Crowdsourcing isn’t just a way to get great ideas, it’s also a process that helps consumers connect with products and builds brand loyalty. Crowdsourcing helps companies to develop a community of consumers that feel attachment to the brand because they had a hand in shaping and influencing that brand. A recent story for FOX Business explains this important component of crowdsourcing:
As more companies turn to “crowdsourcing” for business feedback, the customer may not always be right but they’re definitely becoming more influential.
The term “crowdsourcing” means exactly what you might think. Rather than asking a handful of executives for advice on a corporate decision or product launch, companies are outsourcing opinions to the crowd-turning to their adoring (or sometimes critical) client base.
“You could crowdsource the building of a car if you wanted to,” said Phillip Wilson, author of The Next 52 Weeks: One Year to Transform Your Workplace and founder of the Labor Relations Institute. “But most companies are using it for advice on the design of something. It works well in the building of software and writing projects because it relies on the magic of the networking world.”
Companies that do well with crowdsourcing are open to learning from the “herd” said Wilson. A company has to be willing to learn from the people it comes into contact with. When customers give feedback they feel like they’re a part of the business, and as they grow more connected to a business they grow more connected to its products, Wilson said.
The social Web has broken a barrier, according to Wilson, who said that in the past some companies might have perceived asking its customers for advice as admitting a weakness. Today, a company is seen as “feeble” when it isn’t open to learning about its flaws.
Crowdsourcing is certainly turning into something much more powerful than just an easy outlet for content and ideas. It is a tool for developing products and services that are influenced by the people who actually buy and use them, creating a new level of brand loyalty and connectedness.
Read the full story from FOX Business or sign up for Napkin Labs and starting offering your insight to real companies.
From an early age, we are taught the values of teamwork in school, in sports, and at home. But somewhere along the way, there is a shift and competition becomes a driving force in the things we do. Now, while competition has provided us with some amazing advancements, the huge benefits of collaboration often get p
ushed aside.
Say sayonara to the traditional focus group
Goodbye, focus groups. Hello, crowdsourcing.
Rabble + Rouser, a very cool agency that does advertising, really gets the idea behind Napkin Labs’ crowdsourcing model. They understand that consumers want to connect and interact with a brand to help shape the products they consume. That’s why we’re so pleased that the folks over at Rabble + Rouser were kind enough to dedicate a blog post to Napkin Labs.
For the post “Two’s a company. Three’s a crowd. So what the heck is this?” they chatted with Napkin Labs founders Riley Gibson and Warren Ng to explore why crowdsourcing is so much more than a glorified focus group.
Here’s an excerpt:
Head over to Rabble + Rouser to read the full post and find out why crowdsourcing works.