I have a crush on Chris Brogan. I think everyone should have one. He has a brilliant mind. He blogs about communication and social media, is President of New Marketing Labs and speaks at and attends marketing and social media events. He is co-author of the book Trust Agents, with Julien Smith which will be released in late August.
He is also speaking at Marketing Now in September for you fellow Australians.
You speak at a lot of conferences that have a high ticket price. Do you recommend people new to blogging or small business attend these conferences?
If I were going to recommend conferences for bloggers to attend, I’d suggest these:
* WordCamp – free or cheap.
* South by Southwest – under $600.
* SOBCon – not much. $400?
Do you find it hard to manage so many relationships, and demands on your time, as your profile grows?
Relationships are the very best currency. It’s difficult to make sure everyone feels loved and appreciated, but I make my best effort. I use some tools, such as remembering people’s birthdays in both Facebook as well as on my Google Calendar, so, I’m finding my way, as best as I can.
Initially, I was too intimidated by your success to talk to you. Do you have any tips for people trying to contact with well known bloggers?
I actually blogged about this in a post once. If you Google “Be sexier in person,” you’ll find it. Essentially, start confident, be brief, finish strong, and you’ll do just fine. When people meet me in person, they IMMEDIATELY lose that intimidation. I make inappropriate jokes and act goofy and you immediately realize that your intimidation is poorly placed. Keep it for someone like Shaquille O’Neil. He’d intimidate me.
You advocate that people give first before asking from others. Is there anything that people can share online that will make them stand out?
There’s always something people can share. Brian Solis shares thousands of photographs of people at conferences. Guhmshoo makes funny comics about social media. Lee LeFever shares his CommonCraft videos with us. There are thousands of ways to stand out.
Finally, do you think you’ll ever stop using social media.
Social media, the term? Yes. Tools that let me communicate in both directions? Never.
A fantastic post Jade, electricity bolts were rushing through me reading this. Wow, your questions were spot on, I was thinking of two of these specifically.
Chris Brogan is a true connector and I seem to stick to his posts and knowledge like velcro! I’m so pleased you wangled an interview with him. This is gold! Thanks a million!
High fives
Sam Mutimer
I just like crushes. : ) That’s so cool.
Thanks for the interview and I look forward to seeing you in the upsidedown universe.