If you are a marketer, you know how hard it is to run a campaign on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and other platforms. The task gets even harder when you want to hold a contest or reward those participating in your games. Without a proper scenario, careful planning, and practical tools, it’s almost impossible to run marketing campaigns/games. In this article, we have introduced the best game-based marketing tools in 2025 and answered some of your commonly asked questions.
Why Is Game-Based Marketing Popular?
People forget most of the ads they see now on TV, newspapers, and social media within hours or even minutes. If you don’t believe me, try to remember the last advertisement for cosmetics or real estate you watched on YouTube. But this fact is not true about games, especially those that are challenging and reward people. Businesses that run games on social media achieve a higher engagement rate compared to those that only use ads. The games are fun and memorable because the audience plays, competes, and earns rewards.
To sum up, game-based marketing helps your business in 4 ways:
- Increasing followers on social media
- Making customers loyal to your business
- Increasing sales and engagement
- Helping your brand become famous in a shorter time
Game-Based Marketing Example
There are many examples of games used in marketing, some of which are really innovative. Although some of them may not look like a real game, they are challenging and engaging, and that’s enough. You can be inspired by them to create your own game and make a killing in the market.
1. Quizzes and Trivia Games
A multiple-choice quiz or a trivia game engages the followers. They play the game, share their milestones, and invite their friends to play with them. This is a simple way to introduce your brand or product (very subtly), collect data from the participants for future marketing campaigns, and reward people with a small discount for a minimum number of correct answers. The quizzes and trivia games can be shared on social media and websites.
2. Scratch Cards or Spinning the Wheels
If you have an online store or business, you can use a virtual “scratch card” or “spinning the wheels” for first-time buyers or those who have purchased more than a certain amount (like $500). This has two benefits:
- a) Winning creates a dopamine hit. It gives them pleasure and motivates them to repeat the action. So, they repeat the purchase and introduce you to their loved ones.
- b) If you only allow them to spin the wheel or scratch the card when their cart is above a certain amount, they would continue filling their cart until they reach THAT amount.
3. Collect the Puzzle Pieces
Some businesses use the “collect the pieces” game to keep the audience loyal. All you have to do is design a virtual puzzle and send one piece to customers whenever they make a purchase. Once their puzzle is complete, they will get a coupon, free time, a discount code, or a shoutout.
2 Tips: You need to update the puzzles regularly to prevent cheating. Also, the best platform for such games is your website. Social media lacks the necessary game-based marketing tools to run these games.
4. Solve the Riddle
This one is quite easy and can be done on social media. It has three steps:
1) Create multiple stories or go live and introduce your business. Explain about your team, products, services, goals, etc., in detail.
2) Wait one or two days, then create riddles (or quizzes if you are not a fan of riddles) about the subjects you explained earlier.
3) Encourage the people to participate in the game and reward the winners. By doing so, people will know your business better and feel more connected with you.
Note: Riddles are more challenging and fun than quizzes. So, spend a little more time and create brain-teasing riddles that haunt them even in their sleep.
5. Tell a Story
In marketing, stories are powerful tools that can help a business grow overnight or drag it down within hours. When it comes to game-based marketing, stories come in two shapes:
- You tell a story about a product or a service, but leave it halfway. The followers have to finish the story based on their imaginations or expectations about your brand.
- You ask the subscribers to write a short story (no more than 1000 words) and introduce one of your products. It will be more fun to give the story a theme, like horror, romance, fun, or crime.
Note: Now that the AI tells stories too, you should check the stories with AI detectors before drawing.
6. Scavenger Hunts
This is the smartest game to increase engagement and view rates on different platforms. Hide clues in different platforms (like websites, Instagram, and Facebook) and ask the users to find those clues and solve the riddle or puzzle. Reward the first three users who find them within, like, 10 minutes. This keeps people engaged with your business.
Note: If you have enough admins, ask the users to interact with them to get “the extra” clue.
The Best Game-Based Marketing Tools for Online Businesses
Here are the best game-based marketing tools you can use to speed up tasks, keep this going automatically, and save money.
Gamification Tools
These platforms help you create games, quizzes, leaderboards, badges, and more.
- MyQuiz: for creating trivia quizzes. The games can be used for team building, brand promotion, fundraising, education, etc.
- Qualifio: for generating quizzes, polls, games, and more. You can then share them in all your digital channels.
- Canva: for creating puzzles, picture-based games, badges, and engaging videos.
- ChatGPT: This AI helps you create cool scenarios, find and follow trends, create worthy pictures, and more.
Referral (& Affiliate) Tools
One of the must-have Game-Based Marketing Tools for your business is a referral system. If you ask your audience to introduce you to their friends, you must then reward them fairly. Some websites, such as Affise, Referral Factory, and ReferralCandy, are useful for managing referrals and tracking their results.
Winner Picker Tools
A winner picker tool randomly selects winners (you insert the number of winners) from participants. These game-based marketing tools automatically gather data from platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to make sure the draw is fair and non-biased. Some of these game-based marketing tools also allow you to apply a filter based on certain rules. For example, it checks whether the user has tagged enough friends or doesn’t have a duplicate account. ViralSweep, Osortoo, and app-sorteos are some examples of these websites.
Telegram Bots
If your business is on Telegram, bots can be very helpful to automate tasks and manage referrals. Here are 3 ways that bots can help you get subscribers’ data for future campaigns, gain new followers, and reward the participants..
1) Get Personal Info for Further Use.
Some bots, like SmartBotsLand, let you set some questions that your audience must answer. All you have to do is create a “Form Maker” button in your bot and insert questions.
2) Force People to Join Your Channel.
If you want to force members to first join your Telegram group or channel before they can use your bot’s features and buttons, enable this button. This option works perfectly for subscription-based businesses and online shops.
3) Use Referral Programs to Reward the Participants.
Those businesses that want to grow their business on Telegram but have a limited budget use the referral program. All the bots in SmartBotsLand have a built-in referral system that helps you reward the participants. Here is the full tutorial on how to enable the referral system on Telegram bots.
Automation & Scheduling Tools
In campaigns, you’ll need tools to plan, schedule, and analyze your content across TikTok, Instagram, Telegram Channels, and Facebook. They let you create and schedule videos, posts, and captions in advance, so everything runs like clockwork. Some social media campaign tools also have analytics to find which posts drive the most clicks to your website, bot, or channel. Popular automation & scheduling tools in 2025 are:
- SocialBee: Best for generating content with AI, summarizing blogs, scheduling posts, and more.
- Pallyy: Best for scheduling posts on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other platforms. The platform has a simple UI, and its prices are quite affordable.
- Metricool: Good for social media and online ad management, posting content, analyzing the results, etc.
- Publer: Good for bulk posting on Telegram channels, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other platforms. This tool also helps analyze the data and explore the latest trends in industries.
A Few More Words about Telegram
Among the social media campaign tools, Telegram has proved to be a worthy one. It has all you need to run a successful campaign, increase your followers, and entertain the users with games. Let’s see why Telegram tools (AKA channels, groups, and bots) are so popular.
1. Channels for Sharing News
Telegram channels are perfect for sharing updates, news, or promotions with your audiences.
- You can share new games, discount offers, or event reminders.
- Add visuals, polls, or videos to keep your audience entertained.
- Combine it with bots to automatically send updates to new subscribers.
2. Groups for Building Trust
If you want real interaction, Telegram groups are where the magic happens. They allow players or customers to connect, share ideas, and participate in your challenges. You can run public competitions right inside your group, share fun polls, quizzes, or mini-games, welcome new members, remove spam and unwanted words, reward users with points or discounts, etc. Remember that a good “Group Management Bot” can reduce your responsibilities and give you more free time.
3. Bots for Automating Tasks
Telegram bots are small-scale applications that do the heavy lifting for your campaigns. They can automatically track actions, give out rewards, manage referrals, and handle payments. Here are 3 tips that might actually help you when working with Telegram bots and social media at the same time.
- Place your bot link (t.me/yourbot) in your Instagram bio, TikTok bio, or ad call-to-action.
- When users click it, your bot can instantly welcome them, collect info, or send bonuses (like a free eBook, coupon, or discount).
- When users are in your bot, you can send them campaign info, reminders, or upsells.
Example: You run a TikTok or Instagram campaign offering “Free crypto trading tips.” You ask the audience to click your Telegram bot for more information. The bot welcomes users, asks for their email or general information, and offers a “Pro Tips” subscription.
Also read: What is a subscription bot?
The Last Words
Game-based marketing tools help online businesses run campaigns at their finest. The best games that you can use on social media are riddles, puzzles, spinning the wheel, quizzes, and trivia games. Speaking of the games, don’t forget to reward the winners. Fun or educational games will cost you almost nothing (compared to billboard or TV ads), but they will increase your brand recognition, deepen your connection with your followers, and help your business grow faster.
FAQs about Game-Based Marketing Tools
- How do game-based marketing tools help my business?
They generate games, badges, a rewarding system, and fun challenges that excite your followers.
- Is spin-to-win still working?
Believe it or not, people still love the spin-to-win and getting free stuff, even if it’s a small product or 2% discount. If you have a website, add a spinning wheel to your purchase page and give giveaways to your customers. They will become loyal, purchasing customers if it repeatedly happens.
- Is there any AI that helps me with gamification marketing?
You can always use ChatGPT to get scenarios, videos, images, and more. But there are specific websites, such as Solitics and Dot.vu, that use AI and their built-in system to create marketing games.
- Is it a good idea to have a leaderboard?
Yes. Rank users based on performance in a game or challenge. People love to be on top of the board, so they will participate more and more.
Other Articles You Should Read
Best Content Plan for Telegram Channel + Best Publishing Time
Ask Me Anything Campaigns: Tips, Best Platforms, Examples
How to Sell Digital Products on Telegram
