By now everyone has heard about the “sharing” or “collaboration” economy. Basically, it’s the repurposing of surplus time, skills, or goods by making that surplus available to others to hire, rent, or buy. It’s earliest incarnation was really with sites like CraigsList and eBay, but now we see it on display everywhere with examples like Uber (ride hailing), Airbnb (accommodations), ZipCar (automobile sharing), CoachUp (athletic instruction), Chegg (college textbooks), and TaskRabbit (menial labor). Love ’em or hate ’em, it’s also out there in the professional freelance world with web platforms like oDesk, Elance, Freelancer and 99designs.
Historically it’s been One to One
In each case, there is an implicit offer that provides the customer with an alternative consumption model. I could buy a car, but I choose to share one. I could buy a Chanel handbag but I choose to get a different bag on loan every month. I could buy a vacation house, or stay at an established hotel, but I choose to rent someone’s personal property.
What is also true is that the predominate transaction model in all these case is one to one. I need a ride, I need a room, I need a logo.
So how do you make it work for a team model?
But what about more complex needs that can’t be delivered by a single individual with surplus time, skills or goods – or projects that require “complex Orchestration”? In other words, enterprise projects not tasks? And as project sophistication increases, how do you ensure that appropriate teams of skilled talent are brought together to address the needs of the customer, and how is this process managed or “orchestrated”?
That’s the problem we’re trying to solve in the digital marketing world with a new “sharing economy” platform called Digaboom. Digaboom is a collaborative community platform that connects the best independent talent in digital marketing and matches the ideal team to a company’s project needs. What we’re really building is a social company – sort of a cross between LinkedIn, oDesk, and eHarmony. But entirely focused on digital marketing, teams and projects.
And for those digital marketers not interested in the “marketplace” piece – Digaboom is also a community platform dedicated to helping anyone in digital marketing network, connect and collaborate with other digital marketing pros whether you’re a web designer, a marketing automation expert, a content marketer, or a developer – freelancing, employed full-time, or otherwise.
This post was originally published April 4, 2015 on Social Media Chat #SMChat – socialmediachat.wordpress.com.
