What needs to happen, however, is that we have to be specific and point to details, and we have to give people the right kind of information to be helpful. For instance, look at Chris Messina’s post on designing hashtags for emergency response. This is useful.

Other ways? Point to blog posts or other websites that have the further detail.

Other ways? Point to charities that you are confident are helpful. For instance, I support Skip1, because I know Shelene Bryan, and know how she manages the money she receives.

But how NOT to help is to just throw out “supportive” tweets that don’t get us to take an action of some kind. Why? Because it will clutter the stream, and people will tune out of the detail.

Twitter and other social tools really help causes. We just have to wire them tightly.

The site, Skip1.org is set up to allow people to build a profile and do repeat giving. For those of you who like challenges and game mechanics, there’s a leaderboard to see where your skipping stacks up. (That might not be for everyone, but lots of people are motivated by competitions, so I can see it working for them.)

Founder Shelene Bryan and I met a few months back in Orange County, CA, at the Brandtailers event put on by Cheril Hendry (who is helping with Skip1 as well), and we had a great conversation about how the cause intends to move things forward. Instead of telling you, however, I thought I’d use their own video to show you. If you can’t see the video, click here.

Now, if that works for you, and if it makes sense, let’s do two things next.

1. Go to Skip1.org, make an account, and skip something.
2. Tell your friends on Twitter, Facebook, your blogs, wherever, and let’s really spread the cause out there.

Fair? Let’s skip something.

We’re partnering with local, community food banks in the cities we’re screening in. So folks in the cities where we book the movie can come to a screening, donate food to their local food bank, get money donated to the food bank by buying tickets and/or bringing food for the food drive.

Easy cheesy, right?

The site has a hi def trailer right on the front, with a promise of more trailers coming soon. So if you like what you see, maybe see if there’s a screening near you. If not, maybe pass it on to people you know who are near those screening destinations? Every little bit helps.

You can find screening info here.

It’s always nice to help, eh?

So far, Julien and I have been very fortunate. Trust Agents hit the New York Times list within two days of the book coming out. The week after, we hit the Wall Street Journal list. That was you. YOU did all that, and I’m grateful.

As part of the promotion, I made a trade. I gave away 5 deals of “200 books for a 1/2 day of my time” and then gave away 4 (there’s still one left) of “300 books for a 1/2 day of my time.” That most definitely moved the needle. I’m in the midst of fulfilling all those requests, by the way. It’s a LOT of flying, but it’s also a great way to get out and meet great folks.

More recently, with my promotion for Mitch, I gave away 10 guest blog posts and accompanying tweets, in exchange for a purchase of 10 of Mitch’s book. (We sold out pretty quickly.) A strange side-effect was that a bunch more people bought Trust Agents at the same time (so thanks!).

How Might I Tie Trust Agents Sales to Social Change?

Here’s what I know: every individual sale is wonderful, and I’m always grateful, but as one of my mentors, Jeff Pulver taught me: it’s every bit as much work chasing single sales as it is making bigger things happen. So, knowing that every blog post you wrote helped, and knowing that visiting places is helpful, but not really scalable (I’m traveling 49 out of the next 60 days), I want your thoughts.

How do we kill two birds? In what way can I tie purchases of multiple copies of Trust Agents to something charitable and cool? I’ll give you some starter thoughts, but I want YOU to share yours.

Ideas for Trading Multiple Copies of Trust Agents for Social Good

• If a corporate sponsor bought 300 copies of Trust Agents, I’d donate 5 hours to a nonprofit of their choice, helping with social strategy, promotion, blogging, etc.
• What if I offered to pay $50 to a charity/cause for every 10 copies of Trust Agents an individual bought (up to 10)? (That way, it’s within reach of an individual to make a difference).
• What if, for every 10 copies an individual buys, I donate 1 book to a local library?
• …and your ideas will go here.

What do you think? What are other ways that people can tie a marketing goal (selling more _____) to a charitable good goal? How have you seen other companies do it, and how do you think it applies to what I’m trying to do for Trust Agents, and/or for that matter, how will you take these ideas and apply them to you?

The kid in the photo (and the photo itself) belong to Leeann