The Secret To Making Money Off Of Crowds

The other day, I asked my Facebook friends for ideas on what to write about for this blog post. I received responses from six or seven people, but the last suggestion, from my friend Steve, made me smile and then made me think. His suggestion?

Crowdsourcing.

Well, duh.

Crowdsourcing is hot; companies all over are jumping on the crowdsourcing bandwagon. It started with the bestseller “The Wisdom of Crowds”, where author James Surowiecki told dozens of stories of the power of the collective wisdom of the ‘crowd’. From guessing an animal’s weight at a county fair to predicting election results, crowds tend to be more successful at getting it ‘right’ than individuals did.

But for any business that has believed in the old adage that ‘two heads are better than one’, crowdsourcing is old news. Crowdsourcing is taking a task traditionally done by one person (such as thinking of a blog topic) and opening it up to larger groups of people for input. It allows for fresh perspectives and new ideas, as well as the ability for people to build and comment in the ideas of others. A key component of crowdsourcing is using the Internet, specifically social media, to reach out to the ‘crowd’ in order to source your ideas.

What does this mean for you?

Crowdsourcing can allow small businesses to tap into many great ideas to help you do your business better. I have read numerous stories of small businesses that have crowdsourced logos and web designs- basically by asking for creative concepts and rewarding the winner. In this way, businesses use crowdsourcing as a contest instead of hiring a single firm to do work, almost like the old days of ‘spec work’ done by advertising agencies.

However, crowdsourcing can go beyond getting people to create work for you: you can crowdsource ideas as well. In this way, you reach out to your customers to find what they are currently thinking about, desiring, afraid of, and look at trends and patterns that can inform the way you do business. It could be determining what products go on special, or it could be finding ways to better connect your business messages to them. Used this way, it is just another word for doing consumer research: you are tapping into what people are thinking about, now, and using that to bring people to your business, your website, your social media site, for some discussions and conversations. It is a way to help build or strengthen your own online community.

Crowdsourcing can backfire. When large ad agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky announced a crowdsourcing contest for a new client’s logo, design firms rebelled and began a negative twitter campaign against the agency. In another crowdsourcing logo contest, the sponsoring firm selected a logo and found themselves on the wrong end of a trademark suit. For that reason, I would suggest that your first journey into crowdsourcing be of the idea variety.

Where should you crowdsource? You can ask for ideas on your website or Facebook page, or announce it in a tweet. You can do it the ‘low tech’ way with a ‘suggestion box’ at your place of business. You can send out an email to your email list, or even use a postcard that people can drop off. Just set a cut-off date, and share the results with your community. They will appreciate it, and that builds goodwill and trust that can lead to good word of mouth.