Crowdsourcing is a type of practice in which companies involve their public to contribute ideas to solve different tasks.
His term was born in mid-2006 thanks to Jeff Howe, journalist and editor of Wired magazine. It refers to the moment in which users, customers, the general public contribute ideas and actively participate in the development of a service or product with the sole purpose of seeking a solution to a problem.
In addition, there is also a type of team crowdsourcing, which involves the company's employees. It is a way in which employees have a greater sense of belonging to the company, thus improving their trust and loyalty to it. The Gamification in this case it plays an important role since it is the way in which this type of practice is encouraged.
What is the purpose of crowdsourcing?
What this type of marketing strategy intends is to compile all kinds of information provided by users, in order to use it for the development or improvement of a company product or service.
In this way, users will feel as part of the company, thus increasing their confidence.
Another way in which crowdsourcing can be used is as an advertising campaign. Users who participate in the development or improvement of the product and service will talk about it by creating advertising. As well as the brand itself, which will be beneficial since it will increase its visibility.
Different types of crowdsourcing.
Several types of crowdsourcing can be differentiated depending on their objective:
Crowdfunding: One of the most used types of crowdsourcing. It consists of financing a project as a group. Various people come together to finance it and get a reward in return, such as: a discount, a gift based on the amount they have donated, etc.
crowdwisdom: It is a type of crowdscouring that consists of seeking different opinions and suggestions from a group of people with the aim of developing and/or improving the company's product or service.
microtask: With this type of crowdsourcing, what is attempted is to create a project by dividing the different tasks that make it up with a group of people.
Benefits of crowdsourcing in marketing.
Having a strategy like crowdsourcing has many advantages, especially for those companies that have a very tight budget, and cannot create a project by themselves.
One of the great advantages of crowdsourcing is the relationship that can be had between brand and user. By participating in the project, the user will create great confidence in the brand, having a stronger relationship. In addition, for the company, it is a great way to achieve customer loyalty.
Another benefit obtained with crowdsourcing is innovation, since you work with the opinions and suggestions of a large group of people.
As we mentioned before, crowdsourcing is a type of strategy that attracts many ambassadors, so you get more publicity. And, the more attractive and eye-catching the project, the greater the participation and publicity that will be obtained.
Another benefit to highlight is the saving of money and time, which is why many companies implement this type of strategy.
real examples.
These are some of the examples of brands with a great reputation making use of crowdsourcing strategies:
Starbucks
During 2014, the international coffee chain Starbucks created a campaign in which customers could create different compositions and designs of cups for the stores. This was one of the most popular campaigns of the brand, although it is not the first time that they have used crowdsourcing, since they tend to use it often to get product ideas, to know the opinion of their clients and to get more collaborators.
Lego
The Danish construction toy company carried out a crowdscourcing campaign in which consumers had the opportunity to propose new products for the brand. As soon as one of the ideas reached 10.000 votes, they went on sale to the public under the Lego Ideas collection.
Consumers, apart from seeing some of their ideas in stores, obtain part of the profits from their sales.
Doritos
Doritos' most successful crowdsourcing campaign was in 2016, in which its customers were able to design an ad for the products. The winning person got a ticket to the Super Bowl.
Lay's
Lay's, the popular potato chip brand, launched a crowdsourcing marketing strategy asking consumers to come up with new flavors for its product. In just 3 months, the brand received 3,8 million suggestions, making it a much more successful campaign than they expected.
McDonald's
On the 40th anniversary of McDonald's, one of the largest fast food franchises, its customers in the United States had the opportunity to present an advertising spot for the brand's most popular hamburger, Big Mac. A professional jury chose to the finalists, and the public to the winner.
The campaign was a great success thanks to the popularity of the brand, and the attractive campaign.
