Last year was very tough for network marketers. It was definitely one for the books, something that really changed the way network marketers use social media. And as we navigate through the 2nd half of 2021, I would like to discuss a few reasons I think the changes on social media have happened so drastically and why in-person events and meetings—from one-on-one coffee shop meet ups to home parties and fairs—are no longer viable.
How 2020 Changed the Way People Utilized Social Media
Since in-person strategies are no longer an option, people had to double down on their social media marketing strategies.
First Social Media Become Overwhelmed
What we saw happen was floods of people came onto social media. While there were thousands using social media to build a network marketing business, it increased tremendously in 2020.
As a result, things just got a lot noisier and louder, which caused people to blend in more.
The people that did really well on social media in 2020 likely had a strategy to stand out from the crowds. They were already using social media before COVID-19, before the craziness of 2020, before the lockdowns, they probably already had a strategy in place.
The people that did not have that strategy, they just blended in to the background noise. So that was the first reason why things majorly changed.
Second Social Media Become Political
The second reason ironically had nothing to do with business but was what we call “environmental” and that was the US election.
It changed how a lot of people were simply using social media. People turned their social media channels into complete election posts.
Then there were people that were so turned off by that, that they completely hid from it all (aka your market disappeared). So what happened was it also created a situation where people were seeking others out in a “not-so” professional manner. They really started connecting on social media more despite the fact that social media became so polarizing overnight.
Social Media Became the Patient Game
The third reason is patience.
I mean, I don’t think that there’s a single person who can say that their patience wasn’t majorly tried in 2020. What we saw happen was the type of content that people were consuming prior to this year was not getting the same results as it used to.
For example, I’m sure that you’ve probably used or consumed long form posts or what we call power posts, where there’s a picture of a person and then a long story.
Posts like that became less and less popular. They did less and less well on social media because people no longer have the patience the way that they did a year ago.
So what did these changes mean for you?
In a nutshell, what we saw work for network marketers on social media five years ago does not work today. So the before and after posts (apart from them violating social platform rules), pictures using cool graphics, and those ‘hey girl’ messages won’t work anymore.
People are numb to all those things. So YOU need to RE-EVALUATE and make sure you are using strategies that are on trend, that are actually working in the network marketing world right now. But how?
Hence, I’m going to give you a couple of different things to focus on as you navigate through 2021. Below are social media trends network marketers should be focusing on RIGHT NOW.
1. Short Content is King
Yes, short content is what people are looking for and that’s why we saw this major rise in 15-second videos like TikToks and Reels on Instagram.
I predict we will start to see the same type of content on Facebook very, very soon.
So here’s the deal. Everybody sucks at Reels and TikToks right now. Everyone sucks at it.
Don’t stand on the sidelines and watch people suck at it and say, “I’m not going to do that. That looks crazy!” Or, “That looks hard” or “I can’t dance!”
Jump in NOW while everybody sucks at it!
Suck at it with everybody else. You can even come stalk my Instagram and see how stupid I look. You can’t look much stupider than I look, I promise you that. And eventually, get good at it with everybody else. If you haven’t yet, play around with it, and have FUN!
This is the type of content that not only people want to consume because it’s shorter, but it’s also the type of content that social media platforms like Instagram are majorly favoring right now.
So can you get crazy organic reach right now using Reels on Instagram?
If I do an IGTV on Instagram, I’ll get somewhere between 300 to 600 views on it over time.
When I do a Reel on Instagram, within 24 hours, there’s 2000 plus views on it!
So why does this matter? Well, because it gives you the opportunity to get in front of more eyes, faster. In case you didn’t know that’s what you’re playing for on social media! It’s eyeballs!
With Reels and TikToks, people are growing their followings and their audiences by thousands, without spending a dime on ads.
The second type of short content you should really be doing right now is color block engagement questions, that you likely mostly see on Facebook.
There’s a color block background that you can choose and then you type over it, a short sentence or a short question.
But remember, it can’t be too long. This is the type of content that is getting the most engagement right now on Facebook.
The cool part about this is that you don’t have to spend hours writing content or finding the perfect picture to get people’s attention.
All you have to do is spend some time coming up with 10-20 engaging questions or statements that are niche-specific for you and your brand, and could potentially start a conversation with your ideal prospects, move somebody who’s an ideal prospect to the next phase in the process, right?
Maybe that’s a messenger conversation with you. Maybe it’s into one of your prospecting groups.
I guarantee you, you are going to see more engagement on that type of content on Facebook than you’re going to see on the long-form story posts. Now the other cool thing is that you can use this same type of content and put it in your stories, either on Facebook or on Instagram, which is another great way to get even more engagement.
2. Use Facebook Groups
The second thing that you really want to double down moving forward is using Facebook groups. Facebook has made it clear that groups are their main focus for the Facebook platform. Whenever a platform tells you something like that, it means you must double down.
So what about a Facebook business page?
I grew my audience three years ago, largely using a Facebook business page so I still use my Facebook business page.
However, if I was starting from scratch right now, with the reach that you get on a business page versus the reach you can get inside of a group and the fact that Facebook has let us know that they will be favoring groups, I would 1000% double down on creating a niche-specific personal brand and/or prospecting groups.
Groups are the place for network marketers to build community. They’re the place for network marketers to build out their brand following and their niche. Thus, rather than building that on your Facebook business page, build that in a group. When used correctly, they are the number one place where you can build team duplication using a prospecting group.
So there’s three types of groups that I really think that network marketers should focus on this year:
- Membership groups
- Personal Brand groups
- Prospecting groups.
Membership groups are often known as your team Facebook page. Personal brand groups are where you’re going to grow your personal brand, your niche-specific Facebook group. Prospecting groups, on the other hand, are meant for team duplication.
The cool thing about Facebook groups, what I absolutely love about it for network marketers, is there’s no need for any fancy technology. You don’t have to teach your team to build funnels or to use advertising ,budgets, things that are really, really complicated, becoming harder and harder to use, and also becoming somewhat obsolete.
Instead, you can use Facebook as a funnel system. It’s a place where everybody is hanging out already. Everybody knows how to use it. You can teach a simple process around it, which is what we do on our team and you can get tremendous results.
The other reason I love groups is because no matter what platform you focus on, whether it’s Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, Or Snapchat—is that even a thing anymore?
No matter what platform you focus on, you should still have a Facebook group. Your Facebook group is where you direct people that are interested in evaluating what it might be like to work with you.
Inside of that Facebook group is where most people make buying decisions now. If you talk to course creators, network marketers, anyone who has a big brand online, they all have a Facebook group. And they all say the same thing, which is that most of their profits come out of their community Facebook group.
I believe prospecting groups are the number one thing that you should have as a network marketer. We’ve seen tremendous results this past year on my team, using groups. In fact, in the past 90 days, we’ve enrolled well over a thousand people using one simple prospecting group.
So because of the fact that I believe so strongly in groups, I’ve put together a full training for you guys about how to launch your group in the next five days, which means that you can be set up with groups for massive success in 2021 and in the coming years. Grab The Team Builder Blueprint To Launch Your Group In Just 5 Days:
https://joinbecsadek.com/team-building
I will also teach you how to use short-form posts to gauge interest, to see if people will be interested in your group and you use that one short post to fill it with high quality and engaged prospects, all right?
So I’m going to go ahead and I’m going to link that training down in the show notes. It’s called the Team Builder Blueprint. If you’re already a student of mine and you’ve purchased this program, I also completely redid it, so there’s so much new content in there. There are 5 videos to help you launch your prospecting group in five days and so, so much more. This is what I would double down on, on social media this year.
So again, go ahead if you want to grab the Team Builder Blueprint, and get your prospecting group launched in 5 days. I look forward to bringing you guys more content, more fun and more success in 2021.
Apart from catching this entire post on my podcast below I’m inviting you to join The MLM Leadership Lab. A free community for online network marketers:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadershiplabwithbec
Bec Sadek is the host of Digital CEO. She’s a network marketing top earner and total digital marketing nerd. She built her network marketing business using proven social media strategies and it is her passion to share these strategies with her followers. Tune in each week for social media tips, strategies, interviews with top leaders, and other resources that will up-level the way network marketers do business online.
