Membership Tips

07 March 2018 Christine

Ready, set, go: How games can help grow your membership

In the past we have waxed lyrical about the benefits of a microsite. These benefits cannot be exaggerated enough; a microsite is a handy, money-saving, share- and trackable piece of online content that can target web users and ensure your key campaigns are a hit. They lend themselves perfectly to annual or one off campaigns for their ease of administration and ability to do something left-field with them. Big annual conference coming up? Do what BCME has done. Star-studded award event? Take a leaf from STEP’s book. Yearly exhibition? Use Cabwire as your inspiration.

But what happens when you want to raise awareness of a campaign that isn’t an event? What if you’re interested in enticing more members into your organisation, or trying to appeal to a new demographic, or finding a different way of encouraging people do download a fundraising pack? The answer is simple: make a game!

Here are just 6 ways games and quizzes can help you to:8bit-game-04

Appeal to a wider audience

Games are pretty much universal, as tech giants like Google know all too well. When they launched their Pac Man Google Doodle way back in 2010, the internet spent roughly 4,819,352 hours playing in just one day. Newsworks’ Geek Calculator is a perfect – if slightly scaled down – example of this. Newsworks had conducted a vast study and wanted to present their findings in a universally appealing way. They tasked us with creating a game which helps players discover what type of Geek they are. As this report from our archive states, the simple game attracted 150,000 visitors and was even mentioned by a prime time Radio 2 show.

Gather information and data

If you want to get to know your current or potential members, there’s no better way than by simply asking, but sometimes it’s not always that easy, is it? With a simple quiz you reach thousands of members with one fell swoop, without having to spend the money, time or people-power on calling or sending GDPR compliant emails. They don’t necessarily have to be explicitly related to your organisation or services either. The popularity of sites like Buzzfeed show that people are always interested in filling out quizzes hoping to discover something new, especially if it’s executed in a humorous way.

Do something a bit different

Wondering whether a game or a quiz is really for you since you’ve never done anything like it before? The answer in that case is a definite yes! If you continue to do things you’ve always done you might find yourself growing at a much slower rate than you could if you tried something a bit different. With a game you have the chance to be a little more flexible with your branding, tone of voice and general message. You can easily keep the integrity of your organisation without compromising creativity and universal appeal.
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Promote something new

Got a brand new look for your website? How about a flashy new jobs area? Or maybe you want to raise awareness about a subject close to your heart, whatever business you’re in. A couple of years ago we completed a fun quiz for the BPA to raise awareness about the potential benefits and blunders of parking in multi-storey parking palaces. Now - depending on what floats your boat - parking isn’t exactly a laugh riot, but the quiz really livened up the subject, all in the name of raising awareness of safer parking. The campaign was so successful it was even nominated for ‘Best social media campaign’ by the Associations Awards.


Get GDPR compliant

We all know that marketing and data handling rules will be changing on the 25th of May for those who market to Europeans. After the 25th anyone marketing to B2C members will need their consent to do so, as well as to store their data. Marketers all over will need to find new and exciting ways to market to and gather the data and consent of their prospective audience. A quiz which sets you apart as an organisation who is fresh, innovative, creative as well as knowledgeable and prestigious and is a simple way of encouraging members to sign up to your mailing lists, and to encourage more members into your organisation in general. Read more on the GDPR for membership here.8bit-game-03


Support and collaborate with your industry

Each organisation, no matter what sector they’re, in strives to support their industry. Membership organisations only survive through a shared passion and drive to keep their point of interest alive. This is the exact reason that Local Media Works created their Local Newspaper Week and Making a Difference campaigns, which in their words serve to “celebrate the role played by local newspapers in communities across the UK and the importance of highly trusted local journalism and campaigning.” Their competition is highly anticipated and represents a fantastic way of supporting their community.

 

We've created a multitude of games, quizzes, microsites and competitions for our membership, nonprofit and charity clients, and we'd love to help you out with your next project. Find out more about how to get a stunning, up-to-the-minute website or microsite by checking out our enterprise CMS, River or dropping us an email or call. To see how much you should be investing in your website, why not fill out our website cost calculator?

Are there any other benefits games and quizzes have given your organisation? Share your success stories or ask us questions in your comments below.

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