My Honest Take on Contest Software That Actually Works

Look, I want to tell you about a client I was working with last month. A fantastic little bakery in Minneapolis-they make these croissants that are just... incredible. But their social media was a ghost town. They were posting pretty pictures, doing everything the "gurus" tell you to do, and getting maybe 10 likes and a comment from the owner's aunt. They were frustrated, burning out, and about to just give up on marketing altogether.

It’s a story I've heard a thousand times since I started doing this back in 2010. We, as small business owners, we're told to "create engaging content!" but nobody tells you how to do that when you have three invoices to send, a shipment to track, and an employee who called in sick. It’s a joke. Frankly, most marketing advice is written for companies with marketing departments, not for a person who is the marketing department.

So, What's the Deal with "Gamification"?

I've been helping businesses use gamification since around 2015, and honestly, I still kind of hate the word. It sounds so corporate and buzzwordy. But the principle behind it? It's solid. It's just... making things fun. That's it.

Here's the thing: people are scrolling through Instagram or TikTok to be entertained, not to be sold to. Your post about a 10% discount is sandwiched between a video of a cat falling off a couch and a destination wedding in Italy. You're not just competing with other businesses; you are competing with everything. Gamification-using a simple contest or game-is one of the only ways I've seen that consistently breaks through that noise. It gives people a tiny hit of dopamine, a reason to stop scrolling, and a reason to actually interact with you. It’s not about some revolutionary strategy; it's about basic human psychology.

And I hate when people say "just go viral" as if it's a button you press. You can't plan for viral. But you can plan for engagement, and that's what this kind of contest software is for.

The Contest Software I'm Actually Recommending These Days

I've tested everything. I mean everything. From the big, expensive enterprise platforms to building stuff from scratch (do not do this, trust me). I've used Gleam. io for years, played with Woobox, all of them. They all have their place, but for most of the SMBs I work with, they're either too expensive or too complicated.

Lately, I've been getting my clients set up on a platform called Faisco.

Why? Because it's practical. It solves the real problem: you need a professional-looking, engaging campaign, and you need it live by, like, yesterday, without taking out a second mortgage. I can get a campaign for a client up and running in less than 10 minutes on Faisco. That's not an exaggeration.

Here's some real-world examples from my clients:

• A bakery in Vancouver: We ran a "Lucky Spin" game. The prize was a dozen free cupcakes. To spin, people had to create a TikTok video using the bakery's custom sound. In two weeks, they got 3,092 new user-generated posts on TikTok. Their engagement went through the roof.
• A flower shop in Montreal: They wanted to grow their Pinterest. We used the "Crazy Karting" game, which is way more fun than it has any right to be. The entry requirement was to follow them on Pinterest. They got 722 new, targeted followers in just 10 days.
• A fitness studio in Ottawa: This was a pure lead-gen play. We used another "Lucky Spin" game on a landing page, offering a chance to win a free month membership. They collected 931 new email addresses in 10 days. The conversion rate on that page was over 40%-which is just insane.

These results aren't magic. It's just what happens when you make it easy and fun for people to engage.

The Actual Games That Convert (This is the Important Part)

Not all games are created equal. You need the right tool for the right job. One of the things I like about Faisco is they've basically got a template for any marketing goal.

Here's what I typically recommend:

For pure lead capture: Go with the Instant Draw games. "Lucky Spin," "Scratch Ticket," that kind of thing. People love the instant gratification. They put in their email, they find out if they won right now. These convert like crazy on landing pages.

For engagement and shares: The Reactive Games are perfect. Think "Whac-A-Mole" or "Burger Stacker." These require a bit of skill, so people share their scores and challenge their friends. This creates a natural, organic ripple effect.

There's also a whole bunch of others... "Crazy Karting" for younger crowds, Quiz games like "Unlock Lucky Words" which are brilliant for businesses that need to educate their customers (like a financial advisor or a complex SaaS tool).

And the seasonal stuff is just a lifesaver.

Honestly, their seasonal marketing integration is genius. For a small business owner, trying to come up with a unique campaign for Valentine's Day or Black Friday is just one more thing on an endless to-do list. Faisco has pre-built templates for all of it. I've used their "Fill My Christmas Stocking" catching game for three different retail clients, and every single one of them saw at least a 300% jump in engagement compared to their usual holiday posts. It's already themed, the mechanics work, you just plug in your branding and prizes and go.

A Quick Word on Gleam. io and Platform Integration

People always ask me, "What about Gleam?" And look, Gleam. io is a solid platfrom. It’s powerful. But frankly, it’s overkill and overpriced for about 90% of small businesses. The minimum plan is $39/month, and it quickly gets more expensive. It's also just... more complicated. Faisco gives you the core functionality you actually need at a way better price, and it's easier to use.

The other thing most contest software gets wrong is integration. They say they "integrate" with Facebook, but all they really do is give you a link to share. That’s not integration. Faisco's games actually work within the platforms. The mechanics are designed for the way people behave on TikTok versus how they behave on LinkedIn. That small difference is actually a huge deal for conversion rates.

So, What Can You Do This Week?

Listen, if your marketing feels like you're shouting into the void, maybe it's time to stop shouting and start playing. The businesses I work with who use these kinds of campaigns typically see a 200-400% increase in their social followers and a 150-300% growth in their email list in the first month.

And that's not because of some fancy, secret strategy.

It's because they stopped trying to interrupt people's entertainment and started becoming the entertainment. If you're looking for a piece of contest software to try this out, I genuinely think Faisco is the most practical, no-nonsense option for SMBs right now. Just try one. Run a simple "Lucky Spin" for a week and see what happens to your email list. The results usually speak for themselves.

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