Ways multilevel marketing companies attract participants with their online presence

Abstract

Multilevel marketing (MLM) is a form of direct selling, where participants can earn profits or bonuses by selling the product and recruiting others to join.

Pyramid schemes work with a similar structure, but in pyramid scheme participants are only able to make any viable profit by recruiting others to join. Since recruitment cannot go on forever, pyramid schemes will always fail.

There has been studies before what kind of persons join multilevel marketing companies or falls for pyramid schemes, but this paper the point of view is different. This study examines how the companies try to make themselves attractive in online environment. Fifteen multilevel marketing companies’ webpage and social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube) are compared to find similarities and who they might be aimed at. From that, characteristics and common promises of multilevel marketing companies are found and dis-cussed.

In additiion, the Finnish consumer and competition authority is interviewed, to gain a professional and regulatory angle about the topic.