There are many challenges content creators face. No matter how large a publisher’s reach is, it is still incredibly difficult to meet the constantly changing needs of consumers, earn their engagement, and get a better understanding of each reader’s preferences. To add to this, increasing and encouraging repeat readership is a task which has only been made more challenging with the news fatigue most readers are experiencing.
To help content creators achieve repeat engagement amongst digitally savvy readers, read on to learn how TODAY, the first major Singapore newspaper to make a full mobile-first transition, drove web traffic, increased repeat interactions, and captured permissioned reader data.
20 Days of Games
In support of TODAY’s 20th anniversary, Mediacorp, Singapore’s national media network and largest content creator, were seeking to better understand and drive new Millennial and Gen Z readers to its website. To achieve its goal to become ‘the’ mainstream media of choice for readers, in particular, who enjoy a challenge and being intellectually stimulated, their strategy was to create a fun, short campaign specifically designed to increase awareness and encourage repeat engagement over 20 days of games. This both helped inculcate a habit amongst new audiences and offered an opportunity for TODAY to better get to know their evolving readerships’ preferences at a granular level.
Here’s how they did it and why it worked:
Engaging audiences in the right way and through the right channels.
Knowing how to capture that initial engagement is vital to the success of any campaign. Results in our recent survey showed 46% of respondents said following brands on social media is the most commonly preferred way for consumers to engage with their favorite brand.
Social media sites account for the majority of the most popular apps based on the number of downloads. As TODAY’s mobile-first newsroom is enhanced through its news app, social media, and messaging platforms, they chose to promote the ’20 Days of Games’ through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and their website.
Encouraging its audience to change their habits
TODAY already knew that most of its target audience consume content on their commute to and from work, and during lunchtime. In order for its Millennial and Gen Z audience to form a habit of visiting the TODAY website frequently and connect positively with the brand, a series of contextually intellectual and challenging games were deployed over a month on the TODAY Online website with game play available at 8am, 12pm and 6pm from Monday to Friday.
Why did this work?
The gamified campaign achieved excellent results with over 10k games played in the 20 days. The games used for the campaign needed to be fun without requiring a too steep a learning curve, and also allow its Millennial and Gen Z audience to participate in short and continuous engagement periods at their own time and convenience. The games selected include Word Search, Sudoku, Trivia Quiz and Pairs Matching, – the first 20 winners from each day were sent redemption codes for prize vouchers.
Gamified campaigns work well for engaging online readers and encourage desired behaviors through a number of ways. In this instance, the game players were rewarded with both a sense of achievement and prize vouchers. This coupled with the fact that humans are inherently very competitive, TODAY’s readers were encouraged to develop the habit of visiting its website on their commute or during lunchtime. The campaign helped users positively, emotionally connect with the TODAY brand itself, instead of just consuming news content.
Earning trust (and data) in 20 days.
Gathering permission to collect reader information is no easy task. Readers are now aware of the value of their data and will only share it with the brands they trust. All unique users of the 20 Days of Games campaign willingly provided their personal email address as part of a mutually beneficial value exchange, with a larger percentage of the winners providing additional data for prize redemption details. Additionally, Mediacorp now have behavioral insights in terms of when their users prefer to interact and what games saw greater engagement.
How we can help your next campaign
Mediacorp selected the 3radical’s audience engagement platform to design and create an interactive gamification experience on the TODAY website. 3radical’s innovative audience engagement software allows companies to create compelling experiences for their own consumers, which encourage engagement, build loyalty, and grow revenue. Contact us today to find out how 3radical can improve your consumer engagement.