Trust Agents Highlights PDF

Trust Agents Highlights by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith

I prepared 'Trust Agents Highlightsʼ for my Marketing Book Club to facilitate discussion of key themes. The text belongs to Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Great book! Well worth the read. Colleen Carrington | @colleencar | Sep 09

Monday, September 28, 2009

Why you want to read Trust Agents

• All great relationships are built on trust. This book describes how to become a Trust Agent and increase your social capital.

• Chris and Julien provide countless examples that teach you how to use the web to:

build influence,

improve your reputation, and

earn trust.


Here are some highlights to whet your appetite

15 ways to become a Trust Agent


Build a Listening Station


Building a Listening Station

• Monitor web activity for you, your company, your products/services, and your competitors

• Set up a Gmail account to get access to free Google applications

• Use www.google.com/reader as your listening station

• Use www.technorati.com to search (Type your name/company/product/competitors in quotes into the search bar. On the results page, right-click on orange RRS button/copy-link location)

• Paste what you copied into Google Reader (Just click the blue plus [+] button.)

• Search here too: http://blogsearch.google.com http://search.twitter http://www.youtube.com

• Label ‘me’ and ‘them’ (for your competition) to help you sort


http://www.google.com/reader

http://www.google.com/reader

http://www.technorati.com


http://blogsearch.google.com

http://blogsearch.google.com

http://search.twitter

http://search.twitter

http://www.youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com

Answer Questions on Your Blog - Get Credit More Than Once

• Have a blog yet? Remember authorities don’t just talk, they write. If you don’t want to customize, host and do all the heavy lifting, go to www.blogger.com or www.wordpress.com


http://www.blogger.com

http://www.blogger.com

http://www.wordpress.com

http://www.wordpress.com

Answer Questions on Your Blog - Get Credit More Than Once

1. What subjects will help you build content? (Write about something that’s helpful to others.)

2.Look around you on ‘Yahoo! Answers’ & ‘LinkedIn.com’ for questions you can answer about your topic. (Write simply. Don’t use jargon. Use stories and metaphors, and learn a bit about copywriting . See Copyblogger.com for tips. Don’t talk about your own product all the time.)

3.Check out other blogs about your subject to see what the hot topics are.

4.If you have an opinion, make it known through comments on those blogs or simply by writing about it yourself. Always give credit for your ideas, and be humble.


Write a Gatekeeper/Gatejumper List

• See things differently by understanding who “owns” the old games. These people are the gatekeepers. The upstarts are the gatejumpers.

• Figure out who your gatekeepers are, and then decide which rules you can break to make yourself a gatejumper. Here are some more examples to get your ideas flowing.

Flickr: san diego shooter’s photostream


Gatekeepers Gatejumpersbookstores Amazon

radio podcasters

print magazines blogs

local telco Skype

record labels Radiohead

Microsoft Office Google Docs

Southeby’s eBay

Toyota Prius Tesla Motors

NASA Richard Branson


Start Figuring Out the Rules ... Everywhere!


Start Figuring Out the Rules ... Everywhere!

• Think about the rules and systems that apply to any situation.

• Once you have the system figured out, ask yourself which inefficient rules can be changed or modified.

• By shifting the rules and making your own game, you can increase productivity or networking opportunities.

• Try to find even simpler systems.

• How can you find work-arounds that will extend or improve the rules?


Starter Kit for Hacking Work

• Subvert the game and make yourself more autonomous. Differentiate yourself so you are seen as outside the system.

• If you want to make your own game at work:

work for a small company - you’ll be considered more valuable

collect case studies, blog posts, success stories, and books that show people doing something similar to what you’re hoping to do



win some early victories by accomplishing small projects at work; do more than your job title asks for and surprise your boss with it

• Don’t suck up. You want to be seen as equal not inferior. Don’t miss the chance to subtly show those accomplishments to people who need to know. But never suck up.



• Find completely different verticals that do it differently. Look for synergy with what you’re doing. Recommend the shift.

• Come up with a pilot program for your hacks and run it by the bosses. Don’t waffle. Give them the goal, the methods, and the measures. Build a great presentation for it.


Three Rules for Your New Game

1.When you treat people well, they treat you well back. (Don’t do something to get something back. Do it because you’re human.)

2.The wider your network, the easier to get things done.

3.The more personal the relationship, the more straightforward you can be.


A Game You Can Make Right Now

• Build a content marketing blog.

• Go to an affiliate marketing site like Commission Junction (cj.com), sign up, and determine what kinds of products you could write about consistently for some length of time. Build a blog around those kinds of topics, and use affiliate advertising in conjunction with your blogging.

• Start measuring. Set goals. See how little or how much effort you can put into each post to deliver revenue.


How to be Human

• Afraid of feeling like a robot? Remember this new online world is about relationships, not campaigns.

• Ask about other people - first. How are you? What are you doing?

• Understand the culture.

• Promote others 12 times as much as you promote yourself and your company.

• Use your picture as your avatar.


How to Make Friends


How to Make Friends

• Imagine you’re at a party. Would you start by trying to sell people your product? No. Same thing here. First you’d build relationships.

• Facebook - find your friends and branch out from there. It’s okay to ‘friend’ people you haven’t met: ‘Hey, Austin, Julien talks about you a lot. I’d love to connect up here.’

• Learn about others. Use Twitter’s ‘search’ function, and blogs like www.technorati.com, blogsearch.google.com, www.alltop.com

• Find friends along lines of mutual interests more than any other factor.

• If you mess up, remember the three A’s: acknowledge, apologize, & act.

• Share a bit of your personal life in your professional.




http://www.alltop.com

http://www.alltop.com

Where do I Belong?

?Monday, September 28, 2009

Where Do I Belong?

• Are there groups of people whose ideas are aligned with your company’s products or services?

• Spend some time on Google searching for online communities that could benefit from using your product.

• Think of any search term, then add ‘community’ or ‘network’ to it.

• Use Google Blogsearch or Technorati.

• Check out Facebook.


Find the Diamonds

• Find the online rising stars within your industry.

• Eg. Want to be the Trust Agent for the boating industry? Find the boating bloggers, the boating video makers, the active forum users, and reach out to them.

• Ask for nothing. Just say hi or that you liked a comment.

• Make yourself known, but don’t talk about your company or business goals.


Make an Impact. Leave Comments, Often.

• Don’t spam those who have ideas about your products or services. Here are some examples of ‘good’ comments to leave on a blog:

Leave your name and, if important, the company name, but don’t be spammy about it

Comment on stories and pieces that relate to your industry, product, or service

Don’t explicitly mention or link to your stuff, even if it’s pertinent -- at least for a few comments

Be yourself, which is to say, “be one of us”


Make an Impact. Leave Comments, Often.

• Make sure you’re actually adding some value to the post and not just saying , “Hey, nice post.”

• See what others’ are saying with www.backtype.com and use it as a guide.

• Leave 10 comments today and then 10 tomorrow, even if some are just thank-you notes. They’ll quickly become a staple of your daily online activities, and reading what others say will help you develop your own ideas as well as leave an impression on those who follow you.

• You’ll start to become more memorable and maybe even make a few friends.


http://www.backtype.com

http://www.backtype.com

First Steps to Leverage Your Position within Your Organization

• You want to rock your corporation the way Vaynerchuk rocked wine?


First Steps to Leverage Your Position within Your Organization

• Some first moves in this space:

Be bold about your business purpose

Be everywhere

Be a salesperson

Be relentless

Be gracious


The Business Card Game

• Yes, they’re so 1987. But they’re still important today.

• Many places to get them online: moo.com, overnightprints.com, vistaprint.com, etc.

• Card Design (name most visible element, mobile, email, blog, twitter, etc.)

• Card Tricks (ask for others cards first - and only if you want to make further contact, offer your card only in return)


Get LinkedIn

• Dust off your LinkedIn.com profile. Refresh it and start connecting to potential business partners, prospects, and friends. Here are some first steps:

Rewrite your profile to highlight your current capabilities and future business interests

Add a candid (versus stuffy corporate) head shot

Start finding colleagues and connecting

Solicit connections on your less formal networks, like Facebook, Twitter, or the newer networks


15 ways to become a Trust Agent

1. Build a listening station 9. Make friends

2. Answer questions on your blog 10. Discover where you belong

3. Write a gatekeeper/gatejumper list 11. Find the diamonds

4. Start figuring out the rules 12. Make an impact Leave comments, often

5. Be a hacker / look for work-arounds 13. Leverage your position

6. Follow the three rules for your new game

14. Play the business card game

7. Make a game right now 15. Get LinkedIn

8. Be human Read the book ... it’ll bring all these concepts to life


Trust Agents Highlights by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith

I prepared 'Trust Agents Highlightsʼ for my Marketing Book Club to facilitate discussion of key themes. The text belongs to Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Great book! Well worth the read. Colleen Carrington | @colleencar | Sep 09


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Trust Agents Highlights PDF

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