Behold the era of fun, engaging and enticing content marketing and say goodbye to text- dense, word-heavy, content marketing! There is a new trend in content marketing hitting the social media landscape, in a fun way by bringing back the classic quiz. You know the type that have been popular since 90’s, like quizzes that determine your favourite celebrity crush.
Quizzes as a content marketing tool creates an interactive user experience that is less static and more engaging, allowing marketers to boost interaction with users rather than strictly providing text-dense content. Now, we are involving our audience through the use of interactive content, such as quizzes, calculators, blogs and social media. We still love the use of text for inbound marketing, but we the classic quiz as a content marketing as a tool is working to expand our current marketing strategies.
Why the quiz?
Quizzes are trendy in marketing right now because, let’s face it, they are engaging, interactive, provide quick information and are extremely addictive. Take Buzzfeed for example, a social media site that has put quizzes back on the map with their popular formula of “ What kind of ____ are you?”, “What ___ should you do?” Their site features trending and up-to-date social media buzz that entices users to participate. One of Buzzfeeds most popular quizzes to date is “what Grease pink lady are you?” with 20+ million views. These addictive personality tests suggest that Buzzfeed is onto something that may actually provide brands and marketers with an opportunity to expand current marketing strategies.
Spreading content wide and far
Overall, quizzes work because they trigger personal curiosity — at the end of a quiz there is an option to share your results on social media, which leads to why Buzzfeed has exploded with popularity, as quizzes of this nature are designed to create engagement and awareness and, of course, be shared. Creating content that your users want to share is the easy part because content you may already have developed can be repurposed for a quiz! Website blogs and checklists such as “What to look for when buying a new car?” or “How to get your house market-ready?” can easily fit the quiz template, as long as it fits the criteria of shareable, engaging content.
Buzzfeed has rapidly taken over Facebook shares due to the social media site playing off Facebook user’s views and values, that it should help users express and connect with friends and family, and content should be appropriate for all. In addition to creating content that users want to share, it is important that content is eye-catching through the Facebook headline, excerpt and image. Visually appealing content will be shared more frequently.
Create and support brand value
Quizzes, like other premium content, should always support your brand and your value while offering your users valuable information. Your customers want to support and engage with your brand, as long as you are offering something that is worth their time and they believe in you. Quizzes can also prove valuable to your brand by providing customer-based research and development by generating quizzes that help customers provide valuable feedback for service strategies.
Quiz results will provide you with the answers you need about how your brand/ products are perceived. If customers repetitively get answers incorrect, it may be a sign to adjust your marketing plan accordingly.
Ready to create your first content marketing quiz? Consider:
- What is interesting to your target market? what do they know or not know about a topic of interest?What interests them?
- What is trending?
- What questions related to these topics relate to your brand and your audience’s knowledge of what is out there currently?What are the campaign objectives to the development of your quiz? What is this content piece overall goal? By associating the quiz into a key KPI objective, you can gain traction from views and interactions.
Key tips for a killer quiz
1. Include a stellar image to ensure you get maximum shares via social media. Posts with images get double the shares than those without
2. Consider which day of the week to publish. This can impact views and social sharing; according to researchers, the best day to post for maximum views is Tuesday.
3. Keep it short and sweet. Your quiz should be able to be completed within 10 - 12 questions or less and according to Qzzr, the average quiz takes 2 minutes and 17 seconds
4. Provide immediate answers. We are a society of instant gratification, of course, we don’t want to be kept waiting.
5. Come up with a killer title. This will determine users’ interests’ immediately and should be short and precise stating what outcome the user can expect, and what they will know by the end of the quiz
6. Decide what quiz builder you will use: there are a variety out there depending on your needs, like Qzzr, Quiz Works, Playbuzz and Free Online Surveys.
7. Remember practice really does make perfect. If your first quiz doesn’t go viral overnight, don’t sweat it. Instead calculate the results to examine where users commonly went wrong, was it too hard? Not the right types of questions? Wrong audience? And prepare for better results next time with your accumulated feedback.
Quizzes are a great content marketing strategy for engaging customers, interacting through social media and creating brand awareness. Through interactive social content, users are engaged and feedback is an open door. This really is a great way to develop content marketing pieces and change up the content game and expand your current marketing strategies. Need a quiz to help you get to know the needs of your target audience. We can help!