Are you a perceptive entrepreneur who has established a name for yourself and your company? If so, you’ll be familiar with the ins and outs of running a business. From actual experience, you have knowledge on how to market products well. You know what strings to pull to grab people’s attention and profit from it.
Like any sensible executive, you know the internet’s potential and have carved a noticeable presence online. Your company website was created with your users in mind. Your business has engaged the services of a reputable SEO company to boost the webpage rankings. You’ve invested time, money and labour towards setting up a social media marketing campaign.
While you certainly deserve a pat on the back, you’d certainly know better than to stop trying. The world of commerce is a competitive field, be it in brick and mortar stores or online. Hence, you’re constantly seeking ways to reinvent your brand.
If you feel like you’ve done all you can, marketing wise, then it’s time to explore alternative strategies.
Your company blog could be used for something more than just posting company news. Indeed, it can function beyond being a useful platform for providing tips and sharing industry knowledge. When done right, it can serve as an excellent vehicle for increasing user engagement.
If you want your blog to be a bit more interesting, game it up!
Since you aren’t new to the digital world, gamification might just be familiar. You might not realise it but those frequent-flyer miles and shopping points are great examples of it.
Industry analysts reckon that 40% of Global 1000 companies will be utilising gamification to transform existing business operations. Google’s trend volumes are also showing an upward trend on traffic for this term. In all of these, it’s quite clear that this form of persuasive marketing isn’t going anywhere.
Definition
Gamification refers to the process of applying game-thinking and mechanics in non-game contexts. Its primary aim is to influence behaviour. Incentives are used to affect how people act in a positive manner. Oftentimes, businesses use this strategy to achieve the following:
- Increase sales
- Enhance user engagement
- Get returns on investment
- Improve data quality
- Speed up business processes
- Increase employee productivity
- Improve learning.
Techniques
The process of gamification typically draws on people’s desire for competition, status, and achievement. Provided below are some examples of how it is used.
- Virtual Currency – is a technique often used in game applications used in social networks for mobile devices or desktop computers. Although it uses virtual rewards, it still aims to give players the feeling of real action.
- Progress Bars – appears mostly on online surveys to indicate the levels participants have completed.
- Contests – a method of encouraging participants to become more involved and engaged by means of offering rewards.
Areas
Gamification can be used in a wide variety of marketing initiatives. Just take a look at the list below.
- Internal sales
- Loyalty programs
- Education, health & sports
- Surveys
- Online shopping
- Social networking sites
- Authentication procedures
Blog Application
Once you have decided to use the process of gamification within your website, the very first thing you need to do is come up with tasks or actions that you can reward people for once performed. If you’ve been following the article closely, you’ll know that there’s a wide array of activities you can choose from. These could be things like solving a puzzle. Alternatively, you can have a reward system set up where people can get a specific type of badge for liking an article or sharing an article posted on your blog.
After deciding on an incentive scheme, you will then need to create different achievements that people will have to earn. Remember, a specific one should be allocated per completed task.
Finally, while you can stick to virtual rewards, gamification proves much more effective if you use tangible incentives. Keep in mind that the more appealing the incentive, the greater the user’s urge to complete the task.
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Brianne Walter
