Play at Home Software Sweepstakes That Don't Suck
Look, let's just be honest for a second. I've been doing this since 2010, and most marketing advice for small businesses is garbage. It's written by people who have never had to actually worry about making payroll. Last month, I was working with this bakery in Minneapolis-great people, amazing sourdough-and they were about to spend $3,000 on a local radio ad. Three grand! For what? A 30-second spot that maybe, maybe a few dozen people would hear while stuck in traffic.
It drives me nuts.
We scrapped that idea immediately. Instead, we put a fraction of that budget into a simple digital campaign. A play at home software sweepstakes, to be specific. Yeah, I know, it sounds buzzwordy. I get it. But we launched one of Faisco's "Happy Hopping" games-took me all of 15 minutes to set up-and within three weeks, they had 2,527 new user-generated posts on TikTok from people in their delivery area. People were literally making videos about their croissants to win a prize. That's engagement you can't buy with a radio ad.
So, Why Am I Obsessed with These Silly Little Games?
Here's the thing. We are all just monkeys looking for a dopamine hit. That's it. That's all social media is. A regular post-"Hey, buy our coffee!"-gets ignored. It’s just noise. But a post that says "Play this game and win free coffee for a month!"... that's different. It triggers something in our brains. It's a challenge. A chance. An immediate bit of fun.
I hate when people say "just go viral" as if it's a strategy you can just, you know, choose. It's not. But you can create the conditions for something to spread. And that's what a good play at home software sweepstakes does. It gives people a reason to stop scrolling, a reason to engage, and most importantly-a reason to share.
For years, this was hard to do. I mean, back in 2018, I tried building a custom game for an e-commerce client. It cost them twelve thousand dollars and took four months, and by the time it launched the trend was already over. It was a disaster. Frankly, tools like Gleam. io and Woobox came along and made it better, but they were still clunky and, honestly, a bit expensive for a local pizza shop. That's why I've been using Faisco so much lately. It's not revolutionary; it's just... practical. It actually works for the businesses I work with.
The Faisco Campaigns I've Seen CRUSH It (Real Examples)
I don't care about theory. I care about what happens when my clients spend real money. And I've been deploying these Faisco games for a while now with some frankly ridiculous results. I'm not talking about "impressions" or "reach"-I'm talking about actual customers.
For instance, I had this client-a small, independent art gallery in Calgary-that needed to sell tickets for an upcoming exhibit. Attendance had been dropping since, you know, around March 2020 for obvious reasons. We ran Faisco's "Crazy Karting" game for just two and a half weeks, targeting art students and local creative groups on Facebook. The prize was two VIP tickets and a print. The result? They got 270 new event attendees directly from that campaign. It cost them less than a single print ad in a local magazine.
Then there was a barbershop in Atlanta. Cool spot, but struggling to build a community vibe. They wanted more than just one-and-done customers. We deployed the "Happy Hopping" game with them, with the prize being a "membership" for a year (free cuts, basically). In 2.5 weeks, they got 247 new local people into their private Facebook group and email list. These are now regulars. These are the people who will keep them in business. It just works.
Not All Games Are Equal. Here's What I Tell My Clients.
Okay, this is important. You can't just throw any game out there. You have to match the game to the goal. This is what I typically recommend to my clients...
- For pure lead capture? You want Instant Draw games. "Lucky Spin," "Scratch Ticket," that kind of thing. The dopamine hit is immediate. Give me your email, find out if you won right now. I've seen landing pages with these hit 40%+ conversion rates. It's insane. People just can't resist.
- For brand engagement? Reactive Games are your friend. "Whac-A-Mole," "Burger Stacker." These require a little skill. People play them multiple times to get a better score, and they share them to challenge their friends. This is how you get organic spread.
- For education or qualifying leads? Quiz Games. "Unlock Lucky Words," "Treasure Hunt Challenge." Perfect for a more complex product. You can embed real information about your business into the quiz, and only the people who are actually interested will finish it.
- For seasonal hype? This is Faisco's secret weapon, honestly. Their Catching Games like "Fill My Christmas Stocking" are gold during the holidays. I ran that exact campaign for three different retail clients last December. Every single one of them saw over 300% more engagement than their normal holiday sale posts. We do not have to reinvent the wheel every single holiday season. Just use the template.
The Big Question: Faisco vs. Gleam. io?
I get asked this all the time. Listen, Gleam is a solid platform. It's powerful. It's also $39/month for its most basic plan, and frankly, it's overkill for 90% of the small businesses I work with. It’s like using a sledgehammer to hang a picture frame.
Here's my blunt take: Faisco give you most of the functionality you actually need at a way lower cost, and it's faster to set up. I can have a client's campaign live on Faisco in literally 10 minutes-I've timed it. With Gleam, I'm usually fiddling with settings and integrations for at least an hour. My clients don't have an hour. They have a business to run. Plus, Faisco’s integration with TikTok and Instagram feels more... native. The games just work better in the feed, which is a bigger deal than you'd think.
Okay, So What Should You Do This Week?
Stop thinking about some huge, revolutionary marketing strategy. You don't need it. What you need is to get one new customer. Then another. And another.
Here’s what you do.
- Pick ONE goal. Is it more email subscribers? More followers? More foot traffic on Tuesday? Just one. Don't overcomplicate it.
- Pick ONE prize. Something your ideal customer actually wants. It doesn't have to be expensive; it just has to be desirable to them. (A free consultation, a $50 gift card, a popular product).
- Launch ONE game. Go into a tool like Faisco, pick a template that matches your goal, spend 15 minutes setting it up, and launch it. Don't agonize over it.
That’s it. The businesses I work with that see these wild results-200-400% follower growth, 150-300% email list growth-aren't doing anything magical. They're just consistently giving their customers a fun, low-stakes reason to pay attention. A play at home software sweepstakes isn't a silver bullet... but it's one of the most reliable and cost-effective tools I've found in 15 years of doing this. And believe me, I've tried everything.
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