There’s no question that crowd-sourcing is a prominent theme of Web 2.0. With the advent of website services such as Kickstarter, many inventions and projects that otherwise would never have seen the day of light have come to fruition due to masses of people offering micro-donations.
However, crowdsourcing doesn’t always work – no matter how good the idea may be. Case in point: “Let’s Jump In” – a promising, multi-platform way, for live events to broadcast to multiple platforms. It seems that, in spite of Web 2.0’s many advances, self-marketing is still an important part of any new venture.
Let’s NOT Jump In
Jumpin was a project that was trying to raise funding through Fundageek. (Fundageek is a crowdsourcing site similar to Kickstarter, but focused on technology projects). Jumpin sought to “create a new online dimension of live event experiences, and revolutionise the industry worldwide.” Check out their promotional video below:
[tentblogger-youtube 11jdF]
I stumbled across this project recently and got excited about its potential for church-related events such as denominational conferences, continuing education opportunities, and a plethora of other travel-required religious events. I might have even contributed some money toward its completion … until I realized the deadline was already up.
It was then that I realized crowdsourcing doesn’t always work. This got me thinking:
What makes a crowdsourced project successful, and what makes one fail?
Certainly, the website you choose has something to do with it. Fundageek, while a nice idea, has a total of 35 projects listed on its site (and that includes ones such as “Lets Jump In” that have already passed without being fully funded). Many of the projects are asking for a small fraction of what Kickstarter projects tend to ask for, which leads to the general conclusion that Fundageek doesn’t receive much traffic. Yet it is listed as one of Mashable’s “60 Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed“.
Lesson One
This leads to lesson #1: If you want to successfully fund your crowdsourced project … use Kickstarter. Internet companies, it seems, have started to find themselves falling into the trappings of traditional industry where large conglomerates with mega-bucks are the ones that have the resources to survive.
Lesson Two
The second lesson to learn is marketing. If you want a project to succeed, you can’t just put it up on a website and hope people will find it. In fact, this is what Web 2.0 is all about. According to www.worldwidewebsize.com, there are 7.56 billion (yes, with a “b”) webpages online today. No longer does the web represent “if you build it, they will come”. Instead, you must market your project with intensity. Use social media, forum/blog comments, traditional marketing, and any other marketing source you can. You don’t need to cover every marketing method available, but you need to use a multi-faceted approach to get the word out.
Certainly, there are other lessons to be learned from failed crowdsourced projects. But site choice and marketing are definitely two of the primary ones.
What other lessons have you learned from the advent of crowdsourcing trends?
Drop us a comment and let us know.
Adam says
We tried gofundme and also did not get any money to help redesign of our site. http://www.gofundme.com/kh7mc We did not advertiser it must we posted it on our facebook and twitter account but nothing come from it.
Paul Clifford says
I needed some money for a trip to Vegas to teach a class. I put it up on gofundme.com and got $70. I thought Kickstarter would be the way to go for “Church Video Summer School,” but they told me it “wasn’t a creative project,” so I couldn’t use them. I decided to try indiegogo (http://igg.me/p/123961). I’m nearly 1/2 done and nothing even after having released 1/3 of the project. I’m trying all the marketing I can given my budget, but I guess it’s not going to work and I need to figure out how to do Kickstarter next time.
Chris says
I definitely think Kickstarter is the way to go, but marketing doesn’t have to cost lots of money – just time and energy. Find boards and forums that are similar to your project and begin sincere posting (not spamming). It takes time to build relationships in this way, but it is the way of web 2.0 marketing.
That being said, you can’t simply “get the word out” about your project. Any traditional fundraiser will tell you that you can’t just ask for money and expect people to hand it over. You have to sell your project – show and tell people that your proposal is something that will benefit them, people they care about, or society at large – and something that won’t get funded without their support.
Seth W says
You’ve got some good insights here! I’ve written similar articles on the trials and tribulations of crowdsourcing, so here are some general tips I’ve come up with:
-Make sure you have proper incentives in place to encourage participation
-Adjust your barriers to entry so they allow in the people you want and discourage others
-Compartmentalize the aspects of the campaign into chunks of work instead of a single large effort; your crowd will find participation much easier and effective
-Tap into crowds that previously have been unable to express themselves
-Integrate crowdsoucing constructs into your efforts instead of resisting or separating them
-Reconsider if crowdsourcing if right for you if you company/brand employs controversial or underhanded business tactics; they will come to light during your campaign
-Non-professional creatives may find speculative work a good opportunity to hone their craft, confer with more experienced artists, and maybe even win some money for their efforts
Here are the various articles in which I reached these conclusions:
http://tinywork.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/tenets/
http://tinywork.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/oh-well/
http://tinywork.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/gaming-porn-and-lego-the-common-thread-part-2-of-2/
Chris says
Thanks Seth – great advice!