I just re-read Chris Brogan‘s book, Trust Agents. It’s definitely a must-read for people who want to venture into digital marketing. I’ll write a complete review later but for now I’d like to focus on one key concept that Brogan talked about in his book – SOCIAL CAPITAL. Social Capital is basically your influence over your network (fans, friends, community, etc). It’s the amount of trust they have in you. The higher your social capital, the more likely they will buy your products, try out what you endorse, or market for you. This is a key concept for social media and especially personal branding!
Invest in Social Capital
To build up your social capital, you need to offer your community value. This can be in the form of insightful and useful content that can help them. That’s why blogging plays a crucial role in social media. it’s a great platform to share your expertise on and it can go viral through social networking sites. The higher your social capital, the higher chance they will share your articles.
You also build capital one person at a time — by replying to e-mails, texts, and comments. Other than the freebies, you have to acknowledge your community and let them know that you’re listening and that you’re there for them. This also extends to your Twitter and Facebook profiles. These are interaction points which you can use to win more people over.
The biggest factor for increasing social capital though is having a great product. Your personal brand is only as good as what you’re selling. If your product sucks, no amount of PR will save you because eventually your fans will become disgruntled and positive word-of-mouth will transform to an underground smear campaign.
New Media + Value = Social Capital, interesting post Mr. Ople! Looking forward to your complete review.
Thanks Zyon! The review should come out after next week. The next blog articles here at NMP will focus mostly on music.
Great post Sir Carlo!:) I just hope more Filipinos will learn to embrace digital marketing:)
Thanks Dyza!
I think most people have realized the importance of building their social capital but have not realized that it needs to be developed and maintained constantly. Some online entrepreneurs are really effective in the pitching and advertising part of their business transactions but during the latter part, they tend to become less accommodating.
I got struck by this portion:
“You also build capital one person at a time — by replying to e-mails, texts, and comments. Other than the freebies, you have to acknowledge your community and let them know that you’re listening and that you’re there for them. This also extends to your Twitter and Facebook profiles. These are interaction points which you can use to win more people over.”
I think I should work on this. Sometimes or maybe most of the time, I avoid responding to strong or opposing comments to some of the articles I have written. Probably because I feel that they somewhat expose a weak side of my argument.
I used to feel the same way. However interaction and replying is a way of acknowledging the value and importance of your readers.
social capital is a important thing in our world because to live with kind,integration and peaceful mind.