How To Use Gamification For Community Engagement

With gamification, community engagement becomes more effective. Digital marketers use gamification as a means of involvement, entertainment, and education. You can do the same.

To begin with, you should know what gamification is. It is a way to apply game elements to non-game environments. Some features are:

• Earning points
• Awarding badges
• Maintaining leaderboards
• Creating rewards and privileges based on levels

Gamified communities show increased engagement. Gamified marketing makes participation fun. It also creates healthy competition and builds connections.

That is why the global gamification market is expected to achieve an annual growth rate of 26.5 percent by 2027.

You can use gamified marketing for all types of communities. These could be related to education, fitness, healthcare, finance, and more.

The Benefits of Using Gamification for Community Engagement 

Gamified marketing for your community has many benefits.

Participation: Communities thrive when all members participate. Gamification can accelerate this process. The interactivity and fun elements encourage more users to join in. Passive members become active participants.

Motivation: Rewards are a part of gamified marketing. These incentives motivate community members to participate and contribute over time.

Learning: You can educate communities about aspects of your brand through gamification. Skills can be taught and information imparted.

Bonding: With some elements of gamification, community members can be encouraged to work together to achieve goals. This process creates tight bonds and increases loyalty.

Data: As you know, a community is a valuable source of data. With a gamified community, data is easier to collect. Analyzing the data can give you more insights into enhancing engagement.

How to Incorporate Gamification into Your Community Strategy

To make gamification a part of user engagement strategies, the first step is to consider the nature of your community.

The key points are the average age of the members, topics discussed, and community objectives. Your gamification tactics should be relevant to these factors.

The next step is to define your goals. If greater engagement is the primary target, consider the right metrics to track progress. Some of them are Retention Rate, Daily/Weekly/Monthly Active Users, and Average Session Length.

Here are some more steps to online community engagement.

• Choose game elements that will resonate with users. Some examples are points, badges, leaderboards, challenges, quizzes, and rewards.
• Design rules and mechanics for gamified marketing. The goals should not be too difficult to achieve. Feedback and responses should be prompt.
• Integrate these elements into your existing platform. They should exist along with the current online community features.
• Promote game elements in the community. Urge users to participate and share. You can also use other channels such as social media and email.
• Track metrics and gather feedback. These help you to revise your gamification strategies for better results.

Examples of Successful Gamification in Community Engagement 

Duolingo

Duolingo is a popular app-based language learning tool. According to reports, the company generated USD 369.7 million in revenue in 2022. It has over 500 million registered users.

Duolingo uses several elements of gamification.

• Users are granted points for completing lessons.
• They are urged to maintain streaks, indicating the number of consecutive days they have used the app.
• Leaderboards show how users rank in their communities.
• Badges are awarded for completing tasks and reaching milestones.  

Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD is one of the leading banks in the UAE. One of their financial products is a fitness-based savings account. The account rewards users with higher savings for every move they make.

To make this a success, the bank used elements of gamification.

• Users were asked to open a fitness account on their mobile app.
• They set daily goals related to the number of steps walked.
• The more users moved, the more they earned. For example, 5,000 steps = 1 percent, 12,000 steps = 2%.

The bank drives usage via strategic partnerships with fitness brands. The results: overwhelmingly positive user sentiment and USD 230,000 in earned media.

Also read, Why connecting transaction and community data is crucial for your company

Best Practices for Using Gamification in Community Engagement

We have touched upon some best practices already. For example, understanding community users, setting goals, and relevant rewards.

Here are some more.

• The rules should be easy to understand and simple to implement.
• Gamification involves competition. However, users should be encouraged to foster the right spirit. The atmosphere should not be unhealthy.
• Remind community members to share ideas and suggestions. This can make the experience more engaging.
• The gamification system should be clear. Explain how points and rewards are granted, for example.

Gamification is one tool to enhance community engagement. At Blaze, we use new-gen analytics to create many user engagement strategies. To discover more, register with Blaze at: https://dashboard.withblaze.app/signup/?&utm_source=Blogs&utm_medium=Community