STRENGTHENING A 50+ YEAR OLD BUSINESS MODELTHROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

THE BUSINESS OF DIRECT SELLING

DIRECT SELLING is…• Based upon person-to-person relationships

• Typically involves selling to family, friends, colleagues: social circle

• The process involves two-way communication

• The objective involves matching consumer needs with the product

• Involves showing and demonstrating products

• Distributors pass on the information to consumers about product attributes and ingredients: involved purchase

• The ‘business owner’ is the ‘face of the company/brand’

• Consumer-Distributor Word-of-Mouth: Recommendations are trusted and acceptable

…It is all about a social ‘interaction’

THE ORIGINAL SOCIAL BUSINESS MODELNOW NEEDS TO GO SOCIAL… WHY?...WHAT?....HOW?

Amway Australia: Social Media Guidelines

THE KEY OBJECTIVES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

Amway has to address the following:

• Gen Y’ers use social media: this includes the Amway customer as

well as the ABO

• To attract and retain ABOs as independent representatives,

new means of social networking have to be recognized

• Today’s policies and procedures need to address social media

• Define ‘best practices’ and guidebooks in using social media

• Assist ABOs in using the power of social media to: get training,

information, guidance to market & network effectively

WHO IS THE ‘SOCIAL CUSTOMER’

THE ‘SOCIAL ABO’

Encourage the ABOs to be a mix of the above

THE SOCIAL STRATEGY

CREATE A PARALLEL CONVERSATION AMONG ABOs and CUSTOMERS

TYPICAL TRENDS IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media : popular strategy 1. Create a brand surrogate

2. Popularize through contests

3. Go ‘App’ - linked and unlinked to a brand story

4. Oh and you must trend on twitter and

5. Just have to ‘be’ on Facebook

Need to go beyond a TACTICAL approach. No. of Likes/Fans/Tweets and Trends seem to be the only measures

OUR STRATEGY: MLM to MLi

MLMMulti-Level Marketing

MLiMulti-Level ‘Interaction’

PARALLEL CONVERSATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA

MLiParallel Conversation

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THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

PARALLEL CONVERSATION ON TWITTER

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PARALLEL CONVERSATION ON FACEBOOK

Amway India

Start your own Business Meet an Amway Rep. Join ‘I Am Amway’ Club

Amway India Fan Page

ABOs Customers Public

Amway ABO’s Group Page

DownlineABOs Customers

Separate Group Pages for Downline & Customers

‘I Am Amway’ ClubThe official Amway Group Page for ABOs

PARALLEL CONVERSATION ON FACEBOOK

Amway India

Start your own Business Meet an Amway Rep. Join ‘I Am Amway’ Club

Amway India Fan Page

PARALLEL CONVERSATION ON FACEBOOK

Amway Meet an Amway Rep (application)

Customer enters details to view reps in his/her areaEnter locality to meet an ABO

ABO is allowed to submit their details:1. twitter handle; blog if any2. Area of expertise: nutrition, personal care, etc3. Video to introduce oneself4. Link to their ABO group page5. Link to customer group page6. Contact details

Hair ProductsWomen NutritionHousehold products

AttitudeNutriliteSA8

Say hello!

Just got back from a great group session on how to use twitter for

my business!

Chat now Schedule an Interaction

Get in Touch

‘I am Amway’ Club

My ABO group page

My group page for Customers

<Twitter Handle>

My Blog

Email ID; Contact number

Customers or Prospective downline can interact with the ABO: product, company info, offers, etc.

BUILDING A PARALLEL CONVERSATION

EVANGELIZE

On Twitter• New Product Launches• Events Info: Annual/ ABO meet, etc• New Product Facts• New Ad campaign• Policy Announcement• Incentive for followers

On Facebook• Interact with the community• Involve ABOs actively• Create Events• Attract prospects• New Product/Ad Launch• New Ad campaign• Incentive for fans

BUILDING A PARALLEL CONVERSATION

EMPOWER ABOs

On Twitter• Spontaneous sharing of experience• Communicate customer insights• Challenges of sale experience• Invite for a brainstorm/group discussion

with downline• Motivational tweets• Congratulatory/achievements/

milestones within the group• Create lists: downline & customers:

targeted communication

On Facebook• Extend their ‘circle of influence’: A

transparent level playing field for ABOs to interact with customers beyond their ‘closed network’

• Allow ABOs to post videos / content that allow them to introduce themselves to a potential customer

• Post videos/photos/content of the Amway products: these could be demos, customer testimonials

• Enable ABOs to be ‘Specialists’: Nutrition, Grooming, Home Expert, etc<ABO> group has just hit the 10,000 BV!

Well done, team…let’s aim higher.#Artistry range is getting rave reviews. Not a single return. Now that’s delivering the #amwaypromise.

BUILDING A PARALLEL CONVERSATION

EMPOWER THE CUSTOMER

On Twitter

• Get information on offers

• Submit feedback on products

• Grievance & resolution channel

• Incentivize re-tweeting

• Get in touch with an ABO

• Share product experience(influencer)

On Facebook• Allow easy access to a catalog of the

entire range of Amway products• Find an ABO in my region & interact with ABOs on

facebook, as they would with an online consultant without the stress of having to buy products.

• Enables a customer to ask product questions and their advantages without the pressure of a house call.

• Indian facebook users are at ease with 1-on-1 interaction. The ABO customer chat functionality: interaction + ‘habit’ building on the medium

BUILDING A PARALLEL CONVERSATION

EMPOWER THE CUSTOMER

On Facebook• Customer gives Social Value points (in addition to

your PV and BV –add SV) to the ABO. This improves the quality of interaction between the ABO and customer

• Customers can find ABOs in their neighborhood. They can choose to interact with multiple ABOs: the power of choice & comfort level!

BUILDING A PARALLEL CONVERSATION

BUILD TRUST• The medium is transparent allowing customers to interact among themselves,

giving them access to honest feedback and opinion sharing which builds brand credibility. Real people, Real stories….

• The conversations/interactions between ABOs & customers are open and others can be invited to view/read etc.

• Proactively invite feedback from both customers aswell as ABOs...Include, Improve & Integrate

Timely, honest responses on social media is the best way to build trust. Be human, be believable, don’t over promise…

don’t oversell!

BUILDING A PARALLEL CONVERSATION

CREATE A MOVEMENT

• The parallel conversations of MLM will move into parallel conversations

in the social space (Mli)

• Extend interactions, conversations & product ‘sampling’, scheduling a

face-to-face meeting via Social Media.

• Both customers as well as ABOs will eventually opt for the social

interaction as a preliminary ‘engagement’ to the purchase process.

• Social Value points as an additional measure+currency

• Seminars, workshops, training to extend social media expertise to ABOs

• Set clear guidelines for marketing, advertising, prospecting, etc through

social media/online medium

BUILDING A PARALLEL CONVERSATION

CREATE A MOVEMENT

Face-to-face contact is still essential to the model, but social media

can now be used to complement personalized sales interactions.

Distributors, customers and prospects are experiencing Amway on Facebook in new & exciting ways…more fun and informative content, including video, customer and business

management tools for distributors, and apps like coupons and special customers.

THE CHANGE…

THE MOVEMENT HAS ALREADY BEGUN…

THE GLOBAL CHANGE: AMWAY AUSTRALIA

THE GLOBAL CHANGE: AMWAY AUSTRALIA

THE GLOBAL CHANGE: AMWAY AUSTRALIA

THE GLOBAL CHANGE: AMWAY AUSTRALIA

THE CHANGE…

LET THE CONVERSATIONS BEGIN…

parallel