One of the main selling points of the humble game of bingo was that it was a great way to be sociable. For many communities, bingo halls were the heart and soul of socialising, hosting plenty of activities that extended far beyond a bit of eyes down action. And online bingo operators have been focused on making sure that online roomies can experience the same buzzy atmosphere that made bingo so popular in the first place. But for 2010, we think Bingo is going to become more sociable than ever, and in ever changing ways.
This is for a number of reasons. Primarily, most online bingo companies know that although bonuses and free bingo and massive bingo jackpots are great ideas, without someone to share your win with, online bingo could become a very lonely place. And secondarily, and perhaps more of a growing concern for some bingo operators, is that restrictions on online bingo advertising are becoming tighter. Now that online bingo is worth big bucks, advertising watchdogs are paying closer scrutiny to bingo operators. Last year we saw that with Tombola Bingo having to pull adverts because they were too appealing to children. And recently, Facebook made a controversial decision to scrap online bingo ads hosted on their site, placing bingo on their “morally unacceptable” list.
But we think it will be through sites like Facebook that you’ll really see the big changes in the “social factor” in online bingo. Sure enough, a lot of sites including Foxy Bingo, Crown Bingo, Posh Bingo and Wink Bingo already have popular fan pages on Facebook, and utilise Twitter. And Wink Bingo are already becoming a bit of social media trailblazer with their very own social network “Wink Me”. But we think 2010 will be the year operators really start using social networking tools to their full potential. Why? Because building player networks on these social networks really helps online bingo operators reach a huge range of people using one of the only tried, tested and proven great ways of marketing: word of mouth.
And if you are a fan of a bingo site, why wouldn’t you spread the word? With more people turning to online bingo, and the online bingo chatrooms often acting as the social hub of the website, it seems likely that online bingo fans are going to play a much more active part in the marketing process – and will be handsomely rewarded for their hard work! Take for example Wink Bingo and Posh Bingo’s recent snow picture competitions, in which players that shared their pics of the snow flurries in their area stood a chance of scooping a massive 10,000 BPs!
This idea of “the more the merrier” is perfectly summarised by some of the referral reward schemes many bingo sites run as a means of attracting wider audiences to their offers. And no surprises that Wink Bingo are offering one of the very best out their, paying out a whopping 15,000BPs for every single referral. Plus with a £15 bonus on first deposits, everyone is a winner! We reckon these promos are just the tip of the social iceberg for bingo. Our advice? Be prepared to start spreading the word in 2010 – and you could find yourself a big online bingo winner!
