As chief marketing officer at City Year, Gillian Smith uses social media to enhance public awareness of the organization. In 2012, Gillian Smith spearheaded a crowdsourced marketing campaign that used City Year members' experiences to promote the organization’s mission and impact.

1. CROWDSOURCING IN
CONTENT MARKETING
By Gillian Smith

2. Introduction
 As chief marketing officer at City Year, Gillian Smith uses
social media to enhance public awareness of the
organization. In 2012, Gillian Smith spearheaded a
crowdsourced marketing campaign that used City Year
members' experiences to promote the organization’s mission
and impact.
In recent years, crowdsourcing has become a key element of
many content marketing strategies. Crowdsourcing allows an
organization to channel the proven power of the personal
recommendation, which Nielsen has reported makes 77
percent of consumers more inclined to try a new product.
Crowdsourcing also empowers customers to share their
opinions and gives them a moment in the spotlight, which in
turn engages these individuals and gives them a tangible
connection to the brand.

3. Crowdsourcing
 Crowdsourcing is immediately beneficial to the
brand itself, as it frees up time and resources.
While content creation stands out as a notoriously
large investment, crowdsourcing allows content to
come from volunteer consumers, thus trimming an
organization’s expenses. As an added benefit,
crowdsourcing tends to generate content that is
significantly more diverse and varied because it
comes from a broader base of contributors.
Furthermore, because consumers can relate to
these contributors, the content takes on a higher
degree of relevance.