INTRODUCTION
Are you familiar with the term gamification? If you work in the community space, it’s likely that you’ve heard of this term before, or at the very least, have seen it in practice even if you didn’t know it.
Gamification is, in fact, a great community tactic to increase brand loyalty, foster community participation and increase user engagement. As such, it’s important to know what gamification is and how to use it so that your community can have the best of what it has to offer—and it offers a lot!
The goal of this ebook is twofold. First, we aim to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of what gamification is and how it works. This includes a discussion about gamification elements, the benefits that they have on community participation and the psychological factors that make it so successful.
Second, we aim to equip you with the know-how to implement a strategic gamification plan in your community. You’ll learn how to carefully design your approach to gamification so that it’ll help you secure the conditions necessary to achieve your community goals and KPIs.
By the end of this ebook, you’ll know the ins-and-outs of community gamification. If you don’t already have gamification in your community, you’ll have the knowledge necessary to make a good case to adopt this tactic; if you do have a gamification system in place, you’ll know what you need to do to improve.
And of course, don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly if you have any questions, we’re always happy to chat.
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WHAT IS GAMIFICATION?
Let’s begin with the basics. What is gamification?
In technical terms, gamification refers to the application of game mechanics into other things that are traditionally non-game related, with the broader goal of increasing user engagement.
What this means is that gamification works to make things that aren’t a game more like a game. And if you’re a gamer at all, you’ll know just how addicting games can be.
The mindset here is: if you make things more like a game, you’ll increase engagement, participation and loyalty. This is a pretty great idea!
While this eBook will be focusing on gamification in communities, it should be noted that gamification can be found literally everywhere. In fact, it’s likely that you yourself have been influenced by gamification elements and have actively participated in and increased your engagement with a brand because of it.
Not really a fan of McDonald’s? Well, we’d bet you’re more likely to buy when the annual Monopoly challenge comes out! This classic gamification tactic is very successful and has been noted by McDonald’s to have a positive effect on its annual profits and plays a large role in increasing customer traffic.1
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Another case in point: Duolingo. Have you ever used this popular app to learn a new language? Well, the success of this app has been pegged on its use of gamification, as Associate Product Manager of Duolino, Zan Gilani, states, “motivating yourself to learn is very hard... we found that the most effective techniques [to encourage learning] come from the gaming world.” 2
Image 1: Duolingo App
Duolingo has over 200 million subscribers, and their gamification strategy incorporates a number of different game elements, including:
- ● The ability for users to level-up
- ● The ability for users to see the progression they’ve made, and how close they are to
- leveling up
- ● The ability for users to set achievable goals for themselves
- Duolingo does an excellent job at framing this educational learning platform as a “challenge,” or
- a “game.” This is made even more clear in the reminder emails users receive where the CTA is “begin the challenge!”
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As a direct result of Duolingo’s gamification tactics, it’s become the most used and downloaded educational app in the world.
Also, something worth noting: the gamification market is rapidly increasing since it’s becoming more well-known as an effective engagement tactic. As you can see in Figure 1 below, the projected gamification market in 2024 is $40 billion (US).
GLOBAL GAMIFICATION MARKET
Figure 1: Global gamification market projected CAGR of 32%. Source: TechSci Research3
The global gamification market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32% from 2018 to 2024, which is incredible.
Suffice it to say, gamification is trending and its use is only expected to increase as more businesses see the value that it brings to their organization.
1. Marketing Sherpa, McDonald’s promo proves a winning formula is ageless (Marketing Sherpa Sherpa, 2017)
<http://www.marketingsherpa.com.au/mcdonalds-promo-proves-winning-formula-ageless/>
2. Richard Draycott, Gamification is the key to Duolingo success says product manager Gilani at Canvas conference (The Drum, 2017)
<https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/10/26/gamification-the-key-duolingo-success-says-product-manager-gilani-canvas-
conference>
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