We've posted before about the importance of engaging with users, about earning the permission to market and the importance of social objects for user engagement and amplification. By engagement, I'm referring specifically here to engaging people with content to fuel sharing and search marketing.
We know that quality content is central for attracting and engaging site users and in turn convincing them to convert into customers. Creating quality content is also expensive and must be maintained. It's easy to let the content well dry up... Similarly, with social media you can run out of integrated ideas to get your users or consumers involved with the brand in any meaningful way. Crowdsourcing is a potential solution to solve both of these challenges.
Where user-generated content (UGC) is most often associated with ratings, reviews, forums, sharing video and images - crowdsourcing can help a brand create other new types of content and create an opportunity for recognising participants within the brand's social space.
Crowdsourcing can be about presenting a community with an idea or a problem along with a request to input into the solution, it can also just be about having an open forum to where a consumer of your products (or a competitors) can feedback. There are compounded benefits, in short:
Of course there are downsides, the big two for me are resource, since it isn't free and you'll need to moderate and manage it, and operational changes, since content can lose structure and sense, generally feeling a little detached. I'd suggest the rewards far outweigh the costs so long as you have your eyes open to these two key requirements.
It can, but doesn't necessarily need to, get complicated…
So - the question is how creative can you get with crowdsourcing content for your brand? Start simple and scale-up!
By Danyl Bosomworth
Dan helped to co-found Smart Insights in 2010 and acted as Marketing Director until leaving in November 2014 to focus on his other role as Managing Director of First 10 Digital. His experience spans brand development and digital marketing, with roles both agency and client side for nearly 20 years. Creative, passionate and focussed, his goal is on commercial success whilst increasing brand equity through effective integration and remembering that marketing is about real people. Dan's interests and recent experience span digital strategy, social media, and eCRM. You can learn more about Dan's background here Linked In.
Turbocharge your results with this toolkit containing 7 resources
The Digital Experience Management toolkit contains:
Start your Digital Marketing Plan today with our Free membership.
Recommended Blog Posts
Millennials want the same thing as every other age group, it’s just the channels for delivering it that have changed They have youth, influence, and spending power. They can also spot BS from a mile away, and it’s not easy …..
Good service once earns one happy customer. Consistently good service builds a satisfied, loyal customer base. Unfortunately, unless you’re a sole proprietor doing everything in your business, you can’t control how your customer service teams work at every moment. How …..
Increasing competition across all industries means that customer experience is more important than ever if you want to stand out for the right reasons Customer experience (CX) is more important than ever. With competition increasing, the digital world making it …..
