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by Barbara Seale
If the terms blog and pod make you think of B movies from the 1950s, early-adopter direct sellers have an update for you. Blogs, podcasts, interactive e-newsletters and social Web sites are some of the new communications media included in the term social media. When it is used skillfully, social media gets great results.
According to Shel Holtz, ABC, Principal of Holtz Communication + Technology, the term social media refers to a collection of constantly updating communication vehicles that create a dialog among people who are talking about topics of shared interest.
“They’re not only chatting,” Holtz says. “They’re also collaborating, organizing, making decisions and managing various efforts.” He says corporations need to become involved with social media because, “That’s where the eyeballs are. Statistically, we see that the volume of content online is shifting from static corporate content to interactive social media. People are spending their time on Facebook, YouTube and blogs. So if you want people to see you, you’d better be where they are.”
Direct sellers are becoming aware of the trends, and some are taking action that is paying off. Quixtar, which uses the Internet to sell goods, jumped into the blogosphere after it realized that the Internet had become home to a conversation about the company, and it wasn’t part of it.
“We tried several techniques,” says Quixtar Director of Communications Beth Dornan. “We were putting out stagnant information in a medium (the Internet) that is very alive and very 24/7. So on February 1, we changed the conversation about our business by becoming a very active part of it. We saw the conversation start to shift from critics to our blog. We allowed anyone to come in and talk about whatever, and we dialogued with them and provided information.”
Quixtar hosts 10 blogs on one of its company Web sites, OpportunityZone.com. Company bloggers include Dornan and her communications teammate Robin Luymes, Manager – PR/Editorial, and nine other Quixtar executives and employees who write blogs with names from Inside Quixtar to Beauty Tipsy. The site was launched to correct misperceptions, so almost no topic is off limits.
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“People had bad information or perceptions not based on fact,” Dornan says. “We could correct them easily through a blog post. Our critics came into our blogs and started talking to us. We’ve even been recognized by them, because we’ve had open, honest dialog about the business and didn’t back away when tough issues were raised.
“The negatives were already out there and still are, but we’d rather talk about them in our own space than have them talked about in someone else’s space,” she says. “When you can invite people into your own living room it can be a productive exchange.”
Quixtar insists on a respectful dialog in its blogs. No four-letter words. No name calling. Stay on topic. Dornan describes the tone as one you’d use in someone’s living room. All comments are monitored, and when someone crosses the line their comment is edited to meet guidelines. But as long as participants follow the rules, Quixtar bloggers “listen” to what they have to say.
“You can’t not publish stuff just because it’s negative about you,” Luymes says. “And sometimes we hear legitimate complaints that we need to hear, talk about and fix. Blogs are the Web equivalent to conversation. But a blog starts with a posting by someone: Here’s a topic. Let’s discuss this. In a chat room, any participant can start a conversation. But with a blog we have control over what the conversation is about. And because a blog has a clearly defined author, it helps humanize the business and put a face on it.”
Quixtar also uses a program called e-Responder, which alerts the company when there’s a conversation going on about Quixtar in a site somewhere else on the web. When appropriate, a corporate representative will visit the site and respond. It also has a corporate YouTube account with 20 videos, though Luymes says the site is in its infancy now. Quixtar has had impressive, measurable results from its efforts. “Blogs have been a tremendous source of feedback and ideas from our IBOs [Independent Business Owners, Quixtar’s salesforce],” Dornan says. “We regularly pose questions to get quick feedback, and I’m constantly amazed by the level of engagement and willingness to share ideas and information that has benefited them and will benefit others. From a reputation standpoint, we’ve seen a 49 percent decrease in negative discussion on the Web about our business. It all goes back to a shift in our philosophy. For a long time, our philosophy was to handle a critic like a bully: Walk away. But others interested in our business didn’t walk away. They continued the dialog without us. So we made the decision to become part of it.”
Another social media convert is CUTCO®, a single-level direct selling company that recruits its salesforce on college campuses to sell knives, flatware, cookware, garden tools and accessories. It views sites such as Facebook and MySpace as important mechanisms for recruiting.
“If you look at the age of our salesforce—18 to 22—this is how the current generation connects and communicates with one another,” says Sarah Baker Andrus, Director of Academic Programs for CUTCO. “Since direct selling has always been about personal connection, participating in these sites is a way of tying in the traditional business model with technological trends so we can benefit through a new way of communicating with this generation. They are also known for questioning, and they’re more skeptical and more reliant on the recommendations of friends. That also drives us to the social media option. It’s a way of getting an implied endorsement and overcoming skepticism.”
A MySpace search for cutco turns up 3,300 hits—sites sponsored by the company, its distributors, former distributors and by the company’s campus managers, who are independent contractors and use their sites for recruiting. The company also uses Facebook, CraigsList, LinkedIn and is looking into others.
“We discovered that managers were setting up their own sites and using these mechanisms for recruiting,” Baker Andrus says. “As a company, we needed to ensure that the message was consistent and professional. The sites have played a large role in an increase we’ve seen in personal recruiting. They also help us stay abreast of field issues and identify concerns sooner than we might have through traditional means.”
CUTCO also offers an internal forum called Vector Connect on its sales management Web site. As student-salespersons go online to place orders, file reports, read about contests or take training, they can also participate in communication forums.
“Camaraderie and connections are key with retention, especially at this age,” Baker Andrus says. “Our internal forums are important from a training perspective, and they play an indirect role in retention. Our sales representatives have a reason to be on the site often, so it seems natural for one rep to ask questions of another. The forums provide an opportunity for an exchange of information and community building.”
Community is a key catchword at Homemade Gourmet®, which sells a line of meal-planning solutions that lets people quickly prepare complete meals at home. Its community includes its independent distributors, consumers and employees. All of them are interested in bringing families together around a meal, so Homemade Gourmet instituted a blog it calls “Around the Kitchen Table.”
Hosted by company Founder Tami VanHoy, Research and Development Coordinator Cindy Pirtle and Director of Marketing Karen Paul, the blog shares recipes that use company products, talks about gathering family together for meals and even reflects on family traditions. Since it was launched in spring 2006, the blog has been chatty, warm and noncontroversial, marinated in a personal tone that includes discussions about what to eat when you don’t feel well (comforting soup from Homemade Gourmet), to what kids can contribute to a Thanksgiving meal (Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake, also from Homemade Gourmet). There is lots of focus on company products, but that’s what draws participants who use them. They respond with their own stories and creations. Recipes and comments come not only from blog hosts, but from participating distributors and consumers. Even such personal topics as religious faith are sometimes on the table. VanHoy regularly closes her blog with the sign-off, “God Bless and Keep You.”
“We love Around the Kitchen Table because that’s what it feels like—sitting down with your buds and having a chat,” Paul says. “We get almost immediate response from participants in our blog. If we want to share a recipe or even an exciting product launch right away between regularly scheduled publications or Web updates, we can put it on the blog. The benefit to us is the feedback we get immediately. It brings us closer to the user and to our distributors.”
The blog’s home is on the company’s main Web site. It gets added visibility through hyperlinks on Homemade Gourmet’s distributor-tools Web site and in two monthly e-newsletters—one called In The Mix that’s directed to consumers, and another named eSpoonful, which focuses on distributors. eSpoonful also has a podcast attached to it so if a distributor doesn’t immediately have time to read the content, they can download it and listen to the information away from their computer. The e-newsletters are sent directly to the consumer’s or distributor’s e-mailbox, and are based on an electronic template and mailing list managed by e-communications company IMN. Generically, the newsletter is called Party Pulse™, but each subscribing company may develop its own nameplate.
“What we love about the Party Pulse consumer e-mail is that it gives distributors reporting capability,” Paul says. “They get immediate reports on who read the newsletter and which articles they clicked. It gives them leads for shows, booking and sponsoring. Through a fantastic report that IMN developed, they can tell exactly what their customers have been interested in. It’s a beautiful lead generator. Our distributors benefit because we send e-mail on their behalf to their customer base so they can be contacted directly. It’s hands-off for them, and they get a lead-generating report. The corporate office gets aggregate reporting, so we can see what content is popular and what’s not, so we can plan toward that. On the distributor e-newsletter, we can also see content popularity. Do distributors want more training, more product information? We can refocus and retool as necessary. And we have a survey feature that we can turn on and off on both newsletters.”
IMN’s Party Pulse e-newsletter is personalized with the distributor’s picture, Web site and e-mail address. Primary content is provided by the corporate office, with the option of inserting distributor-supplied content. In addition, consumer-contributed content such as recipes, home decorating tips and accessorizing ideas can also be published by the corporate office, completing the loop of community interaction.
“Corporate provides the bulk of the messaging, so they have a high degree of control over branding and compliance,” says IMN Vice President of Marketing Jo Ellen Collins. “The consultant provides their picture, contact information and submessaging in support of building a community of interest around them. Consultants feel good because the newsletter goes out with their personality, yet is very businesslike and professional. We provide reports called ‘Warm Call™ reports’ that go to the consultants telling them who’s most interested in this month’s specials, the business opportunity and the like. It helps consultants know what to start talking about, how to prioritize and it gives them a context for calling.”
Collins says that IMN tracked e-newsletter results for one of their clients, Gold Canyon, which achieved impressive business outcomes: Consultants using the service as much as doubled average sales volume and the average number of parties held; and, on average, they were able to bring two to three times more recruits into their network. Their average online sales volume tripled as well.
“The results were very dramatic,” Collins says. “The e-newsletters and reports can help consultants be more efficient and more effective. A lot of companies have implemented replicated Web sites, but consultants tell us that consumers don’t visit them because they don’t know about them. Through a link in the newsletter, customers can go right to the consultant’s Web site and order. For many consultants, the increases in site traffic and resultant orders driven by the newsletters provide justification for having the Web site in the first place.”
IMN began developing the Party Pulse e-newsletters for their client, direct seller PartyLite, about five years ago and began offering it to other companies in February 2006. Since then, more than 20 companies have adopted it, and today more than 25,000 consultants are using it.
As sexy as the prospect of adopting social media may seem, companies considering it have homework to do before they ever make the first keystroke.
Quixtar’s Luymes advises that using social media, especially for the first time, requires support from top executives, including the legal department. They must understand and be willing to tolerate controversy as “hot” topics are discussed.
“We probably talked about Opportunity Zone for a full year before launching it,” Luymes says. “It can’t be something that the communications group goes off and does; that would be a death knell. We had to overcome a lot of internal resistance to the kinds of things we would talk about on the Web. Now that we’ve done it, it’s well-supported.”
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CUTCO’s Baker Andrus believes that the first rule of communications applies to social media, too: Know your audience. “It’s important to look to your field for cues,” she says. “If the field has started to use social media, it’s important to educate yourself about what they’re using, why and if they’re filling a perceived need that the company should address. Social media can be a good way of getting feedback from your field. By participating in it proactively rather than reactively, you have more control over the message.”
Karen Paul at Homemade Gourmet agrees. “The biggest consideration is, who is your audience. But don’t be afraid. When we first started talking about blogging a year and a half ago, the reaction was, ‘What’s a blog?’ But it’s been a very positive experience that peels away the corporate mask.” She says that while corporate blog posts are made once or twice a week, the site is monitored daily so responses can be reviewed and posted.
In contrast to corporate blogs, companies may elect to post on their own behalf on other social network sites. IMN’s Collins offers some advice for approaching this. “Be transparent and up front,” she said. “Disclose your identity. Be a helpful member of the community, supply useful information and participate in a professional and directed way. Know what business result you’re trying to achieve, and use good marketing tactics and strategies that you already know as a marketer. If you take this approach, it can be a very constructive and enlightening conversation.”
Communications consultant Holtz gives examples from other industries that direct sellers can draw from directly.
“Bob Lutz, Vice President of GM, is a prolific blogger,” he says. “He says the reason he does it is because the feedback he gets represents the best competitive intelligence he’s ever seen. It’s unfiltered intelligence coming from his biggest fans and critics—the people who are most passionate about cars. The conversation informs his decisions, even about things like warranties. GM is bringing back the Camaro based on dialog from its blogs. Cadbury is bringing back a candy bar based on passion expressed for it on Facebook. People who read blogs aren’t just casual users. They’re influencers. If businesses are willing to listen to them, they can make sound business decisions based on their comments.”
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