The Value Of Trust In The Attention Economy: Influence Is The New ROI

Do you know why trust has gained so much value in the attention economy? Bombarded by an increasingly complex life, by more news and information, by marketing and sales calls of all kinds, people are increasingly "on-the-move" and with less and less time to devote to anyone specific thing. They are rushing from a website to another, from a conversation to another. And this is why their attention has become more valuable than gold these days. Photo credit: Iurii Davydov In the era of social media, traditional marketing channels are tricky venues to promote your product. Consumers are suspicious of marketing, they don’t trust the buzz, and relationships created ad hoc to sell a product do not work anymore. Today, the relationship must come before the sale, not the other way around. By creating and nurturing your community and by making customers your good friends it is possible to develop new relationships and loyal supporters which can be an invaluable asset for any company in the market today. Once you have a community of passionate fans and followers, it becomes easier to share your commercial recommendations and advice in ways that are more spontaneous, natural and credible. George Benckenstein explains why building trust and relationships with your customers is so important. Inside communities people influence one another. Personal interests become social objects and spread across your network. Are you part of it? Do you help your community and customers learn and relate with each other in ways that augment their attention investment in you? That's what the new Return On Investment is all about. The new ROI is the useful, tangible influence you create rather than the investment you make. Here, in more detail, George Benckenstein's vision: <!-- FA -->

Return On Influence - The Real ROI

<!-- MIDDLE_GAD --> by George Benckenstein
Next time you hear people talking about history repeating itself, I’m hoping you will think about this. None of us remember the era when all commerce was localized - meaning, anyone you did business with lived in your immediate community. There was no such thing as advertising, marketing channels and brands. You did business with people you knew. It was not an “information economy” and nothing was mass produced. It was a Trust Economy. So what am I talking about when I say that history repeats itself? …welcome back to the Trust Economy. When it comes to using social platforms to create awareness for your service, product or brand - you have to remember that this is not your typical marketing channel. As consumers, we are weary of “marketing speak,”suspicious of “buzz” (it can be bought) and we don’t trust strangers. We are back to square one. In a Trust Economy, your market is your community or network, trust is mandatory and influence is king.

Return On Influence - The Basics

If you want to understand how to create trust and affect individuals authentically, imagine yourself moving into a new neighborhood. You’ve just entered a new community. So how do you meet people? This is the exact construct social media platforms emulate. Would you immediately start going door-to-door peddling your product or service to your neighbors? I would hope the answer to that question is NO. But over time, as your community gets to know you, the trust and reputation you have built will no doubt lead to talk about what you do. So keep these things in mind:

• You can’t fake a relationship
• Relationships come before sales
• Business is not the first order of business
• Your personal brand comes first

Leveraging your relationships is a great way to increase awareness of your product, service or brand - but you actually have to become a respected and trusted member of your community and nurture your own network before you can tap into it’s potential.

Work Life Integration

So I just mentioned that your personal brand comes first. For organizations, this logic will seem counter-intuitive and will require understanding of the social construct. However, no matter how you look at it, the lines between our work and our social life are blurring. For example - childhood friends are now being reconnected thru facebook and becoming business associates. Business are invading Facebook like a pack of 4 yr. olds will invade a Chuck-E-Cheese. Corporate recruiters are sourcing talent from LinkedIn, Twitter and even MySpace. In the end, interactions are interpersonal - people do business with people (not brands) and the economic environment we once knew is systematically being turned on it’s head (Judy Martin got me thinking about this).

Personal Interactions = Network ROI

Click to enlarge image So here we are back in a Trust Economy except our localized market is now global. Thru the ubiquity of technology, we are able to have rich, personal interactions and find meaningful connections with others. As always, when it comes to relationships, you get back more than you give. First and foremost, we are creatures here to serve one another. It’s a tried and true principle that is undeniable. We just have more tools to serve each other more effectively and more efficiently.

Attention = Currency

One of the most rare things on earth is a person’s attention. Between email, 30,000 ad messages a day and life in general, our time is our most precious commodity. We have become masters at filtering out anything that is not meaningful to us NOW. So go out and join the conversation. Listen to people. Answer their questions. Be of service without regard and be meaningful to people NOW.

Authentic Influence

Let people get to know you, trust you and befriend you. You will create meaningful relationships that get integrated socially and professionally. The more you give, the more you get. Relationships are back. We are built to affect and influence one another. Your interests will become social objects and awareness of them will radiate thru your network. These authentic alliances are what all relationships are built on. This is not something you can fake. It’s something you must embrace.

Originally written by George Benckenstein for his blog, and first published on May 4th 2009 as "Return On Influence - The Real ROI"

About the author George Benckenstein is a web strategist with lots of experiences as a marketing director and consultant. He's currently manager at Hrtools.com and Administaff Inc. George Benckenstein blogs at www.benckenstein.com.

Photo credits: Return On Influence - The Real ROI - Mark Beckwith Return On Influence - The Basics - Kareem Saady Work Life Integration - Antonio Nunes Personal Interactions = Network ROI - George Benckenstein Attention = Currency - Vista Authentic Influence - Sebastian Kaulitzki Filed Under