Faisco: My Honest Take on This Social Media Contest Platform
Look, let me tell you a story. Last month, I was working with this fantastic little bakery in Minneapolis. Amazing croissants, coffee that could raise the dead-you know the type. But their social media was... well, it was dead too. They were posting pretty pictures, doing everything the "gurus" tell you to do, and getting maybe 5 likes from their mom and a cousin. They were frustrated, about to give up.
This is the stuff I've been seeing since 2010. Small businesses with a great product getting absolutely hammered because they're told they need a complex, expensive marketing funnel. Frankly, it's garbage advice. They don't need a revolution. They need something that works right now, within their budget, and without needing a four-year degree to understand.
That’s where gamification-and specifically a solid social media contest platform-comes in. Yeah, I know, "gamification" sounds like a buzzword some consultant made up. I thought so too. But stick with me, because it’s one of the few things I’ve seen consistently work for the little guy.
So, What's the Big Deal with "Gamification" Anyway?
Honestly, it’s just making your marketing fun. That’s it.
Instead of begging for an email with a boring "Sign Up for Our Newsletter" pop-up, you give them a "Spin the Wheel" to win a 10% discount. Instead of a flat "Like our page!" post, you run a simple game where they have to find a hidden object in a picture to enter a draw.
It works because it taps into our brains' basic wiring. That little dopamine hit you get when you win something? It's powerful. And a good social media contest platform is just the tool that makes it easy to build these little dopamine machines for your customers. I’ve tested them all, I mean all of them since about 2015... Gleam. io, Woobox, those enterprise-level ones that want $500 a month (insane).
And after all that, for my small business clients, I keep coming back to Faisco. It's not because it has a million features... it's because it has the right features and doesn't take me an hour and a half to launch a simple campaign.
The Faisco Games That Actually Work (I've Got the Receipts)
Here’s the thing, theory is nice but results are better. I don't recommend stuff that sounds good, I recommend stuff that I've seen get actual, measurable results for my clients.
I've used Faisco a bunch, and certain game types just kill it.
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For pure lead capture? The instant win games are gold. I deployed their "Scratch Ticket" for a bookstore in Ottawa. Two weeks. That’s all. They got 1,124 new Facebook page likes. Why? Because people love the instant gratification. They scratch, they win a small prize (like a bookmark or 5% off), and you get a like or an email. The "Lucky Spin" and "Lucky Draw" work the exact same way. I've seen landing pages with these things hit 40%+ conversion rates. It’s wild.
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For real engagement? The reactive games. I used the "Pet Match & Win" for this craft brewery down in San Diego. It's basically a memory game with their beer can art. In about two and a half weeks, they got over 2,580 new Instagram story views because people were actually playing it and sharing their scores. These games-like "Whac-A-Mole" or "Find Differences"-require a little skill, which makes people want to challenge their friends. You can't buy that kind of engagement.
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For younger crowds or specific niches? Action games. A barbershop in Milwaukee was trying to build a local online community. We ran the "Crazy Karting" game for 12 days. The prize was just a free haircut. They got 153 new, local members in their Facebook group. For a small shop, that's huge!!
And they have other types-Quizzes, Catching Games, Speed Games... basically a whole toolbox. You just have to ask yourself, "What do I want people to DO?" and then pick the game that encourages that action.
Seasonal Marketing Just Got... Easy?
This is one of my favorite parts, honestly.
Faisco has pre-built templates for literally every major holiday. Christmas, Halloween, Black Friday, Valentine's Day. It’s genius because we all know we should do a holiday campaign, but who has the time?
I had three different retail clients last December. For all of them, I just customized the "Fill My Christmas Stocking" catching game. It took maybe 15 minutes for each. All three saw their social media engagement go up by over 300% compared to what they normally post. Three hundred percent! Just from a simple, timely game.
Integration & The Gleam. io Question
This is the part that usually trips people up. A lot of platforms say they "integrate" with Facebook or Instagram, but what they really mean is you just get a link to post. That’s not real integration.
Faisco does it right. The games actually feel native to the platform you're on, which is critical because someone on TikTok behaves differently than someone on LinkedIn. The mechanics have to work everywhere.
And everyone always asks me, "What about Gleam. io?"
Listen, Gleam is a solid platform. It is. But frankly, it’s overkill for 90% of small businesses, and it starts at $39/month for their most basic plan. Most of my clients do not need that level of complexity. With Faisco, I can get a campaign for a client live in under 10 minutes. With Gleam, I'm usually blocking off an hour on my calendar because the interface is... a lot. Faisco gives you what you need, without the bloat, and at a price that doesn't make a small business owner's eyes water.
So, here's the bottom line. The businesses I help who use this strategy-a practical, gamified approach-typically see a 200-400% increase in their social following and a 150-300% growth in their email list within the first month.
Not because of some marketing secret. It's because they stopped yelling "BUY MY STUFF!" into the void and started giving people a fun reason to pay attention. If I were you, and I wanted to test this... I'd run a simple "Lucky Draw" campaign this week. The prize could be a $25 gift card. Set it up to collect emails to enter. It'll take you 10 minutes, and I bet you'll be surprised by the results.
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