Games are being increasingly employed as a potent and targeted marketing tool by brand managers. The idea behind the move is not only to build customer loyalty but also to collect precious user data. Marketers are keen to tap the gaming potential of motivating people with attractive awards and incentives that may or may not have monetary value.
The strategy is implemented through online loyalty programs. For example, several users have already reigned over one such program, Samsung Nation that offers consumers virtual rewards – those who talk up Samsung, the electronics giant. In just about four months since its launch, many avid users t have racked up thousands if points, in a rush to be atop the leader board. Along the way, some have earned a ‘twitterati’ badge -a virtual turquoise circle -for posting on their Twitter account links to Samsung.com. There is also virtual ‘connoisseur’’ award for catchy comments on the site.
Social gaming to gauge user-engagement
Samsung Nation incidentally is somewhat similar to the highly popular social network game, FarmVille, albeit minus the farm. This is not an isolated instance. More and more social media marketing manager are embracing this trend of gamification – taking elements from social games and applying them to other customized corporate settings.
Points and rewards to lure customers
For example, companies like Recyclebank utilize game incentives including points and rewards, for prompting consumers to perform eco-friendly activities. The New York Times writer Natasha Singer elaborates the trend in a recent news report: “Many businesses offer awards such as virtual badges to induce employees to embrace corporate goals and enhance productivity. A number of known retailers and brands like Warner Brothers are using point reward systems as a means of engaging customers more deeply.”
The aim is to visit and explore the site, to stick around much longer, learning about a brand, its products and business as a whole, to build familiarity. for Samsung Electronics America. The NYT report adds:
“The premise of gamification is the fact that it engages people in the kind of reward-seeking behaviors, which lead to increased brand loyalty, and increased profits for companies. By tracking the online activities of people who sign for such programs, businesses can amass detailed metrics about each user – to identify the most active customers.”
Flaws of the strategy
But critics caution about some of the inherent flaws of the strategy – prompting social communities through game incentives; one of them being omission of the critical elements of games, such as skill, mastery, risk taking etc. Sans these, the initial euphoria of gamification may not last long even as it promotes superficial trappings in form of reward points, in an effort to draw people. The quicker they come, the faster they will disappear unless there is uniqueness in terms of thought and gaming concept to hold them for longer periods.
