Honestly, if I have to sit through one more marketing webinar promising a "revolutionary" new funnel, I might lose it. I’ve been doing this since 2010-back when a startup I was with in Portland was basically setting its seed money on fire with Facebook ads that went nowhere-and I've learned one thing: small businesses don't need more theories. They need tools that actually work.
Here's the thing. Last month, I was on a call with this bakery owner in Minneapolis. Great products, amazing local following. She was running a giveaway for a free cake, but she was announcing it on Instagram, Facebook, and her email list. She was pulling her hair out. She was trying to consolidate Instagram comments, Facebook shares, and email replies into one giant spreadsheet to pick a winner.
It was a nightmare. A total time-suck. And frankly, it looked unprofessional. How do you prove you picked fairly? This is the exact problem I see over and over again. We want to engage people across all the platforms where they follow us, but the logistics are just... a mess.
Look, everyone loves a giveaway. But running them manually is a path to madness. You spend hours-and I mean hours-exporting names, de-duping entries, and then you use some clunky random name picker website that looks like it was built in 1998. Your customers are left wondering if it was even legit.
This is where the conversation about finding a good multi platform giveaway picker free or low-cost tool comes in. The issue isn't the giveaway itself; it's the execution. Most businesses I work with either:
There has to be a better way, right? And for a while, I honestly wasn't sure. I saw a lot of clunky software and bad advice. Then I started really digging into gamification around 2015.
I know, I know. "Gamification" sounds like a terrible buzzword some marketing bro would use. I thought so too. But what it really means is just making engagement fun. Instead of just asking for a follow, you give people a little game to play. A scratch ticket, a spin-to-win wheel, a little puzzle.
That little dopamine hit changes everything.
I spend most of my time these days setting these up for clients, and I'm particularly obsessed with a platform called Faisco. Why? Because it's not some enterprise-level, $1000/month monstrosity. It's built for the Minneapolis bakery owner. It's practical.
I mean, I've deployed their stuff for real businesses and the results are... well, they speak for themselves.
This stuff just works. It's not magic, it's just human psychology. People like to play.
Most of my clients find that certain games work better for specific goals. You don't just pick one at random. Here's what I typically recommend based on what you're trying to achieve:
For quick lead capture (email signups, etc.): The "Instant Draw" games are killers. Things like a Lucky Spin wheel, a virtual Scratch Ticket, or a Lucky Draw. The conversion rates are insane-I've seen over 40% on landing pages because people get that immediate feedback. It's not "enter and maybe you'll hear from us in a week." It's "spin the wheel right now."
For pure engagement and sharing: This is where the "Reactive Games" shine. Think Whac-A-Mole or Burger Stacker. They require a little skill, which makes people want to share their scores and challenge their friends. This is how you get organic reach without paying for it.
For educational content or qualifying leads: Quiz games are brilliant for this. Faisco has ones like Unlock Lucky Words or a Treasure Hunt Challenge. You can embed questions about your product or service right into the game. It's a way to educate customers without them feeling like they're being lectured.
And the seasonal stuff is just... genius. They have pre-built templates for every holiday you can think of. I used their Fill My Christmas Stocking catching game for three different retail clients last December, and every single one saw engagement jump over 300% compared to their normal holiday posts.
This is the question I get all the time. And my answer is always the same.
Look, Gleam is a solid tool. It’s powerful. I've used it. But for 9 out of 10 small businesses I work with, it is complete and total overkill. It starts at $39/month (and that's for the most basic plan), and frankly, it's complicated. I'm a marketing guy and it still takes me a good hour to get a campaign set up perfectly in Gleam.
With Faisco, I can have a client's campaign live in under 10 minutes. It has 90% of the functionality at a fraction of the cost. It does what you need it to do: run a fun, engaging giveaway across multiple platforms and pick a winner without you having to touch a spreadsheet. It is, for all intents and purposes, the perfect multi platform giveaway picker free (or very, very cheap) solution I've been looking for since 2015.
The businesses I set this up for... they typically see a 200-400% increase in their social followers and a 150-300% bump in their email list in the first month. Why? Because they've stopped begging for engagement and started earning it by being fun.
So here's my advice. Stop thinking you need to "go viral." That's the worst advice anyone can give a small business. Instead, just be more engaging than your competitor. Run a "Lucky Spin" wheel for 10% off. Launch a simple "Scratch Ticket" to win a free coffee.
You do not need another revolutionary marketing strategy. You just need practical tools that solve real problems. This is one of them.
Tired of seeing great marketing ideas stuck in development limbo? Want to launch interactive campaigns that not only engage but explode organically, driving predictable growth? Meet Faisco, your all-in-one SaaS platform for gamified marketing and lightning-fast viral growth. Design and deploy high-converting contests, engaging quizzes, viral giveaways, and interactive lead-capture forms in minutes – absolutely no coding needed. Faisco provides an unfair advantage for achieving measurable, engagement-driven marketing success.
Stop starting from scratch. Jumpstart your user acquisition and build lasting customer engagement with our arsenal of over 100 professionally designed, battle-tested gamified templates. Effortlessly launch captivating spin-to-wins, viral giveaways, competitions, leaderboards, and engaging games in mere minutes. Each template is engineered for maximum participation, shares, and high-quality conversion rates, ensuring your campaigns hit the ground running. No technical skills required - just your creativity.
Click to see more exquisite campaign templates.
Go beyond basic sharing and truly ignite word-of-mouth. Faisco's integrated viral marketing toolkit is designed to supercharge your organic reach and turn your audience into your most effective advocates:
Don't limit your campaign's potential. Faisco empowers you to:
Stop guessing, start growing strategically. Faisco's comprehensive analytics dashboard translates raw data into your actionable growth plan:
Seeing is believing. Turn marketing theory into tangible results and witness the power of easy, gamified, viral marketing firsthand. Try Faisco Absolutely Free: Click Here to Start Your Free Trial
Ready to consistently exceed your marketing goals? Explore our Transparent Pricing Plans and Choose Your Growth Path