PR Newswire recently posted a brief but insightful guide to successfully engaging customers and creating a sense of community through crowdsourcing. Whether utilizing crowdsourcing to get a job done, to gather insight into consumer opinion or raise funds, these tips can be useful. The insight come from the organizers of the 3six5 project, nominated for a 2011 Webby Award, which recorded the year 2010 with 365 stories told by 365 different writers. In summary, the recommendations include:
Responsibility
Tight Deadlines
Credit
Clear goal
Engagement
For a more in-depth study of the evolving role of social media, crowdsourcing and customer engagement, 1to1media has posted an interesting article examining the importance of careful strategy and execution in such endeavors. Says the article:
Crowd-sourcing is a great example of the increasing breadth and depth of organizational social media, validating a growing need for the involvement and expertise of social strategists.
The execution team faces challenges from two sides, the culture of organization they support and the needs of the social customers they work with. The strategist must first and foremost ensure that the social media strategy reflects current business challenges and objectives and not past challenges. If social strategists are not sufficiently proactive in addressing demands from customers and colleagues, they can risk becoming reactive and operating as a more of social media help desk Sherpa than as a strategic steward of a social media program.