Information Technology & Social Media News

Noticing how the Google trends line was moving like Mt. Everest on "gamification" and knowing that engagement was one of the secret implications of Google's Panda algorithm changes AND loving games and gamification as a way to increase engagement I wrote Gamification: Winning Hearts, Minds and Loyalty Online a year ago. 

Love it when a bet comes in. It would hard to be hotter than gamification is right now. This paper helps explain how to gamify anything. 

Post Panda & Penguin Engagement Is Queen
If CONTENT is truly and finally KING post Google's Panda and Penguin updates then engagement, those things that visitors coming back to your website and viewing it for longer periods of time are queen.

In the land of engagement GAMIFICATION is a prince because here are just a few things gamification does:

* Increase time on site.
* Increase social shares.
* Increase commenting and User Generated Content (UGC).

I could go on but why. If those three don't convince you nothing will. The stat that I love from this post is the almost 30% engagement lift. Don't think of this magic as "engagement" think of it as MONEY. 30% engagement lift could translate into MILLIONS for many websites as great customers come back more often, share move often and BUY MORE OFTEN.

Couple of interesting support posts include

Gamification Backlash (on Scoopit)

http://sco.lt/7rqCIr

Storytelling is the New SEO (on Slideshare)
http://www.slideshare.net/martinmartysmith/storytelling-new-seo

Winning Hearts Minds and Loyalty Online (white paper)

http://www.atlanticbt.com/blog/gamification-white-paper-atlanticbt/