One on One With Chris Brogan of New Media Marketing Labs

Chris Brogan is president at New Media Marketing Labs and author, along with Julien Smith, of the recently published book "Trust Agents." Brogan is one of the luminaries in the growing, social media space and speaks often about social media at conferences. I asked him about his new book and why businesses should be paying attention to social media online.

FCM: What led you and Julien to write this book?

CB: We admire the work of people like Robert Scoble and Frank Eliason and Christopher Penn, and we realized that no one had written the book on HOW they became trusted sources of information in the online space. It's not as easy as it immediately looks, but figuring out the answer to that question seemed useful, given our levels of online participation. 

FCM: Define "trust agents."

CB: A trust agent is someone who learns how to be human at a distance, using the tools of the web to build lasting relationships of value. We think of trust agents as people who understand how to stand out, how to belong to a group, how to use leverage, how to connect easily with others, and how to act more human than business-like. 

FCM: How can individuals become a trust agent?

CB: Individuals can learn by experimenting. The more people try the ideas we've set forth, and learn how to make them work for their own interests, the faster they'll figure out the formula. I think the ideas of being helpful, being consistent and being ubiquitous are good starting points for the cause. 

FCM: Why should businesses be interested in social networking, in general?

CB: Social networks are growing exponentially right now. Facebook shows an average daily growth of 750,000, most of those coming from the 31-60 age range (and most of those women). These networks are no longer just for kids, and they've become a giant watering hole, a commons from which others are able to create new value and new non-homogeneous networks of value.  

FCM:You have stated "Be humble, be helpful and share." How does that help advance an individual's business goals online?

CB: These three traits are what we seek when determining if someone is like us, is trustworthy, is someone we hope to spend a bit more time with overall. By sharing for free, what companies like Hubspot would call inbound marketing, the relationship turns around. People looking to buy feel pleased by the free offer and they appreciate the generosity before anyone asks anything of them. By being helpful, you're always considered a good person to know. That's the opposite of how we think of traditional salespeople, isn't it? Seems like the way to do it, we believe.

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