An Exercise in Viral Goating, One Goat at a Time

Join my viral goating campaign. And let's see if we can all do something in addition to buying and selling hardware and software.

I will admit to being a bit cranky this year about the holidays. We're not all that different from others in the document, records, and content space. It seems like this time of year one is surrounded by next year budgets, closing out the year, family obligations, and a host of other things that come crashing down. But things seem unusually out of control this year.

A colleague of mine -- Peggy Winton -- was feeling similarly out of control and offered something to all of us at AIIM. "Don't worry about gifts this year. I will give a goat to a family in a developing country through Heifer International, and in doing so, will celebrate my friends at AIIM and do something good at the same time." And not put everyone through the challenge of trying to find that perfect gift.

I liked this idea and decided to do similarly. And then I thought, "Hey, what if we started some sort of viral effort on this blog? What could we accomplish? How many potential goat givers are there out there? Are there any legs to this blog thing?"

And then I also thought, "This blog is one of the most widely distributed and read blogs out there in the records, document and content management space. We have over 2,100 regular subscribers. Maybe I/we can leverage that visibility to promote my viral goating campaign."

So here's the deal.

Give a goat ($120) and get visibility on my blog.

I'll do a post right before Christmas to all our subscribers with links to all my goat givers. I'll also list my goat givers for the month of January in the premium space on the right column usually reserved for my foolish book reviews.

So let's have at it and test the viral power of this blog thing for something worthwhile.

Buy a goat.

Send me an email and tell me that you've done so, how you want the gift to be recognized (I'll trust you!) and the link you want me to promote.

I will list your link in my posts the week before Christmas and in the right nav of my blog for January. Thousands of impressions for only $120!

So let's give it a whirl and maybe all feel a little less cranky. Let others know about this campaign by posting a link on your blog or e-mailing the post link.

Buy a goat. Let me know. Get thousands of marketing exposures for whatever purpose you want.

Comments

[Bob Zagami]

Great idea for the holiday season John. I've just donated a goat to somebody, somewhere, and it's a great feeling at this time of the year.

Bob Zagami
Vice Chair, Chair Elect
AIIM International
Board of Directors

[John Eckman]

I love the idea, but I'd like to suggest that there are good reasons many, including myelf, cannot fathom supporting Heifer International:

http://www25.uua.org/ufeta/heiferproject.htm

http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2018744.ece

Might I suggest some alternatives for those who don't want to support Heifer International?:

http://www.ffl.org/

http://www.sustainableharvest.org/

[John Mancini]

Per John Eckman's post, an alternative similar contribution is OK.

[Dan Keldsen]

John - seems trackbacks aren't working between our accounts, but count me in on Heifer. I go for a mix of animals and plants personally, Flock of Ducks, Honeybees, Trees and a Pig.