Crowdsourcing is a method that uses the Internet, especially social networks to generate new ideas. A company can address many people by putting the task in the context of a competition, and gets access to the know-how of people from the outside. The Internet connects the people that are looking for a solution to a problem. Crowdsourcing differentiates itself from other methods, as there must not be a specific question to answer. It is more about the benefit you get when gathering the knowledge from different kind of specialists. It does not always have to happen in the form of a competition and can rather just be an exchange on a given platform. In principle it is about the idea that more heads are better than one. By addressing a large group of people, more ideas and skills come together that result in a rather large content of ideas and solutions. No matter what you are looking for you can tell a crowd what you want, how much you will pay and a deadline, and they will create something for you. Often crowdsourcing even increases the quality of the results.
Often crowdsourcing happens in form of a competition. Check your budget, what can you offer in return?
http://dailycrowdsource.com/training/crowdsourcing/what-is-crowdsourcing?fb_comment_id=1399611260293993_1440828122838973#f17e67e344
Y. Zhao, Q. Zhu, (2014). Evaluation on crowdsourcing research: current status and future direction. DOI 10.1007/s10796-012-9350-4
http://www.business2community.com/online-communities/crowdsourcing-5-ways-small-businesses-can-use-a-crowd-0141314
