Crowdsourcing (with a small crowd)

Recent posts by BBH-Labs and Edward Boches have inspired a few thoughts in me regarding crowdsourcing. The below items were posted originally in comments but I wanted to share them here as well.

1) Crowdsourcing will only help us if we can prune that crowd. I think this is essentially the model that Victors & Spoils is trying to take.

2) You’ll see that the work going into your efforts are high at the left and right ends of this chart. It is first hard to collect a decent number of qualified members of your “crowd.” Once you do, and the project becomes more widely known of, your work becomes harder because you must sift through a higher volume of submissions. There is a perfect number that varies from project to project.

3) The quality of output degrades when the crowd swells to be too large. A broader pool of people brings a greater range of talent and skills, but the problem with having too many is that the most skilled will get overlooked or lost by the sheer mathematics of this equation.

One Month In: Crowdsourcing Ain't Easy

It's been 30 days since the3six5 project started. If you haven't heard of the3six5 then you must be new to following me on Twitter...I mention it at least 3 times a day. Daniel and I weren't quite sure what to expect when planning this project. Don't get me wrong, we put 4 months into preplanning, building up an authors list, talking to lawyers, and the list goes on, but you never know what a project is going to throw your way until you are in the middle of it.

One thing people keep telling me is, "the case study for this project is going to be just as interesting as the project itself." I'm starting to believe they're right. As January (the launch) month is now over. I wanted to share 10 things that I've learned about managing the3six5.

1. Back up EVERYTHING. When you're dealing with a database, and believe me, 300+ people and their contact information is very much a database you want to make sure that no mishaps take place that might make you have to redo your efforts. We had a slight issue where we lost some names on our list. Luckily it was only two months worth and people were quick to email us corrections. That being said, we've now backed up our author list in the "cloud" using Google Docs. This failure will not happen again.

2. Learn to say no nicely. We have 365 spots. We received at least 10 times more people who asked to be authors. Doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that a lot of people are going to get an answer they don't want. That being said, there's a good and bad way to convey that message. I caught myself in one instance coming down a bit too hard on someone who didn't (in my mind) appreciate the project and what it stood for. In a moment of passion, I was much too harsh on that person and said "no" in a way that I now regret. Since then, I've learned my lesson and most communications, whether affirming or declining have been very positive.

3. Teamwork. If this project wasn't done as a team, it wouldn't be able to function. Daniel and I rely on each other heavily to manage this because it requires us to be "on call everyday." But, fortunately we have lives too. We have a set schedule for when we each will be manning the3six5 accounts. Recently I went on vacation and he covered me. Now he's on vacation and I'm covering for him. People who start businesses often go years without taking a day off. While I can appreciate that dedication, this is a side project not a job or a startup.

4. Gratitude. I went into this project not thinking it was a big deal. Despite the hours of work at night, to some degree, I still don't. But regardless of what I think, a lot of people have really embraced this concept and shown clearly that it is very important to them. People like Bob Knorpp, Mel Exon, Ben Malbon, Maria Papova, Angela Natividad, Bill Green, and of course the lovely ladies who put up with their boyfriends attention to this project Sara and Mollie, have all offered their voice to help share the3six5 with other people because they believe in it. This deserves being thanked. On some days it's hard to keep up with all the tweets and blog posts about our project, but when possible we try to thank each person for helping support us.

5. Collaborate. I've never led what you may call an "artistic project." Let me tell you, once you enter that world you gain the attention of people you never would have normally encounter. I can't go into details right now because things are just in the planning stages, but know this, artists LOVE to collaborate and mash up their work with like-minded individuals. Be open minded and hear people out.

6. The Bigger they are, the harder they are to get a hold of. Our authors span the spectrum of people. In that span are people who one might call "celebrities." We've got a handful of these folks including Today Show host Ann Curry slated to write later this year. We've also got celebrities in their own industry. Not as a popular to the general consumer but rockstars at what they do and equally as difficult to coordinate with. All I can say with these folks is communicate early and often. In some cases we have to work through middlemen because the authors in question are extremely busy. There are certainly times when giving up and finding a replacement seems like the best answer, but I suggest if you're ever in this situation, be persistent (but not annoying). Big name people are very approachable and accommodating when you catch them in that instance of time when their attention is yours.

7. Accept Free Help. Daniel and I are managing this project. But because of people's enthusiasm for the3six5 people have volunteered their time and advice. The great bunch at Denuo created a piece of "fan art" for us, a logo which I think is simply fantastic, another author gave us some free legal tips, and another offered a lesson in the publishing business. Some advice you want, some you don't. Regardless, keep your ears open and show appreciation. You never know when the day will come when you need help with a specific item and there was someone in the past who promised you they could do it.

8. Think Macro. We're on day 30. We have 335 days to go. At first we scrutinized over every post and contacted each author 4 times a day to make sure they were ready to go on time. To some degree, we still do, but we learned to stop looking at the3six5 as a daily diary and more of a story of an entire year composed of segments. We don't have the time or the heart to micromanage every aspect of this project and especially every post. Frankly, some posts are going to be better than others. That's ok. In the end we'll have a snapshot of our population and in not everything in the world is equal. The lesson was quickly learned that it's important to accept people work as is and think fast if a replacement is needed. (It was needed only on 2 occasions so far.)

9. Don't fuel stress. Imagine a scenario where you have 365 other people working on a project with you and the only way it will work is if everyone does the job they've promised to do? It's a LOT of stress. I don't think we would let it happen, but imagine if you were an author and you missed a day, or perhaps you half-assed your post? You have to then live with the fact that 365 other people now have a blemish in a project that means very much to them. Authors have told me they feel this, and I've learned to both 1) not escalate that feeling and 2) assure them that we're there to help them along. Ultimately this is just fun little project that has some interesting potential. No one should be getting an ulcer helping make this happen.

10. Go Where No One Is. Crowdsourcing is no longer a new concept. Neither is storytelling, blogging, or curating. Frankly nothing about the3six5 is all that original other than how it is packaged in this "new media" kind of way. The first thing Daniel and I decided on was to run this project on Posterous. To this day, I believe that if this project weren't being conducted on the lifestreaming tool Posterous it wouldn't be 10% as popular as it is now. A lot of times people go where the most eyeballs are in effort to get the biggest potential reach. But the problem with that scenario is that they are competing with many like-minded content creators and additionally they get ignored by the owners of that venue. The guys at Posterous have been extremely supportive of our project. They appreciate the fact that the3six5 is bringing attention to their blogging platform and were kind enough to even add us to their "featured lifestreams."

It's day 30. A lot has been learned. I'm quite curious to see what revelations the next 330 will bring. 

Be Mindful of Tech News and Timing

 

This was originally posted at over MarketingProfs daily.

The world of social media has given PR a slew of new means for sharing their content. From a high-level, seeding news via digital means can often be similar to that of sharing news releases through traditional media such as newspaper and magazines, but the one differentiating factor that should never be forgotten in the world of digital is timing.

Mainstream news outlets use the web heavily to supplement (or in some cases, overshadow) their broadcast or print counterparts, but the fact remains, tech writers were there long before the masses showed up. Tech journalists (and the technologies they bring into the spotlight) maintain an enormous advantage when it comes to share of voice online. And tech news isn’t just fighting general news for marketshare, it heavily influences what news outlets are now choosing for their top stories. Just look at Apple and the pending announcement of their new tablet computer. This isn’t just a trending topic on Twitter, it’s also mentioned as a top story on CNN, USA Today, and elevator screens across the country.

The implication? When possible, it is extremely important to time your PR efforts carefully so you are not competing for attention from the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Apple.

Obviously breaking news about the latest gadgets or operating system cannot always be predicted. These companies tend to be quite secretive about such matters. But that being said, there is still a great deal of predictions that can be made and implemented into an editorial calendar meant for brands you represent. Apple often schedules its conferences and Google is beginning to do so as well to build anticipation for their upcoming products. They don’t reveal the topic of discussion, but you will know when something big is coming. Additionally, conferences like the Consumer Electronics Show, E3, or SXSW are all scheduled far in advance. These events make web conversations soar, and they absolutely steal the spotlight from other categories of news in social media and mainstream blogs.

Do not plan your PR efforts in a vacuum.

Obviously not all campaigns can be shifted over a week or two, but when it is possible to have some flexibility with launch dates make sure you’re planning for maximum share of voice. Here are a tactics to help maximize your story vs. being crowded out by the tech crowd:

1. Create an evolving calendar which maps out known future conferences, announcements, etc. Keep launch dates away from those events.
2. Watch for spikes in tech news using free/paid monitoring tools. If you see something that might develop into a big story in a week or two, try to see if you can shift your launch to sooner or later.
3. Watch who you pitch based on current news. If the brand you represent is also going after tech bloggers or mainstream blogs that also cover tech news, you are much more likely to be ignored.
4. If possible try to latch onto pending tech news. This will only work with a certain type of product, but if your product/brand can ride the way of upcoming tech news, help it do so (but don’t get  yourself sued).
5. Select your channels carefully. Even traditional vehicles like newspapers are gobble up tech news these days, but if you do see a looming tech story on horizon, examine what places you might be able to have conversations that will be least likely to carry chatter about the latest nifty gadget from Cupertino.

Get Creative with Geolocation

This post was originally written as a guest piece for @ArikHanson's blog: Communications Conversations.

With the recent popularity of location-aware social mobile networks (geo-somo) such as Foursquare, Gowalla, and MyTown, many brands have been asking, what are (if any) the PR opportunities for engaging consumers by leveraging this technology.

From a local business perspective, the benefits are obvious. Those of us who have been using networks such as Foursquare have started to see the “local deals” and “free X for the mayor of this place.” On a national level, brands like Pepsi and Intel have started promoting themselves in the vain of charity or thought leadership, respectively.

While all of the above certainly caught the attention of the media, the question still remains, are there long-term applications for geo-somo networks for brands and their agency partners? I propose there are. Below is one realistic scenario which I’ll share with you. (Since so many blog posts in the world of social media are philosophical, I’ll try to make this as realistic as possible.)
Right now, brands experimenting with Twitter hashtags are a dime-a-dozen. That isn’t a slam, just a growing reality. With the right incentive, this kind of campaign can yield a high level of awareness for a product, BUT it also will be in heavy competition with the other hundreds of daily hashtags flooding twitter.

Generally speaking, companies encourage twitter users to participate in hashtag contests because they want to grow conversations around their brand or product. The more people that participate, the higher potential for transactions (profit). This model is generally based on the idea that by taking a very simple action (sending a tweet) a consumer will be rewarded with a chance to win a really big prize. Using the example of Moonfruit, back in mid 2009, were giving people a chance to win Macbooks for tweeting a message along with a designated hashtag.

The above method gets high quantity, but it doesn’t always get quality. As I’ve learned from conducting contest campaigns in the past, you don’t always get people who are your target market, you just get people who like contests.

Enter geo-somo. Using Foursquare as an example, you’ve got a framework where people “check-in” to real locations and are able to also attach a message to that check in (which also can then be syndicated to Twitter or Facebook). Based on this ability, why not host a hashtag contest (if you want to call it that) that doesn’t reward a simple action with a chance to win a big prize, but rather a more-involved action with a guaranteed reward?

Let me illustrate with an example, one that involves a large brand that doesn’t involve a brand that has “local” outposts. (Because I know the devil’s advocates out there will point out the fact that Foursquare can only be used well by companies with physical locations.)

The example company is going to be Netflix. What’s their goal? To get more people to watch movies, especially instead of going out to movie theaters. Now they obviously offer free trials to people who want to try out their service. But they’re not interested (in this hypothetical) in everyone; they want to target people who are avid moviegoers.

Here’s the concept. Go to the movie theatre, check-in on Foursquare, and include the following in your message:

Movie you’re going to see.
AND
Why you want to see it.
OR
A mini review.
AND
#NetflixSquare

Those posts need to be sent to Twitter creating a public record of consumer participation in the contest. In exchange for participating, users get X months of free Netflix. Upon sending out the tweet that shares the fact they are in/around a movie theatre, an automatic link will be generated in response to that individual (by Netflix) that will give them the opportunity to log in using OAuth (a Twitter authentication tool) to get their free trial, along with checking off various legal requirements that can’t be forgotten in this kind of promotion.

Rewinding a bit, let’s review what is taking place during this process.

1)   You’re actually growing your business by encouraging people to be patrons of a business that is in direction competition to yours.

2)   Participants are being asked to comment, not on how much they love your product, but rather what they enjoy about their film experience.

3)   They’re sharing a hashtag (a very recognizable entity among users of Twitter and Foursquare) with their connections within a social network that generally does NOT contain them. This addresses the earlier issue around overuse of hashtags.

4)   Netflix is potentially benefitting from a much higher level of word of mouth. While Twitter is a network composed mostly of people we don’t know in real life, Foursquare is one that many reserve for people they know fairly well (since it shares specific location data). Closer friends = Stronger Recommendations.

5)   In case you missed the piece in the New York Times about a week ago, Netflix LOVES location data. Just look at this map of what movies are being rented in major cities. If this kind of effort goes into analyzing current customers, there’s no doubt that new customer data will get just as much dedication.

This post attempts to go into the nitty-gritty of brainstorming campaign ideas. Many times, people are spurred into creative thinking by being asked questions. In this case, I wanted to show you an example. Far too many times, brands will implement an idea based on the success of others and assume it will work just as well for them as well. It might, it might not. Either way it’s costing money.

My hope is by seeing this example of how to use a tactical tool like Foursquare for something that it typically isn’t used for, it will help you think about all the items you have at your disposal for your marketing efforts that also can be used for something THEY’RE not intended for. Aside from the rather obvious “invention” one of the pillars of creative thinking is reconfiguring something that already exists.

Looking forward to your, Netflix’, and Redbox’ thoughts on this particular reconfiguration.

Prediction: Ford will buy Tesla Motors

Much like I made a prediction back in November 2008 about Ford adding a Twitter/Sync system (recently they announced that they will in fact be releasing this soon), I'm going to make another prediction about my new favorite domestic car manufacter...it's going to buy Tesla.

You've got two very different companies, but ones that have many alligning interests.

Ford, which could be considered the father of the modern vehicle has been spending the last few years pioneering the integration of peronal technology. Just recently at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Ford took home some major awards for the strides its making in tech integration in its new vehicles.

Tesla, while captivating an audience of techy-startup types is actually focusing on the area of propulsion. (I say that instead of combustion, because no part of an electric vehicle involves the burning of oxygen and fuel.) Ford certainly is making big progress in that field, but they 1) cannot make the radical shifts in their infrastructure to create vehicles like Tesla does and 2) there's a century worth of brand value, and baggage, that consumers hold regarding Ford. A heavy load that Ford is very successfully changing these days, but a load that a acquisition like Tesla could boost along at a much faster rate.

The allignment of these two companies could be a move in creating the perfect vehicle. Personal tech inside vehicles has obvious importance as our desire to never leave a screen grows. Alternative fuel vehicles (that are actually COOL) are also the key to getting drivers to jump into the world of electic vehicles.

Ford is still its own company (didn't take a bail out)

Tesla is still small (easier to buy)

Ford's heavy presence in digital and social media means that it is reminded of Tesla every day.

Ford needs something to catapult it beyond GM and Toyota.

Tesla is based in the U.S. (Patriotism shouldn't be underestimated when $2,000 Asian cars are going to hit our shores soon)

Prediction: In the next 5 years, Ford will hold a majority stake in Tesla.