How do you motivate your crowd?

Like Benjamin Franklin, fellow crowdsourcer Mike Martoccia is always ready with a quick piece of advice. During one of our many discussions about business, future trends, crowds and anything else that fascinates us, he threw this one out to ponder.

“Motivation is like taking a shower. You need to do it every day.”

It takes effort to stay motivated. It takes focus to remain positive, see beyond the immediate and visualize the outcome. It takes dedication. It takes time.

We motivate (or need to motivate) ourselves to go to the gym and our family to do their best. We motivate our friends to join us for a beer. We motivate our staff to innovate and our customers to engage our brand (and buy our stuff).

But what are you doing to motivate your crowd? Just like individuals and small groups, crowds and communities need their daily dose of motivation to remain dedicated, competitive and engaged.

Here are a few ideas:

Keep The Crowd Informed
Let the community know what’s coming up next (if you can). Is there a great new competition or client? Are there functional or UI site changes that greatly enhance the user experience? Is there anything your very excited about and want to share? This is a great way to generate some buzz, start some discussions and get the crowd excited as well.

Schedule a Weekly Chat
Speak directly with the crowd via forums, live chat or social network. Provide them the opportunity to know you and for you to know them. These interactions and shared information are invaluable. You also don’t have to focus on any particular crowdsourcing task. Talk about the latest trends in design. Discuss the impact of social media on crowdsourcing. Give the members a mechanism to post questions, ideas and discussion topics before the chat even begins. Remember that this isn’t a Q&A session about you, but a sharing of ideas, experiences and vision.

Involve Them in the Process
Include the crowd in the decision-making process. Ask them questions, gather their feedback and show them that their input is valued. It can be about a new contest idea or a page element on your site. What you’re asking about is far less important than the fact that you’re asking. The community is involved which will result in stronger loyalty and motivation.

Create a Resource Library
We’re all scouring the Internet on a daily basis looking for things that teach us, interest us and sometimes just make us laugh. Most of us are on Twitter, FriendFeed (now FaceFeed) and have our own blogs to post, share and discuss them. Take what you discover and organize it. Dedicate a section of your site to these resources and encourage the members to contribute. Education is a powerful motivator.

Celebrate the Wins
A win for you is also a win for the crowd. When a client is launching a site or promoting product that resulted from a successful competition, share it. When you’ve reached a milestone, announce it. As much pride as you feel, the community will feel the same.

Share the Losses
Nothing is ever perfect. If something does go wrong, share it with the community and ask them what could’ve been done differently. If there was an unsuccessful contest, find out why. Their feedback will be immeasurable and the crowd will feel part of the process, which they certainly are.

Be Unexpected and Have Fun
On Halloween, change the staff profiles to monsters. Find a strange, random holiday and celebrate it. Run a contest to “Make me Laugh and Win a T-Shirt”. Be a part of the crowd and simply enjoy their company. In such a virtual environment, it makes everyone seem just a little more human and connected.

As you can see, all of these ideas generally fall under one (or more) of the following categories.

• Communication
• Appreciation
• Involvement

Tap into them and you’re well on your way to one incredibly motivated crowd.

So, what do you do to motivate your community? Take a shower, comment and let’s discuss.