Self Promotion on Traditional Message Boards and Forums

Promoting yourself and your network marketing or home based business on the Internet should be approached from a variety of angles. You do want to participate in the popular social networks like Facebook, but also consider the many traditional forums and message boards that are available.

For network marketers, there are quite a few of these devoted to discussion of your business. For just about any home based business, there will be places you can visit where potential prospects and customers will be hanging out.

Some people feel that spending time on message boards is a waste of time. If you’re building your business online, nothing could be farther from the truth. Yes, you can go overboard and spend TOO much time on them, but using them wisely can bring you considerable benefit over time. It’s important to realize that a LOT more people are lurking and simply reading posts on these forums than are actually contributing publically. Some of them are doing research on starting a home business or seeking information about a particular product or service. These people may contact you privately when they feel comfortable with who you are and what you’re doing.

Here are some things to keep in mind.

You Are Branding Yourself, Not Promoting Your Business

Remember that you are participating in these forums to brand yourself, not to directly promote your opportunity, product, or service directly. You want your image to be more like Janet Smith, entrepreneur and contributor who enjoys helping others, rather than Janet Smith, distributor for Acme Candles who is here to promote her business opportunity. See the difference? You’ll get far more respect (and ultimately serious business prospects) by being a contributor rather than a taker and promoter.

Get a Feel for the Community Before Jumping In

All of these message boards and forums have different characters. Among the MLM forums that I’ve visited, I’ve found some that are frequented by higher income earners, and the discussions go into great depth and the topics are more advanced. In others, I’ve found that most users are novices or beginners in network marketing, and the conversations tend to be centered around very basic business building questions.

Before jumping in, take some time to read several current message threads and get a feel for the community and people there. You will see who the regular contributors are, and get a sense of the flow. You may find that your background and experiences fit better in some communities, and you can focus your initial “branding” in those places.

Look for Opportunities to Contribute and Help

I can’t emphasize this enough. Most forums allow you to put links and maybe a short blurb about your business in your signature. Keep the advertising there, and be professional and low-key about it. Your objective is to help people who are asking questions or seeking insight. After a while, start looking for opportunities to start your own threads with helpful tips and thoughts, rather than always just responding to topics others have started. This is the beginning of true leadership in these forums.

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