Business communication for enagic network marketing during the Covid-19 pandemic business players ( study of business communication on enagic kangen water business actors in the city of Baubau )

Corona Virus Disease 2019 abbreviated as Covid-19 as a pandemic since December 2019 has become a global concern that has shaken all sides of human life without exception Indonesia as one of the countries with exposure to the Covid-virus 19 which is quite large. Based on the Covid-19 Task Force report from March 2, 2020, to October 16, 2020, 353,461 people tested positive, a total of 277,544 patients recovered, 12,347 people died (Amnesty International, 2020).


Introduction
Corona Virus Disease 2019 abbreviated as Covid-19 as a pandemic since December 2019 has become a global concern that has shaken all sides of human life without exception Indonesia as one of the countries with exposure to the Covid-virus 19 which is quite large. Based on the Covid-19 Task Force report from March 2, , to October 16, 2020 people tested positive, a total of 277,544 patients recovered, 12,347 people died (Amnesty International, 2020).
When covid-19 becomes something terrible in our midst, it causes the habits of human life to change, especially as an effort to break the chain of the spread of the coronavirus, including the implementation of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) in certain areas in the Republic of Indonesia, for example, DKI Jakarta.
The impact of covid-19, which requires our social life to maintain a distance from each other, has a profound impact on all lines of human life. As the most felt impact is the impact of the economy, how companies must make budgetary efficiency by reducing employees on a large scale, factories are closed so that workers find it difficult to get income to meet daily needs and other life difficulties. The impact of covid-19 also affects communication in all aspects of our lives (Tim COVID-19 IDAI, 2020).
On the other hand, that humans who are currently living in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic can still move to continue activities in all dimensions of life due to the demands of life, so the presence of information technology such as the internet which has become a primary need will be of great help in everyday life. ISSN: 2723-7672  The use of technology in communicating in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic has experienced a very significant increase based on the need for humans as social creatures who must be able to communicate between one individual and another or between individuals and groups. Specifically, the use of internet features that can be accessed via a smartphone or laptop, or PC.
Today smartphones have become a primary need, modern human life cannot be separated from the presence of smartphones. Almost every time humans communicate via smartphones to make ends meet, you can imagine when we wake up that what we are looking for is a smartphone to be able to communicate with the outside world either by accessing news, reading conversations on Whatsapp groups, telegram groups, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media. Another thing that can be done with a smartphone is doing online business, ordering online transportation services such as grabs, motorbikes to food delivery services such as grab food, go food, and so on. Moreover, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of smartphones, assisted by various integrated applications, is something that is very much needed in our daily activities from waking up to going back to sleep (Gondouin, 2020).
The use of social media applications and other applications on smartphones is very much needed in all dimensions of human life today, how about the need for entertainment, office work that can be accessed using applications on smartphones, educational institutions in the teaching and learning process using online media accessed via smartphones to activities business in the form of buying and selling transactions carried out via a smartphone with applications that have been provided by the application developer. One of the uses of smartphones with various applications in them is the network marketing industry during the current Covid-19 pandemic to conduct business communications.
The network marketing industry in its implementation usually relies heavily on the intensity of interaction between humans. Network marketing where the salesperson gets a fairly large compensation from the company following the sales achievements made with the terms and conditions set by the company. Network marketing industry players are commonly referred to as networkers. Of course, a networker must have good communication skills so that the message conveyed can be well received by prospective customers. So that the success of a networker is inseparable from expertise in communication (Syafrida & Hartati, 2020). In this industry, business development is also determined by the leadership of the networker who is commonly called business-driven leadership, that is, leadership that drives the business.
Based on the ability to communicate verbally and non-verbally carried out by networkers or leaders in the network marketing business, how are network marketing leaders and players using internet features or applications on smartphones during the Covid-19 pandemic when most people have a high enough defensiveness? not to interact with people directly or to maintain a distance by following health protocols which are then widely exposed in the community with the 3M movement (wearing masks, washing hands with soap and maintaining distance), in pandemic conditions, the use of internet features is very helpful for networkers in business communication activities (Sohrabi et al., 2020). ISSN: 2723-7672

3) Face to face communication
face to face communication is carried out directly at the same time and space. This allows communicators and communicants to be able to capture every response or feedback to minimize differences in perceptions of the message conveyed.

4) Media Communication Media
Communication is communication which is carried out using media such as cellphones, telephones, radio communications, e-mail, the internet, and so on.

C. Function and Purpose of Business Communication
The business world is closely related to the organization. The function of business communication is almost the same as organizational communication. According to Sendjaja's opinion (In "The Impact of Digitalization on Business Communication," 2016) there are four functions of business communication in organizations, namely: (1) Informative, Informative related to information needed by leaders and members of the organization in completing each of their tasks.
(2) Control (Regulatory), Control is related to the function of communication, (3) Persuasive, related to efforts to invite others to carry out or follow an idea or task, (4) Integrative, Integrative relates to the unification of an organization consisting of several definitions, departments, or parts to remain an integrated and unified whole. Meanwhile, B. Cutis, James J. Floyd and Jerry L. Wilson (2004: 6) state the objectives of business communication are as follows: (1) Solving Problems and Making Decisions, A person's position in business determines how important expertise is in solving a problem and make decisions for the progress of the business they are engaged in, (2) Evaluating Behavior, A person's behavior determines his business success. Behavioral evaluation is important to do so that it can provide an assessment of performance to plan what to do next, (3) Fulfilling the Needs for Goods and Services, In improving people's lives, goods and services are needed to meet the needs of everyday life.

D. Communicative Action
A theory that the writer uses in this research is the theory put forward by Jurgen Habermas, namely the theory of communicative action. Communicative action is an action that leads to rational action whose orientation is an agreement, understanding, and mutual understanding. For Hubernas, something like this can only be achieved using a rational communication procedure or with an intersubjective understanding (Chen, Davison, & Ou, 2020).
Habermas underlined that human action consists of two actions, namely; communicative action and rational action aimed. Rational action aims to be divided into two, namely strategic action and instrumental action. Strategic action is an action that aims to influence other people to achieve specific goals. Instrumental action is an action that has the aim of achieving objectives related to the physical world to achieve technical efficiency.

E. Smartphones
Smartphones or smartphones are a class of mobile phones and multipurpose mobile computing devices. They are distinguished from feature phones with more powerful hardware capabilities and a broad mobile operating system, which facilitates a wide range of software, internet (including web browsing via mobile broadband, and multimedia functions (including music, video, camera, and games), together with core functions of cell phones such as voice calls and text messages. Smartphones usually contain some metal-oxide-semiconductor IC (MOS) integration circuit chips, including sensors that their software can take advantage of (such as a magnetometer, proximity sensor, barometer, gyroscope, or accelerometer), and support for wireless communication protocols (such as Bluetooth, Wi-fi, or satellite navigation) (Leibo & Poggio, 2018).
In the 2000s NTT Docomo's i-mode platforms, Blackberry, Nokia's Symbian platform, and Windows mobile started gaining market traction, with models that often feature a QWERTY keyboard or resistive touch screen input and emphasizes access to email and internal notifications et wireless. Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, most smartphones have featured a thin, slate-like form factor with a large capacitive screen with support for multi-touch gestures rather than a physical keyboard and offer the ability for users to download or purchase additional apps from a centralized store. and use cloud storage and synchronization, virtual assistants, and mobile payment services. ISSN: 2723-7672 La Ode Asmanang ( Business communication for enagic network marketing during … ) Improved hardware and faster wireless communication (due to standards like LTE) have supported the growth of the smartphone industry. In the 2012 quarter, one billion smartphones were used worldwide. Global smartphone sales exceeded sales figures for feature phones in early, (Leibo & Poggio, 2018).

F. Android
Android is a Linux-based operating system designed for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Android was originally developed by Android. Inc, with financial support from Google which later bought it in 2005. This operating system was officially released in 2007 in conjunction with the establishment of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of hardware, software, and telecommunications companies that aim to advance open standards of mobile devices. . The first Android phones went on sale in October 2008.
The Android user interface is generally direct manipulation, using touch gestures similar to real actions, such as swiping, tapping, and pinching to manipulate objects on the screen, as well as a virtual keyboard for writing text. Apart from touch screen devices, Google has also developed Android TV for televisions, Android Auto for cars, and Android Wear for watches, each of which has a different user interface. The Android variant is also used in laptops, game consoles, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment .
Android is an open-source operating system, and Google releases the code under the Apache license. The open-source code and licensing licenses on Android allow the software to be freely modified and distributed by device makers, wireless operators, and application developers. Also, Android has a large community of application developers (apps) that extend the functionality of the device, usually written in a customized version of the Java programming language. As of October 2013, there are more than one million apps available for Android and around 50 billion apps have been downloaded from Google Play, Android's main app store. A survey in April-May 2013 found that Android was the most popular platform for developers, used by 71% of mobile app developers. At Google I / O 2014, Google reports there are more than one billion monthly active Android users, up from 583 million in June 2013.
The above factors have contributed to the development of Android, making it the most widely used smartphone operating system in the world. , beating Symbian in 2010. Android is also an option for technology companies who want a low-cost, customizable, and lightweight operating system for high-tech devices without having to develop it from scratch. The open nature of Android has also encouraged the emergence of some application developer communities to use open source code as the basis for application development projects, by adding new features for advanced users or running Android on devices officially released using another operating system (Pan, Ge, Fang, & Fan, 2020).
In November 2013, Android dominated the global smartphone market share, led by Samsung products, with a percentage of 64% in March 2013. As of July 2013, there were 11,686 different Android devices with various versions.
The operating system's success has also made it the target of patent litigation for the "smartphone war" between technology companies. As of May 2013, a total of 900 million Android devices have been activated worldwide and 48 billion applications have been installed from Google Play. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org)

G. Whatsapp Messenger
Whatsapp messenger is a smartphone messaging application. Whatsapp messenger is a crossplatform messaging application that allows us to exchange messages without credit because Whatsapp messenger uses internet data packages (Masoni & Guelfi, 2020).

H. Zoom cloud meeting
Zoom cloud is an online meeting application with a screen sharing concept. This application allows users to meet face to face with more than 100 participants. Not only on PC, but this application can also be downloaded on smartphones (Archibald, Ambagtsheer, Casey, & Lawless, 2019

I. Facebook
Facebook, inc. is a social networking service headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States, which was launched in February 2004. As of September 2012, facebook to have more than one billion active users, more than half of mobile phones. Users have to register before using this site. After that, users can create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notification when they update their profile. Additionally, users can join groups of users with similar interests, sorted by work, school or college, or other distinctive features, and group their friends into lists such as "Colleagues" or "Close Friends", (Floreddu & Cabiddu, 2016).

J. Pandemic
Quoted from the Big Indonesian Language Dictionary (KBB) that a pandemic is an epidemic that occurs simultaneously everywhere, covering a wide geographical area. The coronavirus is currently a pandemic and spreads to more than 100 countries in the world.

K. Covid-19
COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) is a disease caused by a new type of coronavirus, namely Sars-CoV-2, which was first reported in Wuhan China on December 31, 2019.

L. Network Marketing
Network marketing is a field of business with a direct sales system in which the distributor is compensated for both selling the product and the business opportunity itself. Each businessperson builds and maintains its own distributor network, each with its own retail customers. There are many names including MLM, Multi-level marketing, word of mouth marketing, marketing duplication of efforts. Distributors, who can also be said to be freelancers and not employees, act on a variety of the company's customer base, as well as the company's customer base, as well as marketing and sales agents for their product opportunities and business opportunities.
The concept of network marketing is essentially trimming conventional distribution channels that tend to belong from factories to importers to regional distributors, city distributors then sales executives, wholesalers, shops to consumers, which are then added to costs for advertising and promotion based on statistical data on average distribution costs. the average of large-scale companies is around 60-80%. The long route is by the network marketing concept which is also considered a modern distribution concept, that goods from factories or companies are directly marketed by distributors direct to consumers so that distribution costs are cut to compensate distributors or business people (Kurniartuti, Triastuti, & Triyanto, 2017).

Method
In this paper, the research used is the participant observation method, in which the researcher is part of the research group and the data collection technique uses the documentation method. Documentation was obtained from group Whatsapp chats, image capturing, and webinar audio recordings with media zoom cloud meetings (Sarifudin et al., 2020).
The author uses observational experiences during the pandemic period from March 2020 to October 2020 which were part of the research by making observations and experiences directly being part of the Enagic Kangen Water Company Network Marketing industry during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The population is a collection of research objects, which can be people, organizations, words, and sentences, nonverbal symbols, newspapers, radio, television and advertisements and posts on Facebook, or Instagram photos. The object of this research is also called the unit of analysis or population elements, which is the smallest unit to be the object of research or analysis (Rachmat Kriyantono: 2006). The population in this observation is Enagic miss water business people who are members of the WhatsApp group which is led by an Enagic Kangen water business actor. The number of members is 124 participants who are spread across several cities in Indonesia, including, Jogjakarta, Solo, Baubau, and Manokwari-Papua. The sample used in this research is the community of a group of network marketing business actors as an independent distributor of PT. Enagic International, which is part of the Support System 501 Indonesian System under a business team, is one of the Enagic business leaders. As a sample, 10 Enagic business people in the City of Baubau were taken.
Data analysis techniques with constant comparative techniques. This technique was introduced by Sugiyono (2018). The stages of the analysis can be explained as follows: (a) Placing events (data) into categories. These categories can be compared with one another, (b) Expanding categories so that categories of data are pure and do not overlap with each other, (c) Look for relationships and themes between categories. This means that researchers dialogue data between categories so that they can produce trends or patterns of relationships, which are called propositions, (d) Simplify and integrate data into a coherent theoretical structure (make sense, adhere to each other or logically linked) (Kriyantono, 2006).

Results and Discussion
Enagic is a multinational company originating from Japan which has branches in 23 countries with 50 offices branches and two of them are in Indonesia, namely in Jakarta and Surabaya. This company markets the best water ionizer machines in the world that are certified and have international standards. The marketing method used by this company is direct selling with Network Marketing. To become a distributor of the Enagic company is to become a customer or consumer who can reach the career paths set by the Enagic Company.
There is a support system organization as a place to educate business teams to achieve success in building and developing networks. There are many support organizations formed by Enagic business people to help build and grow their business teams. One such support organization is 501 Indonesian System.
To develop this Enagic business, Enagic business players will be assisted by a support system that supports distributors to succeed in Enagic's business by following techniques and training held by the support system. As founders of the support system are professionals who have been successful in running the Enagic business who financially have an income of 50 million to 1 billion Rupiah per month while building the Enagic business in a span of 1 to 3 years. Furthermore, these professionals are referred to as mentors who will continue to nurture the business team to be able to achieve the dreams that have been planned.
It can be said that Enagic Network marketing business players, to succeed, will cooperate with two companies, namely the Enagic Company as a product supply as well as a compensation or commission provider for sales results and the Support System Organization as an educational medium or business school in building Enagic business.
As a Network Marketing actor, Enagic has a working character that is very different from conventional business or working as an employee in general. There are several steps taken to achieve success in the Enagic business Kangen water, which has become the curriculum set by the support system 501 System Indonesia, which Enagic business people must take, include:

1) Having dreams and a positive attitude.
In the Enagic business, that we don't have a boss so that no one is in control at work so that it takes a big dream of personal achievement targets or big things to be achieved such as exponential financial life changes, then supported with a positive attitude.

2) Make a Name List
For a network marketer or any other marketing industry player, a list of names is an absolute must. Because of the list of names in a database that will be the target market for the business or product that will be offered. In the list of names, at least contain your address and mobile number.

3) Making appointments
Making appointments is a communication technique that Enagic network marketers employ after creating a list of names. A person or group in the roster is contacted to make an appointment to present the business or business opportunity that is the topic of discussion. This activity of making

4) Presentation or Conducting Education
After making an appointment with prospective prospects, what is done is a presentation in business called educating prospective customers or prospective business teams with a complete explanation of standard quality products and internationally certified and widely recognized with various empirical evidence and data. data accompanied by live demonstrations.

5) Follow-up
The next step is to follow up or follow up based on the results of presentations or education. In this case, Enagic business people ask about potential customers' interest after seeing the education or presentation material delivered.

6) Active users
Using the product. In the Enagic business, the product used is to consume miss water, which comes from the ionized machine, which has the benefit of mainly having three basic characters, namely alkalized, microcluster, and antioxidant.

7) Utilizing the tools
The tools used are to give more confidence to potential customers or potential business partners by showing books, CD testimonials about products, and inviting to attend meetings that aim to get more information about the benefits of being an Enagic business team.
The 7 things described above for Enagic business people become a routine that must be done in normal times or where it is not in a state of the Covid-19 pandemic, and those that become the backbone or core work in running the Enagic business are making presentations and follow-ups. Presentation and follow up are the applications of business communication. Corresponds to the theory of the business communication function in organizations that Function is informative. That Enagic business actors in their business presentations show or when educating they will present informative messages needed by potential customers or potential business partners. Persuasive function, That Enagic business people as good communicators in educating, of course, must convey persuasive messages so that prospective customers or potential business partners as communicators have an interest in buying products or being part of the business team. The activities of making appointments, making presentations, and following up under normal conditions and during a pandemic will certainly be very different. Likewise, the implementation of meetings and seminars organized by support system organizations held in hotels or other meetinghouses, of course during the Covid-19 pandemic it cannot be carried out.
Covid -19 became a pandemic on December 31, 2019, and began to spread to 100 countries in the world, including Indonesia as one of the countries with the greatest exposure to Covid-19. This pandemic condition has made many business sectors immobile for a while, as Network marketing players who work outdoors what happens are communication barriers caused by Covid-19 so that people are urged to reduce the intensity outside the home. To continue to survive in running a business in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the presence of information technology is one of the right solutions to stay active during the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of the most advanced technologies today is a smartphone with the Android operating system. Nowadays smartphones are very helpful in working because of the ability of smartphones which in addition to functioning as a medium for communication but can also be used as a computer. Applications in smartphones with the Android operating system that are widely used in business communication are WhatsApp, Telegram, and other internet features such as Facebook, Instagram, and so on.
Enagic business players who are members of a team leader, to use WhatsApp to educate the business team under the leadership of their network are as follows: (1) Whatsapp messenger is used for presentation video calls. Business exposure or education and live demo using video calls with Whatsapp messenger which is done with only a few people who are on Whatsapp calls with a maximum of 8 people, but generally 2 or 3 people. (2) Whatsapp messenger group as a business communication media that functions to educate, evaluate business team performance, share ISSN: 2723-7672 La Ode Asmanang ( Business communication for enagic network marketing during … ) information in the form of business team development, work target achievement, sales achievement, business team motivation, webinar information, and so on. (3) The use of zoom cloud meetings during the pandemic has increased because this media is used to make presentations and education for Enagic business people with a large number of participants like offline seminars. Enagic business players will conduct webinars from April 2020 to May 2020 every day. The average number of participants invited to attend this webinar is around 100 to 500 participants. Enagic business people really benefit from webinars using zoom cloud meetings because this media is a very effective tool for Enagic business people in business communication, especially activities to make presentations or education that have been delivered by the webinar speaker. Webinar presenters are professional people in the Enagic business who have been financially successful and have experienced life changes while running the Enagic business for 1 -3 years. This method is very useful in business communications conveyed indirectly by business people to prospective customers or prospective business teams. (4) The use of Facebook as a social media that can be accessed by the public, where the perpetrator uploads a status that is hypnosis which aims to invite public curiosity about what is meant in social media content that is displayed on the Facebook wall. Facebook can also build a positive image for the account owner according to the wishes or goals of the account owner. In this context, Enagic business people can build a positive image for constructive status uploads.
In line with what was proposed by B. Cutis, James J. Floyd and Jerry L. Wilson stated the objectives of business communication are as follows: (1) solving problems and making decisions (2) evaluating actors (3) meeting the needs of goods and services.

1) Solving Problems and Making Decisions
a person's position in the business determines how important expertise is in solving a problem and making decisions for the progress of the business that is involved. Enagic business players who are continuously educated will have the skills that allow them to solve problems if a problem occurs in their business team that requires solutions for the advancement of Enagic's business and reaches the predetermined career path.

2) Evaluating Behavior
A person's behavior determines his business success. Behavioral evaluation is important to do so that it can provide an assessment of performance to plan what to do next. Enagic business people have mentors who always provide advice, guidance, and evaluate success in building and developing Enagic businesses with various ways and strategies that have been made by the support system organization.

3) Fulfilling the Needs for Goods and Services
In improving people's lives, goods and services are needed to meet the needs of everyday life. Enagic business people carry out business activities to obtain compensation or income to increase the standard of living and meet the needs of life economically.
In business communication applied in Enagic business, it is following Habermas's theory that human action consists of two actions, namely; communicative action and rational action aimed. Rational action aims to be divided into two, namely strategic action and instrumental action. Strategic action is an action that aims to influence other people to achieve specific goals. Instrumental action is an action that has the aim of achieving objectives related to the physical world to achieve technical efficiency (Ngonso & Chukwu, 2021).
The strategic action of Habermas in business communications carried out by Enagic business people is when Enagic businesspeople persuasively offer business opportunities to prospective customers or prospective business teams by explaining the advantages and benefits of Enagic's business to attract the interest of prospective customers or prospective business teams and decide to make a purchase or register a machine unit as a special purpose.
Instrumental actions taken by Enagic business people are a series of activities carried out as described above with seven successive steps carried out continuously which will ultimately achieve the financial success which is the goal of Enagic business people. W: http://journal2.uad.ac.id/index.php/commicast/index | E: commicast@comm.uad.ac.id

Conclusion
In business communication during the Covid-19 pandemic, to overcome communication barriers for Enagic Network Marketing businesses is to utilize information technology, the use of Android operating system smartphones with WhatsApp applications is a means of communication to exchange ideas, ideas, get mentoring and education and can do presentations or education to prospective customers or prospective business teams with the video call feature on Whatsapp messenger.
The use of zoom cloud for webinars as an effective medium as a very useful tool for Enagic businesspeople miss water to provide explanations or presentations from professional people in Enagic business to potential customers or prospective business teams to purchase or register Enagic machine units. The use of Facebook social media to build a positive image according to the wishes of the account owner or Enagic business people who can attract public interest. Enagic business people also need to use other internet features such as Instagram. It is also necessary to create a YouTube channel as a medium for uploading information that can help increase business productivity.