Welcome to Episode 19 of The Art of Humanity, where we explore creativity + consciousness to allow you and your business to evolve. In Episode 19, Jessica Ann talks with Ted Rubin.
Many people in the social media world know Ted for his enthusiastic, energetic and undeniably personal connection to people. Ted is the most followed CMO on Twitter according to Social Media Marketing Magazine; one of the most interesting CMOs on Twitter according to Say Media, #13 on Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers, and number #2 on the Leadtail list of Top 25 People Most Mentioned by digital marketers. ROR is the basis of his philosophy…It’s All About Relationships! His book, Return on Relationship, was released in 2013, and How To Look People in the Eye Digitally in 2015.
In this interview, Jessica Ann and Ted Rubin talk about:
- His background with Seth Godin, starting back in 1997 (He sent Seth Godin a resume!) And the critical error that he made at the beginning of his career.
- His work with E.L.F. cosmetics in 2008 at the early stage of social and how he built a brand using ingenuity without a marketing budget.
- (6:00) I speak my mind. I say what I think. I tell people that they have to get back to something that is near and dear to your heart: their humanity. It’s about building relationships and being good to people. It’s about how connecting with people in a real way will benefit your business.
- (9:15) I got to listen and learn from Seth Godin. A lot of what I got from Return on Relationship came from Seth’s Permission Marketing…about bypassing the agencies whenever you can and talking directly to the people you want to do business with. Agencies provide a great function but Seth’s point was: instead
- (10:45) A network gives you reach but communities give you power…Networks allow you to connect with various people but communities care.
- (11:33) This evolution to me has been like a God-send. Not only am I a community builder but now I have all of these platforms to build communities that enable and empower me. But I also love to interact and meet with people. I’m obsessed with interacting with people. If you’re going to make responsive part of your personal brand, be prepared for when your following grows and you have to be responsive for what you care about. And for me, the beauty or the difficulty of it is not something I built into my brand…it’s a part of who I am.
- (13:00) His definition of community in today’s digital age.
- (17:46) It’s not about the platform it’s about the people.
- (22:00) This is how you separate yourself, and that you do care about humanity. When you pass people in the street, smile at them! A brand is what a business or a person does…a reputation is what people remember and share.
- It’s less of a problem than an opportunity. If you’re with someone, put the phone down and look at someone. This isn’t so much about humanity (although that has a lot to do with it). It’s about showing people how important they are to you.
- (26:30) He tells a true story that not a lot of people know.
- You will feel better if you treat people better. You will feel better if you default to happy. You will feel better if you stop before you go off on someone. Take a breath and smile.
- (32:18) I’m not a big persona guy. And what I’ve learned is that it’s very hard to maintain a persona. In other words, if I didn’t really believe in what I do, it would be hard to keep it up. It would be hard to fight the naysayers.
- (33:30) The hilarious study that was done on Millennials about the reason that the consumption of cereal is going down is because Millennials are too lazy to clean the dishes from eating cereal. Here is the study in The Washington Post.