Crowdsourcing done the Right Way

For many large projects, crowdsourcing is often a good option to get the work done on time. However, it also presents quite a lot of challenges, such as managing the amount and variety of people working under the project. So how do you pull off a successful venture?

Getting the right kind of people

One of the trickiest things about crowdsourcing is getting the right group for the job. Unlike regular employee searches, you don’t have the liberty of scrutinising the people who join your venture. After all there might be hundreds or thousands who sign up for the project.

As speaker Jan William Alphenaar shows in this presentation, you can save time by having a definite audience group in mind. Ask yourself all the pertinent questions with regards to your target crowd, such as where they can be found and what channels of communication (such as social media) they commonly use. Talking to this crowd and convincing them to sign up is all together another challenge. Your call to action must be clearly directed towards them so that they will immediately spot it among the host of posts that regularly come their way. Speaking in a language familiar to them helps a lot here. You also need to clearly state the nature of the work and what they can expect to gain from it to convince them that this is a worthwhile task to undertake.

Managing your people

Zach Shaw describes aptly the challenge of managing a crowdsourced group for any project:

"Seems easy enough on paper putting up a crowdsourcing campaign. But, it’s not like throwing open your guitar case on the sidewalk, it’s actually a lot of work."Before handing out the tasks that need to be done, test it to ensure that it can be easily grasped by your audience. Unlike the usual work process in many outsourcing projects, you won’t have time to review all of the incoming contributions just to see whether everyone has done it right. Thus, the process must be very clear cut the first time you hand it out. For automated procedures, like surveys for instance, it would be a good idea to test the system on a small group first before making it live.

Another important work to be taken care of is handling the submitted contributions. With the above-mentioned automated submissions you don’t have to worry, since the system you implement will do it for you. But with manual submissions it would be best for you to set up a more efficient means of handling and categorising them. For instance, it would be better for you to set up a different submission point for each task category, rather than having to browse through all of them finding category markers.

Know the legalities

As it is, crowdsourcing is still very much covered by pertinent labor and intellectual property laws. It is best that you familiarise yourself with these to avoid issues. You also need to consult with experts to determine if the method payment of services is secure for the benefit of your outsourced team.

Learn the ins and outs of crowdsourcing projects by contact UFOstart AG, the crowdfunding and crowdsourcing platform ready to assist your venture. Get started now and check out how to start your venture and become an expert or investor in the world of startups. Interested in how you can leverage the power of the crowd for your startup? Like us on facebook and follow us on twitter for daily updates.