We can’t deny the fact that today people are connected more than ever – although not as personal as the way it used to be. Sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, KickStarter and Rock the Post enables businesses to crowdsource for everything, ranging from the tangibles, such as investments (crowdfunding) to the intangibles, such as ideas.
Crowdsourcing is basically an act to source your tasks, projects, and activities to a group of people via an open request for help, pledges, funding, and such. It is a powerful way to get things done in effective and efficient manners by utilizing crowdsourcing sites and the social media – something that your small business can benefit from in getting your projects done.
So, how to crowdsource your business projects?
I have several ideas on how to crowdsource your business projects with the help of social sites – Here they are…
Crowdsourcing via Facebook
Let’s take a big social networking site as an example – Facebook. Not traditionally known as a business social network, many businesses use Facebook to buzz brands, sell products and source for ideas.
Let’s say your business create a Facebook fan page. You use the fan page to, well, build a group of brand evangelists who will buzz your deals, promos and good (and bad) words about your business. Once you have such a big, active community of “fans”, you can outsource ideas to them by, for example, launching a contest that asks for new product idea, which the winners will walk away with prizes. Indeed, this is effective, efficient and powerful way to get great future product ideas.
Crowdfunding via KickStarter
How about using KickStarter crowdfunding site to help get funding for the launch of your new product concept. This will help you to launch your product quickly, instead of using the traditional ways to get funding from a financial institution or an investor – something that often takes a long time to complete.
Crowdsourcing via Rock the Post
Here’s another example for you – you can join Rock the Post, a business social network and start posting your business projects – ranging from requesting pledges to make a non-profit project run like a well-oiled machine to offering investment opportunities to acquire a piece of land for real estate development.
There are many other ways you can crowdsource your business projects. So, if you have an idea or two about how to outsource a business project, please share with us by commenting on this blog post.
Ivan Widjaya
Crowdsourcing rocks!