Crowdsourcing Content to Drive Brand Engagement

In the book, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, author James Surowiecki makes the point that a large group of people working together is collectively smarter than any of the individuals that make up the group. When it comes to crowdsourcing as a channel to engaging with a brand’s key audiences, the wisdom doesn’t lie within the crowd creating content on behalf of the brand, but how the company deploys that content and makes each member a stakeholder in the final product.

But crowdsourcing can be scary. It runs completely contrary to the approach of a company maintaining full control over both the content and the message. But for brands that struggle to find points of engagement and create a listening platform to gain a deeper understanding of the people who buy their products or services, crowdsourcing shouldn’t be viewed as a challenge but an opportunity.

A recent survey from the Content Marketing Institute found that 80 percent of consumers stated they want to be involved in co-creation projects of brands they like. But more importantly, most consumers reported that they prefer to take part in improving existing products. Companies simply can’t turn a deaf ear to their most important audience, especially when that audience is clamoring for greater engagement. Unfortunately, also according to the Content Marketing Insitute, the reality is that barely one in five companies are involving their customers in their marketing planning.

The key to effective crowdsourcing is tapping into the creative potential of the audience and incentivizing participation. For companies that have blogs, solicit guest posts from the readers. More often than not, providing consumers with the exposure and a link to their blog will be incentive enough, and show that the company is not only willing to listen to their audience but also allow them to be a part of the brand’s voice.

Crowdsourcing can also be as simple as asking for feedback. However, the impersonal nature of focus groups and surveys are not the answer, especially when the same spectrum of diverse and independent answers can be achieved through a more personalized approach. Surveys and focus groups place barriers between the company and its audience by slicing the responses into neat little buckets of data and demographics and the parameters often hinder the audience’s ability to provide feedback unique to their experiences.

This is where social media becomes an invaluable tool. Ask questions, get answers, and pay nothing. Pretty simple equation. Sam Adams certainly doesn’t need anyone telling them how to make beer, yet they asked people to share the elements of their ideal beer with them and then created a fully crowdsourced and unique brew.

When it comes to a company demonstrating they are an engaged partner with their audience, crowdsourcing content to create new ideas or improve existing products can be a powerful tool. Consumers have shown an affinity for being a part of the process and often just having their voice heard is enough of an incentive for them to participate. Marketing should never operate in a silo, so companies should open the doors, pull back the curtains and allow the wisdom of their crowds to serve as a key component of their brand identity and audience engagement.