by 
By Marissa Kasarov
Okay, the days of pulling the wool over the eyes of the consumer are over. There’s not a soul alive today who believes that social media is about anything other than marketing. Sharing with friends is secondary, and our society has come to accept it… embrace it, even. Marketers and business owners who pretend otherwise are terribly behind the times.
That doesn’t mean that social media should be boring, though. Take the Super Bowl and its commercials, for instance. This is the perfect example of how advertisements can not only be fun, but even sometimes steal the show. It’s time for businesses to start looking at social media in a similar light. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter can still be entertaining for both the business and the consumer. Here are a few prompts for posting content that is fun for everyone:
Infographics.
They’re colorful, they’re popular, and people love them. I mean, they really love them. Close your eyes and think of any topic. Now enter that word into your search bar, followed by the word “infographic”. Did Google just give you thousands of matching results? (Answer: yes.) There’s a reason for that. The public loves to consume infographics, and businesses love to produce and share them. Incorporate these into your marketing strategy, and try your best to put a fun, cheeky spin on it. Go on… give it a shot, and let us know how that turns out.
“Fill in the Blank” Questions
I know you remember Mad Libs, right? For those of you who are unfamiliar, this was the fill-in-the-blank game that was an absolute HIT in any situation that involved a large crowd. Groups of friends (or totally strangers, whatever) would play the game together, and the end result would be a story that made no sense at all, but had the whole room in stitches. It was truly a blast, and marketers stand to learn a lot from this party favorite.
As it applies to Facebook, try throwing a fill-in-the-blank question on your business page, and ask your audience to respond Mad Lib –style. Make the question on-brand and something that will delight your audience, of course, but give them the freedom to delight you right back. You’ll love it, I promise.
Quizzes
Please admit that you have taken a quiz from the pages of your favorite magazine at least once. We know you have, and there’s a good reason for that. They’re easy for the creator to create, and they’re fun for the taker to take. It’s a pretty simple formula of mutual benefit. The short version is that they are just a lot of fun.
Of course, you wouldn’t want to post a 25-question longform quiz to your Facebook page and request a proctored response. However, quick one-question quizzes are awesome, and as a side note, they also work perfectly with Twitter’s new polling feature.
Be sure to throw some sarcastic or silly multiple choice options in there!
These are just a few prompts to get you started, but it’s easy to see how a bit of outside-of-the-box thinking can get you a very large, loyal, and engaged following. Before you know it, you’ll have more likes and shares than The Biebs. Can you imagine?
Need more help with using social media for your business? Our Social Media eBook should help!
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