Gamification

Content courtesy of Convince & Convert

To put it simply, gamification incorporates fun and an element of competition to a marketing strategy. It also works with all brand fans and people who want to participate – not just the ones with a ton of followers.

The theory behind implementing these types of techniques is that they make an emotional connection with the audience and lead to a longer relationship as opposed to simple brand awareness.

An easy way to work with brand advocates and potential consumers is through tactics such as contests, free product giveaways with bloggers, and games that have a thematic relevance with the brand being promoted.

I don’t like to be to be told what to do, I like to be shown. So, let’s start with some stats:

  • More than 70% of the world’s largest 2,000 companies are expected to have deployed at least one gamified application by year-end 2014
  • Vendors claim that gamification strategies can lead to a 100% to 150% increase in engagement metrics.1

How Other Brands Do It

Aside from looking to statistics, I like to plant seeds of inspiration into my strategy by looking to how other brands execute a tactic well.

Here are some great examples that could serve as spring boards for where you can take gamification and weave it into your own brand’s strategy:

  • Dominos has incorporated gamification into their mobile pizza ordering app. Users can shake their Droid or iPhone if they don’t know what they want to order and the app with pick the toppings.
  • Popchips teamed up with app company Kiip to offer bags of Popchips as prizes when players get to a certain level in mobile games.

Looking for a unique way to drive sales, clothing company, Moosejaw gamified the way they do e-commerce by offering items for low prices that went up throughout the day creating a sense of urgency for consumers to buy. They also included ways for consumers to score better deals by inviting friends and posting socially.

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