Creating digital marketing content takes time and manpower. Even professionals who create content constantly can feel overwhelmed by needing to create original, creative content that is interesting and relevant. If you are starting to run out of ideas, just know that it is a common problem. However, there is a solution for this problem – crowdsourcing. Even companies with large creative teams, such as Coca-Cola and General Mills, have used crowdsourcing to great effect.
What is Crowdsourcing For Digital Marketing
In essence, crowdsourcing is having your audience help create marketing materials through digital content creation. Creators outside your company contribute original content that your company can then use. The content that your audience submits can vary in style. Pillsbury used crowdsourcing in the mid-20th century to collect recipes for a calendar and various cookbooks. Maybe your company needs video advertising or still images, crowdsourcing can help with that.
Customer’s Perspective
By enlisting your audience to produce content, you will be hearing from individuals who view your brand as a customer. This is different from employees of your company who may not be customers. You are paying your employees to care about your brand, whereas a customer cares about your brand of their own choice. This unique viewpoint often creates content that resonates in unexpected ways.
A good example of this is when Wisk was working on a new commercial. A member of Poptent talent network came up with the ad that sold the product in a funny and effective manner. The video wound up with over 2 million views and inspired further promotional content.
Ready To Go When You Are
Crowdsourced projects tend to be completed quickly. They are often created by a small group of people with the right set of skills with no extra weight slowing them down. Poptent president Neil Perry gave an interview with Social Times in which he explains how fast these projects can be turned in. Normally, video packages can be finished in 30 days, but some have been turned around in less than 72 hours. Crowdsourced content is surprisingly speedy, so if your business is in need of content quickly turning to the crowd is a viable option.
More Unique Options
In the world of freelancing, each individual is incentivized and motivated to create content for a brand based on what the brand asks for and needs. While every freelancer is working within the same guidelines set by the company, each person will have a slightly different approach or idea. This means your company will receive diverse content so you can decide which one is the best fit. Having so many different options for content allows your company to only take the best ideas, but also means you may be presented with ideas you never would have thought of without crowdsourcing.
Atomization of the Content Process
The first few times you open an assignment for crowdsourced completion, you are bound to get submissions that do not do what you wanted. Only after learning this lesson will you break down the assignment so no one can mess it up. This step is unavoidable because crowdsourcing is not a natural process. To get the best results, every project must be atomized so it is broken down into the smallest possible parts. This will increase the odds of content being exactly what you are looking for and will decrease the odds of wasted time.
Research, Development, and Market Research
By using social media, it is easier than ever to get direct feedback from customers. Many customers will tell a brand what they think without prompting from the company, and that eagerness to communicate can be channeled into other areas. Companies can ask customers what they want between a few options and then allow the customers to make the final decision.
Lays found great success in letting customers choose with their Do Us a Flavor campaign. Lay’s allowed customers to submit chip flavor ideas through Facebook and then the fans voted on the top suggestions. The winning idea received a significant prize, but Lay’s was the real winner. The contest greatly increased their social media traffic as the mainstream media caught wind of the contest. Lay’s received free advertising from the competition and a new flavor their customers voted for all through crowdsourcing. Because the flavor was chosen by the fans, it was guaranteed to be relevant to customers, which likely increased sales due to the novelty.
Crowdsourcing is a relatively new idea, and the Internet has allowed it to take off. By using crowdsourcing, your company is tapping into your customer base to create content they will like. By having your audience create content. it is finished quickly and will often lead to creative, outside-the-box results. Crowdsourcing also helps with relevance, as content created by your customers is automatically relevant to them.. Crowdsourcing content is certainly worth looking into when it comes time to create new digital marketing content.
Nick Rojas combines 20 years of experience working with and consulting for small to medium business and a passion for journalism to help readers grow. He writes about technology, marketing, and social media for the aspiring entrepreneur. When Nick is not sharing his expertise, he can be found spending time at the beach with his dog Presto.