According to the RAE, playing is “doing something with joy in order to entertain yourself, have fun or develop certain abilities.” Sounds good, right? You can make a game about practically anything, so marketing and advertising cannot miss that opportunity to entertain, amuse and develop skills in your audience.
Today the Internet is the largest source of content that exists. This has its advantages, since you can find information about anything. But, on the other hand, sometimes the user receives excessive data, becoming bored or confused. Brands are the most interested in their message reaching their entire audience, so it is necessary to create attractive communication tactics; and one of them is gamification.
Gamification is a strategy whose main objective is to influence and motivate certain groups of people. A well-studied game gives the possibility of getting members of a community to actively participate in activities that require some type of voluntary effort. That is, with a good gaming strategy, a commitment (engagement in Social Media jargon) is established on the part of individuals.
In recent years, the video game sector has been acquiring a lot of importance in the global market. If the idea of buying a video game to use at home works, for pure entertainment, without receiving physical compensation for winning… why wouldn’t it work if you receive a prize at the end? This is what many companies that have developed games have already weighed for their commercial and marketing strategy.
But this is not something new. Some supermarkets still give notebooks to fill in points with each purchase and get a batch of non-stick pans. These days, these types of games cause more annoyance than excitement, since in the end the notebook takes up space and the points are lost if they are not attached immediately. However, if this same action is performed with an app on a mobile phone it is not at all annoying.
The strategy that brands follow regarding gamification is very simple. Through the mechanics of the game, the player’s motivation and commitment are increased. Get points, advance in different levels, be classified in a list of participants and, best of all, you can share it on your social networks so that everyone knows that you are a ‘crack’ getting prizes from your favorite brand. What that user does not know is that he is indirectly advertising on his virtual wall. The company makes others aware of its existence and its products and, probably, also hooks a new customer.
Apart from the mechanics, the game is also made up of dynamics, which means that the player obtains rewards, achievements or a status that allows him to access certain advantages. A perfectly closed circle: the consumer is entertained and obtains a benefit; The brand promotes its products almost free of charge and builds customer loyalty.
Gamification is a tool that, after all, aims to motivate an individual who knows that they are going to get something in exchange for their effort. For this reason, it has also become something very useful in the internal communication of companies. Help workers be more productive and competitive among themselves by proposing, for example, monthly challenges whose winner receives a bonus in their salary. Google is one of the companies that carries out this type of strategies the most and even uses it to decide new additions to the team work.
More related articles
This post is also available in: