Crowdsourcing's Secret Weapon: Pictures

Crowdsourcing is something that is relatively new and has been able to help a lot of organizations fund programs that probably would not have received funding otherwise.

This article from Forbes speaks in regards to the importance of pictures when one enters the crowdsourcing realm. As the article puts it “images dominate effective online communication.”

The sites which help with the curation of images are:

Instagram – Estimated to have about 300 million users, and the numbers seem to increase just as fast as the daily upload of photos. This platform is best when it comes to hitting the 16-24 age demographic and taking the opportunity to provide candid pictures of things such as “travel, food, and entertainment.”

Facebook – With over a billion users, Facebook is a powerhouse when connecting with those of all ages. Statues aren’t the only thing that people are posting anymore. Pictures on Facebook seem to be more “family focused” and “brand-driven photo contests” as it is very easy to share photos on this platform.

Gurushots – “An actual photo-contest website.” This site invites users to post pictures and they seem to be of better quality in comparison to those posted on social media accounts. Gurushots is a free-to-low-cost way to finding pictures that already have the approval of the target market as the audience is engaged by voting on which pictures they think are the best.

Flickr – Stock images will not be found here. Flickr “offers you a deep reservoir of original, engaging, and thought-provoking images by people who love photography.” There are categories to help navigate which types of pictures you are searching for to make it easy to find one that best fits your tone.

Displaying user-generated images builds a genuine relationship with your followers so they can connect better with your organization. If you are asking your followers for images don’t forget to include detailed guidelines as well as a “terms of use” statement so they know that the images they are submitting could be publicly.