Multi Level Marketing (MLM) or Network Marketing, as it is sometimes called, has been around a long time. The industry predates the Internet by decades but the advent of the net has opened a wealth of new possibilities for one of the key requirements for success in any MLM home based business: generating leads.
While many new MLM owners start with a large list of free network marketing leads, comprised of their social contacts, some potential owners simply don’t have an extensive social network. Should they look for other types of home based businesses and forget about MLM? What can they do?
While it’s possible to pay for MLM leads, these are rarely the best MLM leads, and they’re not particularly cheap MLM leads either. The biggest problem with paid MLM leads is the companies offering them sell the same lead list, over and over. Many an unsuspecting MLM owner is surprised to learn the paid lead he or she is contacting has been contacted before, sometimes as many as 4 or 5 or more times.
The latest Internet craze provides another opportunity for generating free network marketing leads: Social Media. Unless you’ve been living in a cave the last few years you have to have heard of the explosive growth of Twitter and Facebook. Businesses of all sizes and types are rushing in, eager to exploit Social Media for marketing purposes, but many fail. To succeed you have to understand a little of the history and present state of Social Media.
Most of these sites began on college campuses as vehicles for students and alumni to keep in touch. They were characterized by a genuine and honest need to share information. Today Social Media has expanded to a broad market, populated by people interested in building communities of shared interest.
Social Media is a genuine source, but you can’t start by registering and then introducing yourself with a post like “Hi. My name is Sally, or Sue, or Sam. Let me tell you about this hot business I can get you into.” Avid Social Media enthusiasts are turned off by the fake, the insincere, and the outsider.
To make it work for you, you have to find a web site with communities in which you have a genuine interest. Join the community and contribute. The more personal you can be the better you will be received. Over time you will be able to talk about your business life in addition to your personal life. Share how you got into MLM, your fears and apprehensions, and your successes and failures so far. It won’t happen overnight, but you will get people who will want to know more about what you’re doing. That’s a “natural” lead, and it’s free! All you need is an investment of time.
MLM Leads