The other day I had a client ask me if I thought American Idol was a crowd-sourcing concept gone bad, and he was referring to the debacle, this season, when performers many thought were talented, were kicked off and others who weren’t so talented remained. To this I thought touche, as I speak about crowd-sourcing efforts to this particular client all the time. Their product(s) really speak well to user driven activities. Nonetheless, I cleverly responded “No, it’s not the concept of crowd-sourcing that was at fault, but the planning and expectations that failed to hit the mark”.
Crowd-sourcing, hands down, is a great way to engage your target demographic and create brand advocates along the way, but it is not for everyone and every brand. Brands have to be mindful that the answers they get, through crowd-sourcing, may not be what they expected or wanted. When crowd-sourcing you are making a commitment to your users that you value their input and will put their input to good use.
Below are a few tips on what makes a crowd-sourcing campaign successful, versus not:
What Makes A Crowd-sourcing Campaign Successful:
Rally Around an Idea or Activity: it works the same as entering into your local mall and seeing a crowd forming in the mall’s centre concourse, and that crowd is there because someone famous is doing an address or signing autographs. The point is, they are formed there, because they all collectively find the personality (in our case the idea, topic or personality) interesting or exciting. The crowd is not just there as spectators either, they get a chance to engage, whether that be asking for an autograph, singing along or taking in the expressions of the faces around them. All this to say that the most effective crowd-sourcing campaigns have all been around a certain topic or event that given its controversy or mystification, appeals to a large crowd.
You Can’t Send out Paper Invites, But You Can Target: this concept is not foreign to the idea of networking. You find the group that you feel will help your career or business to propel to the next step and then you engage. Well the same strategy can be applied to the act of targeting your crowd in a crowd-sourcing campaign. The ideal strategy in sourcing a crowd is ensuring you research users who:
- Fit your product
- Are geographically relevant
- Have a high influence or ‘klout’ level
- Have a social history
Despite your targeting actives, know that you will attract a crowd from those you didn’t ‘invite’, but that is ok, as it will balance out the feedback and conversations and these new comers to the party were more than likely invited by one of those you researched, with high levels of influence.
It’s an Online Democracy that Needs Commitment: the act of crowd-sourcing has been attempted and failed by nameplate brands before and the primary reason for the failing and resulting bad press, was that they did nothing with the data and feedback provided them by the public. It is a democracy and that being said, you have to be prepared that the answers you receive, may not be what you initially thought or would have picked yourself, but if you ‘put it out there’, you have to be prepared to execute on what your crowd is telling you. Another good reason why we suggest targeting your crowd as best you can, to ensure the most useful responses.
Things to Avoid in a Crowd-Sourcing Campaign
Never Crowd-Source Your Name Culture or Point of View: these items shape the foundation of your brand and as a result, are things you would want to ensure represents the voice and air you want to share publicly.
Be Open Minded, But…: although you want to include all public opinion in what you do, you want to be mindful that the ideas received do not variate from the brand core value proposition, by acting on the voice of the vocal minority. This is why crowd-sourcing around a specific item works best, as the responses and feedback are more pointed and useful.
Choose Your Crowd-Sourcing Campaign Carefully: not everything fits the crowd-sourcing model. When ideas come up, run them through a model and series of questions such as:
- Can I find enough of a targeted crowd?
- Is the topic or idea engaging enough to attract a crowd?
- What happens if the responses are negative? Are we prepared to handle this?
