Starting your own business may be scary, but can open up so many opportunities for you and your loved ones – including the freedom of being your own boss and the option of working from anywhere. In fact, teaming up with a business partner such as FM World could give you the career you’ve always dreamed of! Selling FM on social media may be a daunting task at first but our FM experts are here to share their top tips to get you started.
We want to help your FM World business succeed – supporting your ideal lifestyle and income every step of the way – from your first sale, to your thousandth and beyond. That’s why we’ve decided to share our knowledge and expertise on how to use something familiar to us all – social media – as a business tool!
Using Blog Posts as Advertisement on Social Media
Once you have your business up and running, it’s time to start marketing. Hiring a marketing director or paying an agency to do the work for you can be incredibly costly, so why not harness the power of social media instead?
Social media is free to use and allows you to reach completely untapped markets. You can build a brand following, increase loyalty with constant offers and showcase exactly what your product is all about. There’s a lot to learn about selling FM on social media, so here’s a starting guide with tips on using Facebook, Instagram and more to grow your business.
Free advertising
If paying for advertisement is something you’re hesitant to do or if you fancy switching it up, you can also use the internet’s free platforms and tools to reach your audience(s) successfully.
Have you ever thought about writing your own blog? It’s simple, easy and can be extremely useful – nothing to be afraid of. Here’s what you’ll need:
A blogging platform
The most popular platform used for websites is WordPress, however other free platforms such as Blogger or Weebly are worth researching too. Take a look at how they work and decide which one you personally find the easiest to use. To increase engagement and brand affinity, you can also add a blog to your own FM business partner website if you have one.
Blog content
A quick way to create content for your blog posts is to simply answer questions you may have. For example, if you wanted to find out more about how to recruit within your industry, you could search ‘how to recruit in Network Marketing’ on Google and get inspired by the results. Another example, with a focus on distribution and selling FM products, is to search ‘which FM perfumes are best for women’ to give customers an insight into the products before they buy. Common blog posts for this topic include scent comparisons and the explanation of fragrance families, perfume reviews and giveaways.
Of course, you mustn’t directly copy other websites and blog posts; all content on your blog should be original and written in your own words.
Pictures
To make your blog look more attractive, you should include at least one picture in each post; this will also help to break up your text, if it’s a longer blog post, to prevent reader fatigue. Canva.com is a great, free tool to create superb photos. Simply upload some of the images that FM World UK provides on social media posts, then add text such as your website or hashtag. If you struggle to get inspired make use of Canva’s amazing templates; they’re easy to use whilst allowing your posts to look professional. Here are a couple of examples of images we’ve created using Canva:
Blogging benefits
Having a blog is fantastic and will help you in many ways; you can share your unique journey with FM World, be able to record your own effort, share your experiences with others and give value.
You can advertise for free through your own blog by including adverts in your posts with a ‘call to action’, such as telling them to go to your blog or to click on a ‘Learn More’ button. This will intrigue and prompt people to reach out to you and your other sites for more information. Allowing your audience to view you as someone who gives value back to them will result in more people wanting to buy from and work with you.
You can also share your blog posts on your free social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to direct your audience to what you want them to see and raise interest.
Here’s an example of one of our blog posts being shared on Facebook…
When you add a blog link on Facebook, a picture, the title and the sentence from your blog will appear on the post; we suggest making sure your title and beginning of the blog post is written to captivate your audience, to draw them in to read your blog.
Giving this free help and adding value to your platforms will ensure people come to you and will more likely do business with you.
Following up leads from blog posts and social media
Engaging with your audience isn’t just about getting their initial attention (which is great nonetheless). You want to ensure you stay consistent and available in order to show you’re involved, engaged, and the best option – or solution to their problem.
A great example of where this matters most is team sign-ups/following up leads. When someone gets in touch about join your FM team or fills out a contact form on your website, blog page or from your Facebook advert, you should send them a follow-up email with information about you and FM. By doing this, you’ll instil trust in your audience and potential teammates and show your offer/advertisement is legit. The difference between someone joining your team or not is what you do next.
Ideally, you want to contact them via phone shortly after the introduction email is delivered – this can be a matter of hours or days, but within a timeframe where you’re still relevant in their mind. Speaking to your engaged audience will help make your business feel personable to your target audience.
Some key topics and questions you’ll want to cover are below, you can also use these as conversation starters/prompts or as a script if you don’t know where to start. Remember to wait for their answers, show interest in what they say and, practice makes perfect:
- Ask them about themselves – yes, they want to find out more about FM but it’s also important for you to gauge whether they would be a great fit for your team too!
- Do you know anything about FM and the products?
- We have five ranges of products: FM perfumes, FM Cosmetics, Nutricode supplements, delicious coffees and teas and home products
- Do you have any experience in similar businesses?
- Did you know it’s actually free to sign up?
- Do you know how it works?
- Roles available are ‘Preferred Customer’ through which you buy the products and sell at catalogue price, keeping the profit for yourself or ‘Distributor’ whereby you build your own team and sell the products yourself
- Explain the offer of being in your team where they will get one to one training, support amongst a Facebook group and a friendly face to answer any questions they may have at all times
- What questions and concerns did you have when you were thinking about joining FM?
If calls to your contacts fail to go through, don’t be disheartened; there is a simple way to get around this hurdle with the power of social media!
You can find them on their social platforms with the information they have inputted (ideally the platform they got in contact via if possible) and message them directly. You then need to introduce yourself and ask them if they have a few minutes for a quick chat. Next, you can follow on with the topics and questions above, one at a time, and engage in a good conversation with them. Remember to be friendly and answer everything you can to allow them to have a full understanding of what can you and FM can offer.
Fantastic Ideas: Selling FM on Facebook
In 2004, Facebook was launched in the US and quickly became one of the most popular social media platforms across the world and continues to grow every day. With companies harnessing the power of likes and shares to gain impressive business results, advertising on this platform successfully can be easier than you think.
We know how engaging Facebook can be when used correctly but also how daunting it looks. We want to pass on what we have learned and our experiences to give you the best opportunity to create magic when selling FM on social media.
Creating your audience
The first step to generating traffic and sales to and for your business is to know who you are targeting – without this, you’ll be blindly posting hoping for some interaction!
Will they be male or female? How old are they? What are their interests and moral alignments? These are just a few examples of the topics you’ll need to consider and the answers will alter your approach to the content you produce for them. Once your target audience is figured out, you will be able to cater to their needs and answer their questions.
As this group of people is made up in your own mind there’s no right or wrong answer! Your target audience should be people whom you relate to, would like as your customers and potentially work with too.
How to target your audience with ads
Once your target audience has been determined, you can start to market to them. A great, cost-effective way to do this is with Facebook advertising. They are fully customisable allowing you to cater for your audience’s needs whilst spending as much or as little as you want.
As you know your target audience the best, a great money-saving tip is to create the ads yourself! Using imagery and wording that appeals to and resonates with your audience, will guarantee engagement on your page. Your ultimate goal is to drive people that see your ad to click on it and go to your website/page/blog. Therefore, using captivating words and phrases such as ‘free’, ‘click to learn more’ and ‘offer ends soon’ encourages that all-important action to take place.
Selling FM via Facebook groups
We’re sure you have heard of groups on Facebook but may not have seen or been included in one before. If that’s the case, you probably didn’t think it can be a great tool to sell FM products either! Facebook groups are an amazing way to really involve yourself with not only your target audience but also your possible teammates.
To get the most out of your group, you should aim to post regularly, be active and reply to comments in good time. You should also encourage other members to comment and post to keep it lively and an exciting place to be on Facebook.
How to Party Online: Selling FM with Social Media
FM parties don’t have to be in-person to be successful. Online parties, especially nowadays, are extremely popular. They allow people to attend from across the country and even worldwide! Parties can be held whenever suits your host the best, even in the evenings, allowing those that work during the week to also attend. Here are some of the steps online FM parties will include:
1. Host coaching
Let your host choose products they desire to own from your catalogues and set your party order total goal, this will determine the amount your host can receive in ‘free’ products. For example, if they wanted £25 worth of products and you had decided 10% of product sales results in free products, then the goal of the party would be £250.
2. Creating the event
Even though you are inviting people to your event directly, it should still be captivating as you want to keep their attention to ensure they attend. For maximum effect, your event title should include a benefit such as ‘Luxury Perfumes for Under £25’ increasing the desire to be included. Utilise tools such as Canva when creating your event header and any posts you put up during the party. This will ensure your business comes across as professional and cohesive. For ease, add your host as admin for the event, allowing them to invite whoever they wish themselves.
3. Entice people even before the event starts
Whilst people are being invited and added to the group event, why not encourage them to grab exclusive offers before the day of the party? You can also offer incentives to those that invite their friends or ask for catalogues ahead of time – remember this is a fun event and to keep posts positive and not overly ‘sales-y’.
4. On the day
When the time comes to start your FM party, make sure you solidify numbers and ask your host to remind those that have yet to accept the invite. You could post a few pictures/questions, introducing yourself would be a great first post, to get people interacting and excited a couple of hours before.
5. What to post
During your event, which will typically last around 30 minutes, you’ll want to post approximately 10 times whilst engaging with all comments and orders. To increase activity, introduce a points system for various actions, e.g. answering questions correctly, placing orders etc.
6. Towards the end
When your (undoubtedly) successful party event comes to a close, you should thank everyone for coming and express how you wish to see familiar faces soon at their own parties. It’s also helpful to get some feedback about your party (this can be done via direct message instead of posting on the event feed) to help with future events.
7. After – The grand total
The host will get to find out how much of their wishlist they can receive once the party orders are totalled up. A great factor with online parties is that orders can continue to be placed once the event has ended, which can further increase the grand total; this is of course definitive to a deadline you set.
Using Facebook parties to sell FM on social media is an opportunity you won’t want to miss out on; it allows you to reach many people at once, create an amazing atmosphere for natural sales to occur and also network with potential new members of your team.
Mastering Instagram
Great Instagram engagement tips
Instagram started off, back in 2010, as a photo-sharing platform for family and friends to interact and share those precious pictures. Nowadays, it’s one of the most successful social media platforms for marketing. Standing out from the crowd within your industry can be difficult, as it’s highly saturated with people wanting to achieve greatness. However, we have a few tips to ensure that your ideal audience that sees your profile and feed and becomes loyal followers who consume your content daily.
1. Use high-quality photos and graphics
The quantity of content you produce will not matter if your image and graphic quality are sub-par in comparison to your competitors. To ensure your followers enjoy your content to its fullest potential, use great lighting and effective editing when photographing/videoing your latest products.
2. Stay consistent
Some Instagram users can be fickle due to the volume of content they consume within one scrolling session. If your brand does not appear to them as familiar or cohesive, there will be a high chance of them not engaging with or even unfollowing your account. You’ll want a consistent look and style for your content and also your brand voice – your wording and tone should sound relatively the same throughout all your captions and stories.
3. Use new features to sell FM
Most platforms want to stand out from each other and Instagram is no different. New features on social media platforms are introduced frequently. Aim to play around with these and see how they work for you. Try using reels or IGTV to engage with your audience as a great way to give them new and exciting content they may not have seen before. Don’t be shy to experiment even if you don’t get the immediate results you want; ultimately there is no right or wrong way when selling FM on social media!
Stuck on Instagram stories?
If you struggle coming up with ideas for what to post on Instagram’s story feature then why not try a few of these ideas:
- Poll your audience with quizzes and sliding react buttons
- Post a ‘Ask me a question’ box and reply publicly
- Go live and start a conversation (you can create a countdown to tell people to tune in at a certain time and not miss out!)
- Promote discounts and freebies that you may have posted on your feed – even promote your blog/website
- Feature other accounts for brand affinity and a sense of community
- Document your day – you might not think so but a lot of people will be interested in seeing this and even want to know what you have for lunch!
Instagram is a fantastic tool that we encourage all FM members to use to grow their teams and sell their products. Great success can come from utilising social media platforms within a business and this one is no different.
Avoiding Social Media Marketing Mistakes
Social media provides huge potential to gain customers, attract a wider audience and help you build a bigger team. With the great reach online platforms give you, growing your business and communicating with your team members has never been easier! Here are some useful tips to ensure you use your platforms to start selling FM on social media in the best way possible:
1. Make sure you have a good work vs social balance.
Set out when you are going to work on your business via socials and aim to stick to it. This will help you to differentiate between work and play; but be sure to take time to socialise, relax and watch those funny videos everyone loves too!
2. Avoid using too many platforms.
Spreading awareness of your business is vital to success, however, nurturing the audience you gain is more important. We suggest focusing your selling on social media with just one or two platforms; grow your audience’s trust and loyalty first, then expand to different mediums after.
3. Keep your content positive!
Selling FM on social media means your content is there as a promotional tool for your business, therefore spreading negativity or sharing ill opinions on something or someone won’t grant you the correct audience, or even an audience at all.
Now It’s Your Turn!
We hope that you have learnt some new tips and tricks to get you started selling FM on social media. Be sure to check out our dedicated Facebook and Instagram blog posts for a more detailed rundown on how those social media platforms can help you achieve your goals.