The Contest Platform I Actually Use for My Clients
Honestly, I need to tell you about this bakery I was working with up in Minneapolis. It was maybe last month... or the month before, time blurs. Anyway. They were a great little business, amazing croissants, but they were just burning through money on Facebook ads. We're talking like, $1500 a month and getting maybe 20 new customers out of it. It was brutal.
And the advice they were getting? "You just need to go viral!" or "Have you tried making a TikTok dance?" I mean, come on. These are people who wake up at 4 AM to bake. They do not have time for that nonsense.
This is the stuff I've been seeing since I started in this game back in 2010. Small businesses don't need another "revolutionary" marketing theory. They need tools that work. They need a reliable contest platform that doesn't require a computer science degree to operate. This is where I've started pointing basically everyone I work with towards gamification... and yeah, I know it sounds like a buzzword from 2018, but stick with me. It’s not about turning your business into a video game-it’s about using simple game mechanics to get people to actually do something. And frankly, this is why I've become such a big fan of platforms like Faisco.
So, Why This Faisco Thing Anyway?
Look, most marketing software is built by Silicon Valley tech bros for other tech bros. It’s over-engineered and expensive. I’ve spent years messing with everything from Gleam. io to the really high-end enterprise tools that cost a fortune. They’re fine, I guess. But they aren't built for the Minneapolis bakery or the local barbershop.
Faisco is... different. It's practical.
Here’s what I mean. I had this pet grooming salon up in Montreal-super nice folks, but they were getting buried on Google. We ran a "Puzzle Challenge" on Faisco. The prize was a full-service grooming package. In 10 days, they got 2,995 new Google reviews. Ten. Days. I also worked with a craft brewery down in Miami. They just wanted more people talking about them on Instagram. We set up a simple "Scratch Ticket" game... they got 2,466 new Instagram story views and mentions. Then there was this barbershop in Milwaukee, great guys, they just wanted to build more of a local community vibe. We used the "Unlock Lucky Words" game and got them 268 new members in their local Facebook group.
These aren't lottery-win numbers. This is just what happens when you make engaging with your brand kind of... fun. And not "corporate fun," but actually fun.
The Games That Actually Work
Here's the thing. You don't need some super-complex, multi-level saga. In my experience, the simpler the game, the better the conversion rate. Most of my clients find the most success with a few specific types.
Instant Draw Games are my go-to for lead capture. Things like the "Lucky Spin" or the "Scratch Ticket." There is something about that immediate dopamine hit of "Did I win?!" that people just can't resist. I've seen landing pages with these embedded hit 40%+ conversion rates for email sign-ups. It's crazy.
Then you've got what I call Reactive Games-"Whac-A-Mole," "Burger Stacker," that kind of thing. These are amazing for pure engagement because there's skill involved. People share them with their friends to say "Beat my score." (I'm terrible at them, by the way, but my clients' customers love 'em).
And you can get more specific, too. The Quiz Games like "Puzzle Challenge" are brilliant for businesses that need to educate their customers. And the Catching Games... don't even get me started on how well those work for seasonal campaigns.
Which brings me to my next point.
The Seasonal Marketing Integration is... Kinda Genius
Okay, this is the part that I think is just brilliant and why I use this contest platform so often. Faisco has pre-built game templates for pretty much every holiday you can think of.
Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, Black Friday, New Year's... it's all there.
I used their little "Fill My Christmas Stocking" catching game for three different retail clients this past December. All three were small, local shops. And every single one saw their social media engagement go up by over 300% compared to their normal holiday posts. Why? Because people would rather play a silly 30-second game for a chance to win a $20 gift card than just look at another static "SALE!" graphic. We do not have to overthink this. It just works.
Let's Talk About Gleam. io For a Second...
Everyone always asks me, "Byron, what about Gleam?" And listen, Gleam is solid. It's a powerful tool, and I've used it for bigger clients with bigger budgets. No doubt about it.
But frankly, it is overkill for 90% of the small businesses I work with. And it starts at what, like $39/month now? That adds up. More importantly, it can be a pain to set up. With Faisco, I can get a client's campaign-like, from an idea to fully live and running-in under ten minutes. No joke. Gleam, if I'm being honest, is an hour of my life I'm not getting back, fiddling with settings. Faisco gives you the core functionality you actually need without all the clutter.
And the platform integration is better, I think. It actually plays nice with Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, so the games feel more native, you know? That matters because a user on TikTok has a completely different attention span than someone on Facebook.
So, What's the Real Takeaway Here?
Look, if you're a small business owner, stop letting marketing "gurus" tell you that you need to spend thousands of dollars or become a full-time content creator. It's just not true.
The businesses I work with who use these gamified campaigns typically see a 200-400% increase in their social media followers and a 150-300% growth in their email list within the first month. Not because Faisco is some magic wand, but because it's a tool that facilitates a proven strategy: make it easy and rewarding for people to engage with you.
Here's my actual advice. Don't overthink it. Go try a tool like Faisco. Pick a simple game like the "Lucky Spin." Offer a real prize-a $25 gift card, a free product, something people actually want. Run it for two weeks.
It's not going to triple your revenue overnight. But it will get you more emails, more followers, and more real, local customers than blowing another grand on ads that people just scroll past. I've been doing this since... well, for a long time. And trust me on this one. The simple, practical stuff is what always wins in the end.
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