Gamification

Source: The New York Times; By Natasha Singer; February 4, 2012

“You’ve Won a Badge (and Now We Know All About You)”

* Samsung has recently developed an online loyalty program called Samsung Nation that offers virtual rewards to consumers who talk up Samsung.- Virtual points and awards are given to engage customers more deeply.

* Unlock badges and level up just by visiting, reviewing products, watching videos, participating in user-generated Q&As, and much more.

* Samsung is embracing a business trend called gamification, which takes elements from games and applies them to other settings.

* “Twitterati” badge — a turquoise circle — for posting dozens of links to.

* Twitter has become a very popular source of talking up Samsung by posting links to Samsung’s website or articles.

* It is a point system and points allow the users to win prizes according to how many points you have- TV

* One way to earn points besides using tweets is by posting comments on the website or answering users’ questions online.

* “Visitors who sign in and become active on Samsung Nation tend to explore our Web site much more, learning about our company, our products, and our content,” says Esteban Contreras, the social media marketing manager for Samsung Electronics America.

* For companies, the premise of gamification is that it engages people in the kind of reward-seeking behaviors that lead to increased brand loyalty, not to mention increased profits.

* By tracking the online activities of people who sign up for such programs, companies can also amass more detailed metrics about each user — the better to identify the most active customers.

* Game techniques prompt consumers to spend more time on company Web sites, contribute more content and share more product information with Facebook and Twitter.

* One problem with this gaming program is that it does not offer monetary awards like other loyalty programs i.e hotels that offer free...