Crowdsource Your Way to the Top

Think crowdsourcing is just another marketing fad at your peril. Especially with the incredible rise of social media, crowdsourcing is now made easier than ever.

So what is crowdsourcing?

 Crowdsourcing is a combination of two words: crowd and outsourcing. It is a process of canvassing a large crowd of people for ideas, skills, or participation.(Source:Daily Crowdsource)



Wikipedia is the perfect example of a crowdsourcing success. Instead of having writers and developers to create an online encyclopedia, Wikipedia enlists the help of people like you and me to build a comprehensive encyclopedia on the Internet.

Many businesses fail to recognize the potential of crowdsourcing. Each year, millions of dollars are spent on hiring industry experts, market analysts, and management consultants for new product/service ideas. Perhaps those businesses could reach out to people who actually care about products or services: customers. Getting to know your customers and listening to their ideas and suggestions may be what you need to take your business to the next level of success. Gone are the days of hoarding information and knowledge. Now, a collective insight of a large number of individuals provide diversity with people from different skills and backgrounds offering varied perspectives.

Starbucks does crowdsourcing so well with My Starbucks Idea. Starbucks turn to their own customers and encourage them to share ideas and join the discussion about other people's ideas. Starbucks believes that their customers know best about what they want from the company and works diligently to turn customers' ideas into action.

Dell is another company that utilizes crowdsourcing for new ideas with IdeaStorm campaign. Dell actively engage with customers and fish for inspiring fresh ideas in order for the company to offer consistently solid products and services. So far, Dell has seen through over 500 of these ideas successfully implemented.

Not every idea is a good idea. People's creative inputs need to be reviewed extensively before they can be implemented.

Here are a few tips for you to perfectly execute your crowdsourcing campaign...

• Identify your goals: Know exactly what you want out of crowdsourcing. Are you looking for new product ideas or are you gathering feedback on your marketing campaign? 
• Be specific: Be very clear in your brief and provide specific guidelines. Asking the right question is the key to the success of crowdsourcing. For example, instead of asking "What is your new idea to improve our moisturizer?", you could ask " What is considered most important to you: a moisturizer that fights acne or one that corrects dark spots?".
• Do not get overwhelmed: Be prepared to be bombarded by ideas and develop strategies to be able to cut through clutter to pick the best entry out of a sea of best entries.
• Leverage your media platforms: Utilize various social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to reach as many people as possible to tap into their brains.

According to the founder of the term "Crowdsourcing", Jeff Howe,

" Crowdsourcing is the process by which the power of the many can be leveraged to accomplish feats that were once the province of a specialized few."

And you know as they say,

"It is a fact that in the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird flying alone".

 Use the wisdom of the crowd to see your business flourish.

May Mandy Han