{"id":451,"date":"2009-10-05T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2009-10-05T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.voncoelln.com\/eric\/?p=451"},"modified":"2009-12-09T23:42:35","modified_gmt":"2009-12-10T01:42:35","slug":"marketers-look-to-game-mechanics-and-the-emergence-of-social-spam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.voncoelln.com\/eric\/2009\/10\/05\/marketers-look-to-game-mechanics-and-the-emergence-of-social-spam\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketers Look to Game Achievements to Engage Users; The Social Spam Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

TheTwo trends hit me in the last week: 1) the desire for marketers to increase engagement through social media is leading them to explore game mechanics to incent users and 2) the quasi-backlash against \u201cSocial Spam\u201d which ironically is being driven a great deal by the game mechanics of applications on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Seeing Social Media as All About Branding<\/h3>\n

I attended a great brainstorming session last week held by Eli Mandelbaum\u2019s Founders Roundtable<\/a> that touched on a couple of these things. Eli gathers VCs, founders of start-ups and industry vets together for small, intimate discussions in an effort to get people to share ideas, information and network better than you would at the typical industry event. <\/p>\n

The group noted that several organizations are trying to put the old online metrics on social media, but really it\u2019s less about click through rates growing followers or fans and more about brand marketing which ends up driving long-term customer value. To underscore that realization, Kevin Ryan<\/a>, the VP of Social Marketing at Barnes and Noble noted they moved social media from the acquisition team to the branding team just this summer. <\/p>\n

So while monetization of social media is still elusive, driving engagement and positive brand experiences have become the goals (eventually tied back to CRM systems where you can show the positive impact on customer lifetime value). Indeed, one attendee suggested that their Facebook Fans were actually some of their most loyal customers, with a much higher than average frequency and spend rate. This is corroborated by marketing professor Puneet Manchanda, who noted a recent study in the Fall magazine of the Steven M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan that \u201cjust becoming part of the brand community seemed to casually increase the amount spent by brand community participants by about 25 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turning to Game Mechanics to Incent Engagement<\/h3>\n

So as engagement becomes key, marketers continue to try to figure out how to incent users to talk more about their brand. While several attempt to enable customers by providing tools and information to make them feel more a part of the brand, there is a desire to help provide additional incentive to get users to post\/blog\/comment about the brand. <\/p>\n

While there are notable giveaways (from Moonfruit to Pizza Hut to coupon codes for key users to share with friends), many have started to look at tactics typically found in game play to help drive progression: unlocking of levels or content, awarding of achievement badges, leaderboards and limited items to show off. <\/p>\n

Marketers are beginning to incorporate this game mechanic in several new ways:<\/p>\n