Brand-advocate, evangelist, ambassador, aficionado, etc.That’s a lot of names for one who tries to influence our purchase decisions. We listen to them, we sometimes trust them, but do we actually know them? Following a recent study by Mintel most American people who bought a product or service online did it based on recommendations by their friends and relatives; with other words someone they know well. The same results should be visible in most places around the world.

It seems on the other hand that recommendations by strangers have less influence on the decision making process. And I thought this was changing…
If that’s the case, how can we really leverage social media to intensify e-commerce and what happened with the idea that people trust bloggers and other members of their network?

Chris Brogan (yes him again) would ask if You’re a trust Agent. There might be more to it than just knowing someone… Though I’m impatiently waiting for his book, I’m asking myself one question: If people trust mainly their closest entourage, how can affiliation models leverage this? What about the long tail?Doesn’t it mean that affiliation models focusing on personal or niche blogs will on the long run become more successful than those working with the larger and more well-known publishers?

The same survey shows that in the end, the most influential criterion is the price of the product. With other words, if you have a promotion offered by a well-known blogger and a better one by a very small blog owned by a friend, you probably won’t hesitate and go for your friend's.

In addition to that and as Brian Clark suggests affiliate marketing disclosure can be used as a selling point, meaning when you know you audience personally, you won’t mind putting disclosures for the promotions and discounts you can offer. 

So! What are we waiting for?! When will someone leverage this model?

Oh! Yeah! I forgot…We do!!!

Moreover, we believe that it would be great to be able to share our trust in a blogger with other people (your network and strangers). That is why we created the Zilhouette, and to show you how it works we will start by presenting bloggers and one way they could be perceived by their audience (on a total of 16).

The first one would be…of course CHRIS BROGAN!

Chris Brogan, President of New Marketing Labs and passionate blogger on social media can be perceived as an Administrator.

Often seen as a pillar in the community, administrators live in a world of facts and concrete needs. Their eyes constantly scan their personal environment to make sure everything runs well. Administrators have such a clear vision of the way things should be, that they naturally take on leadership roles.

I’ve been wondering for a while now, do bloggers experience the Blank Page Syndrome the same way other writers do? It’s not easy to maintain a decent blog with quality content and frequent updates. Authors, journalists, columnists and bloggers all share a need to be sustainable in their work. Deadlines are very important even if they differ from one type of publisher to the other.

Writing a book requires months of work whereas magazines and newspapers have daily or weekly prints. Blogging and micro-blogging on the other hand have increased the pace and information has to be visible the minute after an event happened. But does it have to be like that? And what if you’re uninspired or have no valuable content to share?

You never know when to expect it to happen; the Blank Page Syndrome is indeed a tricky adversary, but there are precautionary measures one can take to keep it at bay. There are actually many blogs talking about it and I noticed it’s often connected with deadlines and a desire to start with a brilliant opening. With other words, the two main aspects are:

1. People need to have access to the information at a specific time
2. The content must be eye-catching

This brings me to one of Chris Brogan’s latest posts Audience is King. This post has one central thought that publishers have to realize their biggest value is in their audience and that content is molded for the audience's appreciation. It reminds me of the following question: If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to see it or hear it, will it make any sound?

The issue with blogs however, is that there are millions around and most of them have a very limited audience. Does it mean these falling trees are not nice to behold? Does this mean the blogger has no wish to continue writing?

This is where we get to the second question: If you hear the falling tree, do you actually enjoy it?

Each writer has a purpose, a mission. One can write thriller stories to frighten the readers, some writers may want to inform, while others yet only wish to share personal events. The way content is updated is based on the author’s mission and achieved value. A professional writer will seek to enlarge his audience in order to increase his status and commercial value. A teenager’s blog will focus more on what the person likes and experiences and is directed to a limited set of friends and family members. As a reader, what value do you get from each of these blogs?

This simply means that not unlike the falling tree, it’s all about the way you experience something and perceive this experience. You could say that each one of us is a forest with many falling trees, each one representing an action we undertake, a print we leave in life.

When you finally discover a new forest, because you were lucky enough to hear one of the falling trees, wouldn’t it be nice to know more about the forest and why or how his trees fall?
Is it a large forest with many trees that are slow to fall? Is it a bamboo forest that grows daily a thousand new trees? Or is it a very old forest with large and heavy trees that make a lot of noise when they fall?

Well, with this little tree falling I would like to share with you a secret – there is a way to know and it’s called a Zilhouette. The Zilhouette is like the outline of the forest, telling you more about the way it is perceived by other people that walked in there and saw its falling trees.

Starting now we will have more falling trees on the ZackBrandit blog. Don’t worry these are only virtual ones and we will use them to create new ripples while focusing on the value of the content. In order to explain you how our Zilhouette model works, we will present you other famous and less famous forests (bloggers) and show you how they can be perceived and understood by passersby.

This is not an easy task and we greatly appreciate your feedback!

In my previous post I used a few examples in order to show how difficult it is for marketing professionals to identify an adequate and sustainable approach when using social media as part of the online marketing strategy. Using social media requires different skills set and tactics than traditional media and we have shown that the Community Manager is a first step to the right direction.

At ZackBrandit we believe in the need for further developing this job function and create a liaison professional that not only communicates proactively with all stakeholders of an organization, but also engage them as an extension of the organization. Them being the consumers, brand-advocates, marketing department, sales department, customer service and other actor depending on the organization.

In order to do so we invited Jean-Paul Ahoussi to become our first Chameleon Manager. Jean-Paul is from Ivory Coast, he loves football, travelling and online marketing. Being an avid learner he also enjoys getting to know you.

Chameleon Manager is indeed a funny title and referencing to the animal is generally a commentary on the person's ability to change his personality and appearance in order to blend into various social situations with ease. Such personality trait often means the person has no true values and quickly abandons company if it's convenient to do so. And yet, it is a question of perspective. We believe that from the standpoint of the organization chameleons are jack-of–all-trades capable of communicating with the different departments and help better understand the needs and requests of the customers and brand-advocates. On the other hand, chameleons can blend with the customers, thus communicating the same language and take actions to support them. Yes, a Chameleon Manager at ZackBrandit has two hats and is at the same time Brand-Evangelist and Customer-Advocate !

ZackBrandit welcomes Jean-Paul and we hope you will enjoy having great conversations if not debates here on our website or any other platform you suggest us to join.

Please join us in welcoming JP!

The ZackBrandit team

As social media evolves, we see more and more companies converge, bringing more or less the same experience to their users. The online environment is very fluid and perhaps only a skilled futurist may know in which direction it is going. This of course does not help our fellow marketers who have  already had a difficult time figuring out how to leverage existing platforms such as blogs, social networks and microblogs.

This brings me to today’s topic: Do people really understand the situation marketers face today?

Click picture to watch the video.

Today I read an interesting blog by Andrew Keen called "Blogging is dead, but long live the blog".  The synopsis of this blog is that those blogs that offer a portal for social interaction will "live long" while those that simply provide static (not interactive) information will die out.  I gave it some thought and I disagree...in a way...  Blogs are not dying and social networks are not only popular until the next one comes along unless they choose to be defeated.  I know a lot of people that were using one particular social network a lot for a long time, but now they have switched to another, stating that it is more attractive and user friendly.  Then, this social networking platform changed its layout and all of a sudden people started debating whether or not to leave this social network, but there isn't a better substitute for it yet.  The result?  They stay and await something better.

Zack and I have discussed the problem of "dying social networks and blogs".  My opinion is that social networks and blogs that appear to have few followers/members or  appear to be losing popularity are not dying.  Well, not if they choose to keep up with current internet trends, needs of their followers/members and embrace change.  Nothing can stay the same and remain interesting forever.  I sure am glad!  I would be quite bored, otherwise!  We all like to be comfortable with the way things are, however; once Brands, bloggers, social networks and non-profits/NGO's and MORE begin working together instead of independently of one another, I believe that we will see real, global change that will completely shift the way we way we view social media as it exists today.  Brand awareness will become brand empowerment meaning that consumers will actually be aware of their loyalty to brands/bloggers/social networks and this realization will have them seeking more from those entities.  Societies that currently struggle around the globe will be able to become self-sustaining much more quickly.  

Sound too good to be true?  No way. Zack and I have been working very hard and now we know exactly how to help everyone achieve the goals they want regarding these internet shifts while making a positive global impact.  Economical, societal and ecological balance in the world by utilizing what already exists on the internet and bringing it to the internet users,  by working smarter, not harder!   No matter what the size of your business, blog  or social network, you may find that Zack Brandit's incredible platform is just what you have been looking for.  As a consumer that enjoys simple, savvy shopping on the internet, ZackBrandit will very likely save you a lot of time and introduce you to some amazing products you have never heard of!  If you have more questions, I love meeting people and talking!  I would be happy to tell you more about it.

In the meantime, aren't you intrigued?  Want to be one of the first to try out the platform and see what it is all about and how YOU can benefit?  Beta testing coming VERY soon and you will be able to see exactly how ZackBrandit stands out from the rest and how you can benefit, no matter who you are!  If you would like to beta test, please comment on this blog with your email, LinkedIn or Facebook profile address and we will see if you are one of the fortunate ones to be chosen! 

Brands, bloggers, social networks, microbloggers, consumers - let me know by commenting below!

Volunteer to Beta Test and Be a Part of Cutting Edge Technology!