For ViSalus Sciences, in an industry built on relationship marketing, the advent and proliferation of social media raises a lot of questions—and opportunities. The relationship between a direct seller and its prospects is a long way from the ones found on Match.com or eHarmony. But they do have things in common.

On every social media site or blog, everybody hopes they find people with mutual interests, and in the best of all possible worlds, you strike up long-term relationships.

But it’s a delicate balance in our industry. We’re learning that there’s no payoff in a “Join my company!” or “Buy my product!” approach. Instead, relationships in the virtual world are built in much the same way as they are face to face. They evolve slowly and intentionally. But whether the relationship develops over a cup of coffee or a keyboard, the relationship itself is the key to having people know, like and trust you.

Best of Both Worlds

For 4-year-old ViSalus, the decision to encourage distributors to build relationships through social media was a no-brainer. It was a matter of efficiency, as well as vision.

“Network marketing is about creating relationships and communication and working together,” Chief Marketing Officer Blake Mallen says. “The new social media tools are the most effective platform to communicate.”

The wellness company so strongly believes that social media marketing is the future of the industry that it has coined the term fusion marketing, which takes the tried-and-true traits of traditional direct selling and unites them with today’s technology.

The cornerstone is Vi-Net, an invitation-only online community of distributors—and customers—on ViSalus’s Web site. Vi-Net is the company’s go-to place for online training, sales tips and business-management tools. It’s home to blogs, pictures and chats among the ViSalus community. But here’s the differentiator: Vi-Net also provides instant connections with key social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Anytime a member updates Vi-Net, the system automatically updates their sites on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and others.

The effect of Vi-Net on ViSalus’s growth has been amazing, Mallen says. “We’ve seen retention go up and new enrollments increase. But the biggest thing is that it’s just fun. It brings out people’s personalities and creates an awesome culture that helps bring people together and make them feel like they’re part of something. It’s all about fostering relationships.”

Originally posted at www.DirectSellingNews.com