Here are presented the results of the survey "Help us to choose the next article of the blog Open Agora" expressed according to their approval rates. The percentages presented in the graph indicate the minimum approval rate that a given proposal has received compared to those that are ranked below it. Thus proposal 1 "the power of Social Networks in Crowdsourcing" obtained versus each other proposal, at least, an approval rate of 57%. The second proposal "Instant Agora: a tool for brainstorming" received at least 53% approval for proposals 3, 4 and 5. So, the winner is "the power of Social Networks"!
Crowdsourcing: Let's talk about it!
Let's start with the beginning: What is Crowdsourcing? We talk about it but who really knows what it is? At first glance, crowdsourcing is the establishment of exchanges and dialogues between a community of consumers and a company. This relationship is intended to be fair and constructive. The consumer has as much to gain as the company. Indeed, the company consolidates its Customer Relationship by considering the opinion of consumers on its products, the consumer then becomes a Consum'actor! He likes to be consulted and to participate in the co-creation of what he will buy tomorrow, it is a bit as if he personalized his "everyday products" so that they really correspond to him.
(Kambil, Friesen et Sundaram, 1999; Prahalad et Ramaswamy, 2004).
As Vargo and Lusch mention it: "the collaborative aspect of the customer is more and more taken in consideration in marketing research" (2004), or like Marine says in her article the companies are more and more, in search of the opinions of their consumers.
Why? The Crowdsourcing is not only a fashion trend, but a real "booster" of competitive advantages for companies. But this is not the only advantage of companies to apply co-construction project with the consumer… I will tell you more about this in a next article, which will happen very soon!
However, you should know that there are different types of Crowdsourcing actions. For example, one of the ways is to allow the "consumer" to vote by organizing a product or advertising test at different scales, for that we implement election devices (this is a bit what we did, by letting you choose the theme of this article).
And Networks in all this?!
Unlike traditional media, social networks reverse roles. It is indeed the users of the Network who will share messages about the company. They will have a very strong impact on the image of the brand and the products. Indeed, today, many consumers have more confidence in these communities than in the brands discourse.
This is why Social Networks are an excellent opportunity for companies to implement their Crowdsourcing strategy. Cybernauts express themselves easily and are eager to give their opinions, belong to the community: share their experience.
For companies, Social Networks represent a real gold mine: the number of subscribers is high and it's free, which allows them to reach many people while reducing their costs. This doesn't mean that we should forget the other more traditional communication channels.
But let us come back quickly to this trend: Crowdsourcing was born thanks to social networks and their scope. Indeed, following the strong desire of Internet users to communicate with their favorite brands and the potential that social networks represented, Crowdsourcing was born! Then foot by foot it has grown: the number of subscribers on brands pages continues to increase, as well as comments, likes and photos!
The power of Social Networks lies in the number of subscribers and the virality of information. Very practical for a company (during a product launch for example) but which can also turn against them at times (bad buzz and negative comments from customers…). It's one of the risks to take for the company.
The first: the creation of a Community on its Twitter, Facebook, Instagram pages and so on! Community managers must then create a dynamic to bring the page to life and establish a dialogue between Internet users and the brand.
The second: ask questions to your Community about the company's products or values. Participation in competitions, co-creation workshops (example: Bic and the images on its lighters / Danette and its new flavours) are also part of Crowdsourcing strategies: they are excellent indicators of the brand's popularity.
The goal of the game is to promote a product or service by offering active participation to the consumer, Facebook games, sending photos, image sharing… And as a reward goodies and gifts!
Give us your opinion too! Tell us: Which Network seems the most influential to you? I'll find you guys very quickly for new punchy article!