Answers to Questions During Our Crowdsourcing Webinar with WOMMA
Earlier this week, we teamed up with the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) to present a webinar on crowdsourcing & storytelling in marketing. During the presentation, we discussed four case studies of brands that have used our online crowdsourcing platform to generate compelling stories for a range of marketing activities.
Below is a SlideShare embed of the deck we present to attendees (we’ve also “pinned” it on our Pinterest boards!). Unfortunately, it’s just the slides, no audio, but contact us if you’d like us to walk through it with you or your team.
Earning Consumer Trust through Crowdsourced Storytelling
View more presentations from Zooppa
A video of our presentation is also available to WOMMA members (which we highly recommend becoming one!) via signing into your member account here. We plan on making the webinar video publically available to everyone in the coming weeks.
After our session, during which we focus on how brands are leveraging crowdsourced video content to cultivate and showcase stories from their fans, we had a robust Q&A session that I thought we would share with our blog readers.
Here are the top three questions (and our answers!), that we were asked by attendees of our webinar on crowdsourcing:
1. How do you determine which crowdsourced stories are worth telling? What criteria do you recommend?
Zooppa: It depends on what the goal of your crowdsourcing effort is. For example, Siemens specifically asked participants in their “Changing Your City for the Better” crowdsourcing campaign to create unbranded, mini-documentary videos. They were less concerned with promoting their brand than they were promoting the values that their brand stands for: sustainability and innovation. Alternatively, got milk? sought stories that breathed new life into a legendary campaign, but they were definitely looking for ones that worked within the parameters of a detailed creative brief.
As a company who’s crowdsourcing a content solution, you decide what stories are worth telling with a clear creative brief. Be clear as to what type of video content you want to receive so that participants have the tools and knowledge they need to help you convey your message.
2. How can a company with a small budget (like the Salvation Army) launch and succeed with a crowdsourcing campaign like got milk’s?
Zooppa: Community members emphasize to us that money and the opportunity to earn exposure and develop their career are key motivators for participating in our campaigns. That being said, they’ve also made clear that they enjoy and appreciate creating content that supports non-profit organizations and causes.
For example, we’re currently running our second crowdsourced video campaign for MatchingDonors.com, a website that help those in need of organ donations connect with altruistic living organ donors. While the first campaign didn’t have a big budget, the campaign attracted submissions from many whose lives had been touched by altruistic organ donation. Representatives at MatchingDonors.com were also connected to a broad network of professionals in the entertainment industry, so the winner actually got the chance to attend and be recognized at the Hollywood Awards ceremony in Los Angeles!
Our community members have told us that they like working for lesser-known brands, and the fact that companies like MatchingDonors.com provide opportunities to contribute to a greater cause makes them more appealing.
3. What are the pros and cons of having predetermined judges vs. community voting in crowdsourcing projects?
Zooppa: When Zooppa started, we used to offer more awards driven by voting among our online creative community, but now we’ve shifted more to brands exclusively selecting the winners based on their own criteria. In large part, the community and not necessarily the brands themselves requested this shift.
With community voting, winners are typically the most visually compelling or the funniest. Giving brands the sole discretion of selecting winners made sure that awards were given to submissions that were in line with the original campaign brief. Also, community voting generally drives organic distribution and promotion with folks asking their friends and family members to vote for their work. That being said, we do recommend brands offer a long-tail of awards to encourage a high level of participation.
High-profile judges can add glamor and credibility to a campaign, especially if their onboard to blog, tweet, or promote it to their audiences. Obviously, it helps to get someone directly related to your industry and relevant to the audience you’re trying to attract.
Interesting in learning how Siemens crowdsourced over 100 stories told through HD video from 28 countries? Download the full case study.
