If I Had 1 Million Pounds I Would…..

If I Had 1 million pounds I would…..

Why fill-in-the-blank #social media posts are so addictive.

So, what would you do if you have 1 million pounds, or what would you do if you found a suitcase full of bank notes in a deserted park, or could be the king or queen of England for one day?

The great thing about fill-in-the-blank social media posts is that they are so addictive. People cannot help themselves, and will often feel compelled to respond, regardless of the subject matter.

This is why they are such a good social engagement tool for you to use to break the ice with your followers, and give them a chance to exchange ideas, opinions and viewpoints with you.

Getting to know your social media followers, their tastes, likes and dislikes is important if you want to build trust and loyalty. So posing questions like these can be too irresistible for them to scroll past.

Your question does not need to be #business related

Remember that we as small business owners are supposed to use social media sites such as #Facebook, #Twitter and Tumblr to build a loyal and engaged following – not to shove product down their throats!

Make your fill-in-the-blank posts fun and whimsical rather than as an opportunity for a hard-sell. You can be forgiven some obvious overlap where you are in a business that sells something extremely desirable such as food, drinks or confectionery.

For example, you could be in the business of making hand-made luxury ice-cream, so you could say ‘If I found £50 in the street, and could keep it, I would buy…..’ and then say 10 tubs of our bespoke strawberry ice-cream, as that is my ultimate favourite ice-cream.

I cannot see that answering the same question with ’50 pairs of rubber insoles’ would have quite the same impact, if that is the business that you were in!

Fill-in-the-blank topic that are popular on Facebook

These are amongst the most popular fill-in-the-blank topics that work very well for businesses on Facebook. Maybe some of these could also work well for you too?

• Holiday and festive related
  Your own industry related
  Business or product related, if appropriate
  Currently trending topics in the news

Example: Holiday and festive Fill-in-the-Blanks

Everyone gets excited during the build up to a holiday, so you could post something like, ‘What I would like to find in my perfect Christmas Stocking would be……’ You could make your post completely random, or subtly tie it in to any of the above popular examples, if you prefer.

Or you could go for something obviously appealing to your main demographic, such as wine, chocolate or even George Clooney – if your chosen demographic was largely female!

Get creative with your fill-in-the-blank posts. Think about what your readership would be interested in at Christmas. Here are some other ideas you could use:

• ‘If I could do a trolley dash around my local supermarket this Christmas, I would head to the …….isle, because…..’
  ‘My ideal tipple at a New Year’s party would be…..’
  ‘I would like Santa to leave me a ……..under the Christmas Tree’
  ‘My main New Year Resolution this year will be…….’

You are allowed to have a lot of fun with this socially engaging idea, and it can be incredibly addictive.

So, now it is your turn! Give yourself 10 minutes to come up with a few fun fill-in-the-blank topics for your next social media campaign.