Changing a 50 year old business model using Social Media

Carl Mogridge – Amway’s social media advisor

This is a guest blog post by social media professional Carl Mogridge about changing 50 year old business model.
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Changing a 50 year old business model

So your company’s business model is 50 years old, turns over more than US $8.4 billion annually, then along comes social media.

Do you start using a technology that is new just because it’s cool?

Or do you embrace it and show people the that social media can build you a faster more effective business online?

If Australia is the “lucky country” then Amway certainly is the corporate equivalent.

Amway’s 50 year old business model was built on connecting, sharing and building strong communities to sell products based on peer recommendations so social media has become a natural progression for the direct selling giant.

Origins – 50 years ago

The company has certainly come a long way since its creation back in 1959, today the direct selling giant turns over US $8.4 billion, however with the introduction of technology, in particular social media, the company has begun massive changes in how it communicates with their 3.5 million independent business owners worldwide.

Australia has been leading the charge in terms of innovation and creativity in the social media space with a major presence on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and numerous Blogs.

As Amway’s Digital Marketing and Social Media Advisor, I believe that,

Social media for 50 year old business model

Social media played a vital role in the Amway Achievers 2010 trip to Hamilton Island. Almost 500 top Amway business owners were invited on a business trip where they were introduced to a fictional character called Zac.

Zac was placed around Hamilton Island where Amway business owners could take a photo with him with a $500 reward for the most creative photo. For Amway this was a great ice breaking exercise to show people not only the power of social media but also to have fun and embrace such platforms for their businesses.  You can check out the entries on Facebook!

Amway has also created its own You Tube channel and Social Media Hub to help Amway business owners.

You can win $5000

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About Adam Franklin

Adam Franklin is the bestselling author of Web Marketing That Works. He is an international social media speaker and CEO of Bluewire Media.  His blog was Australia's #1 Business Blog and his podcast was #9 on the top marketing podcasts in Entrepreneur magazine. His work has featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, Huffington Post and iTunes. Download the popular Web Strategy Planning Template which has been used by hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide. His weekly 'Bluewire News' email goes out to over 32,000 readers.

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