How to Build Network Marketing Online – 4 Strategic Strategies

So let me guess, you’re tired of chasing your friends and family about your business and as a result you have turned to the internet and are now looking into how to build network marketing online?

I can relate my friend, once upon a time I was in the exact same situation. In my opinion it’s a smart move you are making; but it is also one that is filled with many pitfalls. 

In today’s post I am going to help you avoid those pitfalls by giving you 4 strategies to help you get up and running online as quickly and as successfully as possible.

However, before I get into these 4 strategies to grow your business online. I must give you a warning that you absolutely must heed and take seriously.

The fact is that many people in network marketing or MLM want to build online out of weakness.

They perceive that building their business online is the easy way. They believe that if they go to the internet they will never have to speak to a prospect ever again and that people will simply be joining their business on autopilot.

All of this is wrong…

Building your network marketing business using the internet is an incredible strategy, but a business that lasts long term can not be done on auto pilot and you absolutely must have real conversations with your prospects and team members.

Yes you must use the telephone. It must become one of the tools in your tool bag. The telephone and using it correctly has to be part of your strategy for building online.

When you generate a lead online your goal needs to be to get them on the phone as quickly as possible. This is a must.

There is Nothing to Fear About Using the Telephone

I understand that some people are introverted and hate speaking to other people. I get that. But I also know that successful people do what unsuccessful people won’t.

I also know that the industry of network marketing is loaded with success stories of introverts crushing it.

If they can do it you can too.

Plus when you learn how to prospect correctly, when you learn how and what to say to your prospect you will discover there is nothing to be afraid of at all when it comes to prospecting.

In fact when you learn how to do it right you might surprise yourself and come to realize how fun it is. Believe me the phone will become your best friend and a very profitable friend at that.

Is Network Marketing Really For You?

I hate to be blunt but if you refuse to use the phone you need to take a hard look at yourself and decide whether network marketing really is for you or not?

You have a serious decision to make.

If you want to create a successful network marketing business you need to not only realize that no matter whether you build your business offline or online you are going to have to speak to people. It is what we do. We build relationships with people.

You need to decide if you are going to go to work and develop those skills or perhaps make the decision that network marketing is not for you?

Perhaps affiliate marketing is more your style? You can find out the differences between them here:

Network Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing Pros Cons

In the end it is your business and your future you are building here, so the choice is yours.

Alright so long as your head is right and you understand that using the telephone and speaking with people is an essential component to building a network marketing business online, let’s get into the 4 strategies involved with doing it successfully.

Strategy #1. Get Your Head Right

Yes getting your head right is a strategy and arguably the most important strategy you need to use and master.

One of the inherent weaknesses we humans all have is our desire to have everything at once. We are impatient and we want it all right away.

We do not want to wait.

This is why fast foods restaurants are so popular, or 5 minute microwave meals. We don’t even have the patience to wait long enough to cook ourselves a decent healthy meal.

Network marketing is no different. People want immediate success. The problem is that is not the way it goes.

Learning how to build your business online is going to take time. It is crucial that you get your head right about this.

Learning New Skill Sets Takes Time

Getting good at recruiting distributors or selling products on the internet is going to require that you learn new skills that you presently do not possess.

This is going to take, time and effort. Of course you are going to have set backs and frustrations along the way, we all do, it is part of the process.

You have to understand this is going to happen. It is just like going to the gym to get in shape, just because you get a gym membership does not mean you are going to have a rock solid jacked up figure the next day.

It is going to take consistency, effort, determination and hard work.

So get your head right about this. Go into this journey with the right mindset.

Everything worthwhile takes time. It is just the way it is and you need to embrace that fact and go easy on yourself, give yourself the opportunity to learn, implement and get good at these new strategies.

Building your network marketing business online is a great way to build it, however offline is also a great way to build it, and the best method is actually combining both strategies.

However, regardless of whichever method you choose to build your business you are going to have to learn the correct strategies and give yourself time to get good at them.

When you boil it down there are really 3 online strategies you can use to build your business and we are going to look at all 3 in this post…

First a Quick Word on Your Warm Market

I know you are researching how to build your business online and I am going to give you 3 very powerful strategies in just a second.

However, before I do I have to say a quick word about your warm market. If I don’t I feel like I would be leading you astray.

Many people look to build online so that they can completely abandon working their warm market, meaning the people they already know, i.e. friends and family.

If you do this you are making a huge mistake. A critical mistake actually.

There are a few reasons why that is and I will provide you with a link where you can learn about why the warm market is so important to your long term success and how to build it the right way so that you not only get results but have fun doing so.

The #1 Reason Your Warm Market is Critical to Your Long Term Success

The main reason why you can not abandon your warm market is because of a word called duplication!

What you do duplicates or tries to duplicate within your organization. Meaning whatever methods you use to build your business your team is going to try to use.

Building your business online requires learning a lot more skills than working your warm market does.

Meaning it is harder.

As a result of it being harder not everyone is going to be able to do it successfully or even want to take the time to learn the skills.

As a result if you only focus on internet build strategies your business is going to stall big time. You might recruit people but they are going to do nothing and your business is never going to grow.

It is crucial that you show people how to build successfully from their warm market. Get everyone to start there and then those who wish to can transition into building on the internet. It is by far the best strategy you can implement.

OK enough on that, here is a link you can check out to learn the importance of your warm market and how to work it the right way:

The 4 best places to prospect.

OK onto the network marketing online…

Strategy #2. Active Social Media Prospecting

There are two different strategies that people use to recruit on social media. The first one is an active method.

This strategy is very much like hunting. You are actively going out and making contact with people to see if they are open to taking a look at your network marketing business.

There is not a lot of relationship or rapport building associated with this strategy. Although you can add some to the mix if you like.

This strategy is very much of a numbers game, you are simply sorting through people to see if they are open to taking a look at an opportunity.

I typically do not recommend this method as the percentage of people who will say yes to joining you is very low as they do not know, like or trust you.

However, people do have success with this strategy and there are big name industry trainers who train on this pretty much exclusively.

How to Actively Prospect on Social Media

You would start out by first making sure your profile is in order. You want to look like you are a professional and that you have your stuff in order.

The first thing someone is going to do when you reach out to them about a business opportunity is go and look at your profile. It must look top-notch. You must come across as a successful person. As an entrepreneur going places and making things happen.

You would then pick who your target market is. Who do you want to target? What type of person is your prospect. You need to know this in order to find out where they hang out online, what groups do they frequent?

You then want to join those same groups and become active in them. Provide value to the groups, make good posts, comment on other peoples posts, like posts other people make and answer questions people have.

How to Approach Your Prospect

Now keep an eye out for sharp people in them. Remember you are hunting. When you see someone who you think would make a good prospect for your business it is time to go in for the pitch.

The first thing you do is like their profile picture.

The second thing you do is send them a private message. Come up with your own message, but I like to say something like:

“Hey Jimmy we are in the same paragliding group. I really enjoyed your post about your trip to tim buck too, I was looking at your profile and I noticed you are from Lynchburg VA, I actually have an internet business that I would like to expand into Lynchburg and I thought I would reach out to you to see if you would be open to taking a look at it. Not sure if it is for you or if you know someone in Lynchburg that it might be for, but thought I would ask if you’re open to checking it out, if not no problem, let me know, cheers”.

The third thing you want to do is comment on a post or a comment they made in the group and let them know you sent them a private message.

That is it. Rinse and repeat over and over again. This is a total numbers game.

3 Important Things Not to Do

Do not send any more than 5 – 10 of these messages out on the same platform a day. You will get flagged for spam and unable to send messages for some time. Use different social media platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. This way you can up your numbers to 15 – 20 per day.

If someone tells you they are not interested do not harass them, or try to convince them. Thank them for their time and move on.

Do not use the same message over and over again. Do not copy and paste the message. Mix it up. It is also good to type it in, pasting it can raise the alarms from a social media platform that you are a robot. You want to act like a human being or you will be flagged.

There you have it my friend, a pretty simple and straightforward way to recruit for your network marketing business, it does work however it is a numbers game, so be prepared to go through large amounts of people to get sign ups.

Strategy #3. Passive Social Media Prospecting

The passive strategy for building your business on social media has some similarities to the active strategy I just covered; however it allows you to create more rapport with your prospects which will result in a higher percentage of them joining your business.

Your goal here is to develop the know, like and trust factor which is very important when you are prospecting. People do business with people they know, they like and they trust.

So instead of going out and hunting for prospects this strategy is more like fishing. You want them to come to you.

Instead of going from the groups to directly sending them a private message you want your prospects to become a social media friend.

You want them on your friends list and then you strengthen the relationship with them through what you post on your profile and by interacting with what they post on theirs.

It Starts With Your Personal Profile

Just like the last strategy you want to make sure your profile is set up in such a way as to attract people and not repel them.

You want to look like a professional. Someone who is making things happen and going places.

A fun-loving person. Someone who they would like to get to know. Someone who is upbeat and positive, etc.

Join 3 – 5 Groups

Just like the last strategy you still want to know who your target market is. What type of person are you targeting?

I recommend with this method that your target market are people you have things in common with. This will make interacting with them easier. It will also make finding things to post about on a daily basis easier.

So go join 3- 5 groups where these people are hanging out.

Get Involved In The Groups

The key here is to become an interesting person. Someone the people in these groups are going to notice and be intrigued by. You do this by making posts that provide value and are entertaining.

You also do this by helping people out. If they have a question you answer their question. You like their comments.

Over time as you really get engaged in these groups you can start adding people as friends.

You will also get people starting to follow you and adding you as a friend.

Never send a friend request or receive one without sending a message to the person. This is a big time tip.

Back On Your Personal Profile

Now that you have new friends you will need to go to work on strengthening your friendship or relationship with them by continuing to make posts they will find entertaining, interesting and valuable.

You will also want to sprinkle in lifestyle posts. Posts of you living your life, out having fun, hanging with friends and family and doing things that let your prospects see a bit of who you are.

You will then spend time daily scrolling through your news feed and taking note of what your friends are posting. Interact with their posts, comment on them and like them, etc.

Start Conversations with Prospects

The next step is to find creative ways to start having personal conversations with your prospects. Sending them private messages.

It could be as simple as sending a message saying:

“Hey Rebecca, it’s been a while since we touched base, so I thought I would check in, how’s things”?

Scrolling through your news feed daily and seeing who has a birthday is a great way to start conversations. Send them a private message wishing them a happy birthday and ask them how they are doing, or what’s new, etc.

Transitioning to Business

This is the question everyone asks. When do I bring up my network marketing business?

This business is a relationship business and not a sales business. Your main goal is to build relationships and have conversations.

The time to bring up your business opportunity is right when you have built some rapport, have had some conversations and have somewhat of a friendship on the go.

There is no set time. There is no secret equation to know when the time is right. I can not tell you that it will be after 3 conversations, 2 comments and 1 like. It will be different for every prospect.

You will know when the time is right.

Don’t wait forever either, just actively be engaging with people daily, having conversations and adding new friends. If you do this before long you will have at least 3 -5 people every day that the time will be right to approach them with your business.

There are 2 Ways to Transition to Your Business

The first method is to simply send your friend a message and ask them if they are open to taking a look at an opportunity.

Be yourself and come up with your own way of phrasing the question, you could say a bunch of different things, such as:

“Hey Karen, I just wanted to let you know it has been great getting to know you on here. I have been meaning to reach out to you as I have an internet business I think you would be perfect for, I am not sure it is for you or not and either way is A-OK, I just thought I would check in to see if you would be open to taking a look at it”?

Or

“Hey Bobby-boy, I got a good laugh out of that comment you made about the weather, I was taking a look at your profile and I did not realize you are from Houston, I actually have an internet business I have been wanting to expand into Houston and for fun I thought I would check to see if you would be open to taking a look at it for me. Not sure it would be for you or not, but thought I would ask”?

Really really easy stuff my friend. Just be cool, just be a human being and have normal non- salesy or slimy conversations.

The second method to transition to your business is by making what are referred to as curiosity posts…

What is a Curiosity Post

Well it is exactly as it sounds. It is a post designed to raise curiosity in your prospect. You want them to wonder what in the heck you are up to. What are you doing?

You want them to become so curious that they actually ask you. What is that business you are talking about or what is that product you have been sharing the results from?

Never ever post the name or link to your company or product. You don’t want to give the suspense away. You want them to come to you asking what it is.

You do this by sprinkling in curiosity posts like the following:

“I am pretty fired up, I was just speaking with Burt who just got back from his 5th family vacation this year. Can you imagine, his 5th family vacation?

Before joining our opportunity he was not ever even able to take his family on 1 family vacation let alone 5 in a year. Crazy. Burt is pretty fired up and his family is loving what he is doing.

If you want to learn more about what the business we are building is all about feel free to drop me message and I will get you some information”

That was a business oriented post. You can do the same thing with a product oriented post:

“Wow I am so excited for Betty-Lou, I was just speaking with her and she has lost 20 pounds in the last 4 weeks. She has never had this type of success losing weight before, I am so happy for her.

If you want to know what she is doing to lose weight, feel free to drop me a message and I will get you some information”.

Bam! Curiosity will be going through the roof. Make these types of posts once out of every 10 posts you make and people will be reaching out to you wanting to know what the heck you are doing I can guarantee you!

There you have it my friend, that is the basics of how the passive social media strategy works.

It’s a great strategy and I recommend you and everyone on your team use that method as soon as you have finished with your warm market.

You can learn more about how to do it here:

Network marketing on social media explained.

What is the best network marketing training?

Now let’s get into another online strategy that I really love…

Strategy #4 Attraction Marketing

OK full disclosure on this strategy:

• It is not for everyone
• It has a steep learning curve
• It takes time to get any results using it.
• It costs money to do.
• If you do it exclusively you will fail.

Haha sounds appealing doesn’t it?

Here is the deal. This is a great strategy and a very powerful strategy once you start getting results with it. It can become an absolute game changer for your business down the road.

But if you use this strategy you need to do it in addition to the other strategies i.e. warm market and passive social media. Do not do it instead of those strategies, it will not work if you do.

The reason for saying this is because of what we talked about earlier. Duplication!

Not many people if any on your team will be able to do this strategy, or want to for that matter. If they perceive that you are only doing this strategy most will quit and you will be back at square one.

The key is to spend the majority of your time recruiting new distributors using the other methods we talked about and then with your remaining time start learning and implementing attraction marketing.

If you do this you will start recruiting people, your team will do the same, your downline and business will start to grow and you will eventually start to get traction with your attraction marketing strategy.

When that happens you will start having more prospects coming in then you know what to do with and you can start sharing them with your team. It’s a win win situation at that point.

So What The Heck is Attraction Marketing?

Basically it is internet marketing for the network marketing industry.

You use internet marketing techniques to create content online that positions you as an expert in your field, whether that is an expert in health and wellness, business opportunities or even network marketing.

The content you put out could be in the form of blog posts, YouTube videos, Instagram posts, Facebook ads, etc.

The content you are creating helps people solve their problems. People start finding your content, they start following you, and over time they start to look up to you as the expert who can help them.

When you make a recommendation such as your product or business opportunity people listen to you because they respect you.

When you suggest your weight loss product is the solution to them finally getting to their ideal weight they listen to you and they buy your product.

When you suggest your network marketing opportunity is the solution to helping them make extra money they listen to you and they join your business.

But again it takes time to get to this point. It takes consistently creating and putting out new content. Over time this content starts to add up and more and more people start to find you.

Eventually as more and more people start to find you, follow you and look up to you as the expert this strategy will become the only recruiting method you will ever need to do.

If this strategy sounds interesting you can learn more about it here:

How to do attraction marketing for MLM the right way.

If you want to start using this method I recommend you learn from these guys here, they are the best trainers of this strategy

Cheers to YOUR Success

Robb Corbett

P.S. Whether you are building your network marketing business online or offline recruiting is the key to your success. To help you become a great recruiter I have put together a Free prospecting boot camp. The free sign up is on the side of the blog or at the bottom if you are on your smartphone.

P.P.S. If you got value from this post do me a favor and let me know in the comment section. Also if you have any questions drop them there as well and I will be sure to respond to you.