MLM - Network Marketing Blog

Social Media Explained

Social Media Training for Network Marketers

By Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent

Are you ready to take the Social Media Challenge?

If you've been wondering what Social Media is and wondering how to harness the power of Social Media to build your network marketing business...Kristen Darkenwald offers a Social Media Rescue challenge for the 90 days of Summer 2009... at no charge. So don't spend thousands on Social Media training...Kristen is giving it away.

And check out Kristen's videos here...

Go to Social Media Rescue and sign-up and take the challenge!

Buzzirk Mobile from Global Verge Launches

By Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent

Has anyone heard of this new mobile MLM?

From Global Verge:

Zer01 Mobile announced today that it has signed an agreement with Buzzirk Mobile, Inc. to provide unlimited voice and data mobile wireless services for Buzzirk Mobile subscribers starting in July 2009. The mobile service will also be marketed through Global Verge, a mobile virtual network operator for Buzzirk Mobile. Creating interconnect agreements throughout North America and the globe, Zer01 Mobile is the first mobile service to offer a true unlimited voice, data and Internet plan that is priced affordably with taxes and fees.

“This is a great way to kick-off our commercial launch this summer 2009 as Buzzirk Mobile and Global Verge will begin marketing our unlimited wireless service. Buzzirk Mobile customers will now be able to use voice, text and Web services without counting their monthly minutes for one low price,” said Ben Piiliani, CEO, Zer01 Mobile.  ”Global Verge has members and sales representatives throughout the United States, Canada and several other countries. By leveraging Global Verge’s expert services, Buzzirk Mobile has plans to significantly expand its customer base and dramatically enhance our customer mobile services as our exclusive direct, affiliate and multi-level marketing industry agreement with Zer01 Mobile develops,” explained Mark Petschel, CEO, Global Verge.

Creating interconnect agreements throughout North America and the globe, Zer01 Mobile is the first mobile service to offer a true unlimited voice, data and Internet plan that is priced affordably with taxes and fees included. Priced also affordably, Zer01 Mobile’s international plan reaches out to the most popular calling countries around the world. The company has licensed patent pending proprietary Veritable Mobile Convergence (VMC) Technology that allows each smart phone user to make voice calls or transmit data by sending voice communications through a VoIP system.

Based in Missouri, Buzzirk Mobile is a worldwide mobile communications company supported by marketing and sales efforts by its parent company Global Verge.

Read more...

Top 10 Twitter Tools for MLM Professionals

By Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent

Guy Kawasaki says that Twitter is the most important marketing tool since the television. You can read more from Guy at How to Use Twitter as a Twool.

Over the last 2 weeks I've gone a bit Twitter crazy - 18 hours a day trying all the tips, tricks and tools related to this new Web 2.0 phenomenon. Here's my report on the Top 10 Twitter Tools for MLM Professionals.

1. Power Twitter
The name says it all...this is Twitter on steroids...perfect for network marketers. Their goal is to make Twitter better. Unfortunately it only works with Firefox so far but they're working on versions for Safari and Chrome. Power Twitter allows you to share photos, videos and music. Follow @powertwitter for the latest news.

2. TweetDeck
TweetDeck is one of the most popular Twitter clients. TweetDeck makes the mountains of tweets manageable. An alternative to TweetDeck is DestroyTwitter. Or Tweetie. Or...the list goes on.

3. TwitterFeed
TwitterFeed allows you to feed all new Blog posts directly to Twitter. Syndicate yourself. This is a great tool for anyone who has an MLM Blog or a blog about a specific Network Marketing company.

4. Twitter Karma
Find out what your Twitter Karma. Be careful not to bulk unfollow everyone.

4. Twitter Counter
Twitter Counter allows you to compare yourself with other Twitter users.

5. Twitter Grader
Once you've begun tweeting get your Twitter Grade from Twitter Grader.

6. Tweet Later
Tweet Later is a productivity tool for "busy tweeple". Tweet Later gives you the ability to schedule tweets, track keywords on Twitter, Send welcome direct messages to new followers, automatically follow those who follow you, unfollow those who unfollow you and manage multiple Twitter accounts with TweetCockpit.

7. Twist
Twist allows you to track trends on Twitter. There's also TwitScoop.

8. Qwitter
Qwitter monitors who quits following you...so you can quit following them! Jerks!

9. TweetAdder
Tweet Adder is for you if you're looking for more followers. Try the Free Trial.

10. bit.ly
bit.ly is a simple url shortener. Many Twitter tools have bit.ly support built-in but you can go direct to the source.

Enjoy the Twitterverse.

If you enjoyed this mlm blog post, then follow the MLM Blog on Twitter...

MLM - Network Marketing With Twitter

By Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent

Unless you've been living under a rock and/or you're a Luddite you've at least heard of Twitter. And unless you're Ashton Kutcher you'd like more followers!

Last week I wrote a post called Twitter vs. Facebook where I recommended a product called Twitter Traffic Machine. It's an awesome product but it costs a bit of money so I thought I'd introduce you to a Twitter Tool that you can get started with for free.

It's called TwitterHIT and it's free to get started. With TwitterHIT you can find friends and followers fast on Twitter and it's totally automated.

Here's a short description of Twitter from About.com:

What is Twitter?

This brings us back to the original question. What is Twitter? It is many different things to many different people. It can be used by a family to keep in touch, or a company to coordinate business, or the media to keep people informed or a writer to build up a fan base.

Twitter is micro-blogging. It is social messaging. It is an event coordinator, a business tool, a news reporting service and a marketing utility.

There. That wasn't so hard, was it?

So check out TwitterHIT and happy Tweeting!

If you still don't know what Twitter is here's a cute, short video that explains Twitter:

Twitter Versus Facebook

By Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent

I'm not a huge Twitterer. Don't get me wrong...I tweet... It's just that  I've been focused more on some Facebook Groups...you can check out my Poetry Group at Facebook...it's the largest Poetry group on Facebook with over 10,000 members.

So when I heard about some guy named Bill Crosby making some serious dough on Twitter with something he called Twitter Traffic Machine I was intrigued. It really got me thinking about Twitter and how I could harness the power of tweets.

After trying a few things myself without a lot of success I remembered Bill Crosby and his Twitter Traffic Machine product. I looked it up and it didn't cost much so I thought why not...

And it worked...It's so simple...so effective...

It's not something I'd suggest you do with your primary Twitter account - I'd set up another account specifically for the Twitter Traffic Machine that relates to the product or service you're promoting. And go from there...

You can check it out at Twitter Traffic Machine.

Zrii Unveils New Comp Plan And New ZriiOffice

By Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent

This from PRWEB:

Draper, UT (PRWEB) June 10, 2009 -- Zrii, LLC (www.zrii.com) announced significant financial enhancements to the company's compensation plan at their annual convention last week, furthering Zrii's mission of becoming a billion-dollar global brand. The company also displayed significant upgrades to their distributor back office software, ZriiOffice (www.zriioffice.com) to be launched July 1, and their new multimedia site known as Zrii Broadcast Network (ZBN).

The new compensation plan is called the Prosperity Plan; it focuses on team building and offers generous pools and bonuses. The Prosperity Plan is the only plan of its kind and contains strengths from a variety of industry plans. It offers the three best areas of the compensation plan: Immediate income, residual income, and lifestyle income. "We really want to promote teamwork, retention, and growth, and it's sometimes hard to find a plan that does all three," said Eric Reynolds, Zrii Compensation Systems Manager. "We think we have a perfect plan to be able to achieve that."

Zrii has also partnered with NetSteps to create new and upgraded features for ZriiOffice, such as graphical views, improved usability, and better communication features. "Zrii not only has the foresight, but they are willing to make an investment in the very best piece of software that is offered in network marketing," noted Chris Yadon, NetStep's President. "We're excited to be a part of it."

To help their Independent Executives stay up-to-date with corporate media, Zrii launched ZBN, which encompasses the company's videos, audio files, photos, and corporate blog. "Today's communication is about interacting with the customer," stated Andrew Mangeris, Vice President of Marketing. "ZBN increases our communication and social networking abilities with our Independent Executives; we want them to be able to get information right when they need it."

Zrii, LLC, is an international wellness company that utilizes the direct selling industry to market an exclusive nutritional beverage. Based primarily on the Indian fruit known as amalaki, Zrii's product is fully endorsed by the prestigious Chopra Center for Wellbeing. Zrii has over 65,000 Independent Executives in the United States, Canada, and Mexico who help individuals achieve better health and wealth. Founded in October 2007, Zrii achieved almost $45 million in revenue during its first year of business.

Social Networking But Not Twitter Connects Generation Y

By Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent

From Promo Magazine:

Consumers 18 to 24 have come to embrace social networks but have yet to include Twitter in that hug, according to new research from the Participatory Marketing Network, a trade association promoting social marketing.

According to a study conducted in May on 200 Gen Y members of a PMN panel, 99% of the group said they currently have one or more active profiles on social networks such as Facebook or MySpace. But only 22% of that same group said they are actively using microblogging service Twitter.

The study was conducted by the PMN together with the Interactive and Direct Marketing lab at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business.

“Twitter dominates the news, but clearly we’re only touching the surface of its potential as a marketing vehicle,” PMN co-founder and chairman Michael Della Penna said in a release. “There is a tremendous opportunity now for marketers to develop strategies to get this important group active on Twitter too.”

Read the whole story...

Does Your Network Marketing Include Twitter?

By Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent

Bill Heil and Mikolaj Piskorski at Harvard Business Review  have some interesting research on Twitter.

Twitter has attracted tremendous attention from the media and celebrities, but there is much uncertainty about Twitter's purpose. Is Twitter a communications service for friends and groups, a means of expressing yourself freely, or simply a marketing tool?

We examined the activity of a random sample of 300,000 Twitter users in May 2009 to find out how people are using the service. We then compared our findings to activity on other social networks and online content production venues. Our findings are very surprising.

Of our sample (300,542 users, collected in May 2009), 80% are followed by or follow at least one user. By comparison, only 60 to 65% of other online social networks' members had at least one friend (when these networks were at a similar level of development). This suggests that actual users (as opposed to the media at large) understand how Twitter works.

Although men and women follow a similar number of Twitter users, men have 15% more followers than women. Men also have more reciprocated relationships, in which two users follow each other. This "follower split" suggests that women are driven less by followers than men, or have more stringent thresholds for reciprocating relationships. This is intriguing, especially given that females hold a slight majority on Twitter: we found that men comprise 45% of Twitter users, while women represent 55%. To get this figure, we cross-referenced users' "real names" against a database of 40,000 strongly gendered names.

Read the whole story...

Promoting YTB Travel With Twitter

I found this interesting article about Twitter spam at the Take Time for Living Blog.

Here's an excerpt:

For those of you using Twitter, I want to let you know that I'm on the verge of hanging up my tweeter (?) and calling it quits with the silliness of it all, thanks to all the TONS of MLM scammers.

I'm really getting weary of people pushing their MLM "opportunities" with about 8 out of every 10 tweets I see. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.

Are you experiencing the same thing? Or am I just somehow lost in the slummier Twitter neighborhoods? Maybe instead of quitting Twitter, I should just cry out metaphorically, "Help. I've fallen and I can't get up."

Not too many weeks ago, I decided to make a real effort to get started tweeting. I've even used some site (I've forgotten which one now) to link a couple of my blogs to my Twitter account. When I post on one of those blogs, a couple of hours later that post appears on my Twitter account, with a link to the post on the blog. I sort of liked the usefulness of that -- because, of course, I think my blogs are (mostly) worth reading, and this was a way to have them read.

Anyway, that was fine. Then I started looking around Twitter and following lots of people. Those people, many of them, followed me back. I have over 1,200 followers now.

Unfortunately, as an online friend warned me, vast numbers of those followers are MLM fanatics. And many years ago I grew disillusioned and put off by MLM schemes/scams. It's not just the totally impractical nature of most MLMs and their products. It's also the lifestyle that soured me. To be successful at MLM, you have to abandon all real semblance of "family" or "friendship." All of your relatives and all of your friends now become first and foremost TARGETS or PROSPECTS for your "business."

Read more...