This week on the Wednesday Edition of my radio show, Talk Business With Howard, I welcome Gabe Zichermann. Gabe will be talking about his book, The Gamification Revolution. To listen to the live broadcast of the show on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 11:00 AM/ET, click here. Or you can bookmark this page and listen to the replay when it is posted at the top of the page. Here is a preview of what Gabe will be talking about on Wednesday. Thank you, Gabe, for the guest blog post and for being on the show. -Howard-
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The Gamification Revolution by Gabe Zichermann
When my first book, Game-Based Marketing was being picked up by its publisher in 2009, I tried to convince them that the right concept was a business strategy title. The original idea was called The Serious Business of Games, and was meant to look at a wide range of ways that games intersected with industry. As a result of the global financial crisis and the unproven nature of the discussion, they wanted something more focused. Of course, this was before the term gamification had come into common use and before the rise of Foursquare or Zynga. In short, the idea that combining game design with business could be a strategy was a little ahead of its time.
That time has come.
I’m pleased to announce the arrival of my third book, The Gamification Revolution – a look at how organizations of all sizes and stripes are crushing the competition with engagement science (and how you can too). We analyzed hundreds of case studies, design patterns and interviews with key experts to distill the most exciting concepts down into clear actionable ideas that you can use in your organization. We include approaches that are both high-tech and low-tech, across the arcs of Corporate, HR/Enterprise and Marketing strategy.
If gamification and engagement science are new to your organization, you’ll find a coherent vision for how you can make it core to your operating plan. Even if you’re a gamification expert, The Gamification Revolution is filled with analysis, insight and examples that deliver a fresh take on how to approach this exciting opportunity.
And approach it you must.
One thing that I learned in the process of researching, writing and editing this book is that gamification is quickly transitioning from a nice-to-have marketing/HR boost into a competitive bludgeon. Companies that understand how to engage consumers and employees are raising their interaction rates by an average of 30%, scaling loyalty at a fraction of its traditional cost, selling more product and hiring, training and retaining the best employees using this new approach. In short, they are building engagement into a sustainable competitive advantage — sometimes even turning their know-how into a profit center.
So the timing for The Gamification Revolution couldn’t have been better. As the millennial generation grows up, and as gamification becomes ever more widespread, your organization will need to understand these strategies to compete and win. And, for the first time, there is a roadmap.
Because it’s 2013, there’s also a conversation.
I’m also pleased to announce that The Gamification Revolution ships with the first-ever social reading app powered by gamification – ReadSocial.
Dopamine built it from the ground up to make it easy to track, share and interact around the best content in the book. Whether you’re reading it with your workgroup, friends or alone — and regardless of platform — you can use ReadSocial to highlight the best ideas, share and discuss them with others, access twitter and web resources and have fun with the book. As you complete the chapter-based challenges, you can even unlock special bonus content and prizes.
And if the platform-agnostic app doesn’t float your boat, the book itself comes with puzzles and quests you can complete to deepen your understanding of the concept — all from the comfort of your paper pages.
So check out The Gamification Revolution today, and access its companion app, ReadSocial. Learn how companies just like yours are transforming their strategic, HR/Enterprise and Marketing initiatives with engagement science — and how you can leverage their insights to grow your career, crush the competition and have fun doing it.
Gabe Zichermann is the chair of GSummit where top gamification experts across industries gather to share knowledge and insight about customer & employee engagement and loyalty. He is also an author, highly rated public speaker and entrepreneur whose book, The Gamification Revolution (McGraw Hill, 2013) looks at how leaders are leveraging gamification strategy to crush the competition. His previous books, Gamification by Design (2011) and Game-Based Marketing (2010) have helped define the industry’s standards and frameworks, and continue to be key reference materials today. Gabe resides in New York City, where he is co-director of startup accelerator The Founder Institute, and a board member of StartOut.org.