Off To A Great Start- What's Next?
If you have followed @abolishcancer for the past week or so you are aware of the "perfect storm" outlined in a previous post that showed how an influential name, a worthy cause, and a college junior combined to make a difference in raising funds to fight pediatric cancer. (click on link above to see details)
So now what's next? If you are new to this site, the premise is fairly simple, someone agrees to sponsor @abolishcancer for one day, and for every new follower that @abolishcancer gets for that day, the sponsor agrees to pay $1 to a cancer fighting charity of their choice. For the month of February, we have chosen @THON as the recipient.
Why would someone want to sponsor our site when they could simply give the money, with the certainty of knowing how much it was, to their charity of choice anyway? One reason-PR. You see if someone agrees to simply pay, as an example, @THON $250, then the only real people who know about it are the donor and @THON. Sure, the act of giving isn't meant to always be broadcast to the world, you should give for the sake of the charity and the cause. But, why not make it a little fun? Why not agree to sponsor our site and still be able to give to the charity the money? You will get a chance to see the encouragement and promotion of your sponsorship to thousands of tweeters across the globe in the process.
The best thing about the use of social media tools is that something can go viral very quickly. As was the case when Khloe Kardashian decided to tweet about us a week ago. But the beauty of things going viral is the fact that @abolishcancer has over 2500 people who will see your interest in sponsoring, and many of them will retweet your sponsorship. You are essentially getting people to have positive conversations, through Twitter, about you or your business. What newspaper ad can take the place of that?
So our site is established and growing. People from all over the globe want to see that we fulfill the dream to @abolishcancer. Who doesn't right? Our struggle is to get sponsors to see the value of not only helping out a great cause but to also get some great PR along the way and agree to sponsor our site. We don't receive a penny from this work, in fact the sponsor is on their honor to send all the money directly to the charity. We are simply creating the platform to try and make this commitment grow.
How do we get the sponsors? Obviously, the bigger presence the person or business has on Twitter, the more the word will spread, along with the amount they will have to pay. I see a sponsorship of this kind as a great way for an influential person or celebrity, who is looking to get back in the limelight, to show everyone the good they are providing. Why, even a simple tweet brings great awareness to the cause even if they don't decide to sponsor.
Many people have gone on their own campaign to hit up a celebrity of influential person to follow or sponsor @abolishcancer. (we really appreciate this type of effort) This is a great tactic but needs a concerted effort from many people for the influential person to listen. More tweets about a celebrity, the more likely they are to listen. Who should start the push to get a certain celebrity to tweet or sponsor us? Probably best to be an authentic push from one of our followers to be its own grassroots effort.
What about businesses? Well, local mom and pop groups may not have the funds to donate and also may not benefit as much from the publicity since our audience is more global. A larger business, however, would see an increase in their "Twitter presence" through this effort.
So here we are, looking for the next sponsor for a day to help raise awareness and $$$ for @THON. I'm quite certain that whoever decides to make that commitment will see another viral infection, the good kind, of their efforts along with a big push and commitment from the great people at @THON as well.
I'm always looking for ideas to make this connection and welcome any of your thoughts. It's you, the people, that make this work. And just think, all it requires for us to make this happen is a simple tweet and a simple click of the button to "follow".
Thanks, as always, for the support.
-Darah Bonham, creator
"Using the Power of the People, through Twitter, to @abolishcancer"
Monday, February 8, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Perfect Storm
The Perfect Storm
Wow, what a day.
January 29, 2010 started off as just a normal day in Twitter world. We were excited that our site @abolishcancer, had received a commitment the day before from a junior at Penn State, to sponsor the site. Pat Howley, a junior at PSU majoring in hotel, restaurant, and institutional management, agreed to sponsor our site. Pat has been following our site for a while and is a supporter of our efforts to help use Twitter to raise funds to fight cancer.
Pat is also active with a group called THON. THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. Run by students at Penn State University, it supports a year-long effort to raise funds and awareness in the fight against pediatric cancer. (check them out at THON.org). I’ve connected with many of the organizers and supports of THON over the last month or so and find every opportunity to send a tweet their way in support of their cause.
So, If you are familiar with how our twitter feed at @abolishcancer works, we ask for a daily sponsor and whoever agrees to commit to the sponsorship agrees to pay $1 for every new follower to @abolishcancer to a charity fighting cancer. Pat agreed to sponsor with the understanding that he would donate his funds to THON. I explained to Pat that our previous sponsors had averaged about 50 new followers each day, therefore $50 in donations.
Boy, if we only knew….
The day started off rather normal, several tweets were sent out and we started to see many retweets, especially from THON supporters. By mid-morning things started to pick up and we had over 100 new people on board as new followers. Then it all changed after lunch.
You see we occasionally tweet about getting an influential person to support our efforts. It just so happens that the THON group got that very wish. Khloe Kardashian, American television personality, wrote a blog post about THON. Then around 1PM eastern time she retweeted the following
“For every new follower of @abolishcancer TODAY @PatHowley agrees to donate $1 to @THON to fight cancer http://bit.ly/Zv7wI”
That’s all it took. It had now gone viral. You see Khloe has over 917,000 followers. From that moment on tweets and retweets grew exponentially. Followers grew and were encouraging others to become new followers. By the late afternoon, THON had become a trending topic of Twitter. Now I’m not sure how many new supporters went to the THON twitter feed or the THON website to donate but it was clear that this was an impressive display of PR, communication, marketing all directed towards the awareness of fighting childhood cancer.
So what about Pat and his sponsorship? Well, instead of getting the average number of new followers for a day, around 50, @abolishcancer received quite a few more. 1,734 new followers to be exact. What does that mean for Pat and his agreement to pay THON for new followers? Well, we’ve been in brief discussions about the tab. Pat is committed to making this work but, like most college students, doesn’t have $1,700 in cash lying around. Our next steps will be to find a clever way to get support for Pat and the $1,700 to THON. We encourage any ideas and efforts to make this happen. Pat and I will continue the conversations to come up with a plan and keep everyone in the loop.
Meanwhile, the stage has been set. @abolishcancer has a massive new following and will continue to seek sponsors to support causes such as THON. THON received an increased national awareness and will continue to get supporters, with the potential to get more influential people on its team. And Pat got a new following and the comfort of knowing that he helped support a viral infection of the best kind.
Proof positive that Twitter can be a powerful tool in our efforts to help @abolishcancer. Thanks to everyone for their efforts. Let’s keep it up.
Wow, what a day.
January 29, 2010 started off as just a normal day in Twitter world. We were excited that our site @abolishcancer, had received a commitment the day before from a junior at Penn State, to sponsor the site. Pat Howley, a junior at PSU majoring in hotel, restaurant, and institutional management, agreed to sponsor our site. Pat has been following our site for a while and is a supporter of our efforts to help use Twitter to raise funds to fight cancer.
Pat is also active with a group called THON. THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. Run by students at Penn State University, it supports a year-long effort to raise funds and awareness in the fight against pediatric cancer. (check them out at THON.org). I’ve connected with many of the organizers and supports of THON over the last month or so and find every opportunity to send a tweet their way in support of their cause.
So, If you are familiar with how our twitter feed at @abolishcancer works, we ask for a daily sponsor and whoever agrees to commit to the sponsorship agrees to pay $1 for every new follower to @abolishcancer to a charity fighting cancer. Pat agreed to sponsor with the understanding that he would donate his funds to THON. I explained to Pat that our previous sponsors had averaged about 50 new followers each day, therefore $50 in donations.
Boy, if we only knew….
The day started off rather normal, several tweets were sent out and we started to see many retweets, especially from THON supporters. By mid-morning things started to pick up and we had over 100 new people on board as new followers. Then it all changed after lunch.
You see we occasionally tweet about getting an influential person to support our efforts. It just so happens that the THON group got that very wish. Khloe Kardashian, American television personality, wrote a blog post about THON. Then around 1PM eastern time she retweeted the following
“For every new follower of @abolishcancer TODAY @PatHowley agrees to donate $1 to @THON to fight cancer http://bit.ly/Zv7wI”
That’s all it took. It had now gone viral. You see Khloe has over 917,000 followers. From that moment on tweets and retweets grew exponentially. Followers grew and were encouraging others to become new followers. By the late afternoon, THON had become a trending topic of Twitter. Now I’m not sure how many new supporters went to the THON twitter feed or the THON website to donate but it was clear that this was an impressive display of PR, communication, marketing all directed towards the awareness of fighting childhood cancer.
So what about Pat and his sponsorship? Well, instead of getting the average number of new followers for a day, around 50, @abolishcancer received quite a few more. 1,734 new followers to be exact. What does that mean for Pat and his agreement to pay THON for new followers? Well, we’ve been in brief discussions about the tab. Pat is committed to making this work but, like most college students, doesn’t have $1,700 in cash lying around. Our next steps will be to find a clever way to get support for Pat and the $1,700 to THON. We encourage any ideas and efforts to make this happen. Pat and I will continue the conversations to come up with a plan and keep everyone in the loop.
Meanwhile, the stage has been set. @abolishcancer has a massive new following and will continue to seek sponsors to support causes such as THON. THON received an increased national awareness and will continue to get supporters, with the potential to get more influential people on its team. And Pat got a new following and the comfort of knowing that he helped support a viral infection of the best kind.
Proof positive that Twitter can be a powerful tool in our efforts to help @abolishcancer. Thanks to everyone for their efforts. Let’s keep it up.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Pat Howley Sponsors @AbolishCancer on Friday, January 29
We are delighted to have Pat Howley (@PatHowley on Twitter)become our next daily sponsor of @Abolishcancer on January 29, 2010. For every new follower of @Abolishcancer on Friday, Pat has agreed to pay $1 to the charity of his choice that fights cancer. Pat, a Junior at Penn State majoring in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, has agreed to pay all donations to THON. Pat is a member of the Hospitality Committee for THON which entails getting donations for the food and beverages for all Pre-THON and THON events.
THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. It’s a year-long effort that raises funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer. You can find out more about this great organization at http://thon.org . Pat's involvement in the event also includes taking care of all of the meals for the Dancers and Families during THON weekend. The name of his THON committee is HOS Me Baby One More Time and this is who he would like the donations made to THON on behalf of.
We are grateful for Pat's willingness to sponsor our site and for his desire to donate money to an organization that is making a difference in the lives of those touched by cancer.
We start the day with exactly 600 followers. By the end of Friday, we will feel the impact of the power of the people to help @abolishcancer.
THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. It’s a year-long effort that raises funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer. You can find out more about this great organization at http://thon.org . Pat's involvement in the event also includes taking care of all of the meals for the Dancers and Families during THON weekend. The name of his THON committee is HOS Me Baby One More Time and this is who he would like the donations made to THON on behalf of.
We are grateful for Pat's willingness to sponsor our site and for his desire to donate money to an organization that is making a difference in the lives of those touched by cancer.
We start the day with exactly 600 followers. By the end of Friday, we will feel the impact of the power of the people to help @abolishcancer.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Use Twitter to Promote Your Cause to Fight Cancer
This Twitter feed has been up and running since November. We have made some great connections and have close to 600 followers at this point. It is great to see all the people and groups that are formed to help rid the world of this terrible disease.
The one area we have struggled in, however, is getting daily sponsors of the site. For those of you not familiar with our plan, here is how it works.
First, a person or organization agrees to sponsor @abolishcancer for ONE day. During that day we, along with the sponsor, encourage new followers to our site. For that ONE day, for every new follower to @abolishcancer, the sponsor agrees to pay $1 to a CANCER FIGHTING CHARITY of THEIR choice. (could be THON, Alexslemonade, American Cancer Society, etc). So far, most daily sponsors are getting around 50 new followers, and therefore $50 donated to their cause.
We don't handle any money, the sponsor is responsible for following through to make the doanation. Lastly, this is a geat opportunity to get some PR for your group or cause. During the entire day of your sponsorship, we will tweet about you, and your cause. That means 600 more people becoming aware of what you are doing and helping to support you as well.
So, let's get some sponsors and get more followers so we can all see the value of pulling people together for a common cause to @abolishcancer.
Tweet me at @Abolishcancer or email at bonham.darah@gmail.com for more info.
The one area we have struggled in, however, is getting daily sponsors of the site. For those of you not familiar with our plan, here is how it works.
First, a person or organization agrees to sponsor @abolishcancer for ONE day. During that day we, along with the sponsor, encourage new followers to our site. For that ONE day, for every new follower to @abolishcancer, the sponsor agrees to pay $1 to a CANCER FIGHTING CHARITY of THEIR choice. (could be THON, Alexslemonade, American Cancer Society, etc). So far, most daily sponsors are getting around 50 new followers, and therefore $50 donated to their cause.
We don't handle any money, the sponsor is responsible for following through to make the doanation. Lastly, this is a geat opportunity to get some PR for your group or cause. During the entire day of your sponsorship, we will tweet about you, and your cause. That means 600 more people becoming aware of what you are doing and helping to support you as well.
So, let's get some sponsors and get more followers so we can all see the value of pulling people together for a common cause to @abolishcancer.
Tweet me at @Abolishcancer or email at bonham.darah@gmail.com for more info.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
How Can Twitter Find Cure For Cancer?
Why this site? I, like most, have been amazed by the number of people in my work, school, neighborhood, and family that have had a battle with cancer. Some minor clashes, others major and unfortunately, some life-threatening. While I often give to a charitable organization to assist in the battle to end cancer, I never really feel as if I do enough to try and stop this deadly disease that’s so prominent in today’s world.
Secondly, I’m very interested in technology, innovation, entrepreneurship and the idea of bringing people together to solve problems. (crowdsourcing) As any entrepreneur knows, the greater the problem, the greater the opportunity.
We know that there are thousands of people and organizations working hard to find a cure for cancer or find ways to prevent cancer from ever occurring. Hats off to all those enlisted in the fight and the progress that has been made in this battle. BUT….what’s the “little guy” to do other than donate towards such a cause?
Well, enter another interest of mine, social networking. While I once thought Twitter was a wasteful app, I now have embraced it for what it is, a global networking tool that connects, informs, creates and maybe, just maybe can bring people together to do great things.
So I set up a twitter account, which costs nothing, called @abolishcancer. The goal was to get the Power of the People to make a difference and contribute towards cancer research. Then I came up with the idea that if I could get new “daily” sponsors to donate for every new follower of @abolishcancer to the American Cancer Society, we could get people connected for a common cause. A benefit to the sponsor, which is just for one calendar day, would be for me to tweet and retweet throughout the day about the sponsor and give them some press about their willingness to help. Lastly, the more followers we received at @abolishcancer, the greater the word would spread for the sponsor and for the site.
So far we have had 5 sponsors in the month or so in existence and close to 500 followers. What’s the goal you may ask? Well, what if we received 1 million followers and hence, 1 million towards cancer research? If Shaq or Ashton Kutcher could do it, why not us?
Please help us get daily sponsors so more money can be raised in the fight to abolishcancer. Email me at bonham.darah@gmail.com to become a sponsor or if you have other ideas to help this grow.
Help us use Twitter to find a cure for cancer.
Secondly, I’m very interested in technology, innovation, entrepreneurship and the idea of bringing people together to solve problems. (crowdsourcing) As any entrepreneur knows, the greater the problem, the greater the opportunity.
We know that there are thousands of people and organizations working hard to find a cure for cancer or find ways to prevent cancer from ever occurring. Hats off to all those enlisted in the fight and the progress that has been made in this battle. BUT….what’s the “little guy” to do other than donate towards such a cause?
Well, enter another interest of mine, social networking. While I once thought Twitter was a wasteful app, I now have embraced it for what it is, a global networking tool that connects, informs, creates and maybe, just maybe can bring people together to do great things.
So I set up a twitter account, which costs nothing, called @abolishcancer. The goal was to get the Power of the People to make a difference and contribute towards cancer research. Then I came up with the idea that if I could get new “daily” sponsors to donate for every new follower of @abolishcancer to the American Cancer Society, we could get people connected for a common cause. A benefit to the sponsor, which is just for one calendar day, would be for me to tweet and retweet throughout the day about the sponsor and give them some press about their willingness to help. Lastly, the more followers we received at @abolishcancer, the greater the word would spread for the sponsor and for the site.
So far we have had 5 sponsors in the month or so in existence and close to 500 followers. What’s the goal you may ask? Well, what if we received 1 million followers and hence, 1 million towards cancer research? If Shaq or Ashton Kutcher could do it, why not us?
Please help us get daily sponsors so more money can be raised in the fight to abolishcancer. Email me at bonham.darah@gmail.com to become a sponsor or if you have other ideas to help this grow.
Help us use Twitter to find a cure for cancer.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Staci England Helps Raise $56 For American Cancer Society
Thanks to Staci England for sponsoring our Twitter feed (@Abolishcancer) on Friday, December 4, 2009. We started off the day with 251 followers and ended with 307. That's 56 new followers which equals $56 that Staci agrees to donate to the American Cancer Society.
In the 3 plus weeks we've started this program, "the people" have raised $187 just by following a twitter account. This, of course, can only be possible with "daily sponsors" who agree to pay for new followers for any particular day. Send an email to bonham.darah@gmail.com or mention @abolishcancer on Twitter to see about sponsoring. Who's next?
Here's the brief history of our sponsors and the amount they helped raise to fight cancer:
Sponsor Amount
@EnglandinVa $56
@debbiegannon $27
@michaelscher $14
@irishchari $65
@darahbonham $25
For grand total of $187
We all realize that cancer is a killer and has impacted way too many lives. This site is designed to bring together individuals who want to do their part to help find a cure for this disease. We've created this "platform" to let anyone sponsor our @abolishcancer twitter site, and in return, agree to donate $1 for every new follower that day. Each day we get 50 or so new followers, which not only means $50 more dollars to the ACS, but also means our followers grow. As our followership grows, our voice will spread and more people will get involved. In addition to getting more followers, whoever sponsors for that day will get more "press" as we spread the word about their contribution.What would be our ultimate goal? 1,000,000 followers? How about a concerted effort from the "power of the crowd" to win the battle against this disease and abolishcancer.This is a grassroots movement that will only thrive on the viral spread of our followers and sponsors. Lets make this viral spread a positive one. Any efforts, on your behalf, to spread the word are greatly appreciated.
In the 3 plus weeks we've started this program, "the people" have raised $187 just by following a twitter account. This, of course, can only be possible with "daily sponsors" who agree to pay for new followers for any particular day. Send an email to bonham.darah@gmail.com or mention @abolishcancer on Twitter to see about sponsoring. Who's next?
Here's the brief history of our sponsors and the amount they helped raise to fight cancer:
Sponsor Amount
@EnglandinVa $56
@debbiegannon $27
@michaelscher $14
@irishchari $65
@darahbonham $25
For grand total of $187
We all realize that cancer is a killer and has impacted way too many lives. This site is designed to bring together individuals who want to do their part to help find a cure for this disease. We've created this "platform" to let anyone sponsor our @abolishcancer twitter site, and in return, agree to donate $1 for every new follower that day. Each day we get 50 or so new followers, which not only means $50 more dollars to the ACS, but also means our followers grow. As our followership grows, our voice will spread and more people will get involved. In addition to getting more followers, whoever sponsors for that day will get more "press" as we spread the word about their contribution.What would be our ultimate goal? 1,000,000 followers? How about a concerted effort from the "power of the crowd" to win the battle against this disease and abolishcancer.This is a grassroots movement that will only thrive on the viral spread of our followers and sponsors. Lets make this viral spread a positive one. Any efforts, on your behalf, to spread the word are greatly appreciated.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
New Sponsor for Friday, December 4, 2009
Special thanks goes out to Staci England for being our sponsor @abolishcancer for Friday, December 4, 2009. As a sponsor, Staci agrees to pay $1 to the American Cancer Society for every new follower to @AbolishCancer on Twitter for that one day. We need the Power of the Crowd to beat this horrible disease and it's people like Staci that make this happen.
Staci is an educator in Charlottesville, Virginia who cares about doing good. Along with many others, she has relatives & friends who have died from cancer. Staci can be reached on Twitter @EnglandinVA.
Staci starts her sponsorship with 251 followers of @abolishcancer.
We all realize that cancer is a killer and has impacted way too many lives. This site is designed to bring together individuals who want to do their part to help find a cure for this disease. We've created this "platform" to let anyone sponsor our @abolishcancer twitter site, and in return, agree to donate $1 for every new follower that day. We have had 4 sponsors in the three weeks since we started this campaign raising a total of $131 that the sponsor agrees to pay to the American Cancer Society. Think about what might happen if this takes off. Each day we get 50 or so new followers, which not only means $50 more dollars to the ACS, but also means our followers grow. As our followership grows, our voice will spread and more people will get involved. In addition to getting more followers, whoever sponsors for that day will get more "press" as we spread the word about their contribution.
What would be our ultimate goal? 1,000,000 followers? How about a concerted effort from the "power of the crowd" to win the battle against this disease and abolishcancer.This is a grassroots movement that will only thrive on the viral spread of our followers and sponsors. Lets make this viral spread a positive one. Any efforts, on your behalf, to spread the word are greatly appreciated.
Staci is an educator in Charlottesville, Virginia who cares about doing good. Along with many others, she has relatives & friends who have died from cancer. Staci can be reached on Twitter @EnglandinVA.
Staci starts her sponsorship with 251 followers of @abolishcancer.
We all realize that cancer is a killer and has impacted way too many lives. This site is designed to bring together individuals who want to do their part to help find a cure for this disease. We've created this "platform" to let anyone sponsor our @abolishcancer twitter site, and in return, agree to donate $1 for every new follower that day. We have had 4 sponsors in the three weeks since we started this campaign raising a total of $131 that the sponsor agrees to pay to the American Cancer Society. Think about what might happen if this takes off. Each day we get 50 or so new followers, which not only means $50 more dollars to the ACS, but also means our followers grow. As our followership grows, our voice will spread and more people will get involved. In addition to getting more followers, whoever sponsors for that day will get more "press" as we spread the word about their contribution.
What would be our ultimate goal? 1,000,000 followers? How about a concerted effort from the "power of the crowd" to win the battle against this disease and abolishcancer.This is a grassroots movement that will only thrive on the viral spread of our followers and sponsors. Lets make this viral spread a positive one. Any efforts, on your behalf, to spread the word are greatly appreciated.
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