I was watching the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway this evening, and was excited to see network marketing companies Herbalife and MonaVie with their names on multiple cars and the pit wall. Add to that Amway North America, who pioneered new ground last year with television commercials and Amway Arena (the home of the Orlando Magic), and it is safe to say network marketing has hit prime time.

To see Amway, MonaVie, and Herbalife side by side with AT&T, GoDaddy and Target is a wonderful step forward for network marketers everywhere. Not only does it bring our company names into the public eye; it legitimizes our business model through association with these major sports organizations.

But with this new exposure comes new responsibilities. We must now conduct our business with the legitimacy and integrity that such efforts by our parent companies demand, otherwise we undermine these efforts. Let us all take advantage of this opportunity to obliterate the negative perceptions of network marketing and portray it as the true business it is.

So, you are out there on the web, actively publishing blogs or videos about something. But what exactly are you getting for that effort? Are you getting one time sales, or long term investments?

A lead is a person that is interested in what you are promoting. It might be a weight-loss product, or a financial service.  They might buy the product. But their interest is over once they make the decision to purchase or not. They are a one-time sale, for all intents and purposes.

A following is a person that is interested in what you are doing. They may, or may not, be interested in what you are offering in your promotion, but they are interested in how you are promoting and what you have to say. They are long term investments.

And in the long run, that following has far greater potential. The following will keep listening long after this particular product offering is gone. And when you do have a new product offering, that following is there for you to spread the word to, because they were following what you were doing. You have earned their trust. And they will want to buy a product you recommend if it solves a current problem of theirs.

If you are only generating leads, then with each new product offering you will have to develop those leads all over again. Yes, you still have your leads of those that purchased your previous offering, but you will have to recapture that previous lead’s interest.

I like to think of it like this: Would you rather take a $100 sale today, or an average $5 sale each month over the next two years? I know which one I would choose.

Keep this in mind as you plum the depths of Twitter and Facebook and MySpace. Be sure you are developing a following.