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Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
 
 
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Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust (Hardcover)

~ Chris Brogan (Author), Julien Smith (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

How to tap the power of social software and networks to build your business

In Trust Agents, two social media veterans show you how to tap into the power of social networks to build your brand's influence, reputation, and, of course, profits. Today's online influencers are web natives who trade in trust, reputation, and relationships, using social media to accrue the influence that builds up or brings down businesses online.

The book shows how people use online social tools to build networks of influence and how you can use those networks to positively impact your business. Because trust is key to building online reputations, those who traffic in it are "trust agents," the key people your business needs on its side.

  • Delivers actionable steps and case studies that show how social media can positively impact your business
  • Written by authors with over ten years of online media experience
  • Shows you how to build and wield influence online to benefit your brand
  • Combines high-level theory with practical step-by-step guidance

If you want your business to succeed, don't sit on the sidelines. Instead, use the Web to build trust with your consumers using Trust Agents.

From the Inside Flap

There's no question that the Internet has changed the way we do business—especially when it comes to marketing. Consumer environments are short on trust and populated by consumers who are cynical, savvy, and informed. Though it's easier than ever to reach your customers, it's less likely that they'll listen. Today, the most valuable online currency isn't the dollar, but trust itself.

At the same time, social networks and personal connections have far more influence on consumers than your marketing messages ever will—unless your business knows how to harness them. In Trust Agents, two social media veterans show you how to tap into the power of these networks to build your brand's influence, reputation, and profits.

Trust agents aren't necessarily marketers or salespeople; they're the digitally savvy people who use the Web to humanize businesses using transparency, honesty, and genuine relationships. As a result, they wield enough online influence to build up or bring down a business's reputation. This book will show you how to build profitable relationships with trust agents, or become one yourself.

In an online world defined by its transparency, becoming a trust agent is no easy task, but once you've established your reputation, you can build influence, share it, and reap the benefits of it for your business. When you've learned a trust agent's secrets, your words can carry more power and more weight than any PR firm or big corporate marketing department.

Learn to use the power of the Web and social networks for your business now. Trust Agents gives you all the tools and strategies you need to do it the right way—honestly, effectively, and profitably.

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Product Details

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Chris Brogan
Chris Brogan
Julien Smith
Julien Smith

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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Customer Reviews

68 Reviews
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4.6 out of 5 stars (68 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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51 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Analysis of important but disturbing trends, September 18, 2009
I've met Chris Brogan several times (who is impressive in person despite a penchant for thinking that foul language is cool), and I have a great admiration for Seth Godin, who enthusiastically praises and endorses this book. Trust Agents is well-written, and the authors certainly are leaders (i.e., trust agents) in social media. The problem is that the book reflects a disturbing philosophical shallowness within our society, as well as a mindless pursuit of celebrity. Hey, it's a good book, and worth reading, but there is nothing profound within the covers. Trust Agents glorifies the current trend toward acquiring great quantities of snippets of relationships, and assumes that the value of quantity over quality in our relationships is the appropriate focus. Yes, this acquisition probably is the most effective means for business success now, however it ignores a fundamental destruction of the true fabric of our humanity. I am surprised that Seth Godin praises this book so highly, since it has so little to do with relationship quality, excellence, and the pursuit of remarkability.
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31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars These guys go way beyond a business book. Superb!, August 17, 2009
Chris Brogan and Julien Smith say they set out to write a business book. "Perhaps you've been noticing that the older approach to marketing, PR, advertising, business communication, and other activities on the web aren't pulling as well as they used to...Trust Agents is the answer to the question: `What do I do now?'" Eventually, it suggests that its message can be more broadly applied. "You will get the job you want without a resume. This book will teach you how....By the way, this works with talking to attractive members of the opposite sex, too." And finally, at the end, "Though we've written the book to be a business book about using the web, the skills of a trust agent relate to many offline possibilities." Disclosing this so late may have been intentional. Or, seeing how the narrative develops, perhaps it was something the authors realized only after the whole thing had been written. Regardless, they're absolutely correct.

People will believe what tends to conform to their own social circles and the people that they trust. Generally, we trust our friends. And on the web, those friends can be everywhere. The ones who set out to gain our trust are called "Trust Agents." "Trust agents use today's web tools to spread their influence, faster, wider, and deeper than a typical company's PR or marketing department might be capable of achieving, and with more interest in people, too. We need to become them and harness them...A Trust Agent builds networks almost reflexively by being helpful, by promoting the good work that others do, by sharing even their best stuff without hesitation, and by finding ways to deliver even more value on top of all that without asking for anything in return."

Business needs to cultivate its Trust Agents, some of which will be under company control, most of which will not. Personally, so do we all. I recommend this book for everyone, both business and personal.


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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Prepare for more social media buzz words..., December 19, 2009
I was looking forward to reading this book as I work in social media and highly respect the authors. I'm always weary of reviews of social media books because, let's face it, in general the authors know more about reviews/ratings and how to manipulate them more than authors of other books. Anyway, I was very disappointed in Trust Agents. I felt that it was similar to other social media books in that the authors are trying to create catch phrases or buzz words (e.g. "trust agents") being that this is a new industry and creating a buzz phrase is a great marketing tactic. Despite the book's description, this is more of a theoretical book and does not offer practical advice that can be used at the tactical level.

It might not be a bad book if you're new to social media, but if you're experienced you're basically going to hear the same old stuff with different jargon. Then again, if you're new to social media you're much better off reading Groundswell. You'll get plenty of interesting supporting data there rather than anecdotal evidence of why certain strategies work.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Be Human
It's a simple concept, and yet, businesses continue to ignore it. The concept is "be human."

Every time you open shop, take a call, update your status, or send an... Read more
Published 2 days ago by R. Barton

3.0 out of 5 stars Inside the World of Social Media
Nice introduction to the world of social media. As the authors mention, this book could be obsolete in a couple of years. Read more
Published 14 days ago by John McLaughlin

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful
I found the book quite insightful. I decided to pick it up after I filmed one of the authors "Julien Smith" speaking about social media in Vancouver, BC. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars Very telling of the times
I found this book through Amazon recommendations while I was purchasing something else. I was pleasantly surprised to find this book not only incredibly insightful but also witty... Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars The knowledge and permission we need
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5.0 out of 5 stars Home Run...
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5.0 out of 5 stars A seminal work in the field of marketing
Chris Brogan is, in my mind, one of the great thinkers in the world of online marketing. He has teamed up with a technical maestro, Julien Smith, to get readers thinking way... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Elizabeth H. Cottrell

5.0 out of 5 stars Trust Agents: We need more of them
Trust Agents is written by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, and is a book designed, by its subtitle about "Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Kathy Nicholls

5.0 out of 5 stars There's a Lot to Learn from Brogan and Smith
There's a lot to learn from "Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust" by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Glynn Young

3.0 out of 5 stars Dale Carnagie 2.0
This book - with such a cool title - was somewhat mediocre IMHO...While the two authors certainly do a great job of inducing you to "like-them" and try to come across as "one of... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Joe Marks

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Publish in Kindle Format Please 1 September 2009
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