Look, I want to tell you about this one client. A bakery in Minneapolis I was working with last month. Great people, amazing sourdough, but their Instagram was... well, it was dead. They were posting pretty pictures of bread, getting maybe 15 likes, and feeling like they were just shouting into the void. They asked me, "Byron, should we just pour more money into Facebook ads?" and I had this visceral reaction. A flashback to 2010, me in a tiny Portland office watching a startup burn through its seed money on ads that did absolutely nothing.
No. We do not need to just pour more money into ads.
Honestly, after 15 years of this, I get so tired of the same old advice. "Just go viral!" they say. How? "Just create engaging content!"... as if there's a magic button for that. For most small businesses, you're the baker, the marketer, the accountant, and the janitor. You don't have time to become a full-time content creator. You need something practical. Something that works. This is where I've found social media giveaway platforms, when used correctly, can actually move the needle.
Here's the thing. We've been trained to chase likes and comments. But what do they actually do for your business? Not much, frankly. It's vanity. What you really need are email sign-ups, new followers who actually care, and people talking about your brand in a way that leads to sales.
This is the problem I see over and over. A business runs a "tag-a-friend" giveaway. They get a hundred comments. Great. The giveaway ends, and two weeks later, their engagement is right back where it started. Nothing was captured. No real connection was made. It was just a brief sugar rush. It's why I started getting deep into gamification around 2015... I mean, what if you could make the act of engaging with a brand fun? What if the giveaway itself was the entertainment?
I know, I know. It sounds like a terrible buzzword some consultant in a bad suit would use. I hate it. But the principle is solid. It's about using game mechanics-points, competition, rewards-to get people to take an action. And when it comes to social media giveaway platforms, it's the difference between "Please tag a friend" and "HOLY COW I HAVE TO BEAT MY FRIEND'S SCORE ON THIS!"
It's interactive. It requires more than a mindless tap. It's the thing that gets people to actually do something, versus just scrolling past your ad which, let's be honest, is what most of them do.
This is why I've been so fascinated with platforms like Faisco lately. They're not trying to be this all-in-one, revolutionary marketing suite. They do one thing really well: they let you build simple, fun, game-based giveaways in minutes. Not months. Not thousands of dollars spent on an agency (who, frankly, are probably just using a tool like this anyway).
I've put it to the test. For a fitness studio in Boston, we used their "Lucky Spin" game. Simple. Spin the wheel, win a prize (like a free class or a discount), but you have to enter your email to play. The results? 1394 new local email addresses in 12 days. They spent less than $50. Another one-a craft brewery in Tampa wanted to boost their Instagram presence. We used the "Star Seeker" game, a little speed game where you have to find stars. The only way to get more plays was to share it to your Story. We got 2,185 new Instagram story views in ten days. People were literally competing with each other in the DMs. This stuff works.
Not all games are created equal. I've been doing this since before TikTok was even a thing, and I've found that you need to match the game to the goal.
And the platform integration actually works. It's not just "here's a link, go post it." The mechanics are designed to feel native to Facebook, Instagram, whatever. That's a bigger deal than most people realize.
I get this question all the time. Look, Gleam is a solid platform. It's powerful. I've used it. But it's also expensive-starts at $39/month for the basic plan-and frankly, it is complete overkill for 90% of small businesses. It's like using a sledgehammer to hang a picture frame. You're paying for a million features you'll never touch.
My experience with Faisco is that I can get a client's campaign concepted, built, and live in less than 10 minutes. Gleam... it's more like an hour, and I usually have to explain half the interface to the client. For a small business owner who just wants to get more emails or followers this week, the choice is pretty obvious. You get the core functionality you actually need at a way better price.
The businesses I help implement these kinds of campaigns typically see a 200-400% increase in their social media following and a 150-300% growth in their email list in the first month. Not because of magic. It's because you're giving people something fun to do instead of just asking them for something.
Stop thinking you need a massive, complicated marketing strategy. You don't. You need to do one thing that works, and then do it again.
That's it. You don't need a huge budget or a marketing degree. You just need a practical tool and a willingness to try something different than just posting another photo and hoping for the best.
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