How to Use Quizzes in Your Business Marketing Plan

 

You see quizzes all over Facebook and Twitter, often accompanied with people sharing their results. Those quizzes aren’t just for fun. Many of them are part of a larger marketing plan for small and large businesses alike. Your content marketing strategy might already include multimedia content, but does it involve quizzes, as well? They’re a great way to generate new leads in an extremely sharable format. Plus, you don’t need a big budget.

Start With an Idea

Like the other multimedia content you generate for your website, blog, and social media accounts, quizzes need to start with a good idea. Use your favorite brainstorming techniques to come up with quiz ideas. What audience are you trying to reach? Do you want to provide helpful information or offer a fun internet diversion to potential new customers?

Make sure the idea is relevant to your business, because this quiz is going to help you generate leads. Everyone who takes the quiz could receive product recommendations or personalized information based on their results. While you’re brainstorming, think about your goals for the quiz. Maybe you want to create buzz for a new product or service. Perhaps you want to expand your audience and client base. Your goals will help you decide your quiz’s concept.

While you’re brainstorming, remember that your quiz needs to have a catchy title or nobody will click on it. Come up with titles for your best concepts so you end up with extremely sharable material.

Choose Your Quiz Format

You need to decide if you want any image-based questions, if you want multiple choice or “select all that apply,” and more. Every question either keeps the audience clicking to the next page, or makes them close the window in annoyance, frustration, or boredom.

Generally, you don’t want questions to be too long or involved. Make them easy to read and quick to answer. Think about how many people will be taking your quiz on a smartphone during a short break at work, or under the table during a boring meeting.

Your quiz doesn’t have to be interactive. When the quiz isn’t linear (i.e. when a “yes” to one question leads to a different place than a “no” to that same question) an infographic is your best bet. Infographic quizzes often look like flow charts, directing people to the next relevant question based on their answers. It’s a tricky style to master, but you can learn what makes a great infographic quiz by studying multimedia content.

Sometimes people create infographic quizzes not because they believe people will actually take them, but because they want to prove a point or lead people to a conclusion. That doesn’t mean you can’t create a great interactive quiz that will offer people insight into a topic.

Create Great Content People Want to Share

Sharable internet quizzes come in one of two formats: a knowledge-based quiz, or a personality-based quiz. The knowledge quizzes ask questions that have right or wrong answers, then offer a score — usually as a percentage, just like in school — at the end. Think of something like “Can You Identify All These Famous Quotes?”

Personality quizzes ask a series of questions, then offer an outcome based on the answers. A quiz called “Which Harry Potter Character Are You?” is a good example.

People are more likely to share quizzes when they’re proud of the results. When you’re creating a knowledge quiz, make it relatively easy, even if your title claims it’s difficult. When you’re creating a personality quiz, make sure all the possible outcomes will please the quiz takers.

If you choose an infographic format for your quiz, you’ll need to use a stellar design to get people to share the quiz. Since the quiz isn’t as interactive, people can take and share it without displaying their results. You may decide to share an infographic quiz instead of an interactive quiz for a subject that isn’t as “fun” as “finding out what color your soul is”, or for a subject that’s a little thorny.

Give Your Audience a Reason to Offer Personal Information

Many quizzes ask for an e-mail address or access to a social media account before the results pop up. You don’t have to force people to share their information with you to get their results, but you want to make a compelling case for collecting their information.

Some options are offering free downloadable material, entering people into a contest or giveaway, or promising more great content where that came from. Be transparent about why you want people’s information and what you’ll use it for. If you recommend products or services based on quiz results, consider offering people a coupon they can apply to their purchase if they, for example, sign up for your newsletter or create a free account on your site.

Share Your Quiz

Now that you know how to make a sharable quiz, you need to get it out there so people can start taking it! Promoting your quizzes on social media is similar to promoting your other content. You’ll want short, dynamic posts that entice people to click. Attach an image and use a snappy headline. Give people a hint about what they’ll get when they take the quiz: insight, free stuff, a good laugh?

Work on Lead Conversion

You’ve attracted new people and gained their interest and contact information. Now it’s time to turn those leads into customers. Start by sending a thank-you e-mail. Then, make sure you stay on their radars. You could send an e-mail prompting them to take other quizzes you’ve created, or send them other content that will create familiarity with your brand. Finally, incentivize a purchase with a coupon or one of your other favorite lead-conversion tactics.

Are you ready to create some quizzes? As was the case when you were learning to create great content, you might have to craft a few quizzes before you get the hang of the format. Once you make a quiz people want to take, you’ll love the number of new leads this fantastic format generates!

 

Jeremy Lang is a BusinessTown.com contributor.