Network Marketing on Facebook: What you Should Know

Last night I did a call on the subject of “Protecting the Greatest Assets in your Business”.

The call was heavily influenced by me waking up yesterday morning with literally no access to my Facebook account.  If you are doing network marketing on Facebook, here's some things you should know.

Let me quickly share what happened…

I couldn't log in, couldn't post.  In fact, my page had vanished without a trace.

I consider what I do on Facebook as an asset to my business, don't you?
My Facebook activity directly contributes to my business making money.

If you use Facebook or Social Media in other areas to grow your business, and rely on those social media sources to help you make money, it'd be a very good idea for you to pay attention to this post, and act on my suggestions.

Let's get clear with what an asset is from Economics 101.
One of the definitions of an asset is this:
items that have monetary value and are owned by the business.  

Remember that word.  OWNED.  Things that are owned by the business.  In many cases, we think computers, websites, office furniture, camera equipment, printers and so on.  Yes…those are assets and have monetary value.

But…the assets I am talking about for the sake of this post are different, and hold far greater value to your bottom line than any computer, telephone or piece of office equipment ever could.

In fact…let's do this.  Let's talk primarily about ONE ASSET that matters.

Network Marketing on Facebook:  What you Should Know

Your Contacts, Your List, Your People, Your Prospects…and your Ability to Connect with Them is an Asset Worth Protecting.

Active members on your team are an asset. 
Your key leaders, those driving growth.  They are assets. 
Your customers are assets. 

And..your prospect list in all forms is a a major asset.  That means the names in your phone, the lists or databases you have, your email list, those you connect with on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and every other Social Media website are assets.

Here's the challenge.  They're only assets to your business if you own them.

If they are in your phone or on your personal email list, they are assets to you, with value.  The value is in the ownership and the ability (regardless of circumstance) for you to be able to contact them.

Don't take this at all as a knock on Facebook.  Honestly…as I said in the video above, my page was probably hacked and that's why they shut it down.  I'll get that page back up shortly.  Think about this though…

Do you own your Facebook contacts?  No.
Your Periscope or Instagram Followers?  Nope.

Right now…if you are in good standing with whatever Social Media outlet you're on, they give you the right, or the permission to exchange information with others.  But…you don't own or have access to that data, nor can you mine it.

What if your Facebook page disappeared tomorrow?
What if you no longer had any access whatsoever?
Would your business suffer?

Protecting your Social Media Assets

There's only one real way to protect those assets, and take ownership of them:
Turn them into real relationships.

As as arduous as it may seem…and it is, get to know these people in real life and exchange information.  Send them a message.  Say hi.  Connect with them.  And, exchange that information.

Why?  If Facebook shut down tomorrow and you lost access to all of your Facebook “friends”, where does that leave you?

Two other ways to gain control and actually have some level of ownership is to drive traffic elsewhere.  If you have a blog, you can send people there.  If you have a capture page or squeeze page offering something inviting, you can send them there.

Just understand this.  All these free tools we use every day to connect with people are nice, but we don't have any control of them.  We are at their whim.

Exercise some good decision-making here and begin to look at ways to turn them into real assets for your business, rather than something you're “allowed to play with” for now.

Protecting your Leaders, your Team and your Customers

The more regular and more clear line of communication you have with your key leaders, your entire organization and your customers, the stronger of an asset they become.

A few tips on protecting these assets:

1. Your Leaders.  Communicate with your key people, those that drive most or your volume AT LEAST once a week, regardless of how independent they become.  In fact, don't ever break my 7-Day Rule.  That means simply this.  Never do you let more than 7-days pass without having at least some contact with each and every major producer within your organization.
2. Your Team.  Individual phone calls, texts and emails can go a long way in keeping the relationship with your team solid.  Obviously, the bigger it gets, the more of a challenge you have.  In that case, I'd make sure you are putting them on some kind of email or distribution list that you control so that you can maintain consistent communication with them.  Here's a another tip.  Every month, export your organizational list.  That means logging into your company's genealogy and taking the time to export the contact information of all of the people on your team.
3. Your Customers.  Show them how to use your products.  Teach them.  Stick with them regularly during their inoculation phase of testing out your products or services. They'll stick with you longer if you pay attention to them.  It's that simple.

Save your Data and Back it Up

This is the last thing I'm going to say in this post.  You have to A) Save these contacts in a place you have full control over, and B) Regularly BACK UP your data!

I shouldn't have to say it, but I do.  So many people are lazy with back ups.  Back up your stuff in two places…on an external hard drive, and most importantly, someplace offsite.  If you were robbed or your house burned down, you'll want to be able to get back up and running quickly.   And, the only way you can do that is to make sure your data is safe.  Feel free to Google:  Best Offsite Backup

You'll find something good.

Oh…this one is last.  Protect your Passwords.  Don't save that stuff on a word document or piece of paper.  Make sure you are using something that is secure.

That is all for now…