Now that everything can be done with a single click of a mouse and news spreads as quickly as your typing speed, connecting to your fans is easier more than ever.
With the countless websites and apps for connecting with your fans, it’s such a waste of opportunity not to collaborate with them especially since taking photos and videos have become ten times easier than it was ten years ago.
This is basically the concept of crowdsourcing. Not only will crowdsourcing help you get your project done, it has also the potential to make you go viral.
What is content crowdsourcing?
We know that Crowdsourcing is using the resources of your fans to finish your project but chances are we are only familiar with the most popular type of crowdsourcing- crowdfunding.
We sometimes forget that funding is not the only thing we can ask help for, we can also ask our fans to help us with content, which they would surely be delighted to give.
If you’re a band, this could mean clips for your music video, if you’re a filmmaker this could mean extras for your latest film, and so on.
What an awesome way to engage with your fans, right? Let’s pause for a minute and thank the makers the Internetz and all that jazz.
How does it work?
It’s simple: You ask for fans an/or influential people in your industry to help you make your article/video/book whether it’s in the form of them answering interviews, making short clips, singing, dancing, playing, sketching, animating, designing, playing as extras…anything that can be done with more than two people’s help which can help them and you.
However, take note: It should be something easy and not something people will consider as exploitation. Amanda Palmer, the queen of crowdsourcing, learned the difference the hard way.
If you’re a blogger/journalist. You know interviews are probably the easiest way to get free quality content which could easily go viral. Interview the people who have good Klout scores (aka online influence) and make sure each of them would share your article (I’m pretty sure they would!). Here’s a good example: 18 Musical Moms Talk Motherhood
If you’re a photographer. You should check out Humans of New York. Do you know why this guy gets a lot of hits aside from his good skills in capturing stories? If you get it, you get why crowdsourcing works.
If you’re a musician who wants to create a music video, check out how C-Mon & Kypski convinced their 39,965 fans to help them make their “More is Less” Music Video.
Once you get how crowdsourcing works, you will realize that it’s the fastest, cheapest and most engaging way of doing things.
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James Hill is a veteran of the music industry. He first worked at Warner Reprise Records then later joined Interscope/ Geffen Records where he managed producers and songwriters and got his first platinum record for Keyshia Cole’s The Way It Is. He is now helping indie artists with branding and manufacturing through his company Unified Manufacturing, a CD/DVD, custom vinyl records and merch company in LA.
