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What is Gamified Content?
You know that feeling when you open a game on your phone to kill five minutes and suddenly realize an hour has passed? Games have the power to pull us in so deeply that time seems to disappear. But it’s not merely a mindless escape – games tap into a fundamental need for play that all humans have, no matter their age.
Tie that same concept into content marketing, and you’ve got gamified content. In other words, content that incorporates common features found in games, like puzzles, points, leaderboards, and badges. It’s surprisingly useful for hooking audiences and boosting long-term engagement.
The Psychology Behind Gamified Content
Gamified content taps into a fundamental aspect of human nature: our drive for play.
It’s hard to underplay the importance of play in our lives. Dr. Stuart Brown, psychiatrist and founder of the National Institute for Play, says that “the drive to play is as fundamental as our drives for food and sleep.” Our brains have play circuits that can become activated by playful things around us. Our attention immediately latches onto opportunities to play, and we almost can’t resist joining in on the fun.
By definition, play is a fun activity. We’re playing simply for the joy of it – not to earn money or achieve a tangible goal, but because the act itself (even if it involves some friendly competition) is pleasurable.
This pure enjoyment activates the brain’s reward system, releasing dopamine (a.k.a. the “feel-good” hormone) that helps us sustain interest and attention, per the Mayo Clinic. It’s a natural response that turns ordinary activities (like reading a blog post or checking the stats on our fitness tracker) into highly engaging experiences we can’t get enough of – just what content marketers need to boost engagement and drive deeper connections with their audience.
Benefits of Gamified Content Marketing
Gamification takes content marketing from static to dynamic by weaving in playful elements your audience can connect with. It’s like transforming your blog, newsletter, or social media channels into a playground where people can take on challenges, earn rewards, and track their progress.
That can lead to new high scores in the performance of your content. According to the market research company Mordor Intelligence, gamified content boosts engagement and loyalty by an average of 30 percent. It notes that Extraco Bank saw a seven-fold increase in client acquisitions after gamifying its content. And after one Asian Pacific retailer added a gamified mission board with personal challenges to its app, it saw a 60 percent bump in customer engagement.
These stats prove that gamified content isn’t a gimmick – it’s a smart strategy for serious results.
What Is Gamification in Marketing?
OK, you get that gamification can help you level up your content marketing, but what does that look like in practice?
Don’t think of it as turning your entire blog or app into a video game. Instead, think about infusing your content marketing with game-like elements that make it more interactive and stimulate a sense of play. Gamification of content could include:
* Challenges: Encourage your audience to accomplish certain tasks, such as completing a scavenger hunt on your social media feed.
* Quizzes: Let your audience test how much they know about a subject related to your brand (like whether they’re using the right coffee brewing method for their taste).
* Leaderboards: Bring a bit of friendly competition to your content marketing with a leaderboard that shows which users have earned the most loyalty points, written the highest number of reviews, or completed the most quizzes.
* Badges and achievements: Reward your audience with digital badges for completing certain actions, like watching a complete series of your brand’s videos, attending a webinar, or correctly answering trivia questions.
* Contests: Encourage your audience to submit user-generated content by participating in a competition, like a photography contest, where the winner gets their image featured by your brand.
* Website games: Add simple games to your site, like trivia questions, spin-to-win wheels, or matching puzzles, where users can win coupons, access exclusive content, or earn other rewards.
* Progress trackers: Let users track their progress through a series of tasks, like completing a set of tutorials or training modules, with a progress bar or checklist that leads to a reward when they finish.
You don’t have to use every gamification trick in the book. Even sprinkling in one or two clever elements can elevate your content.
Get Inspired by These Content Gamification Examples
Want to see how brands have leveled up their content marketing through gamification? Check out these standout content gamification examples that prove a little play can lead to big results.
Duolingo Incentivizes Persistence with Streaks
Duolingo keeps users hooked on language learning with its clever use of streaks. This feature tracks the number of days in a row a user has done a lesson in the app through checkmarks – and it’s a big deal for the brand’s audience.
The brand says that thousands of its users post their Duolingo streaks on social media every day and that more than 6 million people are on a streak of at least seven days. Not only does that lead to more loyalty and brand recognition for Duolingo, but it also advances its mission of helping users learn new languages. Its data shows that users who complete a seven-day streak are 3.6 times as likely to finish their entire course.
Nike Run Club Creates Competition with Leaderboards
Nike Run Club’s leaderboards add a competitive edge to running, motivating users to hit new personal records and outrun others. By tracking and displaying runners’ distances, times, and achievements, the app lets users see how they stack up against their friends and the broader community.
This friendly competition is a key driver of engagement on the app – research shows Nike Run Club’s leaderboards turn running into a fun, social experience that keeps users coming back to take on new challenges and see how they stand against the competition.
The Cheesecake Shop Boosts Engagement with Games and Quizzes
The Cheesecake Shop, a franchise that sells cakes across Australia and New Zealand, used gamified content to keep customers engaged during their busy holiday season. They used elements like personality quizzes, trivia, scratch-and-win games, and secret codes to connect with their audience. The result? Around 94,000 clicks, 56,000 entries in campaigns, and overall strong engagement at a time of steep competition.
HubSpot Scores Websites for B2B Brands
Gamified content isn’t only useful for consumer-focused brands – it can be used in B2B settings, too. Case in point: HubSpot’s Website Grader. It turns webpage analysis into a gamified experience by scoring a user’s website on performance, mobile-friendliness, SEO, and security.
Naturally, a user who earns a subpar score in certain areas will want to make improvements (using HubSpot’s tips, tools, and lessons, of course!) and then run the analysis again to watch their grade climb higher.
You don’t need a full-on game to power up your content – just a few playful elements can drive serious engagement. Whether it’s a leaderboard, quiz, or badges, gamified content can turn casual users into loyal fans eager for a new challenge, ultimately boosting engagement with your brand. Let the games begin!