Virtualizing our marketing event was successful but we knew we needed to raise the bar for the next one. So, we introduced gamification into the process to help bridge the engagement of the virtual and physical audience in similar activities. It was a whirlwind of activities to get it setup in time for the event but the team came together and we’re able to roll out a week before the event launched. We had heard horror stories of other large companies using gamification for scavenger hunts that were so complicated that it backfired on social media. So, we decided to keep it simple.
Keeping our gamification missions to a few simple activities enabled everyone to participate without having to spend a great deal of time jumping through obstacles. Again, within our online community we created a calendar of activities that everyone could participate and each one would earn them a badge on the next step of completing the mission. The mission was simple and there were activities for both physical and virtual attendees. View a session, ask a question, start a discussion. For the physical attendees we added a twist that included integrating badge scan activities at a few of the booths. So, if you attended a booth and had your badge scanned you could earn a special achievement that created a surprise and delight. These achievements could be leveraged by partners, divisions or any related booth sponsored activity that supported your event messaging.
The results were mixed on our first attempt and we would continue to refine the process to create better engagement but it opened up new opportunities for membership recruitment. We did see a 20% jump in engagement of new discussion threads and those advocate members where eager to participate in the next achievement in order to advance their knowledge level status within the community. However, what we realized afterward, was many of the physical attendees either weren’t currently a member of the community and or weren’t aware there was one. So we turned this information into an opportunity to inform customers, partners and yes, even employees about the value of the community and how it was used for driving knowledge awareness and ultimately assisting those through the buying decision. This was one of the many programs that helped us double our membership and engagement and jumpstart internal awareness. Once, others became aware of the program they wanted gamification implemented for all marketing activities that provided a grassroots marketing effort of content back into the community.
Filed under: Collaboration Marketing Strategy, Community Engagement, Community Strategy, Gamification, Marketing Strategy, Omni Channel Marketing Strategy Tagged: Bridging the gap between physical and virtual marketing, Gamification for Community Engagement, How to use gamification to increase engagement, Omni Channel Marketing tactics and strategy, Using Gamification at Marketing Events
