Jamie Stewart, Chairman of the UK DSA and Managing Director for Kleeneze Ltd, knows there is so much information available on the Internet today that it can be overwhelming for direct sellers, particularly those new to social media. That’s why he advises anyone running a direct selling organization to research and stick to trustworthy resources.

One of Stewart’s most trusted resources is the Direct Selling Education Foundation.

DSEF’s social media platforms—including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and the Foundation’s blog—offer valuable content that can help direct sellers build their businesses.

“The Twitter feed from the DSEF is top of my list,” says Stewart. “It’s not only a safe, trusted source, but has quality information that is aimed at supporting your direct sellers. I know many people within our business have put the information to good use—after all, it’s putting great information to use that really makes it valuable.”

Nancy Laichas, Director of Marketing & Communications at DSEF, says the Foundation’s social media platform allows DSEF to reach a whole new audience with the wealth of resources it has developed with partners like the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA). “Tens of the thousands of small business owners, many of whom are direct sellers, now have access to free, credible information on topics like consumer protection, business ethics, personal finance and entrepreneurship skills,” she says.

The DSEF blog features interviews with industry executives, tips on running a business and selling, and guest posts from partner organizations such as CBBB, which initiated a blog post exchange with DSEF. Additionally, CUNA provides links to personal finance articles, and has partnered with the Foundation to produce YouTube videos on a variety of small business topics.

“Blogs like DSEF are valuable to industry veterans and new distributors alike because they provide regular direct sales-specific information” says Dan Macuga, Chief Communications Officer for USANA Health Sciences. “It’s valuable for distributors in that it provides a third-party, non-partisan look at the direct selling industry.”

For companies like USANA that are very active on social media, DSEF’s blog provides third-party content to share with people who are interested in learning about more than just USANA, but the industry in general.

“DSEF’s social media is also a great example of how to create a variety of practical content, such as ‘how-to’ posts packed with interesting facts and useful business-building tips, which even companies that are not as active on social media can easily share,” Macuga says.

One such example would be the “DSA Code of Ethics” videos on the DSEF YouTube channel, which demonstrate how USANA and other direct sellers operate with integrity. “The best-practices employed by DSEF complement what we’re trying to accomplish with USANA’s social media—we want to provide our Associates with entertaining and informative content they can share with their online networks,” Macuga adds.

Mannatech Vice President of Marketing Brett Duncan says that social media has made content more important than ever. “It’s not always easy finding enough content to fill in your editorial calendar for the week,” he says. “We use DSEF’s constant flow of great articles and tips specific to our industry regularly to help fill in those gaps. It’s been a surefire strategy for us, as we can rest easy knowing content is being created with our industry in mind by people who understand the industry. And it’s also given our sales Associates another place to gather with like-minded people even outside of Mannatech and take pride in their profession.”

Sarah Baker Andrus, Director of External Relations and Academic Programs for Vector Marketing Corporation, says she likes to follow the DSEF Facebook page. “Whenever I see posts on that page in my news feed, I always look at them for something of value to our field,” she says. “It’s quite common that the topic they’ve covered or the way they present something is salient enough and relevant enough for our business that we are able repost it and share it on our corporate page on Facebook. The value-add to us is something that we really appreciate. It gives us the chance to share good, generic business information with our field. We like that we are not only always posting information that is Vector or CUTCO specific. I love that DSEF offers information that is really helpful to growing your own business.”

Andrus also appreciates DSEF’s weekly email that explains what the Foundation is focusing on for the week. “My team is able to look at that and say, ‘Hey, here’s something we can piggyback off. There’s something we could add to. Or, that’s a good idea.’ I love the way that they are very proactive, and that they follow an editorial calendar they share with us so we can tie in whenever possible.”

The feedback coming in from the field is both positive and appreciative of the work DSEF does on behalf of those seeking reliable information on the industry.

Says Ally B., an Independent Silpada Designs Representative, “I just want to thank you for all the wonderful articles you post. I read them every day. They are so helpful. They inspire me to do more to promote my business.”

DSEF’s social media can be found at:

	http://dsef.org/category/blog-posts
	http://www.facebook.com/TheDSEF
	https://twitter.com/#!/thedsef
	http://pinterest.com/thedsef
	http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDSEF

To receive DSEF’s weekly email outlining the coming week’s social media topics, contact Nancy Laichas.

It’s no secret that the Millennial Generation immerses itself in communication technologies. Gen Yers were raised in a digital world, and everyday life includes the extensive use of social media platforms to research and share information.

So as this generation enters the workforce, how do direct selling companies evolve their traditional sales and training methods to appeal to them?

At the upcoming DSA Annual Meeting in June, DSEF will sponsor “AVATAR WORKSHOP: Using Avatars and Virtual Worlds to Captivate Gen Y,” a workshop that will demonstrate a digital approach to captivating a new generation of direct sales distributors and customers.

Attendees will learn about virtual worlds and how to use avatars—online digital personas that allow users to navigate the virtual environment and interact with other participants—for training and marketing to increase sales, educating and motivating distributors, collecting customer insights for new product development and promoting new products to consumers.

“We want attendees to come away with a vision of how they can engage a new generation of customers and distributors,” says Professor Michael Solomon, Director of the Haub School of Business Center for Consumer Reseach at Saint Joseph’s University, who will co-present the session. “These ‘Digital Natives’ increasingly shop and interact on social media like Facebook. The virtual world platforms we will discuss are the next generation of the online marketplace—they combine the immediacy of Facebook with vivid visual capabilities. Virtual worlds will allow DSA businesses to promote their products and ramp up engagement in traditional venues like home parties as well as in new venues like digital house parties.”

According to co-presenter Greg Marshall, Charles Harwood Professor of Marketing & Strategy at Rollins College, the session will be a little avant-garde. “The slide deck we have put together is not a normal slide deck,” he says. “We are showing a lot of examples of avatar-driven communications and where training could be done in a virtual world environment. Hopefully it will open up attendee interest and even understanding of what is possible using a virtual-world approach, whether it is through customer contact, training, branding or messaging—those are the things that are the real opportunities. We’re hoping this session will be a first salvo at raising interest on the part of the direct selling community.”

The basis for the workshop is a research pilot study funded by DSEF and led by Professors Solomon and Marshall in which a virtual world was constructed for the mark® division of Avon. In July 2010 Solomon and Marshall conducted a series of conference calls with mark’s marketing and online teams to create a virtual sales representative training venue. The virtual venue was completed in August 2010, and this past February mark employees were invited to enter the venue and interact as avatars.

Why is this type of academic research so important? Solomon says forward-looking businesspeople understand the value of staying on top of new technologies and business models, but may not have the luxury of exploring these options because of the ongoing demands of running their companies. “This type of research bridges the gap between new possibilities and everyday practice,” he says. “It reflects a model of cooperation where academic and practitioner partners each contribute a unique set of resources, and an innovative match-making organization like DSEF provides the glue that holds them together.”

Making academic research practical for direct sellers is critical because the divide between academic research and traditional market research—or applied research—is getting narrower and narrower, says Marshall. “Professors are really being held more and more accountable to multiple stakeholders. It’s not just about publishing our work in obscure journals any longer, but hopefully being able to add value to the fields that are connected to our research.”

Marshall added that this type of research has important implications for direct sellers who want to get ahead of the game, not the least of which is that the generation they are dealing with now—whether it is the new sales representatives or the new end-user customers or even individuals working at the corporate level. “You are dealing so much more with the millennial group—that’s the apple of all direct sellers’ eyes right now—and that group lives in a different space from Baby Boomers and Gen X types,” he said. “They want to be able to go out and find out things on their own. They are perfectly comfortable in the virtual space. For training purposes, there are so many interesting applications, such as using a virtual-world approach. For the end-user customer, direct sales has a lot of opportunities to bring them into the virtual world to demonstrate products. It is going to be a brave new world out there when it comes to taking product to market.”

The Avatar Workshop will be held on Monday, June 4, from 10:15 A.M. to 11:30 A.M.

As Tom Kelly ends his tenure as Chair of DSEF’s Board of Directors, we take time to acknowledge his leadership and the significant contributions he has made to the Foundation over the past year.

Kelly, who will step down as Board Chair at the upcoming DSA Annual Meeting in June, has been a tireless advocate for DSEF and brought his trademark energy and creativity to the Foundation’s fundraising efforts. Charlie Orr, DSEF Executive Director, believes Kelly will continue to be a vocal supporter of the Foundation in the years ahead. “Tom has been our FUND-raiser-in-chief,” Orr says. “It’s where he has spent a lot of his efforts this past year. And he has also been FUN to work with. His energy level, his enthusiasm and his sense for what’s right are very contagious. He brought savvy direct selling experience to his leadership role, and he’s going to take that same level of energy and expertise to Silpada.”

That savvy experience comes from more than 30 years at Avon Products and now serves him well as President and COO of Silpada Designs, which Avon acquired in 2010. As he leaves DSEF, Kelly reflects on the critical work the Foundation does on behalf of the direct selling industry, as well as the challenges it faces in securing financial support to fund its programs.

“DSEF plays a really important role in supporting initiatives beyond the lobbying efforts of the DSA,” Kelly says. “This Foundation is good for our business, and we should take advantage of it.”

However, Kelly acknowledges that while DSEF has a committed Board of Directors, what DSEF does not have is the involvement and commitment of all direct selling companies.

“The reason the DSEF was founded was that the public’s perception of the industry was really bad,” says Kelly. “At that time, DSA executives founded the Foundation. Fast-forward to today and I think we are in a bit of a calm period. Right now people realize that direct selling companies are very legitimate.”

That new perception is in part due to DSEF’s partnerships with consumer advocates, educators and students, public policy officials, and members of the small business and entrepreneurship communities.  The programs DSEF develops with these respected organizations and academic institutions create a better business climate for the industry.

“There is a risk that people don’t see DSEF as relevant today,” Kelly says. “If DSEF didn’t exist, you’d want to invent it because you’d want to influence academics, and you’d want to partner with consumer agencies. These are things that the DSA can’t do on its own; it’s really a lobbying group that works on government regulations. What the Foundation does is find partnerships through academics, organizations such as the Council for Better Business Bureaus and other groups that create this warm environment.”

Kelly’s hope is that the incoming DSEF Chair will continue to tap into the strong resources and talent of the DSEF Board. “My advice would be to continue to focus on programs that reach out to the academic world and support direct selling,” he said. “Continue to look at expanding DSEF’s reach. Right now we don’t have the participation we should. I think it is up to the incoming chair and Charlie to motivate and ensure that all direct selling companies and all direct selling executives don’t take the Foundation for granted—that they contribute to it and get involved in it to help companies grow.”