Why Crowdsourcing Is Important and How Brands Have Worked With It
Nowadays, brands will do whatever they can to get in the game. They want to produce the best results and draw conclusions from them to be bigger and better. Crowdsourcing is one of the tools that can really help a company in a variety of ways. But what is it exactly? Let’s find out!
According to Crowdsourcing Spreading like Wildfire with Social Media, crowdsourcing is a practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people. It is used as a way for different organizations to gather ideas from different online communities and use them in ways that not only benefit the organization, but benefit them individually as well.
The article mentions that nowadays, social media is transforming the way that we think of crowdsourcing and will continue to do so over time. It allows organizations to reach a wider audience faster, more efficiently and even for cheaper. But how exactly is crowdsourcing beneficial?
How Crowdsourcing Is Beneficial
According to How to use social media crowdsourcing effectively, there are many ways that crowdsourcing is valuable to a company. Down below, we will discuss the different benefits that it has (as provided by the article).
- Gain a better understanding of your customers
Through crowdsourcing, it is easier to understand your customers on a deeper level. Asking your customers directly about their preferences is extremely helpful. It creates a better understanding of their expectations, interests, behaviors, etc.
2. Improve your product or service
Customer feedback on social media helps identify issues with the company or product being discussed. Reaching out to your social media audience can be beneficial, because they are the ones that are most enthusiastic about the product or brand. Finding their likes and dislikes can provide the company with a different insight than ever before.
3. Optimize your social media customer service.
Every interaction with customers will provide a good idea of what can be improved. This includes customer service of course, which can include issues related to shipping, brand activity, the way that the brand responds, etc. Many companies nowadays have separate channels for customer service, where they can reach followers in a more direct and quicker manner.
4. Assess performance
While analytics do tell you general information, such as likes and dislikes, they can’t exactly describe how a person feels about a product. But guess what? The person can! With crowdsourcing, you are able to see things on a more personal level. Feelings are important in regards to using a product or service, and must be known by the particular brand.
Now that we’ve talked about the benefits of crowdsourcing, let’s talk about who has done it right and why.
Starbucks
In 12 Brands Using Crowdsourcing for Product Design, brands that use crowdsourcing are discussed and highlighted. Among those brands, Starbucks is spoken of, and highlighted for using crowdsourcing in an effective manner.
Starbucks holds a platform that is very open to user suggestions. It uses its customer base for different ideas for products such as drinks, and implements them fairly soon after. One notable crowdsourcing experience that Starbucks had was when they created the White Cup Contest in 2014. They encouraged customers to decorate a Starbucks cup, take a picture of it, and submit it to the #WhiteCupContest. The winner of the design got to have the design displayed as a limited-edition reusable cup. Every time a customer purchased one, they were able to get 10 cents off of their purchase.
The White Cup Contest all began when Starbucks noticed that Baristas were drawing on their cups, which became quite the trend. Because Starbucks was observant, they were able to create the contest, which generated a major response at 4,000 pictures submitted. As a result, Starbucks was able to get free promotion for its brand because of all the campaign posts.
Samsung
Samsung did an incredible job at crowdsourcing as well, and managed to be quite successful. In 2013, Samsung ran a crowdsourcing campaign that showcased best flexible display ideas. The display had to be cost efficient, and they had a set of rules to follow. Along with this, the display had to be the key part of the phone.
After posting the campaign, Samsung had entrepreneurs, engineers and designers submit their designs. The winner of the campaign was then set to take home $10,000. The first efforts were then released in 2019.
Both of these brands used crowdsourcing efficiently, and benefited their publics. They knew how to listen to their feedback, and work with them in a smart manner. All of their success was because of their crowdsourcing efforts!
