Cultura RM/J J D/Getty Images
What Beyonce song are you? From 1950s trivia to TV shows, everyone is getting quizzed these days on Facebook. In 2013, the New York Times created the “How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk” quiz to test your dialect and determine where you grew up. That one marketing asset led to the newspaper’s most online visits ever. The “Sound of Music” quiz drew attention to a major arts organization in Chicago and, most recently, BuzzFeed went viral with their “What City Should You Actually Live In?”
Consumers love all things culture, especially when it comes to proving their knowledge or learning something about themselves. Who remembers a little game in the 1980s called Trivial Pursuit? The question is how can you use social media quizzes to create marketing history for your clients?
What Makes a Good Quiz?
Just like any marketing tool, a quiz should engage the target audience. A client promoting a radio station for young people is not going to do well with a quiz about “I Love Lucy,” but one about the “The Big Bang Theory” sets the right tone. The first rule of a good quiz is to make it relevant to your target demographic. Other key factors include:
- Write a catchy title – You want a headline that will make your readers jump at the chance to click that link and take the quiz.
- Hook them with a neat image – The quiz title is important, but the hook picture is what they’ll notice first.
- Make your questions conversational – This isn’t the SATs. Keep the questions casual and fun.
Coming Up With a Plan
Pick a topic that relates to the brand that you are promoting. A good example of this is BioLites quiz: “What Would You Do With 10 Watts?” This quiz promises to find your power personality, but what it really does it get people thinking about being prepared if the power goes out.
Since BioLite sells products like the FlexLight and the CampStove, that quiz makes sense for them. Insurance writers might create questions that guess the state someone lives in based on different driving habits, for example. You can focus your quiz on identifying personality traits like the New York Times did or testing the limits of your audience knowledge.
Once you have the concept down, formulate your questions and answers. Dull, dry questions will guarantee the viewers bounce before getting to the big finish, so make sure the quiz has plenty of personality. Attach a colorful and engaging image to each question, too, just to up the fun factor.
There is a lot more to quiz generation, but that will get you moving in the right direction. Once you have the quiz written, you need to find a presentation platform and create a marketing strategy that includes automated metrics, so you know how well the quiz works for your client.
Darla F is a full-time freelance writer who specializes in helping agencies meet their goals by developing creative and engaging content.
