3 Ways to Use Crowd Sourcing To Make Business Decisions

One of the biggest buzzwords right now is “crowdsourcing.” It’s used so frequently on so many different types of projects that it’s hard to know exactly what people are trying to accomplish when they use the phrase. In generally, it’s using your following, be they loyal brand users or social media enthusiasts to get feedback, insight, support or even funding to achieve a particular goal.

Your company can use this relatively free resource to make decisions with your business, but you must be sure to use it carefully. As a good designer friend once told me, “There’s what people say they want, and the way they actually use a site or service. They’re usually very different.” So don’t use crowdsourcing to change your entire business model or company design.

Help narrow decisions. It’s typically a bad idea to keep crowdsourcing options completely open-ended. Everyone has their own opinion and you won’t get a lot of hard data if people just write their own opinions. Instead, offer two or three options and have them choose between them. If they feel like expanding upon their decisions, give them the opportunity, but ultimately, they should be options that you’ve already determined will benefit the company.

Fundraise for a charity. If your company holds an annual fundraiser or is raising money for a specific cause, sites like indiegogo.com are perfect for this. You can offer incentives and the money raised goes to your non-profit of choice.

Make lighthearted decisions. You don’t want the crowd to pick your next CEO, but they could have a hand in picking the next mascot or choosing the next company event. Lay’s had a great contest earlier this year where people could create their own flavor of Lay’s chips. That’s a perfect example of crowdsourcing as marketing that keeps things lighthearted.

Crowdsourcing holds vast potential in helping companies make decisions.

Please contact us for more ideas to use Crowd Sourcing for Business Decisions in your organization.

By: Lauralie Ezra

@lauralie_lee