An IBO's Dos and Don'ts of Social Media

Social media can open a lot of doors for you, both personally and professionally. It can provide ample opportunity to sponsor people you already know and communicate with IBOs and customers who are Internet savvy. However, to use social media wisely, you must know the pitfalls and blind spots, and that's what we intend to show you here: Social Media Dos and Don'ts for IBOs.

What you can do:

• create a social media presence for your personal self.
• also create a social media presence for your business; you may want to start by adding only your upline and downline.
• use the social media to solidify existing relationships; meet new people and over time establish a personal or business relationship.
• set privacy and security levels that allow you to control who has access to you and what you say for your comfort level.
• interact with others just as anyone else would, following the Amway North America Rules of Conduct.
• invite others to join (follow/friend) you, although you should never do so out of the blue.
• accept others’ invitations to join (follow/friend) them, but be wary of people you don’t know.
• check with your upline Platinum and Emerald for social media strategies.
• reject anyone you don’t know, and some services recommend it.
• join groups, including official Amway North America groups or pages and suggest others do so, too.
• address others by being helpful in your areas of expertise.
• begin slowly and work your way up, learning how best to use the site for you while remaining in good standing with Amway North America.
• If someone shows interest in the opportunity or products, interact with them personally, not publicly. On Twitter you should Direct Message them (requires mutual following); on Facebook you should message them through your inbox; on a blog you should post your e-mail address in your profile and have them e-mail you; if you know their e-mail address (often part of their profile or posting), e-mail them. Sponsoring may only be conducted when the prospect is physically present.

Note that in some social media circles, it matters how you follow or friend others. For instance, some on Twitter take offense if they follow you and you don’t automatically follow them back. However, you aren’t required to automatically follow them back and you may find it more manageable to sort through people who have followed you and follow back based on criteria that matter to you. LinkedIn advises you not to connect with people you don't know, yet you will likely receive requests to connect with people out of the clear blue. Most blogs allow you to block commenters, and some allow others to follow you, although not in the same way as in Twitter. Use discretion in deciding whom to follow/friend/connect with, especially as you learn what you’re doing. Not everyone will make a good social match online just as in real life.

What you cannot do:

• violate any of the Amway North America Rules of Conduct.
• use any Amway North America trade names or trademarks as part of your username/handle or group names or business profiles or site names.
• display products or logos on any unauthorized pages, groups, profiles, or albums, even as avatars or profile images.
• give out your Amway North America ID or KEY on public pages.
• try to blind-sponsor anyone online or cold-contact someone for sponsoring; you must have an existing personal or business relationship to contact them.
• try to sell someone products online or cold contact them for selling; you must have an existing personal or business relationship to contact them.
• "spam" someone, sending unsolicited commercial messages or links.
• provide a link to any product site or sales page not approved by Amway North America.
• do business with IBOs from other lines of sponsorship or other groups (crosslining)
• follow/friend/connect with everyone who asks for it - use good social judgment
• conduct follow-up opportunity or sales messaging in public - message them personally; sponsoring must be conducted when the prospect is physically present.

What we’re seeing:

Examples of violations we are already seeing on social media sites include

• lots of conflicting Artistry, Nutrilite, Ribbon, product-related groups or pages on Facebook
• Twitter account names using Amway trade names or trademarks
• cold or blind sponsoring and sales offers on Twitter and Facebook
• giving out of Amway IDs and KEYs on Twitter and Facebook
• links in messages to pages selling Amway North America products
• product shots and Amway logos on MySpace pages