What defines success when you are producing a video through a crowdsourcing agency? You should be paying attention to similar measures as you would with the traditional model of video production, but there are a few nuggets of difference. Bob Garfield, a marketing thought leader and columnist at Advertising Age for over 25 years, gives his insights on what you should measure when you’re using crowdsourcing.

1. Keep Your Measuring Standards High. Because of the lower costs of production and weak operating models some crowdsourcing agencies work under, some marketers have a lowered perception about the quality of output they can expect via crowdsourcing. The fact is, crowdsourcing agencies can appear similar at first glance, but once you evaluate how they go about selecting their creative talent pool, you will see process variations that ultimately impact the quality of work you receive. As long as you are working with an agency executing a smart and sound model, then you should expect the same quality of output as you would get from a traditional agency. Demand as such (but make sure to pick the right agency when doing so).
2. Understand the Simple and Sweet ROI. By fundamental nature of the denominator being lower due to lower video production costs, a positive ROI is much easier to attain through crowdsourcing. You have the options to either a) impress your managers with an extraordinarily high ROI ratio or b) adjust your hurdle rate, keeping in mind the aforementioned rule of keeping your expectations high.
3. Evaluate the Opportunity Costs. Crowdsourcing allows you to play in a space you may not to be able to participate in otherwise; if you can’t pay a traditional agency $400K to seed a quality video into the social environment, then there lies the opportunity cost of not participating. Conversely, if you allocated the maximum of your budget to a professional agency, what other valued opportunities for your marketing campaign are you missing out on? Assess these opportunity costs to help you measure what incremental value you get from crowdsourcing.
4. Focus on Targeted Virality. This rule applies to all types of video production. If you are selling a product for senior citizens but the video is being shared virally by college kids, then your video is a complete failure. The number of views, therefore, is arbitrary unless you make the concerted effort to see if those engaged viewers are the target segment you are going after. We know, easier said than done. But at the very least, always make sure your video is building your brand and meeting the strategic objective. Once launched, make sure to break down those views to demographic analytics and read the comments to get a sense if you hit the bullseye.

Bob Garfield is a cogent recent value-add to GeniusRocket’s clients. He is a seasoned Advertising Age columnist, a co-host for NPR’s show “On the Media,” and has evaluated thousands of advertisements for global marketing agencies to evaluate their effectiveness. He will provide a critical eye to creative concepts and video production to assess impact for the brand.