A quick presentation for Sustainability Victoria's Community Convivium meeting on February 27, 2012 using the Garage Sale Trail as a case study.

1. Wtf is social media?
The Garage Sale Trail Case Study
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2. 2

3. People using the Internet to
talk to each other.
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4. Yes! IT IS A BIG DEAL.
4

5. But people talking to each
other is nothing new
In fact grassroots community
organisations are expert
at this, people like you.
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6. But sometimes
we freak out about
all the new
whizz bang
gadgetry to
choose from.
So, how do
grassroots and
community groups
best use social
media? 6

7. Here’s one we prepared earlier.
Thanks Moira!
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8. T he Garage
Sale Trail

9. Background

10. On April 10 last year, thousands of people all over Australia help
garage sales.
The goal was to bring people together, redistribute goods,
raise money and have lot’s of fun.
When you think about it, the whole thing was made to be
social.

11. Social media was the enabler.
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12. T he Garage Sale Trail began in a real place, with real
people*, Facebook was used to share information among them.
*contrary to popular belief Bondi actually exists and there are real people living there.

13. The Garage Sale Trail worked at a hyper-local level.

14. Everyone that participated had a reason to
self-organise.
We provided the tools to help them do it.
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15. The point was to use the
Internet to get people off
Sneaky
the Internet...
huh?

16. Well it wasn’t the whole point.
We had a problem.
And we were pretty clear on what we needed to do to solve
it.
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18. The problem was lots of wasteful
consumption and a culture of dumping in
Bondi.
We figured that this was probably
happening in other places as well.
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20. We wanted to reduce consumption and introduce a culture of
re-distribution and re-use as an alternative model.
So we used the Internet and communication to pair people who
had stuff to sell with people that wanted to buy things.
20

21. Our key insight is that if a problem is a social one.
So it made sense that the solution also be social.
Stating the obvious?
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22. Objectives

23. 1. Reduce waste & landfill

24. 2. Facilitate Redistribution

25. 3. Bring Locals together

26. 4. Stimulate local economies

27. 5. Inspire creativity

28. 6. Have fun

29. Objectives

30. Collaboration.

31. The Garage Sale Trail was a collaboration
between people, groups, and
organisations - this is why sharing
information was so important.
Using social media to simply tell people
things doesn’t really work.
So we used the tools to help people find
things, ask questions, self-promote
and plan their trail.
31

32. Our weapons of choice.

33. Social media tools enabled us
to see where garage sales were
plotted on the map, to show our
partners what we were doing,
to record and encourage
others to create content and to
inform people of what was
happening on the day.
33

34. social media
But it wasn’t all just
traditional media PR also played an
important role.

35. Relevant. Honest. Open.
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37. Content.

38. Inspire. Inform. Educate.
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39. Ambassadors

41. Images.
Video.
Copy.
Events.
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46. YouTube.

48. Web & Mobile Integration.
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52. Social Media Channels.
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72. The day...
• Participant data taken from Garage Sale Trail Participant Survey 2011

73. Number of registered garage sales Australia-wide
1,613
jGarage Sale Trail Participant Survey May 2011

74. Total number of participating households
3,387
Based on an average 2.1 participating
households per sale
jGarage Sale Trail Participant Survey May 2011

75. The number of shoppers Australia-wide
77,259
• That means an average of 48 shoppers attended
each garage sale
jGarage Sale Trail Participant Survey May 2011

76. Number of items redistributed per sale
45
• That’s approx 72,585 items Australia-wide
jGarage Sale Trail Participant Survey May 2011

77. Total volume redistributed Australia-wide
49,591 kgs
• That’s an average of 1,983kgs per participating LGA
• And approx 31kgs per garage sale
jGarage Sale Trail Participant Survey May 2011

78. Money made per garage sale
$331
jGarage Sale Trail Participant Survey May 2011

79. Average pocket money spent locally
81%
jGarage Sale Trail Participant Survey May 2011

80. New neighbours met
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• 9,742 new community connections Australia-wide
jGarage Sale Trail Participant Survey May 2011

81. Percentage of people who will participant
again next year
88%
jGarage Sale Trail Participant Survey May 2011

82. 372
Print articles

83. 248 Radio impressions

84. 1596
Online mentions

85. 343,303
Social media impressions

86. 68+
Total media reach across all channels
million

87. WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAID

88. "I already know most of my neighbours, but met one new one and
another helped me pack up as the dark clouds came over”

89. “I participated to de-clutter, reduce landfill
and encourage others to reuse”

90. “I will participate again next year for sure! It will
motivate me to do a yearly clear out”

91. "I had fun meeting everyone who
came to my garage sale”

92. What’s next?

95. Remember!
Social media tools are enablers
Community is what really matters
What motivates people to engage and share?
Chose social media tools based on your problems and
how they can help you solve it.

96. Have fun!

97. T hank you
www.facebook.com/G2S
www.goodytwoshoes.net.au
http://au.linkedin.com/in/goodytwoshoes
Follow Me @Jem1ller
jess@goodytwoshoes.net.au
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