If you are already a trusted community member/manager then Trust Agents isn’t going to do anything new for you. There is nothing really brand new in this especially if you have taken the time to read books like Seth Godin’s Tribes, New Rules of Marketing and PR or Chris Brogan’s blog then you are most likely familiar with the concepts covered in this book. I found that it was mostly a reminder of things that I should be doing that I have left fall to the wayside.
If you are not a trusted member or leader in your community, Trust Agents is for you.
Trust is more affected by what people say. Credibility is important, but it’s mainly established through groups, or tribes. Interact frequently and regularly with people while still being honest about what you are trying to accomplish/your business.
The 6 Characteristics of Trust Agents are:
Make Your Own Game
Making your own game is really what differentiates us from everyone else. Social Media allows us to do these types of things. We need to create an experience for people, think of video games. I used to play a ton of video games and once I finished the game, I’d get bored. Online, our ADD kicks in extreme style, we’ve got to make our own game and get people to play it with us. It doesn’t have to be a video game, it could be something as simple as creating a youtube video that challenges people to come up with 100 reasons to market online and have 100 different people shoot videos on their reason WHY. Simple, yet powerful. Think about @GaryVee he’s created a sort of game with his wine. He’s made it FUN for people to learn about it and has made a killing doing it!
One of Us
This is very important, you want your followers or tribe to feel that you are one of them. They don’t want you to be a super-human machine, but someone who really cares about them and their needs. By taking the time to do this, you will become one of them and gain their trust. This also allows you to get targeted feedback from those who you will be serving with your product or service! Can’t get much better than that, helping people out by learning from them. Great concept.
The Archimedes Effect
“Eureka” “With a lever large enough, I can move the world.”-Archimedes
What this means for us is that we want to learn how we can use leverage online in our business. We need to be aware of tools that will help us get to where we want to be. There are thousands upon thousands of people who have created valuable resources that we get to use to build our businesses quicker than ever. We must identify these tools and utilize them to our best ability.
You can use the connections you have in one place to help in another place. But Chris, how do I use this?
By building up your list of followers on Twitter, you can then convert them onto any other social networks by developing the relationships with your Twitter followers and getting them to join you on the other networks. This leverages your contacts on one network and helps you quickly build up your other networks! (sneaky little guru trick there) Twitter is one of the easiest and quickest ways to develop relationships
Agent Zero
Trust agents have a tendency to be the “connector” in their group. Being the connector is the person who helps others connect to build great relationships. To become a connector, you will want to start connecting with other connectors. Sounds a little confusing I know… here’s some tips.
Being the connector is fairly simple online as social networks release information about the individual’s personal and business life. This allows you, as the connector, to do some research on each individual you connect with. Google allows you to do even further research and dig up any information regarding work that has been performed by these individuals and allows you to identify the true leaders and individuals who are providing benefit to others. By learning this, you can merely share some of this information with other people who may be looking for what is being offered by the first individual. Pretty sweet, huh?
Example: say you are looking for a Chiropractor in Northern Pennsylvania, I grew up in Waverly NY which is right along the border of PA. I played sports and of course got injured playing sports and had to go to a Chiropractor and I’d recommend Dr. Thomas Horn of Family DC because he helped me get back to health! He is someone who is in my “network” who benefits people interested in Chiropractic care and he is someone who I personally have had experience with and love how he has helped me. Therefore, I recommend him to anyone interested in finding a Chiropractor in that area. This works great for you because I have already done the research and experienced his services. This is the same thing that happens online, only it happens online with everything from books to web design.
These relationships are built up online as well as offline. To become agent zero, you want to become an Authority in as many groups as possible! Build up awareness by becoming visible, whether this be with connecting with people online, or attending seminars. Remember to leave traces of your input on many networks and don’t think of the WIFM (what’s in it for me) think more of “How can I help others?” This seems like it won’t work, but after reading “The Go-Giver” by @BobBurg and @JohnDavidMann I learned that helping others really can be profitable as strange as this sounds.
Human Artist
The balance of power has changed. The customer rules, the buyer is ALWAYS in a better position. You want to learn how to communicate
1) Listen- Read others questions on blogs before asking your questions
2) Ask- If you don’t know what’s acceptable and not, ASK!
3) Reciprocate- if someone friends you, friend them back! Great way to develop relationships
4) Comment and comment back- simple enough, be active! Tell the author how the post has helped you or your business. Also, if you run a blog, ANSWER the questions that your readers ask! It’s simple and it’s a great way to further help your fans, also a great way for you to become more respected!
AAA….no nothing to do with Alcohol here This is for problems that you may run into online as many people are “haters”
A- Acknowledge: notice people are talking about you or your company
A- Apologize: share that you apologize for something not working out as it should
A- Act: provide an answer and help your customer with solving the problems!
Build an Army
This is one of the most important things. What’s more powerful, an army of 1 or an army of 100,000?
DUH!
The main job of an army is to have major impact and both sides need to get something out of it. You’ll have strength in numbers and have the ability to have many people working on a project instead of just a few select people working on it. Time-saving? Yes. By having many people working on small parts of a project, you accomplish the project faster and often better than by having a group of 1-5 people on it.
Army’s are powerful, start to find one where you can join and/or start your own army! There is power in numbers and you can win with anything if you gather the right people for the job!
If you want to learn more about Trust Agents, I recommend picking up a copy and skimming through it. It has some good points that many times we just need re-inforced in our brains. However, if you feel pretty solid with these concepts, you can skip it.
Personal rating of this book: [rating:4]
You can get the book here for cheap: