I’ve got some exciting news to share with you today. After several weeks of hard work by my new friend Jackie Adkins, I’m proud to announce that my Brandtastic Ideas blog and all of its content can now be found at my new website mattstengel.com. There are still a few things I need to tweak within the new site but moving foward any new posts I put up can be found there.

So why am I moving my blog?

Well, there are several reasons for the move:

1.) I’ve always wanted to have my own website and be able to control not only my content but own it as well. With the free WordPress blogging platform I’ve been using over the past six plus months (which has been great and I highly recommend it) I’ve been able to control my content but haven’t technically owned it, WordPress has. With the purchase of my own domain name and the upgrade to the official WordPress platform, I now own my content, which I really take comfort in.

2.) Owning my own domain name and upgrading to the official WordPress platform provides additional creative flexibility and access to more tools than with my previous blog. The new site isn’t drastically different from the old one in terms of layout and navigation but I have added some new features that will allow you to share my content with other people more easily than before. There’s also a new “i like” Facebook feature that allows you to tell me whether or not you “like” what I’m writing about.

3.) The look and feel of my new site better represents my personal brand, which for those of you who know me is something I’ve been working hard on over the past 2 years and will serve as the online extension of my personal brand.

4.)  The biggest reason I am moving my blog is because of the success I’ve had with my “old” blog. I owe this success to you and the rest of my readers who’ve taken the time to check out and comment on my blog. Without this support I would not have had the confidence or the drive to make my new site a reality. So, THANK YOU. It always makes me feel good to know that people other than myself are reading my posts. Going forward, if you would like to see me write about a specific topic feel free to visit my “contact me” page and get a hold of me through one of the contact options listed.

I want to finish this post by saying THANK YOU to Mr. Jackie Adkins. Jackie and I connected on Twitter awhile back when I was looking for someone to help me build my new website and mattstengel.com is a direct result of his hard work and dedication. If you or anyone else you know is looking to create a blog or basic website I’d highly recommend getting in contact with Jackie. You rock Jackie! Thanks for all your help.

So, what are you waiting for?! Head on over to mattstengel.com and let me know what you think. On Monday 5/10 I will have a new post up so stop back then to see the latest Brandtastic Ideas.

Since last Thursday marked the 40 Anniversary of Earth Day I thought what better way to honor this special occasion than to talk about two brands that are doing some really innovative work when it comes to designing environmentally friendly packaging. The first brand I want to highlight is shoe and clothing giant PUMA, who this month as part of their amazing PUMA.Safe Program, unveiled its cutting-edge sustainable packaging and distribution system designed to significantly reduce the amount of waste and CO2 emissions. Click here to read official project details.

Designed by renowned industrial designer Yves Béhar, the “Clever Little Bag,” was created to replace the cardboard shoebox with a re-usable shoe bag that protects each pair of shoes from damage from the point it leaves the factory until the consumer takes it home — thus generating savings on the production side due to less material used, reducing weight during transport and eliminating the need for extra plastic carrier bags. PUMA believes their clever design will significantly reduce the amount of waste and CO2 emissions that traditional product packaging such as shoe-boxes and apparel polyethylene bags generate.

According to fuseproject, Béhar’s San Francisco design studio who partnered with PUMA on the project, the the tens of millions of shoes shipped in the clever bag will reduce water, energy and diesel consumption on the manufacturing level alone by more than 60% per year. PUMA is aiming to reduce carbon, energy, water, and waste by 25%, and develop 50% of its international product collections in footwear, apparel and accessories according to best practice sustainability standards by 2015.

“I was excited to partner with PUMA and contribute to such a game changing project,” said Yves Béhar. “PUMA’s initiative to look closely at one of the most challenging issues facing the retail industry in regards to sustainability and environmental harm was inspirational. In changing the packaging and distribution life cycle from the ground up, we hope our new design and comprehensive solution encourages other retail companies to follow suit.” (via PUMAvision)

View the awesome video below to see how PUMA came up with the “Clever Little Bag.”

The second brand I wanted to talk about is snack brand SunChips, a division of PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay, who just launched its newest year-long print, TV and online marketing campaign to promote its new biodegradable packaging. As part of the campaign, SunChips has created a fantastic website that features a time-lapse video ad showing the 14-week decomposition of the 100% biodegradable bag in just 30 seconds. Below are some screen grabs from the site but you should definately check it out for yourself at sunchips.com

Thomas Oh, director of the SunChips brand says that the packaging re-design was in response to consumer interest. “Our consumers very much want a healthier snack, and we realized a couple of years ago that those same consumers have an interest in what’s healthy for the planet. From an organizational standpoint, SunChips is the lead brand for communications around sustainability initiatives.” (via MediaPost)

Here is the first national TV spot for the campaign which I think is very well done.

So, what do you think about these brands and their eco-friendly initiatives? What other brands have you seen that are doing great work when it comes to minimizing their carbon footprint?  From a consumer standpoint, are you more likely to purchase from brands like PUMA and SunChips who are creating environmentally friendly products/packaging?

This past weekend I was going through the TSA security checkpoint at Chicago’s Midway airport when I was pleasantly surprised to see a great brandtastic idea in the bottom of the two gray security bins I was about to put my shoes and laptop in. Lining the bottom of each bin was an ad for online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos.com with a message like “Place Shoes Here. Buy Shoes Here.” with an arrow pointing to Zappos.com address or “Nice Laptop, Buy a Bag For It At Zappos.com” then the Zappos website address. Because I’m an advertising geek I got a big smile on my face when I saw these ads because I thought the messaging combined with the tactic and placement was very clever and well executed. Upon seeing the ads I was immediately engaged with them because for one, it was such an unexpected place to find an ad and secondly, the messaging was so relevent to me and my situation. If I had been thinking I would’ve taken a picture of the ads, but fortunately I was able to find other people’s pictures of the ads on Flickr. (See above and below)

I did some research later that same day and found out that Zappos has actually been placing ads in the bottom of security bins at various airports across the country for a couple of years now, however, this was the first time I had ever seen them or was aware that such a tactic was being used. Click here to read more details about the Zappos airport advertising campaign.

Personally, I think the strategy and location of the ads is creative and brilliant. These days people are bombarded daily with hundreds, if not thousands of brand messages so the challenge for any company is getting people to notice their brand and engage with it. To me, the Zappos ads accomplish all of this, but below are several other reasons why I think this is an effective non-traditional advertising tactic.

1.) What better time to talk shoes than when you’re asking someone to take them off and put them into a tray? Zappos ads reach people at the exact time they are thinking specifically about their shoes. Brilliant!

2.) Thousands of people travel through airport security checkpoints everyday and all of them have to remove their shoes before passing through. Zappos has realized this and understands that this forces people to think about their footwear. By placing target specific ads in the bottom of the usually boring gray airport security bins, Zappos.com is able to deliver a message to each and every traveler in a unique and interesting way. People are more likely to engage and remember the Zappos brand because they were reached at a time and place when they weren’t expecting to come in contact with an ad.

3.) Not only does Zappos get to reach an audience with shoes on the mind, but many of the people they reach may also be stuck in the airport for extended periods of time due to layovers or delays. In such situations, many people often go online on their smartphones or sit down and plug-in their laptops, giving them the perfeact opportunity to access Zappos.com and the Zappos’ online catalog.

What do you think though? Have you seen these ads before? If so, did you find them engaging or memorable? Do you think the messaging and tactic are effective or influence purchase behavior?

Photo Credit for second picture Scott Beale/Liquid Squid on Flickr

Photo Credit for third picture Kenn Wilson on Flickr

This past week, I came across an interesting article in the New York Times about Dr. Scholl’s that got me about as excited as you can get when you’re talking about a 100+ year-old shoe insoles company. If you’d like to read the original article you can do so by clicking here.

So, what got me so excited? Let me tell you.

According to the article, Dr. Scholl’s, a division of Schering-Plough, is going to be running a unique print ad in the May issues of In Style and All You, and the June issue of Shape, in support of their Dr. Scholl’s for Her Open Shoe insoles. What’s so cool about this ad? Well, when readers come across the heavy-stock paper ad, affixed to it will be an actual right insole. Interestingly enough, the insole will be attached to the cardstock with the same adhesive that holds it in place in shoes. According to the article, Dr. Scholl’s is making about 3 million of the mate-less insoles, with about 2.7 million going into magazines and the remainder available through the brand’s Facebook page for those who encounter the ad after samples have been removed. Newsstand copies of the magazine will not include insoles, which I find a little curious. I would love to hear more on why this is.

The strategy behind this tactic is to encourage reader engagement through a sort of side-by-side comparison between the reader’s current insole in their left shoe and the Dr. Scholl’s insole in their right one. T. J. Higgins, vice president for marketing for the consumer health care division for Schering-Plough was quoted in the article saying, “One of our goals is to build awareness of this brand and this segment and to get women to think about Dr. Scholl’s and feel the fit, comfort and shock attenuation.”

The unique strategy behind the ad and the attempt to create an intimate brand experience for the consumer is what I admire about this ad and the Dr. Scholl’s brand. Very few brands these days for whatever reason(s) create print ads that involve a tangible way to engage with the brand unless you’re talking about CTA’s (Call to Action), such as web addresses, social media sites and mobile text options. Although these are all effective, engaging and have their own set of benefits, there’s something to be said for actually being able to try out a product seconds after you come into contact with the original ad. I think this strategy is especially effective in today’s society where consumers expect instant gratification when dealing with their favorite brands.

It’s brands like Dr. Scholl’s and print ads like the one above that I admire. Sometimes a brand needs to doing something different even if it means spending a little more of the marketing budget. Based on a test run of the ad last summer in which research conducted one month after the ad first appeared in a June issue of Glamour showed 11 percent of the subscribers had actually bought the insoles and 58 percent said they planned to buy a pair, I think Dr. Scholl’s will be very pleased that they invested in a high-quality and engaging print ad such as this one. Kudos, Dr. Scholl’s!

What do you think about the ad and/or tactic, especially if you are a woman? What are some unique and engaging print ads you’ve come across lately that you thought were well executed?

Until then, check out this awesome YouTube video I came across today thanks to Mitch Joel’s “Six Pixels of Separation” blog. This video is REALLY cool and got me thinking about the power of ideas and creative collaboration. Having worked in the advertising business for a few years now, I’ve been a part of some great creative brainstorming sessions and they’ve all started with a “small” idea by someone being written down on a whiteboard, piece of notebook paper or even a Post-it note (wink-wink). This initial small idea never seems all that groundbreaking or even important, especially when it’s by itself. However, it always leads to someone else thinking of another idea, which then leads to another idea and so on and so forth until all of a sudden you have a “BIG” idea that becomes the creative concept for the campaign you were brainstorming for in the first place.

When I watched the video below, I couldn’t help but think of each Post-it note as a “tiny” idea, that when combined with a lot of other “tiny” ideas, becomes a “BIG” idea (a.k.a the entire video). I think that when it comes to generating the BIG idea, the first step is being brave enough to share that tiny idea in your head that may seem small or insignificant at the time but in reality, when combined with other “tiny” ideas, has the potential to become something much bigger, possibly even HUGE. The thing is though, if you don’t share it or write it down on say a Post-it, you’ll never know how big of an idea it could potentially be.

So, watch the video and let me know what you think about it. What do the Post-it notes represent to you? What are some “tiny” ideas you’ve had in your head lately that maybe you’ve been afraid to share?

Below is a “making of” video that shows how thousands of Post-It notes were used to create the final video above. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. Take a look!

“Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate. They establish the foundation for people to make connections, as opposed to commanding people to follow them.” –Seth Godin, Tribes

I recently finished reading Tribes by best selling author and widely known blogger Seth Godin. Tribes is a nationwide bestseller, appearing on the Amazon, New York Times, BusinessWeek and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. The main premise of the book is about the most powerful form of marketing–leadership–and how with the advances in technology anyone can now become a leader, creating movements that make a difference.

I really enjoyed reading this book because it provided great insight into how to be not just a leader, but how to be a leader using today’s emerging media platforms such as social media. I think where things are at with the economy and especially in the advertising/marketing fields, brands and consumers are both craving leadership and direction. They want to believe in something and they want to believe in brands again but are looking for someone to lead them.

Emerging forms of media such as social, mobile and digital mean we are living through and are right at the key moment of a change in the way ideas are created, spread and implemented. However, many brands have no idea how to use these media platforms (especially social media) to connect and engage with consumers. One of the biggest problems today Godin says is, “Most organizations spend their time marketing to the crowd.” Godin recommends what I’ve always believed social media strategy should be about and that is instead of marketing your brand at your audience you should  find groups of people that have something in common and provide them with a platform and the tools to communicate with one another.

The disappointing part of most brands social media strategy is that, “Too many organizations care about numbers, not fans. They care about hits or turnstile clicks or media mentions. What they’re missing is the depth of commitment and interconnection that true fans deliver.” 

The beauty of social, mobile and digital media is that these technologies are allowing brands to tighten the relationship they have with the people who choose to follow them and support them. However, if brands continue to shy away from social media or any other “emerging” media they will end up isolating themselves and their followers will end up going to other brands and other tribes that are willing to engage them.

If you are one of those brands that wants to build and lead your tribe here is what Godin suggests:

1.) Tell a story to people who want to hear it.

2.) Connect a tribe of people who desperately want to be connected to each other

3.) Be a leader by leading a movement.People join movements because they want to be a part of something that matters.

4.) Challenge the status quo and make changes that the tribe wished to see

Takes 2 things to turn a group of people into a tribe

1.) A shared interest

2.) A way to communicate

4 types of communication

1.) Leader to tribe

2.) Tribe to leader

3.) Tribe member to tribe member

4.) Tribe member to outsider

A leader can help increase the effectiveness of the tribe and its members by:

1. Transforming the shared interest into a passionate goal and desire for change
2. Providing tools to allow members to tighten their communications
3. Leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members

* Most leaders only focus on #3

Here are some good examples of individual people who became leaders by creating tribes:

 Blake Mycoskie, founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS Shoes, Inc. Blake set the standard for the new idea of social philanthropy and entrepreneurship. When someone buys a pair of TOMS shoes, another pair is given to a needy child. Since 2006, over 440,000 pairs of shoes have been distributed to children in need throughout the world.

Bill Gates, co-founder and CEO of Microsoft, currently focusing his efforts on the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation he and his wife started back in 2000.

Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike who brought a new level of quality and style to the running community. Knight turned Nike into the world’s largest sports and fitness company.

Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, Inc.

Here are some tools that make leadership more powerful and productive and allow you to create tight knit tribes:

Blogs- A blog can serve as a channel for you to reach more people more quickly, more powerfully and efficiently than traditional ways.

Facebook– Enables a huge range of images, text, and connections to be created. “Facebook surfaces what some are calling the ‘social graph.’ Who you know, how you know them, who knows whom. It takes the hidden world of tribes and illuminates it with a bright digital light.”

Web/Viral Videos- Allows you to paint a picture and tell a story using pictures, sound, and words and can be far more powerful and moving than more traditional media channels. People like to share stories with other people they know especially if it’s a story they can relate to. Create stories around your brands and share them with your tribe.

Twitter- Tiny driplike updates reach the thousands of people who are waiting to hear from you and follow your lead.

Basecamp- Perfect for managing projects and tracking work. By accessing the stuff that used to be in private e-mails or hand written journals, Basecamp makes it easy for the entire tribe to track progress and feel the momentum that you’re building.

So what do you think? What are some ways you’ve used social media or any other media to lead a tribe? What tribes are you a part of and why did you decide to be a part of them? 

“Don’t be the person out there looking for a job. Be the person doing something interesting.” -Lisa Hickey, Lemonade

Last night I attended the second of two screenings of the documentary film “Lemonade,” at the Chopin Theatre in Chicago. In case you’re not familiar with the film, you can read the post I wrote about it a few months back here or you can visit the film’s official website. You can also view the entire film online for free now at Hulu.com or by clicking the link provided here.

The quote above is taken from the film and best sums up the overall message. It’s a message that was convincingly reiterated again last night by film creator Erik Proulx. Above is a picture of Proulx speaking before the packed Chopin Theatre crowd. Proulx spoke briefly before the short 36-minute film was shown, then followed up the conclusion of the film with a great Q and A session with audience members. He even stuck around afterwords and met with audience members individually and was kind enough to pose in a picture with yours truly, which you can see below. Thanks, Erik!

Having already seen the film several times since I bought it a couple of months ago, I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing the film as much as I was to seeing how others who hadn’t seen it reacted to it as well as the opportunity to meet Erik Proulx. I can now tell you I wasn’t disappointed by either. Just like after the first time I saw the film, I left Chopin Theatre last night with a feeling of empowerment and a renewed sense of confidence in myself. This is a large reason why I love this film and highly recommend it. It’s raw honesty inspires and provides hope to those who need it most. If you haven’t seen this amazing film you definitely need to and you can even help support Erik and the rest of the Lemonade crew that help create it by making a small donation on the Lemonade website, purchasing the DVD for a mere $10 or simply spreading the word through your social networks.

Special thanks to Chopin Theatre for hosting this great event and to those who helped bring Lemonade to Chicago. It was truly an uplifting and inspirational night. Thank you.

Me with Lemonade creator Erik Proulx

Proulx waves and introduces himself to the Chopin Theatre audience

Proulx pointing to and talking about the 15 people that were featured in the film

Last Thursday night I attended the monthly Social Media Club Chicago (SMCC) get together in downtown Chicago. In case you aren’t familiar, Social Media Club [SMC] is a worldwide organization, with local chapters, that serves as connecting organization for anyone interested in social media. Membership is free and open to all levels, including beginners. Chicago’s SMC chapter, launched in October 2008 and presents events that mix socializing, networking and learning.

This was only the second SMC event that I’ve been to but I can already tell you that it’s definitely work checking out. I’ve found that it’s a great way to meet some very interesting people who come from all different types of professions, yet share a common interest in social media and the way it’s changing how we communicate, interact and do business.

This month’s SMCC event was hosted by Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia and featured a guest panel that focused on the topic of How Social Media Makes Financial Cents. Panel guests included  Leslie Banks, Morningstar’s Director of Marketing for the Financial Communications, Drew Metherd, Sr Marketing Manager at Morningstar,  Shannon Paul, Community and Social Media Manager at Peak6 Online and moderator and SMCC President Jeff Willinger.

Instead of going into great detail about the panel discussion which lasted about an hour, I wanted to leave you with some of the key points from the night that I thought were important. Hope you enjoy and if you feel I left something off the list regardless of if you were at the event feel free to comment.

1.) Social technology is all about reaching people

When reaching out to your community be authentic, transparent and real. Focus more on relationship building than generating sales. Don’t try to be an expert at something you’re not.

2.) Know your audience

Cater your social media strategy to your audience by finding out where your consumers are going online, finding out what they are talking about and then producing content related to their discussions and interests.

3.) Provide value in order to gain trust

Sharing content that is of some value to your community is key in order to build trust. Building trust on the web has become essential to a brand’s success but it takes time and a lot of nurturing. Be patient and stick with it.

4.) Produce content that is easy to share

When creating content for your community, make it available in a variety of ways and make it easy to share. People like it when they are given options. Allow people to share your content easily and in the way they want to share it.

5.) Important for a brand to choose the right S.M. platform(s)

Part of the battle with social media is deciding which channels to use. Recent studies show that Twitter has the highest click through rate but the highest bounce rate, whereas email has the highest bounce rate but highest level of engagement. Asking “Why do we want to use X, Y or Z social media channel?” is a good way determine what channels are right for a particular brand.

5.) Measuring effectiveness of social media tricky but possible

When trying to measure effectiveness of your social media initiatives, try to correlate trends in data to increase in sales. Also, look at measuring unconventional things like number of conversations on social media that involve your brand and number of relationships established through social media channels.

6.) Social media is great way to share thought leadership.

Social media is a great tool for your brand to share thoughts, ideas, advice and expertise that can help build your brand into a thought leader and help separate your brand from competitors.

7.)  Social Media helps a brand to stay relevant

The more relationships you build the more people will care about your brand and the more traffic to your website. Most importantly though, the more people care about your brand the more relevant your brand will be and staying relevant is the toughest battle in today’s society where people are exposed to thousands of brands on a daily basis.

8.) Focus less on traffic and more on engagement

Traffic numbers to your site doesn’t necessarily mean higher sales and it especially doesn’t mean that much if the people coming to your site aren’t engaged. Focus less on traffic numbers and more on engagement numbers. Figure out ways to measure level of engagement in order to better measure the  effectiveness of the social media channels your brand is using.

photo credit: Images from Barbara Rozgonyi via www.thesociallen.com.

Last week I had a great email conversation with my friend and fellow social media enthusiast/blogger Jeff Hellenbrand, who also happens to be the owner of a great photo booth business called The Traveling Photo Booth Company. If you ever have an event, party or wedding and are looking to add a fun dynamic to it you should definitely check out Jeff and his company.

Anyways, as I was saying, Jeff and I had a great email conversation last week that led me to think once again about how brands should use social media to interact with customers. Our conversation began when Jeff emailed me with some helpful constructive criticism pertaining to my blog that initially caught me off guard but in the end was very much appreciated because I know he was just trying to help.

In his email, he had several suggestions from a reader’s standpoint as to how I could make my blog articles better and even suggested some things he would like to see me do differently in future posts. It was in the act of responding to him that I realized that the simple act of reading his comments, reacting to them and then responding back is what brands that have had success with social media and have seen Return On Investment (ROI) have been diligently doing for awhile now. What’s frustrating to me though is that there are still many brands out there that seem hesitant to enter the social media arena for several reasons such as:

• Fear of having negative feedback posted on their social sites

• Unable to develop a way to measure Return On Investment (ROI)

• Failure to understand various social media platforms and the unique benefits and opportunities each platform provides

• Lack of understanding when it comes to the type of content to produce

• Have tried social media but don’t engagewith their  community on a regular basis leading to lack of success, discouragement and the eventual abandonment of social media all together

What many brand’s are failing to realize is that the shift in power from brand to consumer because of social media means that more and more people, including myself, are now more loyal to those brands that have formed personal relationships with us through interaction and active engagement within online social communities.

For those brands that claim they don’t have a way to measure ROI on social media and therefore don’t see the value in it, I would advise you to re-think your current definition of ROI and adjust the way you measure it. Mitch Joel puts it best in a recent blog post when he says,

“Don’t be surprised if terms like ‘ROI’ and ‘CPM’ suddenly become replaced with terms like ‘engagement’ and ‘customer reviews.’”

Successful social media ROI can’t necessarily be measured in dollars and cents and number of viewers like with traditional media campaigns. Instead, social media ROI has to be measured in things like:

• Number of comments (positive and negative) posted on brand website or blog
• Number of conversations either between your brand and customers or between customers themselves
• Number of Twitter followers and the number of tweets talking about your brand
• Number of Facebook fans and the number of wall posts
• Number of blogs linking to various brand pages

However, as important as these numbers are, ultimately you want to focus on what the numbers end up leading to in order to best measure social media ROI. For example, does an increase in website visitors correlate with higher sales? Or, how active are the people within your brands social communities when it comes to talking about your brand?  Are the people that visit your website from Twitter or Facebook? And once they arrive at your website are they engaging by clicking on your product pages and making purchases?  This sort of information is what really determines social media ROI.

What do you think?

Is there a brand you purchase from because they do a great job of interacting with you within a social community? How do you think social media ROI should be measured?

Photo Credit: kat.hat on flickr

“There are people out there right now working to understand these new technologies and learning everything about how to use them- from etiquette to audience building and beyond. They are learning the ropes. They are the pioneers mastering the latest one to many communications methods. Like your kids, they know more about technology and maybe even more about people than you do; and that makes them very powerful. We call them trust agents.”

Due to the success of social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Digg, Foursquare and LinkedIn, the web has become more about information sharing and collaboration than the promotion and advertisement of brands and products. Because of this, the way in which brands interact with customers, gain trust and ultimately form relationships has also completely changed. However, many brands and the people behind them are having a hard time adjusting to the new ways of business. If you’re one of these people or you just want to learn more about social media and how it is affecting the way we interact with each other and with brands then I highly recommend you read Trust Agents, by famed bloggers Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.

The book is a great guide to help you better understand how to build trust on the web and generate more meaningful relationships and is great for those people trying to figure out the whole social media thing and how it can be part of their companies marketing strategy. I myself decided to read the book for several reasons. First, I enjoy reading Brogan’s highly popular blog. Second,  I wanted to learn more about how to use the web as a tool to build my personal brand. And lastly, I wanted to better understand how someone such as myself can use my knowledge of marketing, advertising and most importantly social media as leverage to help the clients I work with.

The book was a smooth read partly because Brogan and Smith write in a simplistic fashion. They do a great job of  explaining how business people can use new social media tools to build awareness, influence, reputation, and eventually authority on the Web. They accomplish this by first defining the landscape of the current model of the web,  then explain who trust agents are and finally breakdown the intricate dynamics of trust in today’s economy where reputation is everything. Next, they go into further detail, presenting six easy-to-understand behaviors that can positively influence business and reputation and even discuss proper online etiquette within the “human web.” There are also great case study examples throughout the book that reinforce the  main points and help you to better understand the overall concept of the book, which is how to build trust in our ever increasing digital world.

So, check out Trust Agents and let me know what you think. I’m confident that in reading this book you will become smarter and more confident when it comes to approaching social media and the rest of the digital world. Trust me.