What is gamification ? We can define it as the application of playful rules in non-playful contexts.
In fact, with this technique we intrigue, amaze and finally capture our audience because we make it active, we give it a voice, we remove it from that condition of passivity that is so reminiscent of traditional media.
The importance of interaction
Social networks, and the most common Apps, initially underestimated this aspect, giving little importance to the interaction between user and medium, a dynamic that is emerging instead as the real discriminant to get the attention of our fan base : if the user is involved he will be intrigued by our content, he will get involved, and it is only in that moment that he will deepen and he will interact with us , otherwise he will leave our profile almost immediately.
Let’s always remember that people like to play, they love to be involved, and this, in terms of social business , is a dynamic to be exploited.
A few examples
To better clarify what we are talking about, let’s think of one of the first, and perhaps the best known, example of gamification: Nike +.
The early App allowed you to run listening to music and keeping track of daily activities, also drawing up rankings and challenging friends thanks to the Fuel bracelet. Over time Nike + has evolved, but the concept has remained the same: playing sports and getting fit by playing and interacting with the community.
Augmented reality
Another type of gamification is immersive technology which is rapidly opening new doors to companies that want to exploit the power of the playful component in their Marketing strategy. For example, the widespread use of augmented reality shows how people are attracted to this new, more immersive and engaging gaming mode.
POKEMON GO
One example above all was Pokémon Go , which, once launched on the market in 2016, had unimaginable success. The reason is very simple: the game is in fact interactive and immersive to the point of being almost “real”.
The gameplay is very simple: each player is inside a map (similar to that of Google Maps), becoming a Pokemon hunter potentially at any time of the day and wherever he is; During the game, a Pokémon appears on the player’s smartphone, which the player can try to capture, train and use to participate in fights with other trainers.
Not just an App, even a film can be immersive and interactive!
BANDERSNATCH
Netflix, the distribution company of films and pay TV series, has broadcast Bandersnatch : an interactive film from the Black Mirror series famous for highlighting, often to the extreme, the pervasive and irreverent nature of technology on humans. The peculiarity of the film was to make the user himself the real protagonist of the story : we start by deciding which cereals to eat for breakfast and continue with important choices for the life of the main character.
This format represented a real turning point, there are those who loved and those who hated the film but certainly the gamification implemented by Netflix has hit the target by offering something new that has piqued the user’s curiosity.
A look at the social networks
Speaking of immersion and pervasion, the realm of social networks certainly reigns supreme, keeping us for hours and hours with our eyes on the Instagram feed or browsing on a friend’s profile on Facebook: we are witnessing the online dimension that becomes more and more an integral part of the offline one. , of real life.
How much, however, is registration on social networks synonymous with active participation?
In fact, many users limit themselves to observing, and while the people active in the publication of contents and proactive in commenting or responding to online contests are much less; hence the solution to make users more participatory , how? With gamification!
Let’s see some examples
Instagram has introduced new forms of Gamification in the stories through the use of stickers to create surveys or to answer / ask questions.
Some brands have started to create playful content to entertain and let users play. An example is certainly the M & M’s campaign with its Eye-Spy Pretzel puzzle published on the Facebook page, which consists precisely in identifying figures within a full screen of M & M’s.
Not bad!
For a self-respecting digital strategy, the gamification component cannot be missing and remember to intrigue and be useful in order to make fans more active .
Use creativity, strategic thinking and above all entrust yourself to professionals because making a winning strategy must have a playful component, but bringing results with is a game!
