“Ask me a question. Ask me anything.”
I remember saying that phrase to some boy (or several boys. ahem.)that I might have been crushing on. Wanting him to ask something, so I could talk about myself unbridled and without self regulation. I mean after all- HE ASKED ME right? So I wouldn’t have to show restraint right? Ugh. The silly games of the heart we play…
But what about that? Let’s face facts, we human like to be asked questions and social media communities are no exception. It is a well used (perhaps over used) technique to increase those much watched engagement numbers to end the proactive posts on the social platforms with a question. “what is your favorite flavor?”, “what are you doing today?”…you have seen them all from almost every brand.
In fact we have all seen it so much, we are now less compelled (and flattered) that a brand is asking for our opinion. We are less inclined to believe that a brand CARES about us more, because they are asking questions about our life.
So does this mean we should stop asking questions? Of course not silly.
We just need to be smarter about it….
1. Ask things that actually matter to your brand. Ask your community about packaging preferences or product changes. Ask about new services they desire. You want to ask things, that will result in answers you will actually USE. Communities know the difference.
2. Stop asking people to ‘like’ or to ‘share’. Communities like to come to that decision on their own-so let them. If you have good content they will share. If your content is just average, you should be embarrassed to ask them to share it with their friends.
3. Ask questions about your content. In other words- make it a mini-game like asking to find mistakes in photos, or asking about their favorite part of a video. Ask about things they can answer without leaving the page. You are asking them to get involved-which organically results in genuine engagement.
So go on brands. Ask me a (smart) question.
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Hey- if you do want to ask me question I can be reached 24/7 at marcymassura@gmail.com. Also I was asked some tough questions on Google Plus recently- you can read my responses…HERE
