Social Media Tracker: Which igaming brands used social media to showcase their charity work in 2020?

Many of the most successful igaming brands are those which strongly promote the community spirit and have managed to build their brand in this way. Players need to feel as though they are a part of something and so faceless brands that don’t interact with players tend to be ignored in favour of bigger brands with better marketing strategies.

In 2020, we saw some leading operators give back by donating funds to charities. While some did this in private, others used their social media to showcase their charity work to players in order to build on that community aspect. This month, we’re looking at leading brands such as Gala Bingo to see how they gave back in 2020.

Why showcase giving on social media?

Some brands prefer to keep their charity donations private and avoid promoting information about them on social media channels. However, there are some clear benefits to using Facebook or Twitter to showcase your giving campaigns including the fact that Facebook allows for charity donations.

According to a report by Non-Profits Source, 18% of donors worldwide have given through Facebook fundraising tools. Additionally, 84% of Facebook users use these channels to show their support for a cause.

For this reason, operators using Facebook or other social channels to showcase their donations can also actively encourage others to give – and provide them with the tools to do so easily.

Additionally, you’ll find that brands that give back to charity are often seen in a better light than others. While charity donations should never be given with an ulterior motive, it doesn’t hurt the brand image if the right cause is chosen.

Case study: Gala Bingo

igaming operator Gala Bingo was founded in 1991 and since then has gone on to become one of the leading operators in the industry. Gala Bingo has a fantastic website and a strong social media presence across all channels. Its Facebook page currently has over 163K likes and on Twitter the Gala Bingo account has 19K followers.

The large following that Gala Bingo has accumulated over the years is due to the strong branding and engaging content it regularly creates. It uses branded graphics and regularly interacts with players.

For several years now, Gala Bingo has been working with the 52 Lives charity. It runs a 52 Lives Bingo game which allows it to raise money for its charity partners. The operator recently noted that this room raised a total of £412,473.70 since it began. It also added that it was able to donate £90,000 in 2020 due to this fundraising attempt.

Over the festive period in December 2020, Gala Bingo used this charity work to create a new marketing campaign named the ‘12 Lives of Christmas’. This was heavily promoted on social media and it helped to showcase the people that the raised funds would be supporting.

This campaign was carried out through a series of graphics with the Gala logo and gifts that would be given. Some of the people to benefit from the funds raised include Liam who suffers from MS, young people living on their own and Aleisha, an 11-year-old with blood cancer.

These posts were received well on social media with players ‘liking’ and commenting on the posts. Others shared the posts and engaged by showing their support in the comments.

The way in which Gala Bingo carried out this campaign was impressive. It told the stories of the people benefiting from their giving and this encouraged players to give more together. Hopefully, over 2021, Gala Bingo will be able to collect more donations for the 52 Lives charity.

How did other operators do?

Gala Bingo wasn’t the only leading operator to give back to charity in 2020 but it did have an impressive campaign to encourage players to give more to good causes. Many operators gave their annual donations to GambleAware with this charity receiving £820,000 in the first quarter of the year.

It is also worth noting that Jackpotjoy’s parent group Gamesys donated £83,000 to Alzheimer’s Research UK in memory of their previous brand ambassador Dame Barbara Windsor. The operator may not have specifically promoted this donation on social media, but it was soon picked up by news outlets which noticed the kind comment that the firm left on the JustGiving page in her memory. This cause was clearly close to the heart of the team at Jackpotjoy and so it was a kind gesture in memory of the actor’s death in December.

Can charity donations be promoted positively?

Promoting charity donations on social media can be a risky strategy but, if it is done right, it can actively encourage more charity work to be done. Perhaps if Gala Bingo hadn’t created its 12 Lives of Christmas campaign and promoted it so well, players wouldn’t have flocked to play in the charity bingo room which donates 100% of profits.

We hope that, in 2021, other leading operators use their social media for good and give back to charities. This will help them to build a loving community of players and show that they are here to support everyone.

Sharon McFarlane is the managing director of Crystal Content – a digital marketing agency that specialises in igaming. She has eight years’ experience in the industry and has contributed regularly to industry magazines and conferences sharing her expertise on all things digital marketing. Her company (www.crystalcontent.co.uk) offers an outsourced solution for igaming businesses when it comes to content marketing, social media, UX design, website design, branding and conversion rate optimisation.