Crowdsourcing: Power to the people!

Hello again fellow bloggers! I am back this week with another interesting topic: crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is essentially asking the general public for ideas, information, or opinions to help produce better products or services. At some point in our life, probably unbeknownst to us, we participated in crowdsourcing. 

For example, did you know that every time you use the GPS app Waze you are actively participating in crowdsourcing? In their own words, Waze says "In 2009, we created a crowd-sourced navigation app that would make it easier to circumvent literal and figurative bumps in the road. How? By working together." 

Source: Design Week

Waze is an interactive GPS navigation app that allows users to log incidents on their commutes. With options such as traffic, police, crash, hazards, and so many more, users can give their fellow Wazers a heads up on what they will encounter on the way to their destination. These users can then update the status of the reported incident in real time. Waze is quick to credit its success to its users. They say "the magic of Waze has always been the people behind the technology - locals who report road closures, redraw roads and find ways to make driving better for everyone." They have even created what they call Waze Communities where users can become map editors or beta testers.

App users are not the only ones who recognize the benefit of crowdsourced navigation. In 2014, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) actually partnered with the company to provide motorists with more up-to-date road condition alerts. In their Traffic Engineering and Operations Newsletter they discussed the benefit of partnering with Waze to enhance their 511 traffic alerts. They specifically laid out how Waze and FDOT mutually benefit from each other by mentioning that Waze will get access to FDOT's multitude of cameras, while FDOT will be able to use Waze data to manage traffic and assist with events on routes that do not have camera coverage.

As of 2017, The U.S. Department of Transportation has partnered with Waze. They state that the Waze data support numerous possible analyses, including analysis of crowdsourced crash reports by road segment, frequency of hazard reports over time, and time series analyses of jams. USDOT says that to date, the Waze data have been principally used for crash frequency and crash risk modeling.

So, every time you use and interact with Waze, you are essentially adding to the data that the USDOT, as well as local law enforcement, use to prioritize infrastructure needs as well as an increase in emergency assistance personnel. And the best part is you can choose a fun voice or even a celebrity to give you directions, like Kevin Hart for example.

The best part about crowdsourcing with Waze is that it does not feel like work. I know that I personally will call my friends and give them a heads up if I see a wreck that is going to cause delays or if there is a detour on a road I know they will be traveling on after me. Waze essentially takes this concept and lets you become an informative friend to all. 

Now let's refer back to a couple of weeks ago when we discussed the importance of social media. Well, we are not the only ones who have come to this realization. Companies and brands have quickly realized the potential audience they could reach if they just harness the power of social media. According to Prescient Digital Media, current crowdsourcing campaigns almost always use social media to obtain a higher number of contributions, in theory leading to a better quality idea, service or whatever the desired end-product might be. 

Companies have realized that, in order to have successful crowdsourcing results, they must meet their audiences where they are. Statista estimates that in 2024 there will be approximately 5.17 billion social media users globally. 5.17 billion different voices and opinions out there that can potentially be reached. Now obviously all of those people are going to respond to a single inquiry, but imagine if just one percent of that overall number responded. That alone is 50 million users. That is insane. 

So what does crowdsourcing via social media look like? Well, the simple answer to that question is engagement. Likes, comments, and tags are all a part of the crowdsourcing process. Getting customers to actively engage with your company and brand gets you organic views and helps promote your company. A company that has done well with a crowdsourcing campaign is aerie and their #aerieReal movement.

Launched in the spring of 2014, the #aerieReal movement was an important milestone for the brand. The company challenged the supermodel standards and sparked a conversation with consumers about the true definition of beauty. The campaign uses crowdsourcing techniques to get organically created user-generated content. Social media users will post images of themselves in one of the brand's many clothing items and use #aerieREAL to join the movement and conversation. 

Source: Instagram

In this example of crowdsourcing, we see organic feedback and appreciation. Users are more willing to share their unedited or untouched photos because they feel like aerie and it's supporters also support them. Aerie has been very successful with this campaign and it is still active today. Users are still contributing content via the hashtag and aerie is still reeping the benefits of crowdsourcing. 

So, what can we learn from companies like Waze and aerie? I think the key takeaways are that crowdsourcing can be mutually beneficial to companies and consumers, and that crowdsourcing does not have to feel like work, it can actually be fun. By creating interactive apps or harnessing the power of social media, we can successfully reach our audiences and essentially partner with them to create products and services that people will actually want to use. Not to mention, utilizing social media opens up the lines of communication between the consumer and the brand and can foster a deeper relationship and increase brand loyalty. As strategic communicators, this is something that can be very important for us. Brands and companies with high loyalty are often the ones who have continued success.