How The HoneyBaked Ham Company is using gamification to engage with their followers.

Since 1957, The HoneyBaked Ham Company has been providing the entrees we all know and love. But now, they’re giving us even more—a chance to have fun on their Facebook page.

As early adapters of gamification, their page is full of fun opportunities to play.  And as the company’s social media advertising agency, we think the visuals are just as fun to create. In fact, one of our favorite concepts to develop is one of the most well-received. We’ve named it “Spot the Differences,” because that’s exactly what users are asked to do. In the image below, seven details have changed from the picture on the left to the picture on the right, and as you can see, many fans played along. (Are you playing, too? See if you can spot all seven, and then check out our answer key.)

 

Now, let’s get into the Christmas spirit. With winter holidays being peak season for the products, we knew it’d be easy to share photos of beautiful Hams and Turkey Breasts every day of the week. But, would they reach enough people? Would they increase engagement? We weren’t sure. So, we put our game faces on—developing another new series for their Facebook page. Knowing how popular the rebus used to be in newspapers and magazines, we brought it back to life, spelling out classic Christmas songs with icons instead of words. Almost 2,500 people guessed a song title, with most guessing correctly. (If “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause” was their answer, they were winners.)

 

Now, we know what you’re thinking. Isn’t there a way to weave the personality AND the product together? And to that, we say absolutely. In an effort to promote shipping (did you know you can ship a HoneyBaked Ham anywhere in the U.S.?), we sent our Ham packing. In this postcard series, we captured it in cities all over the country—in major markets, of course—and then asked our fans to guess where it was. On this day in particular, more than 170 people tested their knowledge, and they found out the following day that the HoneyBaked Ham was hanging out in San Francisco, California.

 

Another series we continue to execute is Table Trivia. It’s easy. It’s educational. And it’s fun. By asking our audience questions related to current events and key holidays, we ask them to engage with us. And many do just that.

 

The same is true for our Family Food series. As an imitation of Family Feud, we pose questions about HoneyBaked, and our fans give us answers. In this instance, we asked, “What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the name HoneyBaked?” And as a result, almost 250 people told us their favorite things about the brand.

 

Ready to test gamification on your social media channels? Give us a call. We’ll help you win big.

To see how other brands are using gamification to increase engagement, visit the original post in this series.