Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the Reputations talk with Chris Brogan who just wrote a new book titled Trust Agents.
Chris opened the session with the Zulu greeting “Sawubona“, which means “I see you”. Instead of just saying HI to people it means that you recognize the other person and are brining them into existence.
I’ve been to hundreds of seminars over the years, so a lot of the content is getting repetitive, but Chris brought a fresh perspective on things and reinforced items that I have been telling clients, prospects, and co-workers for the past 3 years.
Here are some highlights and key takeaways.
The 3 main elements of social media: listening, connecting, publishing.
You can’t connect or publish until you listen. Most companies just jump into social media and immediately start trying to connect and sell. I tell all my clients and prospects that you must listen first before we can put together a strategy for engagement.
• Listening is the secret sauce
• The social phone is ringing — who will answer it? People are talking about your brand, your products, your services…are you there to answer those conversations?
• Make the relationship part happen when you connect. LISTEN! don’t be so anxious to get your message out
• The consumer won’t tell you what they need, if you’re not listening.
• Vanilla Ice figured out social media before any of us – Stop. Collaborate and Listen
Connecting
• We need customer managers, not product managers.
• Promote other people’s stuff 12 times more than your own stuff.
• Start connecting with people outside your vertical.” This is something took away from the session. I attend so many social media events, that sometimes I feel like I live in a social media bubble. I hear the same things over and over again. In 2010 I will make the commitment to attend sessions outside of the social media bubble and make new and differing connections.
• Wherever you’re treated nice, that’s your place. Think about this statement. If you work with a company or partner or visit your local bar. What is the 1st thing you notice and that keeps you coming back? The people were nice, listened to you and it was a pleasant experience.
• If you are in social media, you should ask yourself “how can I help”?, not how can I push my products and services. There are so many self-promoting“social media gurus” out there that love to talk about how smart they are, but I would like to push back to them and ask them how are you helping people?
• So you’re a blogger? What do you complain about? I get this a lot from clients, they are afraid that if they open up the lines of social communication that people will just complain. I make it a point to give praise to companies that are providing great experiences and will point out those that are not.
• The customer isn’t an idiot – it’s your wife.
• Branding only works on cattle
• People will reveal to you what they want and need. Start listening!
Publishing
• All your employees are now the media and must be media trained. Think about this for a minute. Everyone of your employees can start engaging in social media in a matter of minutes. Everyone in your company is now in sales and customer service. Are you ready for that? It’s too late. You must train all of your employees on key messages.
• How do you establish a social media policy? It’s basically don’t do anything stupid, or write something you wouldn’t want your mom to read
• People always ask – What’s the next big “thing” in social media? Who cares? Worry about the relationship.
• Don’t use the tools if you’re not ready to listen
• You don’t need to build a new community platform if a community exists. Join existing, participate, add value
• People matter far more than the single sale
• Best Buy’s social media policy
ROI
• I want relationships that yield. I don’t care how may Twitter followers I have
If this all makes sense to you and you want to learn more, go buy Chris Brogan’s new book Trust Agents
