this mistake, I still love and accept myself“).
Use the 5-Second Rule.
Motivational speaker Mel Robbins teaches a psychological trick called the 5-Second Rule. When you want to do something, like creating a video, you must start to physically move within 5 seconds. Otherwise, your brain will find reasons to stop you.
So when you’re thinking, “I really should create a video about this new product“, you count down from 5, and when you reach 1, you physically get up and start working on the outline. Doing this will stop you from overthinking and procrastinating and start working instead.
If you’re a procrastinator, this might work for you.
Keep it rolling
Once you’re set-up, you hit that record button and start with your hook. If you need to restart, don’t stop the recording! Just keep it rolling. You can trim your video later, but you don’t want to stop your action now that you’ve started.
Keep your good bloopers, don’t throw them away. After a while, you’ll see that they’re funny, and you can release your blooper reel. I can guarantee you that you’ll see engagement on that blooper video soar because people can relate to that so much!
Find your format
Live videos are generally the ‘gold standard’ in terms of the algorithm and engagement from the audience. Doing a Live shows your fans that you give them your time right then and there. It’s a great thing to add to your marketing mix. However, you don’t have to do it that way if it doesn’t work for you!
I recommend you try doing a pre-recorded video, Lives, and any other format on social media. But, if after a while you realize that you don’t like Lives, don’t do them. Find the format you like and stick with that. There are many options for adding videos to your social: IGTV, Instagram Reels, Tiktok, YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Stories, etc.
Start by not showing your face.
One option to make things a little easier if you’re shy is to start your video journey without showing your face. Instead, show a product and do a voice-over. Or perhaps put a product on a whiteboard (put the whiteboard on the table or floor) and draw and write about the product around it, a bit like a mindmap.
Another option is to record yourself flicking through a section of the catalog, perhaps with a voice-over commentary.
You can probably think of more short little videos you can do to add video content without showing your face!
No voice, no problem!
If you don’t like speaking on camera for whatever reason, you can make videos without ever speaking. In fact, you can just make that your thing!
The whiteboard idea from the previous section will work beautifully. Flicking through the catalog will also work fine. You could add text and arrows afterward. You can also use cards or sticky notes to add ‘captions’ to your videos.
Put some music (not copyrighted!) behind the video, and you’ll have a great bit of video content without ever speaking on camera.
I hope these tips will help you get started on social media videos because it’s a tremendous opportunity for direct sellers and party plan consultants, and I don’t want you to miss out on it!
Takeaways
Use your work’s online meetings to practice being on camera
Be kind to yourself, and stop tearing yourself down
Use an outline, not a script
Embrace your mistakes. You’re human
Get yourself started with the ‘5-second rule.’
Keep it rolling once you start filming
Find your format, and don’t worry about what others say you ‘should’ do
Create videos without featuring your face or your voice if that’s what’s stopping you
Want to train your brain for success?
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Instagram is a great social platform you might want to add to your roster of social media that you use in your direct sales business. Instagram tends to attract a younger audience and generally a more affluent audience than Facebook.
Here are some things to consider when marketing your direct sales business on Instagram.
Avatar An avatar is fancy marketing-speak for your ideal customer. You’ll want to know who your ideal customers are, how old they are, what their interests are and on which social media platform you’re more likely to find them. For example, if your avatar is a 65 year old retired woman who likes to knit and enjoys jokes, you’ll be posting very different things than if your avatar is a 19 year old man with an interest in martial arts. You can also imagine that the older knitter hangs out on Facebook while the young Karate-kid is more likely to be found on Instagram.
Feed Instagram is an intensely visual platform and you only have a moment to grab someone’s attention before they scroll past. You need to think about your style, how you want your images and your feed to look.
Your personal branding is an important factor to consider on Instagram. Think about some of the accounts you might be following: can you recognize their style instantly? How do they grab your attention when you’re scrolling?
To start defining your personal brand, think about five things that you love personally. For example are you a regular beach goer and is that part of your personality? Are you outdoorsy or do you love indoor decorating? Are you into cute animals or flowers? Is your style minimal and elegant or boho-chic? What colors inspire you and fit with your style?
Here are some different feeds to start your brainstorm:
Three completely different styles that will appeal to different people!
You want to be visually appealing so people will want to follow you. You also need to be consistent in your style so you people instantly recognize images from your feed.
Content Although you are running your account to promote your direct sales biz, you don’t want to be a ‘product dumper’ and just post picture after pretty picture of products and seek sales. Attraction marketing is more than just selling a product or business opportunity. You can learn more about attraction marketing here.
Make sure your content is varied, interesting, entertaining and informative. (Easy, right?) To help you with some ideas check this article, it’s mostly aimed at Facebook but there are plenty of ideas for Instagram too.
Images Taking your own photos in the style you want is a great way to ensure you have an original and visually appealing feed. Read this article on how to take great photos with your smartphone. You can also add some stock photos, sites like Unsplash and Pixabay offer free photos to use legally. And if you’re using Canva to create your images, you already know they have a wealth of graphics and photos to use for free!
Don’t steal photos from other accounts or other sites, respecting copyright is important and you don’t want to get fined for unlawfully using someone else’s images.
Bio The bio is a space for you to write a snapshot about you and your business. There is limited space so it needs to be carefully planned. Here are the general best practices for Instagram bios:
Add keywords and descriptive words into your profile name. You can do something like “Name: Independent Company X Consultant” (following your company’s social media rules)
Have a one sentence summary that explains what sets you apart. Something like “Empowering women with awesome make-up” or “Helping people to be their best self with supplements and training”
Use line breaks and emojis to make your bio easy and fun to read
Include ‘call-to-action’ to send your followers somewhere to learn even more about you. For example “Click the link below to learn more” if you link to a general page about you with further info on your parties or joining your biz, or “Click below to start shopping” if you link to your shopping page.
The photo in your bio helps people to connect to you, which is super important in social media. I have profile photo tips in this article because so many people waste an opportunity there.
You are only allowed to add 1 link to your bio, so you want to think carefully about where you want people to go: to your Facebook customer group? To your ordering site? To your sign-up link? There are services like Linktree that help you to create a little landing page with multiple links, which is highly recommended.
Call to Action As stated above, you want to have a strong call to action in your bio but also in every post or video! Think about what you want people to do after they’ve read your post or watched your video. Do you want them to comment and engage? Do you want them to click the link in your bio and shop? Make sure you ask people for an action every time you post something.
Scheduling It’s much easier to plan a consistent feed with a scheduling tool. Some even allow you to see ahead of time what your feed (your nine-grid) will look like so you can make sure you achieve the look and style that is your personal brand. Here are a couple of apps you want to check out:
Interaction Even if you’ve scheduled your content ahead of time, make sure you make time every day to pop into your Insta. Remember that you want to be social on social media and that you’re in a relationship business. Responding to comments and liking comments will also help ensure that Instagram sees you as a genuine account, not just a bot.
Hashtags You want to use appropriate hashtags so people who follow certain hashtags will also see your posts (and hopefully start to follow you). There are a few things to keep in mind with hashtags. The first thing is that you want to mix it up. Don’t use the exact same tags all the time as the algorithm might see you as a bot.
You also want to create a mix of niche, little bit popular and very popular hashtags. If you only use very popular hashtags like #bossbabe or #mompreneur your posts will just disappear in the masses of other posts with this hashtag.
I’m not saying don’t use them at all, just add a few other hashtags as well. A tool like Inflact will tell you if a hashtag is rare, frequently used or average. It’ll also give you a few new ideas of hashtags to use.
You’re allowed up to 30 hashtags so you have plenty of space to use a good variety to reach a wide audience.
Instagram Stories Stories allow you to share content that is less curated because it doesn’t appear on your image feed and only lasts for 24 hours unless you save it as a highlight.
Instagram stories can be very engaging and creative and generally get more engagement than feed posts. Look at Instagram stories you enjoy and see if you can start adding a few stories to your account. If your story is relevant for more than 24 hours, make sure you save it as a highlight!
Instagram TV (IGTV) Don’t you love IGTV, I get lost there sometimes and suddenly find an hour gone just hopping from clip to clip. If you already create some videos for Facebook or YouTube, see if you can reformat them for IGTV and upload them to your Insta too. Having an IGTV channel on your account helps with visibility and you’re more likely to get engagement on your account.
Instagram lets you really express your creativity and personal style, which helps you to stand out as a direct seller.
Let me know below what you do with Instagram that I haven’t mentioned here.
I know it feels good to focus on the likes that your Facebook posts get, but engagement is far more important.
Engagement includes the comments, the reactions, shares, clicks as well as the likes.
Facebook wants you to focus on connection, education and entertainment and will prioritize posts that way.
The algorithm is designed to customize to each individual, meaning your newsfeed is curated to be so unique for you that’s almost like a fingerprint.
The more people engage with your posts, the better because that’s training the algorithm that they want to see your content and encourages Facebook to show your posts to more people’s newsfeeds.
So, the all important question is ‘How do you encourage engagement with your posts?’
How to encourage engagement with your Facebook posts
1. Live Video This is the ultimate way to boost engagement because you can interact in real-time. The Facebook algorithm loves Live videos and gives great priority to them in people’s newsfeeds. I have some ideas for your Lives here.
2. Engagement Posts These types of posts encourage interaction by asking a question. Often it asks people to choose between 2 options (‘this or that’) or an opinion on something thought-provoking. The posts are not salesy, the purpose it to remind your customers that you exist and to entertain a little.
Be social and positive
Make sure you respond to any comments and try to keep the conversation going. Responding makes people feel good and seen and it shows the algorithm that the post is popular.
I’ve always run my business with the philosophy that people might not remember what you said but they’ll remember how you made them feel. So keep interacting in a positive way with your audience.
Keep in mind that people might not take any action with your business until the 10th time they see you, so the more engagement and interaction you get, the better. Eventually they’ll take action and order, book or join!
Download our bundle of done-for-you engagement posts to get you started. If you want to create your own, here are some ideas:
which one . . . . (create a choice of most hated chores or favorite holiday destinations)
this or that . . . (create a choice of two, such as coffee or tea or heels or sneakers)
would you rather . . . (create a choice or three equally bad choices for some fun)
what’s your recommendation . . . (ask for recommendations on products, or something completely unrelated)
what’s your favorite . . . (favorite product or range, or something unrelated like favorite chocolate indulgence)
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