We’ll Donate $1,000 to Haiti if…

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King day… the timing is profound. The stories and images coming out of Haiti are horrific. I’m often an advocate for charity starting at home, but a disaster at this level to a country that continues to suffer blow after blow is too much to watch.

So – I want to do something to help! If we can get ~~10,000~~ 1,000 followers to Samaritan’s Feet in the next 24 hours, The Marketing Technology Blog will donate $1,000 of its revenue to help Haiti. This will help an incredible charity as well as provide immediate assistance to Haiti.

That’s $1 per follower!

There you have it – it won’t cost you a penny to help! Simply retweet, follow and we’ll do the rest!

Here’s the links to click for retweeting and following: Retweet Samaritan’s Feet Marketing Technology Blog

About Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is the founder of The Marketing Technology Blog. Doug is President and CEO of DK New Media, an online marketing company specializing in inbound marketing leveraging social media, blogging, search engine optimization, pay per click and public relations. Their clients include Webtrends, ChaCha and many more. Douglas is also the author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies.

View all posts by Douglas Karr →

Lee Robertson

Both are good causes, but I have to be honest your post makes me downright angry. If you want to donate money to help Haiti then donate the money, don’t make it conditional on some action. Not to mention the twitter account when I checked has ONLY 44 followers and you want to reach 10,000 in 24 hours! Not saying it cannot be done, but it would be a little more appealing if I actually thought you could do it and you would do nate the $1000.00.

Donating money if people do something for you is not charity, it is holding the helpless ransom so you can get a payoff.

I will even consider unsubscribing from your blog with this post. If this is the kind of marketing you like doing I want none of it.
Douglas Karr

Hi Lee,

I definitely anticipated some backlash with this method. I hope you don’t stay angry with me. If I had tweeted that I’d be donating $1,000 and I hoped folks would follow @Tweet4feet, it would not be quite as compelling, would it? This was the best I could come up with – putting some reward out there for people who follow and still helping Haiti.

If you think, for a second, I would back out of giving the $1,000 to Haiti for any reason, you’d be very mistaken. Can you imagine what an ass I’d look like it I did that?

$1,000 is quite a bit of revenue for this blog and I’ve just started a business – so I guarantee you that this will be a burden on me to deliver it either way. I will be delivering it, though!

Thanks for keeping me honest – please spread the word!
Doug
David Spurr

This is a horrible horrible idea. I knew marketeers can do low-down marketing tricks but this has to be a new low. Plus the fact that your original goal was a massive 10,000 followers as per the first commenter.

If you want to donate to a good cause, go ahead and donate, don’t tie it into an awful marketing campaign (no matter how good the organisation is you are trying to help on Twitter). I have lost all respect for this site today and you have lost me as a reader forever.
Douglas Karr

David,

As I said to Lee, I expected some negative feedback on this. However, I’m not sure what the big deal is – followers don’t have to do anything but follow a charity, and I PAY THE $1,000! I’m going to pay it regardless of the counts we get, I would never make a goal for a charity unreachable.

Had I done it different and said, The Marketing Technology Blog donated $1,000 and we hope you’ll follow this charity, do you think that would have had a better impact? I thought about that – and I don’t believe it would have.

Stick around, we’re good people and want to do the right thing here.

Doug
TimPiazza

Guys, I really don’t see what the big deal is. You’re looking at this like Doug’s trying to cheat the world just to get Twitter followers. Give me a break. There are easy ways to get Twitter followers without spending a dime.

Consider the more altruistic motive. Give 1,000 people an opportunity to participate in a good action that has an impact far greater than they would be willing to do on their own. It makes those 1,000 people (or more) feel good because they helped make a difference.

Twitter is the penny stock of online marketing. It has nowhere near the value of an email address because the account holder can unfollow on a whim. Doug knows this. You know this. So why make a mountain out of a molehill.

Doug, where do I sign up? I’ll help, and I hope that helps you reach your goal.
David Spurr

The original post doesn’t mention the fact that you were/are going to donate the $1,000 whether you reach the target number of followers or not. So I have to think that it was an afterthought after the fact when you may have realised the way the original idea was positioned seemed wrong.

I’m glad that you’re donating either way now (as it should always have been) but I don’t want to go over old ground in this reply.
Douglas Karr

Thanks David,

I felt saying that I would donate either way would not motivate people to follow.

It’s only a guess, but are you new to the blog? If you haven’t figured out what kind of guy I am and what motivates me, either I haven’t done a good job at blogging or you haven’t been here long. Saying it was an afterthought is honestly a punch to the gut… I would never say ‘if’ if I wasn’t prepared to carry it out.

Doug