WE ARE SMARTER THAN ME: HOW TO UNLEASH THE POWER OF CROWDS IN YOUR BUSINESSIntroduction“We are Smarter then Me” ($24.99) is a collection of insights from the 4,000+ members of the community that was expressly created to write this book. The central premise is that in the new digital age where nearly a billion people are connected, this new “we” is infinitely smarter than any individual “me”.
CrowdsourcingWhereas Web 1.0 was in part about profiting from hoarding data, Web 2.0 is about democratizing it – information is more valuable as more people use, increase, and refine it. By providing access, owners can reduce their costs and improve their product and thus revenues. As a business model, this is called crowdsourcing. The book cites many examples of companies tapping into the collective wisdom of a community for product ideas and improvements. For example, Virgin Mobile (USA) created an online community of 2,000 carefully selected users to help it keep abreast of trends and promising opportunities, and provide input into various aspects of their business such as providing input into designing phones.
Customer SupportThe authors also discuss the well-entrenched trend of shifting customer support onto online forums: “…online support has been a double boon. They save money by freeing customer-service personnel from other work, while also building a cohesive, loyal community of repeat customers who can be tapped for other purposes – say, to test new products”. As one of the managers of a large community, while I agree with the authors assertion that with more complex products, companies need to invest more into nurturing them, I think they understate the effort involved. It requires dedicated moderators who are skilled at solving issues, mediating any conflicts, connecting community members, and stimulating discussion.
The Right, Passionate MembersThe book shines when it addresses the issue of passion of community members to spread word of mouth: “…the most powerful form of marketing is an advocacy message from a trusted friend” and “Everyone is passionate about something…but we need to harness that enthusiasm.” Of course, the key lies in first identifying those connectors. For this point, the book advises you to “tap into you marketing people to find customer who have called or written praising the product and those who have a long track record of purchasing it.” Issuing a general invitation through the web site is also an option, although you may end up with less than ideal candidates. In my opinion, this underscores a key point – typically in a community, the top 1% influences the next 9%, who then influence the next 90%; therefore, it is important to target the top1%.
When creating a community, it is important to invite like-minded individuals. Like a dinner party, which guests you invite can result in drastically different outcomes. Invite loyal customers and find as many other bright people as possible. The bright members are critical for creating a vibrant community that can start and further the dialog to solve issues, create ideas, and create connections among members. To harness the power of crowds, companies must tap into the emotional aspect of people’s passions. For example, e-Marketers should not create a community about a new brand of aspirin, but rather create one about pain control. Furthermore, they should allow people to be engaged in as many ways as possible – forums, blogs, and rating systems to name a few.
To get the community engaged, E-Marketers cannot be afraid of creating debate by encouraging disparate opinions for it is in that exchange of views that innovative ideas germinate. By experimenting with different types of content and ways of inciting valuable conversation, companies can engage members to provide feedback, ideas, and suggestions. In particular, e-Marketers need to closely observe the flow of ideas and monitor reactions to products, campaigns, and other initiatives.
Leading from the RearCompanies (and their eMarketers) who want to start up and/or engage communities should “lead from the rear”. Their role is to provide direction and then to stand back because interference will stifle contributions and ultimately is futile. The community will do what it wants – the best that companies can do is to nurture and guide, with the intent of developing a trusting relationship with its members. However, companies must also know when to step in as in the case of correcting harmful information or restarting stagnant discussions. What is required is a mixture of the right centralized leadership and ownership of functions, and decentralized contributions.
TrustCompanies can only succeed if they develop a trusting relationship with its members. They must deal openly and honestly with them, admitting mistakes immediately and then taking corrective action. Any hint of dishonesty, spinning the truth, or hiding from the truth will not be tolerated and will in fact make matters worse. In marketing to communities, e-Marketers must also let go of their need for perfection. Messages that are too polished or too perfect stifle conversation and promote distrust – can the product or service really be that good? It is OK to have comfortable, casual, and conversational message because that makes the message more human and thus accessible. On the technical community that I manage, we are very careful not to publish traditional marketing content because we know that our members will not welcome it.
In ConclusionThe book does a good job of providing an overview crowdsourcing, supplemented with numerous examples. In fact, it does an excellent job of making its case for the power of crowdsourcing but I could not help but be a bit skeptical about the realities. Maybe it is because I was left wanting for specifics about how do I exactly go about doing it? True, there are some solid tips yet they are intermixed with generic words of wisdom such as “Get serious about the crowd”, “Make sure everyone benefits”, and “Tread firmly but carefully”. And after awhile, all the examples seem to be the same – and maybe that’s the problem – this is a book of too many examples, and not enough specific advice.
