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Nothing But ’Net

 

 

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 271 pages, $24.95

 

Reviewed by Allan Fallow

 

Would you accept business advice from a 30-year-old “veteran trend analyst” who had to consult Google on how to tie a tie? That’s what Julien Smith and co-author Chris Brogan, “a widely read blogger on the subject of social media,” ask us to do in Trust Agents, their primer on how salespeople can stay relevant by migrating online.

 

“The older approach[es] to marketing, PR, advertising, business communication and other activities on the Web aren’t pulling as well as they used to,” Brogan and Smith declare in the book’s introduction. The culprit behind this colossal collapse in response, in their view, is a society-wide “trust deficit”: Average citizens have become “hostile to those who appear to have ulterior motives, even if they’re just selling themselves.”

 

One upshot of this ebb in public confidence has been an explosion in private networks that spontaneously coalesce around a common interest, usually online. Suspicious of anything that comes to us from beyond the confines of our new digital tribes, Brogan and Smith contend, we are turning more and more to reliable, influential and pivotal people. The pair identify these individuals as “trust agents.”

 

What would it mean to reinvent yourself as a trust agent? For starters, get ready to embrace some far more diffuse methods of generating sales leads:

 

 

To make their case, Brogan and Smith lay out six “overarching but interrelated” behaviors, explained below, that they say typify today’s best trust agents:

 

1.   Trust agents make their own game. Trust often hinges on how well you can distinguish yourself from the herd. Happily, the tools to do so are not just available, but free. You might start a blog and — if you wish to monetize it — place Google AdSense ads on it. You might launch a Web site, lead a new Web community or start a marketing campaign. Or you might visit an affiliate marketing site, such as Commission Junction (cj.com), to determine whether you have what it takes to build and sustain a content marketing blog around a certain product.

 

Taking such steps creates “a category of one,” allowing you to set that category’s rules and standards. This lets you redefine the industry you’re in, making it easier for you to stand out, and deal with traditional gatekeepers by recasting yourself as a “gatejumper.”

 

2.  Trust agents model themselves as “one of us.” This chapter is lighter on content than the others, but it echoes the Google motto, “Don’t be evil”: Establish a digital presence, but act like a human being within it. Brogan and Smith manage the occasional insight here: If “intimacy [is] one of the most powerful factors in trust,” as they observe, then “people will become more comfortable with you if you are openly sharing your thoughts and ideas.”

 

That’s all well and good — but what if you want more concrete pointers? You’ll find those in “Action” sidebars that detail such Netiquette customs as how to find groups of people online who may benefit from using your product, or how to take that crucial first step in engaging a digital community you may have targeted. If you’re in an online forum, for example, the authors suggest you “offer to moderate [it]. If you have specialized knowledge, offer to help people or host a get-together. Becoming a doer helps you become a player in your space.” These will be reassuring words to most REALTORS®, for they mean that tactics you found successful in a traditional business ecosystem should translate naturally to presenting yourself as a trust agent online.

3.  Trust agents take advantage of the “Archimedes effect.” He was the famous Greek inventor who said, “With a lever large enough, I can move the world,” so this chapter is all about leverage — specifically, how to wield it online to maximize your visibility as a trust agent in your chosen field. According to the authors, Web-based communities are often more valuable than those you organize in person: You can reach them faster, and you can leverage them more efficiently.

 

Many social media outlets can serve as levers, Brogan and Smith say, so take advantage of such inexpensive and easily mastered tools as podcasting and posting videos. If you don’t have a blog already, start one. (“Your blog is your home base. If you had a shop, that would be your blog; so write often and make sure that what you write there represents you.”) Establish and maintain a presence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other mainstream social networking sites. Why? Because at least some of the people who interact with you there will be potential customers. “With all of the [digital] resources available today,” the authors reason, “not using them is a lot like being a fire station with no phone.”

 

4.  Trust agents function as the “Agent Zero” of any network. Those familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s thoughts on people who are “connectors” will recognize many of the aperçus in this chapter, where Brogan and Smith encourage budding trust agents to position themselves at the center of their target community online. From this advantageous perch, they will be able to connect good people, spread worthy ideas and blend their work and social groups.

 

If it seems that the “zero” in “Agent Zero” describes a trust agent’s ideal level of self-interest, the effect is utterly intentional. The authors paint Agent Zero as someone largely driven by altruism — that is, someone who builds networks “almost reflexively,” because he or she promotes the work of others, shares even his or her best material without hesitation and delivers value without expecting something in return.

 

Ultimately, however, it’s all about “being in the relationship before the sale.” To that end, Brogan and Smith recommend you place yourself at many intersections along many traveled paths: Make constant and numerous small touches online, such as “commenting on people’s blog posts, responding to their Twitter messages or helping get the word out about their causes or efforts.” The alternative, they hint, is a digital oblivion too hideous to contemplate: “If you have no Google results, you don’t exist.”

 

5.   Trust agents are Human Artists. Here the authors pause to catch their breath and give the reader some perspective on the transactional transformations the Web is bringing about. “The balance of power within company-to-customer relationships has changed,” they note, ushering in a “consumer’s world” where buyers almost invariably have the upper hand.

 

“In social media,” goes the Brogan-Smith view, “human is the new black. People are the next revolution, and being active on the human-faced Web is your company’s best chance to grow its business in the coming years.”

 

Here’s what that means in practical terms: You must cultivate communities of customers online, reach out to influential bloggers with customized content rather than generic press releases, and friend someone back whenever they friend you on a social network. Oh, and always, always answer whatever (nonspam) e-mails come your way: “You don’t give blank stares to people who ask you questions,” Brogan and Smith point out, “so why [commit] its digital equivalent?”

 

6.  Trust agents like to build an army. Quick, which would you rather do: Persuade one person to give you $1 million, or persuade a million people to give you $1 each? If you picked option two, you’ve just proved the can’t-do-it-alone philosophy behind Trust Agent behavior No. 6, which acknowledges that “in addition to joining a group, creating one (and filling it with the smartest people you know) is the true path to influence online.”

 

Thanks to the recent and ongoing proliferation of social recommendation sites such as Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon, the authors of Trust Agents conclude, the best way to enhance your personal brand may be to automate the process: “The more people you have vouching for you, the wider your reputation spreads. That’s a lot better than telling people about yourself!”

 

Irksomely, Trust Agents assumes a level of familiarity with the rituals of online networking that not every REALTOR® may possess. The book is also tantalizingly vague when it comes to spelling out such seemingly worthwhile business actions as arranging affiliate advertising in conjunction with a blog. For those who have grown serious enough about “redefining themselves in the online space” that they can utter that phrase without apology, however, the wealth of recommended Web sites and blogs in Trust Agents may prove to be just the jumpstart they need.