Chris Brogan’s speech at New England XPO – Excerpts

Mobile matters a great deal!
16pt plain-text “rules” in mobile, especially as consumers age.
Web-enable your store’s location: Google.com/Places (add your physical store).
>10% of complaints about a store experience – actually Tweeted from within the store
Facebook: fastest-growing segment is 31-60 year olds, mostly women (to look at other people’s grandkids and kids)
Email marketing: no more than 250 words in your newsletter – it’s the 140 character mentality.
Just “First Name” and “email addy” – that’s ALL you ask for when asking people to sign up for a newsletter.
Business cards are a placeholder for a relationship extension – not to add them to your free newsletter.
The Referral Engine by John Jantsch
YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world – add keywords to your videos.
Social media is about being there BEFORE the sale – build relationships.
C.R.A.P. – Connections (connect about them, not you); Referrals (The Referral Engine by John Jantsch); Awareness/Attention (pay attention to them); Presence (being where the buyer is)

Trust Agents – Steve Cunningham’s 5 Takeaways

If you are looking for a book on how social media is transforming the world around you, then Trust Agents is exactly what you are looking for.

Among other books that Steve Cunningham recommends reading is “How To Win Friends and Influence People.”

Be a part of the community first. The first step in building trust is to turn yourself into Donnie Brasco. That’s right, you have to become a member of the community. The movie Donnie Brasco is the real life story of Joe Pistone, the FBI agent who infiltrated the Mafia and brought them to their knees. Joey spent 6 months sitting on a barstool in New York, drinking, eating peanuts, and watching the scene around him. He knew that the only way to integrate himself into the mafia community was to watch and learn how it operated first.
Stop playing by other people’s rules. The Internet is the great “leveler”, and rules that applied to your parents no longer apply. Instead of following the rules that were made for a world that no longer exists, make your own rules.
Get to the centre of MANY networks. Most people spend their time networking in their own industry or niche. The real power lies in putting yourself in the middle of different networks and becoming a connection between them.
Build an army. Never before have we been able to gather such a large group of people together connected by a common goal. Army building isn’t just for global superpowers anymore – you can build your own to achieve anything you want in your life.
One success should lead to two more. Everything you do should be used as leverage to get you to your next goal. Success comes to those who are constantly in action.