This sounds like an interesting alternative to doing the project in house.
From the crowdSpring blog:
ONLINE
- Blogs and Newsletters. Need original content for your blogs or newsletters? We have a global pool of writers who are ready to help.
- Advertising/Marketing. Worried about increasing sales or competing against bigger companies? Leverage our community to help you.
- SEO/SEM Content. Need to generate great search engine optimization (SEO) content or develop strong search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns? Our writers can help.
What is crowdSpring?
For those of you who don’t know what crowdSpring does, let me sum it up in a story. We used the service recently to create a logo for a downtown STL property. We had a creative brief drafted that was then posted to the crowdSpring site. Along with the brief we offered up a set dollar amount that we were willing to pay for the logo design based on the brief. From there creatives from all over the world submitted actual artwork that we could then comment on. The creatives would use our feedback to tweak their designs to suit our needs. In the end there were over one hundred designs to choose from all at a price we thought was fair. No negotiation – no hassle and done in a very short period of time.
I am interested to learn more about the writing piece – I could see this working as a way to create content for community blogs.
Would love to hear your comments – especially if you have used the service in the past.
And, for some really good context on the subject of community blogging, check out this past weeks AptChat hosted by Mike Whaling and Lisa Trosien – It was a compelling chat.
Hope your week is compelling –
Technorati Tags: mbrewer, @mbrewer, apartment internet marketing, apartment marketing, marketing apartments blogging apartments,
0 Responses
Mike – thanks so much for writing about crowdSPRING. We're excited about our writing projects and agree that it would be an awesome way to leverage writers to help with a community blog.
Best,
Ross Kimbarovsky
co-Founder
Ross
We are a huge fan of your service and will be using it again in the very future.
Thank you for coming up with such a crazy cool platform –
Ross, Good Morning,
I would love to chat with you regarding sourcing content, perhaps for some of the various blogging projects we have going on at Digital Sherpa, I can be reached at eric@urbaneapts.com or 248-767-4460
Eric – Emailed you…
Apartment Internet Marketing – Outsource Your Community Blog: Use crowdSpring to outsource your community blog http://bit.ly/9bPl1b
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
MBrewer Group Post: Apartment Internet Marketing – Outsource Your Community Blog http://bit.ly/boRzia
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
RE: @crowdSPRING Ross
We are a huge fan of your service and will be using it again in the very future.
Thank you f… http://disq.us/bm4qy
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
That makes complete sense for something like an apartment community blog. Which is not Crime and Punishment but needs be somewhat refined nonetheless.
Peter,
Thanks for dropping by –
How is your project coming along? Your community seems to be very vibrant.
M
The community was more of an experiment and does not have a direction at this point. My focus lately has been on driving leads for multifamily communities using the very straightforward approach of increasing their exposure on classifieds sites that require Manuel posting and constant maintenance. It has been working out great so far and we would like to take on more communities.
Mike,
This sounds like an excellent idea from a time management perspective. In your opinion, how could we keep the blog “authentic” using crowdSPRING, seeing as though people not familiar with community would be blogging? My thought is that the topics would need to be on a more macro scale, instead of property specific. Thoughts?
Trevor –
Thank you for taking the time to comment –
I think this is a double edged sword. In one respect I think you have to govern content relative to what adds value to the end user. That is to suggest that it might not matter where, when or how that content comes along and or what it is about as long as it is relevant and applicable to the base.
On the other hand – I have, at times, taken a very aggressive position with regard to authenticity. That is – I have debated that content has to be 100% from the heart of the writer based on real life experiences in their particular field of expertise.
To speak to your question specifically – crowdSpring attracts creatives from all over the world and as such I would think you could tailor your creative briefs to request specific disciplines for specific markets and frankly specific communities and properties.
Ross – would it be fair to toss Trevor's question back to you? I would love to hear your perspective as well..
Thanks in advance for any consideration.
M
Mike-
Thanks for the clarification of position. I would most certainly like to hear more from Ross on this as we have several communities that are “pre-blog” status and the owners may be interested in setting one up IF the content was creative and/or specific enough. Thanks
TH
T,
You are welcome sir – thanks for taking the time to ask. I think it is an interesting concept and my experience with their design component was off the charts cool. If the content creation component is anything like the design – it will likely be as cool…
Have a great night –
Apartment Internet Marketing – Outsource Your Community Blog http://ow.ly/16ypil
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
I am curious to know whether or not you have an editorial calendar of some sort that you have established that outlines your topics and key points or is that something they propose to you?
J,
I just ran across this service last evening [the writing piece, that is] so I am curious as well. We had some very brief team discussion today about the concept and will likely be calling and or connecting with Ross in the coming week to get some clarity.
Have a great evening and thanks for sharing your question.
Ross – would love to hear your thoughts on this one as well – if you have the time to share here.
RE: @mbrewer I am curious to know whether or not you have an editorial calendar of some sort that you have established… http://disq.us/bnsd0
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
RE: @35332681 Trevor –
Thank you for taking the time to comment –
I think this is a double edged sword. In one res… http://disq.us/boewx
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
RE: J,
I just ran across this service last evening [the writing piece, that is] so I am curious as well. We had some… http://disq.us/bok7s
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Interesting thought. What would be the strategy for the content? I'm not sure any of the comments here really dial into that. I don't think it can just be content for the sake of content.
@mbj – how are you????
You know my initial thoughts are that you create a very specific creative brief that relates to your blogging strategy be that micro or macro. You would further specify by defining themes or experiences you desire.
I'm going to play around with it on one of our newly created community blogs in the coming weeks.
I let you know how it goes.
RE: @mbrewer Interesting thought. What would be the strategy for the content? I’m not sure any of the comments here … http://disq.us/bq2jq
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
RE: @8389092 @mbj – how are you????
You know my initial thoughts are that you create a very specific creative brief … http://disq.us/bq480
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Mike-
While I love the source, and think that this can be a great addition to the newsletter/blog, I'm personally a fan of the staff creating the newsletter and personalizing it to the community. I think staff written articles create another chance for real connection with your residents.
That said, for teams that do not have the skills to produce this kind of content in house, this is a great alternative.
test