Crowdsourcing: How to Crowdsource and How it can Help YOU

Need Help? Crowdsourcing Might Be Your Answer!

In Manila, it can be challenging to make your ideas come to life. Many things come into play. Thankfully, the Internet has a solution. 

One of the Internet’s greatest benefits is to make resources accessible to many people. Crowdsourcing is one of those ways you can get the information, funding, or other resources you need from a large pool of Internet users. If you find yourself with a great idea, but you’re lacking the people, the tools and the resources to make it happen, this might just be the thing for you.

Here are examples of crowdsourcing platforms that you can use for your start-up project, whether it’s a business, a new innovation, a creative endeavor, or a social cause. You’ll see different ways you can use crowdsourcing to gather resources and spread word about your project. 

99Designs

 

Type: Crowd Contest

 

99Designs is a crowdsourcing site where you can get affordable online graphic designs and ready-made logo designs from different designers worldwide. The platform started with design contests, where designers submit based on your design brief, and you get to choose the winning design. The winner gets paid cash for the work they do. They’ve since added a one-on-one project platform, and their Readymade logo template library. 

 

 

Indiegogo

 

 

 

Type: Crowdfunding

 

Indiegogo is a crowdfunding site that lets you raise funds for a variety of projects. They began with the premise of funding indie arts and cultural projects, but they also let you raise funds for a wide variety of projects, including education, community, and small businesses to name a few.

 

What makes Indiegogo different from other fundraising sites is that they have two different funding models:

 

– All-or-nothing model that requires you to hit your goal or the money will be refunded to the donors; and 

– A flexible model that allows you to keep whatever funds you raise, but will have a higher service fee. 

 

It’s also one of the few platforms that covers countries around the world, including the Philippines. Other platforms like Kickstarter aren’t available here or do not offer terms that are as flexible. 

 

 

oDesk

 

 

 

Type: Microtasks

 

You’re probably familiar with this platform already – it’s a popular crowdsourcing platform among Filipinos, and one of the first that you’ve probably used. oDesk is a platform that allows you to break down your projects into microtasks and assign each task to a different person. The good thing about microtasking is you’ll get to choose someone who specializes in that specific area alone, giving you the highest quaity work for each microtask you assign. Make sure you’re organized though – microtasking is not for everyone. 

 

 

Crowdsourcing Tips

 

The following tips can help make your crowdsourcing campaign more successful:

 

Explain what you want clearly. Be very specific with your instructions, because this is all the freelancers will have as their guide for completing the task you assign them. In the case of crowdfunding, explaining this clearly will help them understand why it’s important for them to fund your project.

Get ready for ideas – lots of it! Because crowdsourcing is essentially a collaboration, you’ll have to be ready for the onslaught of ideas that you may get from your collaborators. Take note of each idea you like and you shoot down carefully. 

The incentive should match the task. Yes, they’re freelancers and you can lower your expenses significantly, but you have to give them enough incentive to want to work on your project. Make sure to price according to the level of difficulty of your project. 

Give an allowance for revisions. You’ll be outsourcing your processes, which means you need to allot time for revisions or do-overs. If you need something done, make sure to set the deadline on the crowdsourcing platform ahead of your actual deadline to make time for adjustments.

 

 

Article by: Clayton Wood

 

Clayton is the Marketing Director and managing partner of numerous successful online marketing brands. As an early executive at SEOReseller.com, Clayton helped create and grow brand marketing programs. He helped lead the industry in marketing tracking tools, start-up innovation and created systems that have become a few of the industry’s largest online marketing brands.

 

 

 

Crowdsourcing: How to Crowdsource and How it can Help YOU