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5 Ways to Say Thank You

I absolutely LOVE to send Happy Mail to my customers, team members, clients, and hosts.

Idea #1: Dress up the envelope itself:

It’s great to get something other than a bill in the mail. But what if it was addressed:

  • to the amazing…
  • to the beautiful…
  • to my friend…
  • special delivery…
  • to the incredible…

If it’s going to my best friend…it gets a funny note. I love sending mail to my bestie Rupracht. It usually starts with:
Christina Rupracht (is shady)
Just add something funny to the end of their name to give them a giggle!

Idea #2: AliExpress:

There’s a website that is kind of AWESOME! I got 25 adorable necklaces for 96 cents a piece and FREE SHIPPING. There’s literally a hundred thousand items to choose from. Most come in “lots”. So it’ll say $14.99 for 12 pieces…
I hand write a note and add this to the envelope. And you can mail some of these for ONE STAMP!
SHOP ALL ITEMS HERE

Idea #3: Get a stamp:

I wanted something fun to be able to stamp onto envelopes. I found this lady’
s shop about 5 years ago or something crazy. She makes custom STAMPS. How cool is that?!
I had this stamp made a very long time ago and I think it just creates excitement when they even see that on the envelope! It’s all about setting yourself apart from the rest of the world, being unique and MEMORABLE in your customer’s minds.
She also has a lot of amazing ideas for some happy mail for your loved ones.
HAPPY MAIL (2)
 
It was $26 for the stamp and she does self inking or a regular one where you use an ink pad. You can order yours here

Idea #4: Check out Pinterest:

I have an entire Pinterest board full of crazy cool ideas.
CHECK IT OUT HERE

Don’t forget to join Directly Social for more fun tips and tricks, CLICK HERE!

Idea #5: Uncommon Gifts:

There’s a few websites that I LOVE to order from. Why? Because they’re totally random and weird gifts that you won’t find somewhere else. So these things make me SMILE from ear to ear! Have fun browsing through some of these super fun sites:
Uncommon Goods
Cat Lady Stuff
What on Earth 
Always Fits
Mail a Potato 

Melissa Fietsam, Directly Social

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2019 Facebook Graphic Sizes

Facebook graphic dimensions

And note the instructions below. Even when you use this size graphic, there’s some rules to the game. So keep reading below!
Don’t forget to join our Facebook community for more tips and tricks: JOIN HERE

 

What happens to your photo when you upload it?

This is to help show you what will happen with your group photos now with the changes. In case I haven’t given you enough of a headache today!
Outside the red box will show on mobile but not desktop.
Inside the box, is what will show on desktop.
For example, this is your Facebook GROUP BANNER PHOTO dimensions below: 1640×856
You need to keep your graphic centered. The reason they changed it, was so the graphic specs would be the same across all platforms…mobile devices, tablets, computers, etc. So when you upload the graphic, it tries to “auto adjust” to fit all platforms. Thus, the headache. Good thing is…once yo get it down, it will look great from any device 🙂

And if you’d like to know how to create custom dimensions…here’s a quick “how to” video for Canva. This will allow you to create those dimensions so you can have the perfect sized banner for your groups!

Melissa Fietsam
#DirectlySocial

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February Content and Marketing Ideas

Here’s your February content ideas, blog post, marketing, and hashtags.

There’s a few aspects you need to think about in your business in each month with all your social media platforms. My job is to make it easy for you. 

Social media platforms

  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Facebook Group
  • Facebook Business Page
  • Personal FB Timeline
  • Pinterest
  • Snap Chat
  • Twitter

All your social media platforms should be bubbling over with Valentine’s Day. So let’s talk about February themes, post ideas, blog post ideas, hashtags and key words…

Post and content ideas for February:

  1. 7 Days of love (do one thing each day before Valentine’s Day)
  2. Valentine’s Day crafts for kids
  3. Ideas for Valentine’s Day cards for school kids
  4. Valentine’s Day gift ideas for women/men, mom/grandma
  5. Cheap date night ideas for Valentine’s Day for kids or adults
  6. Mardi Gras, Lincoln’s Birthday, Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day…give a history of the month’s days…
  7. Write a post featuring another direct sales consultant/company that you love and surprise them
  8. Photo contest for “your loves”
  9. Random Acts of Kindness Day is February 17th, give some ideas!
  10. February is National Wedding Month, talk about wedding ideas and use those hashtags

February Themes:

  • love
  • date night
  • cookies
  • flowers
  • weddings
  • ground hog day
  • lincoln’s birthday
  • black history month
  • mardi gras
  • olympics
  • fat tuesday
  • super bowl
  • chocolate
  • chinese new year
  • wine
  • american heart month
  • National Wear Red Day
  • girl scout cookies
  • president’s day
  • love
  • kindness
  • teddy bears
  • hearts
  • candy hearts
  • spa day
  • pampering
  • Family Day in Canada
  • friendship
  • taxes
  • self care
  • Galentine’s Day
  • romance
  • love movies
  • date nights
  • Canned Food Month 

You should be joining the conversation and engaging your customer with some great content.

Join the Directly Social Elite Club and get:

  1. February themed graphics to use on all your social media platforms
  2. An entire month of social media posts
  3. and an entire February Facebook Script

Hashtags to use for February:

#love #valentines #valentine #vday #heart #happyvalentinesday #flowers #chocolate #hearts #valentinesgift #bemyvalentine #bemine #pink #roses #shopsmall #gifts #galentinesday #valentinesdaygift #thatsdarling #Valentinesday2019 #friends #bestfriends #groundhhogday2019 #groundhogday #blackhistorymonth #february #kindness #girlscoutcookies #nationalwearredday #mardigras #flowers #fattuesday

Words to include in your February posts:

  • fall in love
  • love
  • lovely
  • valentine
  • cupid
  • flowers
  • red

Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial

 

 

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Great Idea for Celebrating New Consultants in your Direct Sales Business

Need an idea to celebrate your new consultants?


I came up with an idea that will help celebrate them AND get them excited about their business! And I knew just who to contact to help me carry it out. Julie Shilling is my go to graphics girl. She efficient, affordable, and provides excellent service and design.
So here’s what I did…

When a new consultant enters their first party, I wanted a way to reward them with something that would also help them market their business. I decided to do a catalog label design!

So let’s say they enter their first party…
I message my girl this graphic and say pick any design you want! I’m going to personalize these catalog labels for you!

Don’t forget to join our Facebook community: CLICK HERE

Julie provides a PDF they can download and print their own labels from home!

I’m also going to send the link to these labels I get on Amazon prime for SUPER CHEAP:
1,000 labels for $11.99

She charges the leader (me) $15 for the initial design with team colors or whatever you want on these 3 choices. But guess what? For every new consultant you need the design for, it only costs $5! So I can reward my new consultants for $5! HECK YEAH! #SCORE

This is going to:

  1. help her market her business
  2. make her feel so proud to see her name on a beautiful design
  3. get her excited about passing out those catalogs
  4. and make her job easy by handing her a tool that is essential to her business

And in return:

  1. you get to celebrate her
  2. you can get your whole team excited about this
  3. you can even do team giveaways centered around these as a giveaway
  4. and you do this all while paying PENNIES to do it!

Contact Julie Shilling today by heading to her business page:

Angel Kiss Design

Hope this helps someone today!
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial

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You're FIRED!

Think what you want to about Donald Trump, but I will tell you, I used to LOVE his show The Apprentice and his infamous “You’re Fired!” at the end of each episode.

I loved the urgency and intensity of the show and loved to see how people perform under pressure and rise to the occasion! People can do amazing things under pressure and when they feel the urgency to get things done. For me, it gives me sheer adrenaline to work on risky projects and try things I have never done before in my business. I never want to get to a place of complacency or apathy in my business, where I just don’t care to work for it anymore…where I’m content to sit on my butt and watch the world around me. That is not me, that is not in my nature, and it shouldn’t be in yours either!

I get it, some weeks and months are harder than others and sometimes you just don’t have anymore gas in the tank. But let’s get real! Most of the time you’re honestly just being the worst boss ever in your own business! You’re not getting things done, you’re making excuses, you’re piddling around doing things that bring no real value or $$$ into your business. You’re “playing business” and not actually working a business.

Businesses MAKE money, hobbies COST money!


I am going to share with you a little tidbit that I heard many years ago in my direct sales career, so long ago that I can’t actually remember who originally said it, “You many need to fire yourself from the business. Yep, that’s what I said, sometimes you might just need to give yourself the old heave-ho!”.  Think about this scenario; if you worked at a company and you had an employee performing the way you are performing in your business right now, would you keep them on the payroll? If yes, awesome! But I would venture to guess that most of you would say NO WAY! You would fire you in a heartbeat — so do it now! Yes, I am giving you permission to completely fire yourself from your own business!
Even for me, there are some months where I just royally screw up my business. I get comfortable in my day to day, I do the mundane business tasks with no sense of urgency and basically just “exist” in the business and perform like a lifeless robot. I need fired, I deserve to be fired! So every now and then… I DO fire myself completely from the business. I fire myself on a Friday for being ineffective and not doing what I know needs to be done for my job to grow my business. Then I will spend the weekend thinking about what I know needs to be done and coming up with a plan to make that happen. Then I rehire myself on Monday morning to get things done right.
How are things going in your business? Do you need to go all “Donald Trump” on your own butt and give yourself a pink slip? If you’re not working your business with urgency & intensity, if you are not leaping out of bed each morning because you are so excited about what you are doing and who you’re helping, you should be fired!

My favorite plan of action to REBOOT:

2 days: Make a list of all the things you need to get done in the next two days. These are #1 priority. And this list needs refreshed often.
2 weeks: Make a list of all the things that need done in the next two weeks. And refresh this list every couple of weeks.
2 months: Make a list of all the things that need done in the next two months. This is where your quarterly planning comes in; upcoming holidays, incentives, sales, etc.

HAVE YOU JOINED OUR FACEBOOK GROUP FOR MORE TIPS?

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

Complacency & apathy will be the death of your business, do not allow it to come to that.

Deep down, regardless of what you portray to others or make yourself look like on social media, you know if you’ve been slacking in your business. If you’re doing enough to just get by and hoping the “boss” doesn’t notice…you need to get a grip! Since you’re the boss…you’re just cheating yourself and your family out of success. So take a page out of Donald Trump’s show, maybe it’s time to say “YOU’RE FIRED“! Wipe the slate clean, get your thoughts and plans together and then rehire yourself to rock your biz!
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial

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Fundraisers for Mass Marketing in your Direct Sales Business

We just launched a training on how to use Fundraisers to mass market your Direct Sales Business.

You’re going to get a video training on:

  • Why you want to do them
  • How you can market them on social media
  • How to set up your packets
  • How to find people interested in fundraisers
  • How to book parties and create leads from them
  • How to increase sales with them
  • and so much more!

If you’re looking to increase sales, recruiting, and bookings this year…you need to take this training!

STEP 1:

Training is $39 for lifetime access

STEP 2:

JOIN YOUR TRAINING GROUP BY CLICKING HERE

 
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial

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Should I Add Consultants to My Customer Group?

So the topic for today’s blog post – “Should I add my downline and other Consultants to my VIP Customer Group?”

I will be honest, this is a question that will get you a lot of different opinions when asked in a group of leaders, but I am going to share my thoughts and then why I think that way.

If you follow me on Social Media, you know that I was in Las Vegas last weekend with CinchShare’s W.I.L.D Retreat (Women in Leadership Development). It was a training weekend for Leaders and CinchShare knocked it out of the park. They invited amazing speakers  to present, including yours truly! I loved the workshop style of the event and the time allotted to put the learnings into practice.
The event was so eye-opening for me as I saw the needs of leaders and heard the areas they were struggling in. It really helped me to get even more clarity on what leaders in the field need and how I could help them. Over the next few months, I plan to take one blog post a month to really dive deep into some of those struggles that Leaders have.  If you have something you would like to see me address here in the blog, please let me know in the comments below and I will do my best to make it happen.

But back to our topic… – “Should I add my downline and other Consultants to my VIP Customer Group?”

I personally do not think you should add your downline, upline or other Consultants to your VIP Customer Group. The purpose of the group is to have a place of communication for your customers and potential customers. I want you to dig deep and really think about WHY you have added those Consultants to your group.
For some leaders, they say it is to “share” what you are doing with those Consultants so they can go do the same thing in their customer group, right? Well, in my eyes, I see that as enabling my Consultants, not equipping or empowering them. One of the most important things I believe I need to teach my Consultants is to take control of their business and work it as a business from day one. I am all about giving them tools to use to learn the ropes of the business, but I am careful not to be the mama bird going out and getting their food, bringing it back to the nest and literally feeding it to them. If you are always feeding them (literally from your mouth to theirs), they will never leave the nest, and why would they ever want to?
I do not want to create a nest of birds on my team that are dependent on me to give them everything or they can’t function; I want to mentor them and teach them to build their own business. To leave the nest and have their businesses take flight. My job as a leader is to equip, empower and grow my Consultants. And then mentor them to do the same with their Consultants. My Consultants do not lack the flow of information, encouragement or communication. I still give them everything they need and then some, but they are not members of my Customer Group, they don’t need to be.
Teach them to fly…

I keep my Customer Group closed to any of my downline Consultants. It is truly just me and my customers inside my group. I want to converse and build authentic relationships with those customers, just me and them.  But I do SHARE what I am doing in my Customer Group with my team often.
I take screenshots of conversations or posts and upload them to my team group to give them ideas of what I am going, and what is working for me. By sharing a screenshot, they can take the idea and make it their own, without copying and pasting my exact verbiage or images. I use the screenshots to inspire them and get them thinking about what would work in their Customer Group. I also post just about everything I do in my customer group ON our team page. So they can go do it themselves. Therefore, there’s no real need for them to be in my group.
I also try to keep my Customer Group closed to other Consultants and Leaders outside of my team. While I do not feel competitive with other Consultants and Leaders, this is a business and I am working hard to build something BIG for my family.  I am ready to sell to, book, and recruit anyone that wants to do business with me. Adding outsiders to my customer group just creates a tangled web that I do not think is healthy for my business.
If you do have downline consultants in your group (or other Consultants/Leaders) that is entirely your choice. But I will ask that you stop for a minute and really think about WHY you have them in there. What is the intended purpose? Is it working? Is it what is best for your Consultants? Is it helping them to stand up and OWN their business as a business? How are you equipping and empowering them by allowing them to be group members? If you answered positively to all of those, that is awesome and you should continue what you are doing. If you can’t answer positively to all of those, it might be time to consider a change.
Some people say they having other consultants in their group because they “like” and comment on posts and that helps boost views. So what you’re saying, is you don’t want an accurate account of what’s working and not working in your customer group. Because you will never know. And don’t even get me started on the fact that people take your posts and reuse them over and over. And that’s how we end up in Facebook jail, right?
Remember, your job as a leader is to equip, empower, and encourage your Consultants to grow a strong and sustainable business and to mentor them to success in that business. How is that going for you?!
Just some random thoughts from Melissa on your track to leadership!

Don’t forget to join our Facebook group! CLICK HERE TO JOIN

Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
 
 
 
 

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February Customer Engagement Posts

Each month in Directly Social, we share a month’s worth of engagement posts. And it’s time for February’s!

Here is an entire month’s worth of FREE ENGAGEMENT POSTS for your customer groups in FEBRUARY!

Never want to miss these?

>>These run Monday-Thursday, on FRIDAYS…you should be posting a Product Spotlight for your business!

Monday Funnies:

Tuesday Puzzles:

Wednesday Inspiration:

Thursday Fun:

>>You DO have to be a member of Cinchshare in order to get these links. There is no way for me to easily share these without doing so through Cinchshare!

>>If you need to know how to import these links into your Cinchshare account and schedule them within minutes for the whole month, click on this quick tutorial:

Creating posts on your social media platforms (especially your customer groups) should always be a positive place with MORE than just selling to them all the time. Use these posts to make them smile, make them laugh, and create a positive atmosphere where they love to come and visit you often!
Melissa Fietsam
@DirectlySocial

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Get Control of your Email!

As we go into the New Year, one thing you should do is get control of your email.

Having an inbox full of messages, read or unread, is a time sucker. It not only wastes time, but it can also:

  1. decrease productivity
  2. cause you to miss important messages
  3. cause stress and anxiety
  4. waste time searching for important messages
  5. decrease your customer service (because you’re simply not staying on top of it)
  6. decrease bookings (oh, didn’t see that someone wanted to book a party)

…and so much more.

So what can you do about it?

  1. Set aside one hour a day until you have gone through every single message and either deleted it or put it into a folder. CLEAR YOUR INBOX.
  2. Start unsubscribing to every single email from stores, newsletters, and other unnecessary emails you get that you’ve been subscribed to all year long. Don’t just DELETE them, UNSUBSCRIBE so you stop getting an abundance of those on a daily/weekly basis.
  3. There’s also a site called Unroll Me (click here: https://unroll.me/ ). This site will link to your email and allow you to mass unsubscribe from everything you’re subscribed to.

So who’s with me?

Let’s get organized! More New Year’s tips coming your way soon!
Want more tips? Join us over on Directly Social. CLICK HERE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/directlysocial/
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial

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New Facebook Group Photo Size

Facebook has done it again! They changed the group photo size.

Here’s your new custom dimensions:

What happens to your photo when you upload it?

This is to help show you what will happen with your group photos now with the changes. In case I haven’t given you enough of a headache today!
Outside the red box will show on mobile but not desktop.
Inside the box, is what will show on desktop.

And if you’d like to know how to create custom dimensions…here’s a quick “how to” video for Canva. This will allow you to create those dimensions so you can have the perfect sized banner for your groups!


So I’ve been playing with the Facebook group banner size, and getting frustrated like many of you! So I went straight to the source.
Here’s the explanation from Facebook on why they changed the banner size. And why it’s different for everyone too.
The recommended size via Facebook is 1640×856.
However, you need to keep your graphic centered. Because the reason they changed it, was so that the graphic specs would be the same across all platforms…mobile devices, tablets, computers, etc. So when you upload the graphic, it tries to “auto adjust” to fit all platforms. Thus, the headache. 

So…go drink a beer, a glass of wine…and tilt your head sideways and maybe it’ll look right! JUST KIDDING! 

Just have to keep playing with it until it fits right on the computer screen. Good thing is…once it does, it will look great from any device 🙂
Hope that helps a lil.
Melissa Fietsam
#DirectlySocial