Recently I made a post about having lost all my previous content. I have since found backups of some content. This post is one such piece. I originally published this in 2021 for an assignment in my studies of digital media and gamification.
Late last year I was having a conversation with Becky from The Chaos Creative about how I should manage Twitter going forward as an author who wants to start gearing up for a relaunch of her books later in 2021. I had a Twitter account that already had a few hundred followers, but it was nowhere near what I wanted, and was completely drowning in Tweets about Ben Solo.
While I don’t regret that, and still have that Twitter account as a personal space, I did end up creating a new account as a fresh slate. I was so anxious about it though.
What if no-one follows me on my new account?
Well. This morning I woke to find I’d hit a milestone. A small one, but one that felt important in my journey nonetheless.
My first 100 here on my new account! Thank you for following me 💖
— Millicent Nankivell (@millienankivell) March 24, 2021
Once upon a time I would have been #gamifyingtwitter with a giveaway for this milestone, but I think we need to work a little harder for that this time 😬
Might do a giveaway at 500! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/mTRjlgtAZc
Ah! Giveaways. They’re all the rage, aren’t they? Reflecting on that got me thinking back to the times I experienced the most growth on my personal Twitter account though.
There were three main methods throughout that timeframe that seemed to be most effective. I bet you’ll never guess what they were!
- Networking at both face-to-face and hashtag events
- Consistently writing and sharing blog posts
- Hosting giveaways
At the time I was a book blogger. I wrote book reviews, and shared recaps of some of the events I went to (a mix of book and digital marketing events). The photos I took at the events and later shared in my blog posts turned out to be quite integral to helping me expand my reach. People who were at the event usually enjoyed reflecting on the memories of the day, and often there were others who wanted to be at the event but were unable to make it. So pro tip: if you go to events make sure to take photos (and don’t forget to ask permission to share them), because visual content in your blogs really helps them to stand out.
I always left those days with an increase in Twitter followers and a subsequent spike in traffic on my blog. I still remember the time I wrote a recap for an event hosted by Penguin Teen Australia. I usually averaged a couple of hundred hits per blog post, but when I shared that one on Twitter and they retweeted me? That post instead had thousands of hits and I actually didn’t know what to do with myself.
Photo by Millicent Nankivell (2015)
Outside of networking and taking the time to create and share digital content though, it was giveaways. Turns out, people like receiving gifts as much as I like growing my audience!
What did I giveaway, exactly? Well, I didn’t want to be restricted by local markets or having to deal with postage and handling. There was one time where I did partner up with Angel Reads and had her make a custom tote for whoever won the giveaway (blessedly the random generator knew: it was still someone local thank goodness!) but in general I often opted to stick to digital prizes like ebooks, or Amazon gift cards.
Now, for those of you who don’t already know, I’m currently studying my Bachelor of Arts at Deakin University. I’m double majoring in both Creative Writing, and Digital Media, and in the latter I’m currently studying the area of gamification.
What is gamification? It’s where you add game-based elements to non-game circumstances. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a concept that giveaways might fall under the umbrella of, no? If you follow certain steps (follow me, retweet, tag a friend etc.) then there is a chance you could earn yourself a reward.
What is gamification? It’s adding game elements to non-game situations like the workplace or education.#ALM201 pic.twitter.com/wpVp4nRx9j
— Millicent Nankivell (@millienankivell) March 25, 2021
Gamification is a tool that has been found to be quite powerful in encouraging engagement across different areas of peoples lives. Bearing that in mind, it helps explain why giveaways can be really successful for both individuals hoping to expand the reach of their personal brand, as well as established companies wanting to appeal to prospective customers in a way that is relevant to the way they’re engaging with the world around them.
Hence I also included the tag #gamifyingtwitter in my celebratory tweet. Or … is it?
Heaps of points up for grabs!#ALM201 pic.twitter.com/RuTrewuBk6
— Matt (@chewingthecud_) March 17, 2021
Turns out, I’m just as much of a sucker for gamification as anyone else. One of my classmates, Matt, has made our study period highly competitive. What’s the prize? … Points and bragging rights, and apparently that is enough to have gotten a few of us motivated to join in.
So really, what happened was I hit a milestone at the right time to participate in one of Matt’s challenges that he set for us.
As we enter Round 2, we have @BeckyRed65, @EmilyAtDeakin & @TuongBachPham all in the lead on 1400 points. Plenty of points still up for grabs from Round 1 (see previous post).#ALM201 #gamifyingtwitter pic.twitter.com/gMsJ7VhFcZ
— Matt (@chewingthecud_) March 24, 2021
As much as I genuinely was excited to have hit 100 followers on my new author account, turns out I was also super keen for that 550 points.
Gamification is increasingly becoming more prevalent and it’s doing so without us even realizing it. I’ve been a fan of play-based learning for children for a long time, but if you’re a lifelong learner, there shouldn’t be an expiry date on play!
If you want to learn more about the world around you and grow, then I highly recommend a healthy dose of one part play, and one part curiosity. Then go forth and conquer!
Okay, I’m getting silly now, but when I went to Matt’s Twitter to find the above gamification tweets earlier today, the first tweet I was greeted by was this:
Huge 2000 points up for grabs. This will no doubt take you to the top of the leaderboard.
— Matt (@chewingthecud_) March 25, 2021
Free event tonight as part of #geelongdesignweek.
See link below for more details.https://t.co/ApZBgxkjr4 pic.twitter.com/y047zIVJXO
So you’ll never guess what I did.
I didn’t meet any new people this time, but I did learn a lot about what our future societies may hold and had new experiences.
Okay, but this evening I accepted a challenge, used a 360° camera for the first time, flew a drone for the first time, was learning by doing, and felt a little out of my comfort zone. Glad I did it!
— Millicent Nankivell (@millienankivell) March 25, 2021
Added bonus: 2,000 points for me @chewingthecud_! 🤣
Go on! If you want to grow your social media platforms? Push yourself outside of your comfort zone! There are so many tutorials out there on how to do this at a technical level, but honestly, I cannot stress enough how much being accessible to communities will help you expand your social horizons. Both virtually and in person.
Get out there! Do new things! Record and share your experiences! And make new friends!
Watch this space: I may try to gamify this.
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