Have you tapped into the power of the crowd?
The rules of engagement have changed with the rise of the social web and it's causing a reversal of many traditional marketing processes. The future of the Internet, is it's people and listening has never been more important for brands, products and services. But more than just listening, tapping into the power of the crowd is becoming a successful strategy across certain business verticals. Here's a few interesting examples:-
We've heard it in many guises - crowd sourcing, crowd funding, the genius of the crowd and even in a more linear and limited sense, in early Internet UGC campaigns - (user generated content). But Crowd Power is not just for start ups and new platforms, it can be considered as part of the planning process in many existing business channels, in part or in whole. I've put together this infographic, to highlight a few key points to consider.
Crowd Power is a method
It's important to think of Crowd Power as a method, rather than a complete solution as there will certainly be elements of your business or products that cannot be changed. While it can of course provide the full infrastructure for a business model, as in a few of the examples I have highlighted. It is fundamentally about getting more acquainted with your customers, listening more and including them in various parts of your planning and social strategy.
Plan for slow release and clear curation
Obviously, it's not all plain sailing. You need to establish some house rules and a well published system for curation. Curation, visible response and steering becomes very important to avoid a social coup. In most instances it's often best to open up your rapport, in a more measured way, with polls, and structured feedback methods, before entering into a 'full on' forum for change.
You can use Facebook 'in wall' polls with your FB base. PollDaddy or Web Monkey can provide flexible templates for more structured survey solutions, which can run indefinitely or as part of a campaign pre or post. You might also want to look at a 3rd party feedback solution like Get Satisfaction [getsatisfaction.com]. Facebook page and comment boxes can also bring controllable elements of discussion to your web pages.
Also remember the 90:10 rule. 90% of people will be grazers or watchers. The other 10% being the active percentage of your audience, ranging from sharing to liking to commenting and contributing. So don't expect huge engagement figures immediately.
Enabling Crowd Power, either using existing platforms or creating your own, can become a powerful addition to your social strategy. The very nature of the Internet is to share, to proliferate knowledge through increased communication. Crowd Power is ultimately facilitating a mixture of knowledge and intention, two important ingredients for change. Used well and curated well, you can develop better services and products in a collaborative environment with your customers.