A quiz as a power tool in Content Marketing
Natalie Ediger, September 16, 2020· Content Marketing
Who were you in a previous life? Which celebrity does your personality resemble? Which city are you made for? These and similar quiz questions are especially popular on social media. But a quiz can also be used in many different ways in a company and can also provide valuable customer information. And by that, we don’t mean that you finally find out whether your customer would rather be a cucumber or a tomato (or similar silly quizzes that you can find on social media). Stay tuned, we explain you how and why a quiz has developed to a power tool in content marketing.
What is a quiz?
For most of you, a quiz will probably not be a neologism. But, to make sure there are no misunderstandings, here is a short definition. A quiz is a question and answer game to test the user’s knowledge in an entertaining way. A quiz can be used in many different ways, regardless of the industry, and can thus support the customer in his decision-making process in order to make the right purchase choice. The online quiz in particular has therefore become increasingly important.
How can a quiz be used in a company?
Since a quiz is a very interactive tool, it allows a higher engagement and attention of the target group and thus builds a stronger bond between customer and brand. At the same time it provides valuable insights about customer behavior.
You can use a quiz in a variety of different ways:
Employee survey: In internal communication, a quiz serves as a tool for further training and offers a change from the regular workflow. This can increase employee motivation, but it also allows employees to find out about the company’s knowledge. A creative break with a fun factor!
Social media: A quiz can quickly go viral, especially on social networks. Whether entertaining and funny or more in the direction of specialist knowledge, users like to share their results with the community and thus motivate their own network to take part in it.
E-mail Marketing: A boring ordinary e-mail no longer works. With an integrated quiz you can give your e-mail campaign much higher opening and click-through rates.
Web page: Because of the high entertainment factor, the target group interacts much more with the content. This also increases the dwell time of the users on the webpage and thus helps you to get a better SEO ranking.
E-Learning: Playful elements activate completely different synapses in the brain than static facts and figures. With a quiz, you thus promote the learning effect and remain longer in the memory of the target group.
What types of quizzes are available?
The classic crossword puzzle? Oh, there are many more options!
You can design your quiz with different question types and as different formats. Here is a small selection:
Multiple choice questions are particularly suitable for knowledge tests, e.g. within employee training, but also for general consumer questions.
Ranking questions (Likert Scale)
Open questions
right/wrong tests
Personality tests: This format is particularly popular on social media.
Scored Quiz: Here, depending on the answer, your points are added up at the end to get a result based on your total score. This is often designed in the form of personality tests.
In the end, you can give free rein to your creativity, especially in an online quiz. In addition to knowledge questions, you can of course also create completely different entertaining formats that will captivate your target group. Regardless of the type of quiz you choose, we make sure that the design, graphics and interactive elements are perfectly in tune with your target group, the company image and your goal.
Do you really need a quiz in your content strategy?
The marketing potential of a quiz is often underestimated because we usually associate it with unnecessary and silly games on social networks. If designed correctly though, a quiz cannot only provide valuable customer data, but also generate leads and establish a connection between brand and customer. Here are some points why it is definitely worth integrating a quiz:
Entertaining and interactive
Unlike other content formats, a quiz encourages active participation. Everything that is fun motivates us to participate and awakens positive associations. In this way, you not only get better engagement rates, but also make sure that your brand remains in the audience’s long term memory.
Easy to share
According to Buzzuomo, a quiz is shared on average 1900 times. The more exciting and interactive you make the quiz, the greater the chances of attracting organic traffic to your website.
Consumer Insights
With the right topic and the right questions, you can obtain valuable information about your customers. However, it is especially important that you do this inconspicuously. The customer should not get the feeling it is a consumer survey, but an entertaining game.
How to create a good quiz?
For a quiz to become a valuable marketing tool, it must be interactive, entertaining and easy to share. The following steps should be considered:
Set the topic and title
Let’s start with some brainstorming! After all, the quiz should also provide some outcome for you. Ideally, the quiz addresses the “pain point” of the customer. If you promise to give an answer that will be relevant for the potential customers, it will not be difficult to motivate them to participate.
Define possible outcomes
Before we dive into the questions and answers, it is easiest to start with the final results and then determine the questions and answers based on them.
The outcomes should be as shareable as possible and produce positive associations. Nobody wants to share negative outcomes with friends and family.
Define questions and answers
Proceed strategically here so that the entire quiz also provides valuable insights about your target group.
Create the quiz
Now it’s time for your creativity! In particular, integrate interactive elements, icons and graphics to make the quiz as attractive as possible for the audience. There are a number of online platforms that make it easy to create a quiz and integrate it into the website. However, it can often make more sense to work with an agency that creates exactly the right format for your target audience and a professional design.
In order for you to profit in the best possible way in terms of lead generation, the result should first be sent to the user by e-mail.
The CTA
Do not just interrupt the quiz abruptly! At the very least, integrate the web page or social networks to motivate your viewers to continue and stay in touch with them.
There are also a few useful extras to consider:
keep the quiz as short as possible. Limit yourself to a maximum of 2-3 minutes so that the user does not lose interest. Don’t forget that today’s attention span is only 8 seconds, so there is not much time for “bla-bla”.
give the quiz the necessary “personality” to breathe some life into the quiz. Ideally it should be in line with the brand and corporate design.
Integrate visual elements to make the design more attractive. The more attractive the quiz, the higher the probability that the user will play the quiz.
Conclusion
Entertaining and short are actually the keywords for successful content marketing today. The quiz also provides valuable information about the customer. Look for positive results that users are happy to share, use easily understandable questions and keep the whole quiz short and concise. An additionally appealing design and visual elements arouse the interest of the target group.
By the way, one of Buzzfeed’s most successful quizzes consists of just 10 questions and has been shared 4.8 million times. Well, if that wasn’t worth it…? What are you waiting for? Bring some change to your content and make the quiz part of your marketing strategy.