Crowdsourcing plays a vital role in helping companies raise awareness and drive public engagement in charitable giving. By putting consumers in the driver’s seat, companies can rally mass audiences to help solve a problem, either through competition or collaboration. Pepsi Refresh and Chase Community Giving, for example, were two innovative campaigns that helped pave the way for using social media to drive philanthropic grants.
But since then, these “vote for me” campaigns have become all too common. What was once a novel concept has flooded our Facebook pages and Twitter feeds. Is crowdsourcing at risk of fatigue?
There are two things you may want to consider:
1) Here to stay: This growing social media practice will not be going away anytime soon. In fact, among large corporations, a sizeable 44% have used crowdsourcing. Of these, 95 percent found it valuable to their company. Regardless of use, 83% see the potential.
2) Growing pains: Despite its popularity, the quick rise in companies’ using crowdsourcing has led to some growing pains. The concept is not new to consumers. Mostly likely, people are no longer going to click on a campaign page or vote for a cause just for the novelty of the action.
So what does this mean? For one, companies will have to look for new and innovative ways to break from the typical “vote for the charity” scenario. Focus should be put on the cause and why it matters, rather than the means of engaging in that issue. Crowdsourcing is the vehicle – not the solution – for engaging with consumers. Companies still need to use creative marketing, transparency and purpose to drive their campaign and avoid consumer fatigue.
Couldn’t agree with you more. The whole “voting” system is a very half-assed (pardon my French) way for a brand to interact with its consumers. Additionally, since the brand is the one coming up with the poll options instead of its consumers, it can only barely be counted as crowdsourcing in the first place!
I’m going to blog about this myself on Tiny Work, look for my response some time tomorrow morning.
tinywork.wordpress.com/
While I appreciate these types of campaigns, the downside is that an incredible cause or need can often go un-funded because it didn’t garner enough votes. The upside is that these types of campaigns do create awareness of issues or needs that a community might not have been aware of. I’ve written about this as well and my takeaway is that any opportunity for a group to fine tune their grant writing skills, or hone their message is beneficial. If the “ask” fails to get the response desired, it helps the group redress the way they ask or who they are asking. Unfortunately with so many causes requesting assistance and support causes giving fatigue. I find myself asking “am I supporting the project or supporting my friend?” sometimes it is important to make that distinction before you cast a vote.