Garage Sale 2.0: Lessons Learned

We had a great day at Garage Sale 2.0  We sold a bunch of stuff (lots of books) and several folks have free books coming to them (a list of titles coming tomorrow morning).

We UStream’d and Twittered the event, which was a lot of fun. Five people from three different states inquired about various items listed on Flickr.  So was Garage Sale 2.0 a success?  I think so and here’s why:

• Using Craiglist for the only advertising showed the power of that avenue.  We didn’t use the newspaper or signs on the corners.
• Word of Mouth online and offline worked great as several folks either blogged, twittered or used mobile technology to pass the word.
• Several CIB bloggers came by to buy.
• Counting mobile technology, we used these 2.0 tools for the event: Twitter, Typepad, Seesmic, YouTube, Flickr, UStream, Zemanta, Technorati, TwitPic, Craiglist.

So, lessons learned?

• Even though it was a financial success, an ad in the paper and signs on the corner would have added to the totals
• Better planning would have meant better sales. We decided to have the sale late yesterday afternoon.
• If this was held in San Jose or San Diego or Sterling, VA — I’d have sold everything by noon.

Still, I believe that versions of Garage Sale 2.0 could be something some brilliant entreprenuer-type could run with. Live streaming video/audio with bids and inquires from all across the conversphere added quite a dimension to the day.  A "media assistant" to run the online stuff would’ve helped.

Thanks to the folks that blogged about the event. You’ll get a list of books to choose from tomorrow.

Follow Mike Sansone on Twitter or Facebook or on Google+

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