Today I read/watched all of the required material for this week. I was particularly interested in the chapter from The Dawn of the Human Network on crowdsourcing. Reading through the chapter, I continued to come up with endless examples of crowdsourcing at work across all types of industries. From Warber Parker eyeware (allowing consumers to post photos of them in prospective glasses and get Facebook followers' input on which is the best pair) to Louisville, Kentucky music festival Forecastle (hosting a Twitter/Instagram photo contest with the winners becoming the official photographers of the festival) to Sparked.com (seeking community members' input on any number of advertising/PR campaigns for start-up companies and non-profits) crowdsourcing has infiltrated nearly every industry imaginable.
The key that I take away from this is something I touched upon in an earlier post- a way to truly interact with potential consumers, instead of advertising at them. When potential consumers feel as if they are working as a part of a community instead of working with a corporation, they are more connected, and from an advertising perspective, this connectivity enhances brand reputation, increases brand loyalty, and ultimately casts a wider net from which to draw potential consumers. From a product/quality perspective, community members who are truly interested in the final outcome are more likely to produce quality material that offers solutions to the most frequent problems or questions that users encounter.
Over the course of the rest of the week, I plan to read/watch "Star Search," The Social Marketing PlayBook, "Crowdsourcing Evolution," and "The New New Thing."
Great post.
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