The Age of Conversation Bum Rush

Lets Bum Rush the Social Media World!

Over 4 months ago The Age of Conversation, a collaboration of 103 authors from 10 different countries from around the globe was launched, with all of the proceeds going to Variety, The Children’s Charity. In a little over 90+ days, the goal of $10,000 in charity money was raised.

But now, as Drew points out, sales are slowing. It’s time to hit high with a serious spike in social media activity. I’m talking about bringing even more clout than we saw with the initial launch of the book. I know we can do it!

The idea is one that I am borrowing from Joseph Jaffe, who used this technique to send his book skyrocketing up the bestseller’s list at Amazon. I won’t feel bad about taking the idea from Jaffe though, because he borrowed the idea from the band Black Lab, which held an iTunes bum rush launching their single Mine Again up the charts. Both were very successful efforts.

So what exactly am I proposing?

I’m calling for a “bum rush” all of the social media you can get your hands on. Since The Age of Conversation isn’t listed on Amazon we will have to “bum rush” another outlet, and with most of the AoC authors (if not all) being bloggers, mini launch pads are sitting and waiting to give the book the push it needs.

With the infinite amount of social sites and connections on the web, this is a huge undertaking. That is why I came up with this plan of action list with the highest priority items at the top. The idea is to generate as many touch points around the web as possible so that it will be hard not to the Age of Conversation activity.

Just start at the top and work your way down the list as far as you can:

  1. If you have a blog write a post about AoC and/or this Bum Rush. Make sure you have a prominent link to http://stores.lulu.com/ageofconversation so that readers can easily purchase the book.
  2. Trackback or Comment on the post that I will leave here on Dec 13th at 6:00pm CST, so that everyone can follow the conversation and help promote exposure on social sites (Digg, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, etc.)
  3. Digg your post & send emails and shouts to friends requesting Diggs on your post.
  4. Stumble your post & tell friends to do the same.
  5. Bookmark your post on Del.icio.us
  6. Join the Facebook AoC Contributors and Friends Group
  7. Become a Facebook Fan of AoC
  8. Add your post to other social media outlets ( Technorati, Ma.gnolia, Furl, BlinkList, Newsvine, Facebook, etc.)
  9. Send an Old Fashioned email to your friends about the Bum Rush for AoC.
  10. Create a podcast or video and upload to Youtube or other streaming video site (Maybe David Brazeal can do a special edition). Again be sure to share the link so everyone can give the video views and mark it with a high rating.

(I will re-post this plan of action again with the trackback/comment post on Dec. 13th.)

What Should We Expect?

It’s like a human pyramid. If we can get everyone carrying their weight then it should be easy to reach new heights!

Here’s what Greg Verdino had to say after Joseph Jaffe’s Amazon Bum Rush:

There’s nothing to stop pretty much any marketer from applying these techniques to garner attention for their own new product launches and spur on-demand sales. Nothing, that is, if that marketer takes the time to build their own community, fosters meaningful relationships with the members and then makes a coordinated effort across a variety of conversational channels to connect with the community at just the right time to move the needle. None of these things happens overnight. They take quite a bit of effort and long term commitment.

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Did I leave anything out? Second Life? You fill in the blank ________.