Kickstarting "YakItToMe!" CASE STUDY/CHALLENGE in "P-Comm Posse" Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding

Our collective crowdsourcing work is due by Monday, February 11 @ midnight. YakItToMe!

Our Challenge: To use our HANDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA learning and our MEDIA MATRIX POWER TOOLS to participate in a GRASSROOTS DIGITAL Kickstarter CAMPAIGN.

Our Goal: Collectively herding enough Kickstarter backers to this Burlington, Vermont-based "YakItToMe" mobile BBQ food cart project in one week's time - we want to attract 300 backers to support a Burlington-based fellow college student's agripreneurial dream of "bringing yak meat to the people." Meet Nick Foss - Vermont native, business major, and fabulous chef, and his food cart.



Our Pedagogical Intent: To "demo" and participate in the unique crowdsourcing/crowdfunding power of a well-executed social media campaign - we'll measure our individual and team results, not in terms of grades, but in terms of backer numbers and $$ raised.

Step #1: "Friend" Dr. Williams on Facebook. (You can always "unfriend" him after this one week project. No harm, no foul.) (5 seconds).

Step #2: Create a Kickstarter.com account. (20 seconds)

Step #3: Invest the $1 given to you by Dr. Williams (or more, if you so choose) in "YakItToMe." (20 seconds - search "YakItToMe" on Kickstarter.)

Step #4: Use your 5 "YakItToMe" stickers, your $1, and your social media tools - email, Facebook, Twitter, telephone, and direct face-to-face conversations - to reach out to friends, family, and colleagues and ask them to "Back the Yak" and Kickstart "YakItToMe." (10 minutes to 10 hours.)

GUIDELINES: Be persuasive, authentic, and engaging in your invitation. Figure out the best media platform to reach different audiences - i.e. your Grandma might love email, while cousin JJ is a ferocious Facebook user.  Develop your own approach(es) for asking.

Do NOT say "help me Kickstart so I get a good grade," or "my professor is making me do this," or "help me get an A in my UVM class," or blah blah blah.

TO BE CLEAR: If you have no interest in being a part of this one week crowdfunding and crowdsourcing experience, then don't play. Easy.

PRIZES (No Grades):

Any PComm student who raises $50 or more through HANDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA work will receive a FREE yak burger coupon OR a yak leather product (for vegetarians).

Members of the PComm small marketing team who gather the MOST BACKERS will EACH receive a Vermont Yak Company tee shirt or ball cap.

Members of the PComm small marketing team who gather the MOST $$ will each receive a Vermont Yak Company tee shirt or ball cap.

Let's leverage our POWER TOOLS in the service of local HANDS-ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

YakItToMe!