Engagement marketing strategies that actually work for real businesses
Look, I’ve been doing this since 2010-back when we thought a "like" on Facebook actually meant someone was going to buy something-and if I’ve learned one thing, it is that most small business owners are being sold a bill of goods. Honestly, I’m tired of seeing people burn through their hard-earned cash on "revolutionary" tactics that require a Ph. D. in data science just to set up.
I remember this one bakery in Minneapolis I worked with... actually, it was more like early 2019. They were spending $2,000 a month on an agency that was "optimizing their funnel," but they couldn't even tell me how many people walked in the door because of it. It was all "brand awareness" and "top-of-funnel synergy." Frankly, it was a mess. They didn't need a funnel; they needed a way to get people excited about a damn cupcake.
Why most "engagement" is just noise
Here's the thing about engagement marketing strategies-most people think it means posting a picture of your lunch on Instagram and hoping for the best. It's not. Real engagement is about creating a loop where the customer gets something out of the interaction immediately. Not "eventually" or "after they sign up for our 12-week newsletter." I mean right now.
Most of my clients find that the biggest hurdle isn't the ideas, it is the execution. You've got a business to run. You don't have three weeks to code a custom contest or 500 dollars a month to pay for some enterprise-level platform that has a million buttons you'll never use.
I hate when people say "just go viral" as if it is some switch you can flip!! It’s such lazy advice. You don't need to be viral; you need to be interesting enough to stop someone from scrolling past you while they’re waiting for their coffee.
The "Dopamine Hit" (And why I've moved toward gamification)
I’ve been deep in the gamification space since 2015, and I know, I know... "gamification" sounds like another one of those buzzwords I just complained about. But stick with me. It’s basically just a fancy way of saying "make it fun to give you an email address."
Around March 2020 (we all know what happened then), businesses had to get digital fast. I started testing everything-Gleam. io, Woobox, those weird custom plugins. What I found works best is keeping it simple. People love to win things. They love to compete.
Look, I’ve deployed a "Lucky Spin" game for a Montreal bookstore that got them 1,007 new Facebook page likes in just two and a half weeks. 1007! In a world where organic reach is basically dead, that's huge. And it wasn't because the bookstore was "revolutionary." It was because people like spinning a wheel. It's that simple.
Let's talk about Faisco for a second
I’ve been using Faisco lately for a lot of my SMB clients because, frankly, it solves the "I don't have time for this" problem. I can have a campaign live in under 10 minutes. Compare that to Gleam-which I still think is solid, don't get me wrong-but it's at least $39 a month and takes me an hour to get the logic right. Most of my clients don't have that hour.
Here’s what I typically recommend based on what I’ve seen work in the trenches:
- Instant Draw Games: "Lucky Spin" or "Scratch Ticket." These are the bread and butter. I’ve seen 40%+ conversion rates on landing pages with these. Why? Because it’s an immediate hit of dopamine. You don't have to wait for a drawing on Friday. You know right now if you won a 10% discount.
- Reactive/Skill Games: Things like "Whac-A-Mole" or "Burger Stacker." These are great for restaurants. I used a "Burger Stacker" for a spot in Milwaukee once-actually, it might have been a fitness studio doing a "Summer Catch" game-either way, they got 980 new email addresses in about 15 days. People share these because they want to beat their friends' scores.
- Seasonal Stuff: This is where people usually drop the ball. They try to invent something new for every holiday. Faisco has these pre-built templates for Christmas, Valentine's Day, whatever. I used their "Christmas Stocking" game for three different retail clients last December. Each one saw a 300% increase in engagement.
(Quick side note: make sure your prizes actually matter. If you're giving away a "free consultation" that nobody wants, no amount of gamification is going to save you.)
Making it work across the "Social Silos"
One of my biggest pet peeves is when a tool only works on one platform. Like, it's 2024, if your engagement marketing strategies don't work on TikTok and Instagram simultaneously, you're losing half your audience.
I’ve found that Faisco's integration actually works. It doesn't just "share a link"-it feels native. I recently worked with a Charlotte barbershop (great guys) and we ran a "Crazy Karting" game. We put the link in their Instagram bio and ran a small local ad on Facebook. 176 new local community members in 14 days. For a local barber, that's enough to book out their chairs for a month.
The honest truth about results
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that you're going to get a million followers overnight. That’s BS. But what I do see-consistently-is a 200-400% increase in social media growth and maybe 150-300% growth in email lists in that first month.
Actually, wait... I should clarify. That only happens if you actually promote the game. You can't just build it and wait. You have to put it in your newsletter, stick a QR code on your counter, and put it in your bio.
Most of my clients find that once they get that first "win," they stop stressing about what to post every day. You don't need to be a content creator; you need to be a facilitator of a good time.
What you should do this week
Look, if you're feeling overwhelmed, just do one thing. Don't try to build a 10-part "engagement marketing strategies" plan. Just pick one game-maybe a "Lucky Draw"-and set it up for a weekend.
- Pick a small prize (a $20 gift card or a free appetizer works wonders).
- Use a tool like Faisco to build it in 10 minutes (Seriously, don't overthink the colors).
- Post it on your most active social channel.
- See what happens.
Honestly, even if you only get 20 new emails, that's 20 people who didn't know you existed yesterday. And in this economy? That's a win in my book. We spend way too much time over-complicating things-sometimes the simplest "spin the wheel" thing is the thing that actually pays the rent.
Anyway, I’ve got to go-I’m helping a gym in Portland (not the one I started with!) set up a "Sky Shooter Challenge" for their fall membership drive. Give this stuff a shot. It works.
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