Can we imagine our lives without technology and social media? Social media has become a second life to all of us, predominantly Millennials and Gen Z who are entirely dependent on it. How often do you check your phone after uploading a picture online or after sending a connection request to that one person who inspires you on Linkedin? In the age of social media, marketers have access to markets that were once unattainable. All it takes is a well-crafted tweet, a few pictures, and posts to ensure unbeatable success. But what makes it functional and engaging? Gamification, of course! Engaging users in a social media competition is possible with fun, transparency, and challenges. Users often receive incentives as part of a competition, such as badges, rewards, etc. A good game keeps you playing. An interactive system with tasks, levels, and leaderboards keeps users engaged with the games. Moreover, you have a platform to showcase and discuss how you rank against other players to motivate you and boost your confidence. Gamification is potentially a game-changing strategy for brands to boost interaction and crowdsourcing. A brand needs to ensure that its social media pages attract repeat traffic and give followers a good reason to re-visit. Benefits of Gamification in Social Media Businesses can stop running after likes and shares on social media by gamification. Instead, they can identify followers who genuinely admire their brand. A perfect game can motivate users to accomplish, win, and align their behaviours with the business' objectives via social media platforms. Game-based content enables followers to express, share their narratives, and validate their emotions. Gamification also fosters brand loyalty and virality, and offers opportunities to gain audiences. Game of Emotions Gamification aims to create an emotional connection, which makes it so effective. Providing small rewards for accomplishments as a token of appreciation for each milestone reached can be a great source of encouragement and motivation. It does not need to be too extravagant; small rewards can be just as motivating. Facebook has gamified one of its features called the Facebook Editor so users can suggest edits. Leaderboards, progress levels, and badges integrate this tool to submit data suggestions, and Facebook can review them. Users worldwide compete for badges, which ultimately improve Facebook's data quality and accuracy. Game of Spotlight Turn your users into ambassadors and give them a chance to influence and inspire others to join the game. Social media is a great way to spread awareness, but you must integrate gamification with attractive features to entice friends and family to play and compete together. The , which once was a guy teaching mathematics on YouTube, has created a portal with over 3,000 educational videos and millions of students in part by gamifying the learning process. Khan Academy One can unlock new classes and increase skills by earning badges through game mechanics. Game of Engagement It is essential to focus on well-engaged users in gamification instead of reaching out to a new audience. Reviews and feedback by engaged users provide brands with helpful information for updating, fixing bugs and adding new features. , a food ordering app, provides users with leaderboard points for every review of an order submitted. These gamified elements help Zomato maintain ratings for food suppliers and share social information generously. Zomato Wrapping up Brands should take the time to listen and track social media conversations. Listening to and taking their feedback will improve a brand's social media visibility and create an authentic brand image. The aim should be to analyse the psychology of human interaction, engage the human being inside each user and create emotional responses, which is the ultimate ingredient of user engagement.

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3 Ways Gamification in Social Media Can Increase User Engagement

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