Chris Brogan (who’s probably seen or will see this post as a result of Google Alerts telling him) came out with a new book called Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust. He co-wrote this with Julien Smith.
Naturally, Seth Godin who loves online buzzwords must’ve gotten real excited with the title itself and given it a “two thumbs up” on that basis. In any case, here are my thoughts on this book…
So, what is a “Trust Agent”? According to the book, “Trust agents have established themselves as being non-sales-oriented, non-high pressure marketers. Instead, they are digital natives using the web to be genuine and to humanize their business.”
OK. “Digital natives”, “humanize their business”, “permission marketing”??? Keep the catch phrases coming.
In any case, the premise of this tome is that cultivating “trust” will enable you and your business to succeed. Brogan talks about creating this trust using social networks and online media.
If a person/business is a trust agent, people will gravitate towards that trust agent when they need something, and then trust that agent with their information and leads. There’s theoretical stuff in here too and some of Brogan’s success stories along with other relevant examples and actionable suggestions. Unfortunately, the book is not as strong as would expect in terms of defining a clear step-by-step process to developing a ‘trust agent’ to harness and leverage the unlimited bounds of the Internet’s social world.
Essentially, Trust Agents is about online communication manners and creating online social capital.The lessons of creating value-add experiences for anyone who will interact with you online through a website, social network, blog, IM etc etc are well known to most trundlers (like myself) in the social space. This is however, a good book for someone seeking to understand the dynamics of the social web.
Brogan details six necessary characteristics of Trust Agents which I’ve summarized as follows:
1. Make your own game.
Try new ways of doing things. Stand out from the crowd. First movers have a distinct advantage but it’s also important to identify the right time to step into a market. What is the right time? It differs by industry, market, consumer interests, economic environments etc etc. A quote from Warren Buffet is educating but not necessarily informative: “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”
2. Be one of us.
The lesson here is to be part of the community. Do not be the self-promotional member of the community who is continually handing out business cards and asking for business. Businesses have learned this lesson well. Whole Foods on its Twitter and Facebook platforms is the consummate social player in this game. The idea is to contribute to the community and be an active member. American Airlines and JetBlue use their social media platforms to solve customer problems and keep their brands active and alive in the online social world.
Don’t just create a profile and sit on it. Give if you want to receive. Give good stuff whether its information, promos, help tips etc. Become a value-added community member. Define yourself as a community member bait – so that folks realize that you provide value and will want to connect with you. Twitter seems like a good place to make friends as it keeps growing – see Nielson’s fastest member communities report.
3. Use the Archimedes Effect.
Archimedes propositioned that if he had a long enough lever and a fulcrum on which to place it, he could move the world. Here the idea is to use your messaging to best effect to influence people. Couldn’t this point just have been titled “Influence people well”? Hmm.
4. Try to be Agent Zero.
Cultivate your personal networks and recognize their value. Connect with good people. Connect between different groups. The connection element in this message is overwhelming. Connect as much as possible but connect in meaningful ways. Don’t just friend all and sundry on Facebook – Connect with folks who matter in your space.
5. Become a Human Artist.
This principle is about learning how to work well with people and help empower people. You need to learn the etiquette and start off by listening to the community before you burst in with a full head of steam. Observe, assimilate and then act. See another article, I wrote on how to do this using stealth principles by SunTzu – It’s very applicable in social media marketing.
6. Build an Army. You can’t do it alone. You need to find people who are willing to collaborate with you. The above points will lead to this final objective of having an army of willing “innovators” or “early adopters”.
The book is so-so. Brogan’s got a lot of experience and it shows. Personally a book with more detailed processes on how to do this and achieve success in addition to an explanation of the X factor of luck involved would be interesting.
First, of course I saw it. I didn’t even have to wait for Google, because you were kind enough to point it out in Twitter. : )
Second, I’ll accept so-so, as you were looking for more of a how-to. We didn’t intend to write that. We threw a lot of how-to in there, including the building of listening stations, the ways to get more comments, the ways to get your email answered, etc, but it wasn’t, by definition, a how-to. The Social Media Marketing book, by Dan Zarella, would be a much better book for what you were hoping.
Finally, I really like the part at the end about the “X factor of luck.” I might have something for you there, as Julien and I found by the end of Trust Agents, that we were doing business differently than others, and that we wanted to write a book to explain THAT.
There’s this horrible cliche in book writing that when you finish a book, you come to some realization that makes you want to explain this new thing. To me, it was always hooey, a way to sell your sequel or whatever. So, maybe that’s all I’m telling you, or maybe I’m telling you that Julien and I discovered something by the end of Trust Agents that we think might actually answer your part about the “X Factor of Luck.”
Thanks for the review. I appreciate the perspective.
Nice and thorough review.
I’ve always said it’s an essential book for the Italian market for E-commerce never took off in Italy. Problem is we don’t trust E-retailers due to the easy rip-offs and lethargic legal system.
We work out of Southern Italy with 4 commerce sites (more on the way) & it took 9 long years to develop trust and become “trust agents” with our American market.
The book is helping us fine tune our jobs as trust agents along with exploring more of social media channels. It is priceless and honest advice. Thanks Chris and Julien!
Chris, Thanks for the response. Social marketing exercises have helped build and expand a brand’s reputation online, but have yet to demonstrate tangible returns unless one takes share of online voice into account or brand visibility on social networks as metrics of success.
The ‘X factor of Luck’ is something that may still remain undefined as time goes by though it is possible to reduce the probability of an unexpected outcome by ensuring that a clearly defined process (with achievable objectives in the end) is followed. I’ve seen a few initiatives where folks say “Oh and we want this to go viral.” Yeah, right! I don’t think that it’s possible to predict how something will go viral – though I’ll say that the Facebook bra colors for Breast cancer was just far out.
Thanks for the feedback, Italy. Good luck with your eBusiness.