This concept is built on a theory sometimes referred to as the “wisdom of crowds”. Crowdsourcing is a sourcing model in which individuals or organizations obtain work, information, or opinions from a large group of people who submit their data via the Internet, social media, and smartphone apps. This helps businesses craft better products and services. By crowdsourcing, companies can tap into a huge group of people’s expertise and skill sets. Therefore, they ensure diversity of thought, expedited production, and cost-cutting, since they don’t need to hire new, in-house employees. These people involved in crowdsourcing sometimes work as paid freelancers, while others perform small tasks voluntarily. The people in these groups have no connection to each other or to the business aside from their crowdsourced input.
In marketing, companies use crowdsourcing to create marketing materials such as a logo, jingle, or ad. In addition to businesses, nonprofits or community organizations with limited budgets can use crowdsourcing to spread their messages, promote events, or create works. With crowdsourced marketing, marketing teams can save money and run engaging, interactive campaigns because it involves the customer. Moreover, companies that need some jobs done only on occasions, such as coding or graphic design, can crowdsource those tasks and avoid the expense of a full-time in-house employee.
Crowdsourcing Example
As an example, one of the apps who best use this strategy is Waze. Waze is a community-based GPS traffic and navigation app. Their users, which has grown to over 90 million around the globe, report real-time traffic and road information, like police cars, accidents, road hazards, traffic jams, and the cheapest gas stations near your route. All of this crowdsourced information allows users to help each other reach their destinations promptly and safely.
At EC, we love to crowdsource and hear our clients/readers’ opinions. Click and leave us a comment!
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