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NMBJ 11 January 2010 Executive's Corner 524 views One Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

By Katrina Turner • Waiora Global

Social media is the way of the future, and while many participants are “jumping the shark” by trying to sell via social media (I’ll get into that later), the naysayers still have some catching up to do. For the objectors, the debate over its value continues, but in the meantime, forward-thinking communicators are practicing trial and error techniques for what works and what doesn’t, and here’s what we know so far.

Social media isn’t a big scary monster; it’s simply people having conversations online, with people of similar interests, through various platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. If you’re a member of “Team Objector,” here’s why you should care. These exchanges are rapidly causing a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. The new model is a dialogue. Why? Because people don’t care what you have to say about your company, they want to know what everyone else is saying, and this word-of-mouth business model is what we’ve been doing in the network marketing industry for years – because it works.

Think of it this way, social media should be used in conjunction with what you already do. To ignore it would be like not walking across the room to pick up money on a table because you’re content with the money that’s already on yours. Still, people fail to see the value of this because there isn’t a clear path to profit. If there is no immediate ROI and no proof of moving the bottom line, they’re not interested. But let’s consider what the “I” in ROI actually is. You only have to invest time – no money is involved. You have to allow yourself time to build your social media profiles; however once that’s done, you can give it half an hour every day or even every other day, and the rest takes care of itself. When you take a step back and consider how much time and effort goes into other profit avenues, the value of social media is undeniable.

To read this article in its entirety you may purchase the January 2010 Edition of NMBJ by visiting the NMBJ Online Store or call 815.726.5555

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