It was the Tweet heard round the world! On March 26 2009, Shaquille O’Neal made sports marketing history by becoming the first professional athlete to use Twitter to announce a new endorsement deal, and with his Tweet, a new paradigm of multi-level marketing was born.
I’m sure all of you are familiar with multi-level marketing (MLM). You might know it by another name – “affiliate marketing”, “network marketing”, or maybe “pyramid marketing.” Multi-level marketing programs compensate distributors for products they personally sell as well as a portion of the proceeds from sales by other distributors that they bring into the business. Products are generally marketed directly to individual buyers through relationship referrals and word-of-mouth marketing.
From Amway to Avon and Arbonne, there are thousands – if not millions – of product lines sold through MLM channels. Typically, distributors make sales by hosting parties and inviting friends in to try products and place orders. While this can be an effective way to make a sale, it can also make party attendees uncomfortable due to the pressure – often from friends - to buy. I for one actively avoid going to such parties so that I don’t get roped in to spending money on something that I don’t want or need just because a friend of mine is selling it!
So why was Shaquille O’Neal’s use of Twitter relevant to MLM programs? First, it’s important to understand that with over 500,000 followers, Shaq is amongst the top 10 most followed individuals on Twitter and a pioneer in using the application for personal marketing. His Tweet – “Stay tuned, prepare for SHAQ to ‘enlyten’ you!” – was an announcement for a new endorsement deal he signed to become the official spokesperson for Enlyten products, which are distributed via MLM channels.
Enlyten products are kind of like Listerine Breath Strips in that they use film strip technology that dissolves in your mouth, only instead of minty fresh breath, the four Enlyten products deliver electrolytes, antioxidants, energy, and melatonin, respectively. We’re told that what makes Enlyten special is the delivery method, which gets these four ingredients into your blood stream up to 10 times faster than energy/sports drinks or other, traditional nutritional supplements.
We recently started doing some promotional marketing work for a new Enlyten independent distributor based here in Maryland, and as a long time MLM skeptic, I’ve been fascinated by how this particular product line is changing – for the better - the way MLM’s do business. The company is breaking new ground with its use of the internet and social marketing to build brand awareness and sell products. Not only is Shaq using Twitter to promote the product, but Enlyten distributors themselves rely on the internet for sales. Unlike other MLMs like Cutco knives or PartyLite candles, you would be hard pressed to find an Enlyten party. Instead, people interested in buying Enlyten are directed to websites where they can directly purchase the products – and they do so on their own, without a distributor taking the order or other party-goers watching to see what they’ve bought.
When you think about it, it makes perfect sense for MLM, which is based on relationships, referrals, and word-of-mouth, to use the internet and social marketing tools as their primary marketing channel. After all, both are really just different forms of viral marketing – defined by Wikipedia as “marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses.” What’s amazing is that more MLM marketers haven’t done what Enlyten is now doing.
All in all, I think this move towards a more web-based approach to MLM is a step in a very positive direction. I’ve never had a problem with the actual products sold through MLM – I just don’t like going to someone’s house, drinking their wine, eating their food, and then feeling obligated to buy things in return. But the idea that a friend could introduce me to a cool new product and then I can go off and decide – on my own and without any social pressure – whether to buy it? That I like!
By Kathleen Booth
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Given the current state of the economy, we’ve decided to compile a list of basic and inexpensive but still useful promotional items. These items make great giveaways at tradeshows and fun gifts at company picnics. Plus the recipient will use their gift long after the event is over.
