The Truth about MLM and Multi Level Marketing

The Reality Of Multi-Level Marketing

Over the past few days, I’ve been doing some intensive research about Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) Companies and the people they seem to attract. During my research, I have found there are opposing views to the extreme on the subject which makes it a difficult topic to discuss. There are some who are passionate about it with well-known celebrities advocating, to the point of being an ambassador for a company. [If they are in it, it must be good!]  And on the other hand, if you admit you are in an MLM company people will run a mile and avoid you like the plague. 
There are some reputable MLM companies out there because they focus on the product more than the pyramid structure of recruiting. However, the problem with many multi-level marketing companies and the reason the industry has such a bad reputation is that they make it intentionally complicated, vague on important details and the overhype which gives the recruitee unrealistic expectations. 
It’s also difficult to establish whether or not the company is built around the consumption of the actual product or the premise that you need to bring in more people under you to succeed. If you scan the internet you will find dozens of negative articles such as “What’s Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing?” and very few articles in favor of them. 

Reputable Studies On Multi-Level Marketing

About one in thirteen people of 18 years plus have participated in at least one MLM company according to the AARP Foundation. But do these people really make money or even a modest living at multi-level marketing? What is the actual likelihood of success? 
The AARP Foundation did a study that explores the mindset, expectations, and experiences of MLM associates. The results can be found in this report titled “Multi-level Marketing: The Research, Risks, and Rewards.”  The study points out that while it’s possible to achieve some success with an MLM organization, it’s not common. 
The study found that 44% of associates dropped out after less than one year. Another study conducted by Jon M. Taylor, Ph.D., founder of the Consumer Awareness Insitute goes into a little more depth on dropout rates: 

• A minimum of 50% of MLM representatives drops out in the first year.
• A minimum of 90% of representatives leaves within five years.
• By year 10, only those at or near the top have not dropped out—which means at least 95% of representatives have dropped out.

Notably, around two-thirds of the associates in the AARP Foundation’s study said they would not join the same MLM company after knowing what they know now. 

How likely are you to be able to make money in MLM? 

The fees and money for products that need to be invested or outlaid by associates to be able to participate and/or keep their status within an MLM company have run into the thousands. Notably, a very high percentage of people have never recouped their expenses and in reality, only a tiny percentage of representatives actually succeed in making the high earnings promoted by some companies. Some don’t make money at all and some, unfortunately, lose money. 
The AARP Foundation study showed that only around 25% made a profit with MLM, 27% broke even and about half of them lost money. Of the 25% that made a profit: 

• 14% made less than $5,000
• 6% made between $5,000 and $9,999
• 3% made between $10,000 and $24,999
• 3% made $25,000 or more
• .05% made $100,000 or more

Interestingly, the ARRP Foundation found that 52% of MLM associates said the company’s representation of achieving financial success was “not too accurate” or “not at all accurate”. Taylor produced a staggering conclusion from his research saying that 

“On average, one in 545 is likely to have profited after subtracting expenses, and 997 out of 1,000 individuals involved with an MLM lose money (not including time invested)”

In this video, John Oliver, the comedic host of Last Week Tonight, gives a passionate and satirical presentation about certain MLM companies in light of the events regarding Herbalife and the Hispanic community that was burned by Herbalife as portrayed in the movie documentary  “Betting On Zero”. 

Who Do You Trust?

There are some well-known MLM companies that are product-centric. The recruiting component is secondary. The company gets most of its revenue from products or services, not new customers. This means they have compensation plans designed around the product sales at which you are more likely to generate a substantial income on the products alone and not be reliant on the number of recruits or their sales. Additionally, they have a large customer base that are not distributors of the company. 
Before joining an MLM company, it’s crucial to research the company and products thoroughly. Be sure the products are something you believe in and trust. It’s hard to promote something you don’t believe in. I would go so far as to say love and use the product and above all love what you do. It’s a well known saying, “If you love what you do, the money will follow.” Ok, well… It sure beats doing something you don’t like. 


When a company or its representatives display grandiose tactics and hype over the premise of making big money especially with very little effort, it’s a red flag. It seems to me that since the dawn of the internet there are many more MLM’s and money-making programs promising this, which has bred a culture of laziness and desperate people expecting big things in return for little or no work. 

Referral Companies - Loyalty Programs - A Win/Win 

Referral companies seem to have the secret sauce when it comes to market growth and sustainability, and it’s not at the risk of pyramidical saturation or loss of financial outlay. Companies that have referral programs use cost-effective marketing strategies by rewarding existing customers or associates to spread the word about the company and its products. By the same token, new customers are rewarded for joining.  This can be in the form of cash, discounts, redeemable points, subscriptions and now in the new era of blockchain, we have cryptocurrency, airdrops, and faucets.

Successful Companies That Have Championed Referral Programs

PayPal - They literally gave away free money. Referrals helped Paypal achieve up to 10% daily growth increasing their user base to over 100 million members. The company dropped the refer-a-friend bonus upon reaching a critical mass of early adopters but kept the merchant bonus until they reached their target numbers. 



Dropbox - Modelled after PayPal, Dropbox’s referral program, they added a double-sided referral program, where both referrer and friend were rewarded. They permanently increased signups by 60%. The referral rewards were extra storage space which was key to usage and enjoyment of their product.



Airbnb - In 2011, 3 years after its initial launch, Airbnb first tested the new referral program in a hugely successful closed-beta program of 2,161 existing members, which brought in 2,107 new members, nearly a 1:1 ratio. It has since seen remarkable growth especially with loyal advocates like the very enthusiastic single user in China led to thousands of signups and hundreds of bookings in a single month. 



Uber - Uber has run multiple referral programs at once, for both passengers and for drivers – and set the benchmark for future ride-hailing apps. Uber has covered more than 50 countries in 3 years. With a referrer’s Invite link and a clear call to action to refer friends makes it easy and simple. The bar at the bottom of the image is a clever piece of gamification. Let’s face it, people love games and who doesn’t want to fill up progress bars? 



Evernote - Their referral program relies on a point system and has a dual-sided referral incentive program that either gives people additional space or premium membership. Notably, the clarity of what constitutes a referral is clearly defined. Once the referral has signed up, they must also sign in. Their Cloud Notebook has been extremely popular, acquiring their first million users in 14 months and hitting 11 million users two years later.  



Markethive - Being the first Social Market Network on the blockchain with its own crypto coin (MHV) and exchange is leading the way with cryptocurrency referral incentives and loyalty programs. MHV is an open-source digital value transaction technology that can be made accessible to cryptocurrency exchanges as well as used for transactions between Markethive’s Market Network participants, and to pay for products and services, etc.
Currently, still in beta, the active user base has gone from 4,000 to 56,000 in a few short months entirely by word of mouth and growing exponentially. In less than a year Markethive has grown from obscurity to rank in the top 5 of companies in the blockchain media companies with an Alexa ranking of 11,500 as of Nov 2019. Markethive rewards active members with airdrops and faucet like payments, and members that upgrade with ILP holding options. New referrals receive 500 MHV coins upon joining. This is an evergreen referral program with loyalty rewards, gamification, and competitions built into the ecosystem making it a fun, lucrative and rewarding platform for all subscribers. 

Conclusion 

Once upon a time, before the internet, the only avenue available was MLM opportunities for the average person with no experience to give it their best shot and try to make an income or at least supplement their wage. 
For the last 25 years, we’ve had the internet where so many more opportunities popped up, good and bad. The trick is to identify and be wary of scams with buzz words like “get rich quick”, “fire your boss” and “no effort required”. There are many unscrupulous individuals and companies sadly, that prey on desperate, naive people who dream of becoming successful online and securing financial freedom. 
Coming to the fore we now have blockchain technology which allows a more level playing field providing transparency, privacy, autonomy and equality with more opportunity to reach self-sovereignty. Coupled with honorable companies and noble individuals at the helm who integrate, utilize and pass on the benefits of this decentralized technology is a real win/win in my book. I believe it’s definitely getting harder for the scam artists out there. The end is nigh, people are waking up.  
Are you one of the 97% who lost money in MLM? Can you see the magnanimity of the blockchain era and how it can affect us all very positively? 






Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals.





Article Source  https://markethive.com/group/markethivenetworkingplatform/blog/thetruerealityofmlmandmultilevelmarketing

Will Blockchain be The Answer To An unequal Marketing Environment ?

More and more people are looking for online solutions and opportunities as they realize this is where it’s at when it comes to either creating an income or advertising their business. It can be overwhelming and a real challenge when getting started and the utter extent and scale of the types of marketing available ranging from SEO, search engine marketing (SEM), social media, Inbound marketing, email marketing to native advertising, otherwise known as paid ads or sponsored posts. 
It has become a real jungle out there, and the growth in online marketing over the last five years has been substantial. The statistics of what is trending say; 

• 61% of marketers believe growing SEO or organic presence is a high priority of inbound marketing. 
• Businesses earn an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on Adwords. 
• Businesses that show up on the first page of search results get 92% of consumer traffic. 
• Google has a 92.78% search engine market share as of October 2019

 
Search Engine Optimization can be relatively cost-free, however, it produces lower-ranking results due to slow optimization. As more companies are vying to be in the first five of the first page in the search results, many of them are going to paid search options. With PPC (pay per click) there is an opportunity to get on the first page within a day as the strengths of paid search are its speed and expansiveness. The cost can reach into the thousands, especially if a professional firm is hired to manage it full time which arguably is the recommended way to go for optimized brand exposure.  
With more people opting for these services, there is more likely to be extreme risks involved. It’s opening the doors for more data breaches which are happening more often and with an increasing number of users’ records acquired by potentially dangerous and unscrupulous entities. Hackers are continuing to find new ways to access databases and the companies who manage these records display little confidence in their ability to protect first-party data. 

 
How Can Blockchain Help The Marketing Industry?

The online space, on the whole, is improving with the advent of Blockchain technology. Many industries are utilizing the blockchain to improve performance and align their objectives including marketing companies. Marketing strategies and entities like Google Ads, Facebook or any other ad companies for that matter are supposed to help businesses bring traffic and increase lead generation, however, a big issue is the black hat SEO practitioners have infiltrated the industry and have created ad frauds as a significant source of revenue. 

What’s The Difference Between White And Black Hat SEO?

White Hat and Black Hat SEO are both known elements of the SEO industry. These deliver services that are either the right side or the wrong side of what is considered to be ethical. White hat plays by the rules taking a slower, labor-intensive approach to boost search rankings. Black hat SEO companies often use shifty tactics to trick the search engines into providing higher rankings.

 

With blockchain technology comes transparency and immutability which eradicates ad fraud and the possibilities of fake click-through rates and bot-driven traffic. Synonymous with the reasons why we now have cryptocurrency, the important and vital advantage of blockchain is to bring transparency to the advertising world. The superiority of blockchain technology and the immutability or tamper-proof characteristic of the distributed ledger system will bring genuine players making an ecosystem of fairness and opportunity with the tools, counter black hat SEO techniques, and fake user eradication. Here are 4 attributes...

  

Market Transparency

The fact that Blockchain is an encrypted, decentralized database of distributed and interlaced nodes, it is suited and can be integrated into all forms of digital marketing. It can solve many issues that come with digital marketing, such as data privacy, security and content monetization. Companies cannot manipulate data so users can feel at ease as the Blockchain data is transparent. 
 

Consumers Regain Control Of Their Information

Marketing companies will no longer be able to extract customer’s information without their permission. It will be a case of earning their consent. There are some blockchain data companies now paying consumers for the use of their contact information and attention. Killi is one App that launched in May 2019 paying users for their data. Every transaction occurs through blockchain, which solves the compliance challenge inherent in regulation such as GDPR or California's Consumer Privacy Act with regards to securing data, the company says. Users, meanwhile, have a full record of who exactly has purchased their data. This gives the consumers full control of their information. 

Brandon Galindo, an account manager at eMarketer, says he downloaded the Killi app partly because of privacy concerns. "Right off the bat you're asked to insert your identity, phone number, allow persistent location and enable Advertising ID," he says regarding his experience in signing up. "Brands can reach out to you, but it is so much more transparent; I'm the one that is asking for this and I am the one who is allowing you to have my data."

 
Security Benefits And Data Protection

With meticulous data protection regulations like the GDPR, marketing companies can leverage blockchain technology to store huge volumes of client data securely. Furthermore, due to the regulatory agreement of the GDPR, it will require marketers to acquire consent which can also be managed on the blockchain. The integration of blockchain technology will change online marketing as it offers incomparable benefits for marketers in terms of performance, security, and transparency with enormous possibilities. End-users will have more control over what companies can send information to them and companies will more easily be held accountable for their actions and lack of transparency. 

The Marketing Intermediaries Eliminated

Without blockchain, if a company wants to offer banner advertisements on its website it has to do so through Google AdSense so that no unethical businesses will take over your ad space. This is where Google processes the transaction and charges a fee for its part in the deal. Companies won’t have the need to go through a third-party platform such as Google with the blockchain structure. That’s because blockchain users can be verified through their networks. People would know they’re getting what they’re paying for as opposed to potentially paying for clicks that aren’t genuine.

The other thing to consider is the rising percentage of zero-click searches on Google. That means Google is displaying the answers to many queries on the SERP so there is no need for a user to click on any displayed links, thereby reducing the traffic to other content or websites. Some have said, the rise in zero-click searches which was at 50.3% in June 2019, maybe another indicator of Google abusing its power as a huge portion of clicks are going to Google’s own sites. 

So basically, Google has gone from being everyone’s search engine to everyone’s competitor. If you’re a marketer that relies heavily on Google, there are still opportunities where you can pretty much bypass the search engines and grow your brand and presence outside of search.

Many marketers depend totally on SEO in their business so they need to be aware of the issues that may be causing the drops and lower-ranking, and what is now available to them, or they may well continue to lose traction. As more consumers become blockchain savvy and companies start to integrate it into their operations, it will change the digital marketing world as we know it. It will become less expensive achieving better results and the novice marketer and small business will be able to compete. 

Community Is Key

This is where a hybrid Market Network can take the reign and run with it. Markethive, with its new blockchain technology mixed with traditional Inbound Marketing, Commerce, Social Networking, and Digital Media, is not reliant on Google search engines or any other for that matter. SEO is a secondary consideration. It builds its own society and its traffic is contingent on the Markethive membership driving more traffic in, due to the nature of its platform, what it has to offer, the viral aspect and rewards system in place. Just one of the attractions is that Markethive is not dependent upon Google.

What Is Markethive? 

Markethive with its deep level linking dynamics is a multi-dimensional, social organizational integrated system. Integrating Vast Social networks reaches, internal social network connections, unlimited interconnected Wordpress blogs, the vast API news sites like NBC, Wired Magazine, Bloomberg, Western journal, Mashable and 1000s of other news sites, that continue to expand due to the power of your own Markethive network and the collaboration of separate Markethive groups all working in union with each other. 

The ability to register and assign your many social networks into the Markethive matrix produces a reach literally into the billions. Markethive is an upcoming Market Media and Content Publisher offering Press Releases and Sponsored Articles at a negligible cost and with a reach well beyond existing social and market networks. After comparing 480 other news media sites with regards to their social reach and followers and Alexa ranking, Markethive sits within the top 5 with an Alexa ranking of 11,436 at the time of writing. This continues to drop daily as subscribers flock to join the Markethive network. 

Blockchain Technology and the cryptocurrency sphere have enabled businesses to align themselves with the users’ need and right to be in control of their data and how they use their time to monetize their efforts. Markethive, with their mandate being the rise of the entrepreneur and the fall of the tyrannies that plague society was created by a visionary who saw this coming and much needed to empower marketers, create equality and universal income to enrich society on every level. 

Visionary, Founder and CEO, Thomas Prendergast, says Markethive is...

 “Marketing that is so effective it’s like printing your own money.” 

Markethive has built a system on the Blockchain to empower the Entrepreneur, offering privacy, freedom of speech and importantly, autonomy.  With its valuable Inbound Marketing system, integrated within a Social media platform, loyalty and bounty programs, Banner Exchange & placement, with multiple Commerce portals, Storefronts, Blogging platform, and Digital Media Platforms offering Press Releases and Sponsored Articles. These tools and integrated platforms are either free to use or at a fraction of the cost of other companies.

All of this on a blockchain foundation, which above all the other benefits, allows Markethive to pay its members to engage on the platform. This includes free members as well as those who have upgraded to Entrepreneur 1.

Thanks to blockchain, the soon to be released Markethive wallet and cryptocurrency exchange will then allow Markethive members to either convert and withdraw their earnings or buy products and services offered by members within the Markethive ecosystem. 

 
Conclusion 

Markethive, 20 years in the making has had the forward-thinking and tenacity to integrate the latest technology to deliver a complete ecosystem for anybody aspiring to work online. With the precarious actions and monopolizing tactics we are now witnessing to what was a lucrative and fair system to gain traffic and exposure, it’s obvious we need to do things differently and bypass the monopolies. There are now genuine opportunities to make your mark online as well as reap rewards and prosper. 

What is being realized is the need for a community-driven ecosystem, with a collaborative mindset that offers a broad spectrum of services that cover all niches, and offers Universal Income for all. Anyone with a passion and looking for a presence online, and a fair and equitable opportunity to attain financial freedom and prosperity, be it commercial artists, writers, bloggers, vloggers, merchants, and entrepreneurs. In fact anyone from any background. Markethive is for the people and by the people. In essence, it gives the power back to the people.

Deb Williams 

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals. 

Digital Marketing and Inbound Marketing synergy

Digital Marketing - Inbound Marketing
Same... But Different? 

In the world of online marketing, we encounter a lot of jargon. Terms like inbound marketing, SEO, digital marketing, conversion, PPC, call-to-action, outbound, content marketing and so on. One that many find confusing is the difference between digital marketing and inbound marketing. 
On the surface, the two seem similar: Both occur primarily online, and both focus on creating digital content for people to consume. But there is a difference, albeit you undoubtedly use some digital marketing tactics in your inbound marketing strategy. 
The term "digital marketing" doesn't differentiate between push and pull marketing tactics or what is referred to as ‘inbound' and ‘outbound' methods. Both still tend to fall under the umbrella of digital marketing.

Digital Marketing 

The term digital marketing is often defined as an across-the-board marketing tactic that’s done on a digital medium. Digital marketing is the use of the internet, mobile devices, social media, search engines, display advertising, website banners, and other channels with the aim to put a marketing message or advertisement directly in front of as many consumers as possible, regardless of whether it’s relevant or welcomed. There is a lot it can be used for, but the term really doesn’t indicate any sort of strategy. It’s more like a toolbox that has all the marketing tools you can utilize to be seen online, acquire more traffic and increase brand awareness. 

Inbound Marketing 

Unlike digital marketing, inbound marketing is a clear and prescribed marketing strategy that has definitive steps and best practices. Inbound marketing does use a lot of digital marketing channels, however, it’s a set methodology that works to attract qualified visitors and generate leads. It is a continuing, holistic strategy that embodies a set of specific steps. It’s more of a philosophy that puts customers first and the digital marketing tactics help you to achieve that philosophy. 




Brand awareness + Short term goals = Digital Marketing
If your goal is to get your brand out there and get just anyone to visit your website, then a few digital marketing approaches may help. Using digital marketing methods alone only works to solve short term goals like increasing traffic to your website. 
For example, you can run a Facebook Like campaign or place banner ads, but those techniques alone will only produce results that are limited to those actions. A Like campaign will almost surely get more likes and banner ads might get more people to your site but that’s about the extent of it. If you’re wanting to generate leads that convert to legitimate, qualified customers, an inbound marketing approach is a proven way to go.

Qualified leads + Long term goals = Inbound Marketing
An Inbound Marketing strategy uses each of the digital marketing tactics and incorporates them into a greater strategy creating results of each tactic. Effective inbound marketing strategies consist of creating useful and interesting content that appeals to qualified leads. Developing landing pages and calls-to-actions that capture the contact information of the people who have shown an interest in what you are offering and deploy email campaigns that are relevant to those specific contacts. 
Ultimately you’ll have created a full strategy that makes each of the digital marketing tactics work hand in hand to create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. This performs long term to continue to deliver qualified leads and boost your conversion rates over time.

Inbound marketing is like playing the long game. it leads to more solid, consistent results, adding value at every stage of your customers’ buying journey. 
Digital marketing is playing the short game, where you get immediate results, but very often they’re not worth as much in the long term. 

Content Creates Trust

Content is an important component of Inbound Marketing. Blogging or writing articles of helpful information discerning their needs and defining a solution even if they aren’t aware they have a problem or a need initially, is a great way to build trust. Informative content that anticipates the prospects’ questions and needs is the best practice to demonstrate that you genuinely care about the consumer. 
A study showed that 78% of purchasers want to build genuine bonds with companies offering customized material, which is content that has been created specifically for the customer that has purchased.  Another report demonstrated 53% of consumers were more willing to buy goods and services if they previously read an article about it on the internet.  Needless to say, this applies to all types of conversions in any industry.

Content Is The Best Approach To Millennials

The main consumer segment will very soon be the millennials which are people born from the 1980s to the early 2000s. One of the standout features of this generation is that they do not trust traditional advertising. They don’t even notice it. Traditional advertising fails to speak the language of generation Y, but blogs or articles do. 

But It’s Not Just The Younger Generations 

Many studies have been conducted involving thousands of men and women of all ages which demonstrated that most of them do not even closely trust advertisements alone.
70% of people made the decision to purchase on the advice of a friend or family member or because they saw the blog post about the company on the internet.
55% purchased after reading an article online. In fact, 70% of buyers prefer to learn about the company from articles, not from an advert. 
If we want to appeal to all customers of today, we need to produce engaging content and have it in front of our audience wherever they may be. Fundamentally, the real value of informational content is the fact that it is portable. In other words, being viewed on many different platforms creating an overall presence and exponentially increasing your reach. Creating quality content is a good investment and you will feel the effects of your investment for a long time to come.

New Era, New Attitudes, New Technology

We saw how the internet changed traditional offline marketing back in the 1990s. Now we will witness how Blockchain will transform the digital world in terms of marketing and advertising. The essential objectives of building trust and nurturing relationships will never change, but will Blockchain technology be able to clean up and enhance the industry?  
There are many ways that blockchain can assist marketers and consumers and improve a somewhat chaotic space. It can bring transparency and honesty to the marketing table that has been inundated with a huge amount of spam and bots. 
Greater transparency strengthens trust between brands and customers. One example is since Walmart and IBM collaboratively introduced blockchain, customer confidence increased.  Thanks to blockchain, Walmart’s supply chain became more transparent and customers were able to track the origin of the products.

Copyright Issues Solved With Blockchain

There is a solution to the copyright problem which gives more control tools to creators. Article 11 (link tax) and Article 13 legislation which is designed to stop users from uploading copyrighted content by forcing platforms to build massive filters or face huge lawsuits and fines, seems to be an archaic and inadequate solution and would impede online development and innovation. 
A more appropriate response is needed to protect not only artists and their creations, but also the platforms that enable mass content sharing. Platforms that have shaped the internet and have connected our world more inclusively and comprehensively.
Markethive with its blockchain in development and broader vision gives you your own domain for all your content, videos and images to originate from. When you join Markethive you receive (for free) a CPanel which is a control panel and WordPress system built into your assigned domain, a subdomain of hivesfeed.com. This way you control all your content, without the worry or hassles of government overreach and anti-freedom regulations designed to stifle the small entrepreneur. 
It is a marketers dream and a complete solution. Markethive has integrated the digital marketing tools along with an inbound marketing system and it’s built on the blockchain, giving you privacy, transparency, freedom of speech and the autonomy you need to overcome any obstacles experienced on the internet today and let’s not forget you get paid for using the system while marketing your business. 

Blockchain Gives You The Edge

The internet has become so noisy that it’s not that easy to attract attention. Furthermore, there are so many platforms and choices willing to assist you in your marketing efforts. You need an edge and Blockchain can give you that edge. Companies that have adopted the blockchain technology can offer cryptocurrency in the form of loyalty programs, micropayments, etc which levels the playing field bringing new ways to earn an income. 

Is Blockchain Harmful to Marketers? 

The only way blockchain can harm marketers is if they refuse to accept and learn about this new technology and become proficient at it. This is just the beginning. In the early 90s, no one even dreamed of search engines, social media, and smartphones. Today, blockchain takes us to new heights of self-sovereignty as the possibilities of Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency are almost endless.  

Conclusion

It is an exciting time in marketing, as marketers start to realize the benefits of blockchain technology. Above is an outline of just some of the ways it will transform the marketing industry. Additionally, there have been numerous studies asserting that blockchain technology is destined to disrupt the fundamental nature of the global economy, including major changes like:
How organizations are funded and managed, how companies create value and how businesses perform basic functions such as marketing, accounting, and incentivizing people. 

Deb Williams
A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals.

Markethive | State of the Art Market Network

What Is A Market Network? 

Back in 2015, it was exhibited that the next 10 years would be all about Market Networks whereas the last decade was focused on Social Networks. There were a few companies mentioned that were deemed to be market networks and essentially had the key factors of a market network and what it is purported to be. However, since then we have gone next level with blockchain technology. But has any of those market networks actually adopted this new and beneficial technology?

So what exactly is a Market Network?

 A market network is a combination of a marketplace and a social network that includes SaaS which helps the individuals in the market network to work with customers and other service providers to build relationships rather than just quick transactions we experience on eBay or Amazon. 

Marketplaces are essentially about selling your product or service even though reviews of goods purchased by the customer are there to guide potential customers’ purchasing decisions. However, marketplaces are predominantly where buyers and sellers meet for one-off transactions. Typically, marketplaces are an accumulation of sellers. 

We all know what social networks are. Over the last 15 years, most of us have participated in Facebook or Linked to communicate with people and build relationships for whatever reason. However, commerce is not the core objective of social networks. 

SaaS (Software as a Service) are business applications, including email and collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), billing/payroll processing, sales management, human resources management, financial management, database management, enterprise resourcing planning (ERP), content management, and document editing and management.

So what we had was two separate places for your online presence and commerce. A marketplace to sell stuff, and a social network to build relationships. The SaaS doesn’t exist on these platforms, that’s separate and an added expense for business owners and marketers.

But what if you provide a service that is more involved than a simple buy-sell transaction. On top of that, what if you need collaboration with other professionals in your industry to form a team to provide a complete service?

Well, that’s what market networks are all about. In the market network, you are a service provider, but also a person with a profile, with history, reviews, score, etc. You can team up with other people to provide a complex service to a customer and channel the workflow through a SaaS solution.

How Does Blockchain Fit Into The Market Network Model? 

To be successful in online branding and operating a business in the ever-expanding internet world, you must maintain your profile in many networks, social and market. It’s difficult to effortlessly scale your reputation from one network to a different one. They are pretty much isolated from each other and they can’t communicate with each other, nor do they really want to because they generally belong to someone. And it so happens that “someone” is never the community that brings value to the platform.  It’s not easy for a centralized market network to diversify among service providing platforms and it takes a lot of effort to build and maintain individual profiles that you can only use in an isolated network. 

What if your online identity always belonged to you, not a service or platform? And also, the reputation of your branding was maintained by the network and that network also belonged to you? In other words, a decentralized reputation that would enable you to plug into any other centralized network. You see, when your reputation is decentralized, the entire digital space becomes your network. 

Blockchain is the ultimate framework or infra-structure tool that gives individuals true ownership of their digital selfhood and reputation. It creates self-sovereignty.  

Decentralization In The Marketplace

Decentralization has many features that are beneficial for industries and users around the world. Reduced fees, increased efficiencies, removal of biased agendas and tiers of corruption and greed.

There have been companies like Airbnb and Uber that introduced a new era allowing people to rent out and monetize items. Or eBay and Etsy allowed people to sell products online and Upwork and Fiverr helped freelancers to sell their services. At this stage, these companies are all centralized and very linear with no collaboration between them.

Enter Blockchain.

A decentralized marketplace allows for true peer-to-peer transactions without centralized authorities taking their fees. This is made possible through blockchain technology and smart contracts. We no longer need the trusted third party verifying sellers and ensuring payments. 

Decentralization In Social Media

The traditional social media platforms are losing their edge, and their users have taken a massive beating. While some have given up on their social media world completely because it’s affecting their psychological well-being, some have become very disappointed with the fact that the benefit of their work was being passed onto the site more than them or their hard work has been deleted by centralized authorities due to hidden agendas. 

If this wasn’t enough, user data, which is meant to be confidential, is being made available in the open market, with governments, advertising companies and more having access to it. This has made users apprehensive about sharing personal details of their lives.

Enter Blockchain

Blockchain is going to transform the user experience in social media networking. These are important factors like the users’ information is encrypted on the blockchain network, so the privacy of data is maintained. Also, a platform can offer monetary compensation and loyalty programs for any and all activity performed by the user. Imagine producing viral content on the platform and getting paid for it? This does not happen on traditional social media, fast becoming a product of drama, agendas, and antiquity.  

There are upcoming platforms that are classed as social media on the blockchain whereby you can monetize your blogs, some even have a messaging app integrated, but it stops there. Imagine a complete Market Network as described above that is decentralized, pluggable, and portable which are key components and that have the capabilities to have your marketing, blogging, Storefronts, in fact, all your branding goes viral across all platforms in the internet space?

Enter Markethive - Embracing Blockchain Technology 

Markethive is a social marketplace, digital media platform for entrepreneurs that have the combined power of Facebook/LinkedIn, Marketo/Hubspot and Amazon/eBay along with Crypto News Sites like Cointelegraph/Bitcoin.com. Delivering a dynamic social network, integrated with Inbound Marketing (SAAS), numerous commerce platforms, storefronts coupled with augmented reality, and multiple traffic portals, built on the blockchain.

Does It Pay?

Markethive is a next-generation Market Network and the first to adopt blockchain technology that has positioned itself as a complete ecosystem for Entrepreneurs. Using the latest technology, it provides prosperous solutions for all business owners, marketers who require an online presence. Including Markethive’s own Coin (MHV) and Crypto Exchange for ease of liquidity as well as purchasing products and services within the Markethive ecosystem.

Creating a “Universal Income” for entrepreneurs, Markethive is delivering an infinity airdrop incentive to new subscribers, Bounty, and Loyalty programs and has set up the entire system with faucet like or micropayment rewards for using the system, including “Tips” instead of “Likes” This means the whole system is monetized for the benefit of all users. The income potential is huge and the MHV Coin ensures that all users will earn money for everything they do in Markethive.

So What Do You Get?

Markethive's functionalities include SEO features, Analytics, Customer Management System, Traffic Portals, Capture Page and Lead Creation, Profile Page, Resume, E-commerce portals, Video Conferencing, Blogging Platform, Messaging, Press Release, and Sponsored Article distribution, Banner Program and much more. Also included are significant training tutorials and weekly live support meetings, with a step by step automated tutorial system in the works.

Inbound Marketing is a key component of Markethive’s embodiment. Markethive plugs into all Social Media, simplifying your marketing efforts, with automated email campaigns allowing for lead flow into your designated business. Markethive incorporates collaboration building relationships within the community. 

Did I mention that the inbound marketing component is free to use while being rewarded with MHV? The only thing that is more rewarding beyond your wildest dreams is the loyalty program which enables you to profit from all facets of the Markethive system including receiving dividends from the company’s net profits. It basically means you as part of the Markethive community own a piece of Markethive, unlike the centralized companies with their venture capitalists and shareholders.

Conclusion

The potential of what the blockchain offers is extremely exciting. And although we are seeing some companies integrating the blockchain as they see what it can do for them and the world holistically, large scale adoption may still take some time. However, the unconventionality of this next-level technology shouldn’t deter marketers, business owners, entrepreneurs, in fact, anyone with a social or marketplace profile from embracing this new protocol given that it offers people many advantages in the form of transparency, security, anonymity, and performance with the added benefit of self-sovereignty. 

In the next article, we will explore Inbound Marketing and blockchain. Stay tuned… 

Post source : https://markethive.com/marcoferrari/blog/marketnetworkexplained

Deb Williams 

A Crypto/Blockchain enthusiast and a strong advocate for technology, progress, and freedom of speech. I embrace "change" with a passion and my purpose in life is to help people understand, accept and move forward with enthusiasm to achieve their goals.