Can I get some help?

[lucas.bowser]

I just looked at the conference page, and I'm going to have to go with the contest idea. I think getting 1000 likes for this, should not be too bad if you can find a couple of cooperative souls. You can either front the prize yourself, or ask the company to do it. The prize is a free seat at the conference, which is $30 if you reserve it today.

I would find blogs dedicated to Technology Trends and Microsoft Trends. I would then open up a dialogue with them about getting a plug in for the Facebook page and a contest where you are giving away a free seat. The conference has some decent speakers and is being held at Microsoft's New York HQ. That alone should give you a little pull. If you can get just one or two mid profile blogs to mention you, especially if they have a strong East Coast base, you may be able to attain your 1000 likes over the next 3 weeks. The key here will be getting someone who already has established social proof in this arena, since that is what you are currently lacking.

I would say give it your best shot. You have a lot more going for you than you currently realize, and like vangogh and just said, this is a great learning experience for the next job.

[vangogh]

I think a good contest can also lead to 1,000 likes. The reason I suggest it will be hard is because to something like this best you generally want more than a few weeks to plan and act. However that doesn't mean it can't be done. A free seat at the conference is a good prize and it will draw people in who are actually interested. I agree with Lucas about opening the dialog with tech bloggers. Most probably won't help, since you have no previous connection, but you never know.

For $50 I wouldn't be overly concerned with the end result. $50 isn't really a reasonable fee for what you're vein asked to do. Still do the best you can since you did take the job and use this as a learning experience. And I also think you do have more going for you than you realize.

For example we're letting you know to start building connections with people now for the next time you need help in promoting something. Get to know bloggers and people in the industry, mainly by doing for them, whether it's a comment on their site or sharing their content through different social sites or starting your own blog and linking to them. These things get noticed and little by little you build a network that will be there later when you need a favor.

[lucas.bowser]

How much access do you have to the speakers at the conference? I see that each one of them has a social media media account of some type, but I don't see any activity on them talking about the upcoming conference. They should be promoting it since they'll be there. I would reach out to them ask them to promote the proposed contest (so long as you get approval for it.) Something like:

For a chance to win a seat at the Learning GG confernce in New York and hear me talk about xxx *Like* the following FB page.

[vangogh]

That's a great idea. It gets the message out to exactly the people who are most likely to be interested in the conference, given they're fans of the speakers. And quite honestly it should lead to enough Likes. If it can't then perhaps someone needs to rethink the conference and who'll be speaking.