Social media has become an integral part of most people’s lives. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat allow users to stay connected, share life updates, and express themselves. As social media grows more saturated, brands need creative ways to engage their target audience. One way to accomplish this is through interactive social media posts.
What is an interactive post?
An interactive post is social media content that involves the audience and invites them to participate. It goes beyond static text, photos, or videos by allowing users to click, tap, comment, vote, and otherwise interact with the post. This creates a two-way conversation between brands and users.
Some examples of interactive social media posts include:
- Polls or surveys
- Quizzes or challenges
- Contests or giveaways
- “Fill in the blank” captions
- AR filters or lenses
- Interactive videos or gifs
- Ask me anything (AMA) Q&As
These types of posts encourage engagement rather than passive consumption. When users actively participate with content, they feel more connected to the brand behind it. Interactive content also tends to get higher reach and engagement rates compared to static posts.
Why create interactive social media posts?
Here are some of the top reasons brands should consider using interactive content:
- Increase engagement: Interactive posts by nature elicit likes, comments, shares, and other engagement.
- Get feedback: You can use interactive content to run polls, conduct market research, or crowdsource ideas from your audience.
- Build a community: Interactive content brings people together around a shared experience and facilitates two-way conversation.
- Encourage shares: Users are more likely to share content that made them participate rather than passive posts.
- Entertain and delight: Quizzes, games, and other interactive content add fun and variety to your social feeds.
- Educate: Interactive posts like quizzes can teach your audience in an engaging way.
- Drive traffic: Interactive content often redirects users to your website, app or online shop after participating.
In short, interactive posts help you connect with users, gather insights, and accomplish business goals through social media.
Types of interactive social media posts
Now let’s explore some of the most popular kinds of interactive content you can create.
Polls and surveys
Polling your audience is an easy way to engage. You can ask an open-ended question or have users vote between set options. Polls work best when questions are relevant to your audience and align with broader campaign goals. For example, a cooking brand can ask about favorite recipes or kitchen gadgets. A travel company can survey dream destinations.
Keep polls short and digestible. They have limited space on most platforms. Examples include:
- What’s your favorite [brand] product?
- Are you team A or team B?
- What’s on your summer bucket list?
- Cats or dogs?
Polls drive engagement and provide quick opinions and data points. However, surveys allow you to ask more detailed questions. They help capture audience demographics, preferences, and feedback. SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Google Forms, and SurveyLegend are popular survey tools.
Quizzes and challenges
Quizzes have a trivia-like format and tend to go viral when done right. Users love sharing their results. Add an element of fun by using quirky questions or tying into pop culture. Go beyond text-based quizzes with options like:
- Choose your own adventure stories
- Interactive videos or gifs
- AR filters that reveal quiz results
Challenges invite users to participate in an activity. Examples include:
- Photo challenges – Recreate a famous photo
- Caption contests – Come up with funny captions
- Dance challenges – Post a video doing a dance trend
- Hashtag challenges – Tag posts to participate in a meme
To drive engagement, tie challenges to broader campaigns or initiatives. Document hashtags so users can discover and contribute user-generated content (UGC).
Contests and giveaways
Contests allow participants to enter for a chance to win a prize by completing simple actions like liking, commenting, or sharing. Legally require entrants to follow your brand so you gain new followers. Make prizes relevant to your brand and audience – think free products, gift cards, or unique experiences.
Common contest formats include:
- Photo contests: Post a photo based on a theme
- Caption contests: Come up with creative captions
- Hashtag contests: Share user-generated content around a hashtag
- Loop giveaways: Users tag friends to spread the word
- Trivia contests: Answer questions correctly to win
Clearly communicate contest rules like age limits, regions, deadlines, and selection criteria. Use a third-party app like Woobox or Rafflecopter to collect and select entries. Follow local laws for sweepstakes-type contests.
“Fill in the blank” captions
“Fill in the blank” posts turn static images into interactive content. Brands share posts with statement starters, unfinished sentences, or blank spaces. Users reply with clever, funny, or outrages captions to complete it. It taps into user creativity and humor.
Examples include:
- The best thing about [your brand/product] is ___
- I couldn’t live without [your product] because ___
- [Brand] makes me feel ___
- This photo of [mascot] makes it look like ___
To increase reach, invite users to tag friends who would come up with great captions. Pick a winning caption to feature in a follow-up post.
AR filters and lenses
AR technology allows users to engage with fun overlays and effects using their mobile camera. Branded AR experiences include:
- Filters – Add images or text that stick to faces or environments
- Lenses – Animate 3D objects like animals or objects in the camera view
- Effects – Manipulate facial features, hair, accessories and more
Users love sharing AR content. Encourage UGC by making filters and lenses available and accessible. Promote hashtags to unify AR content. Partner with influencers to demonstrate effects and drive adoption. Snapchat and Instagram are leading platforms for branded AR.
Interactive video
Interactive videos increase storytelling engagement on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Viewers can influence the video storyline through elements like:
- Tap/click choice points – Choose the story direction
- Hotspots – Click characters or objects for extra details
- Shopping tags – Tap to reveal product info and links
- Stickers and GIFs – Add visuals that pop up in sync
- Data integrations – Tailor videos based on viewer location, interests, and traits
Using video editing tools, inject these interactive elements at strategic touchpoints. Guide users without overly disrupting the flow. Hypetap, VidMob, and Eko are leading interactive video platforms.
Ask me anything (AMA) Q&As
AMA-style social posts allow your brand to have a direct conversation with your audience. Pose an opening question and invite users to ask anything in the comments. Your social media manager or a company executive can respond in real-time.
Customize the format to match brand voice – an informal chat session or an executive “press conference.” Time AMAs around product launches, company news, or upcoming events. Respond to questions thoughtfully and transparently to nurture community.
Best practices for interactive posts
Follow these tips to create effective, engaging interactive content:
- Match brand voice:Interactive posts should reflect your brand personality and tone.
- Mind length: Keep questions, prompts, and instructions short and scannable.
- Time it right: Promote interactive posts when target audiences are most active.
- Use images: Posts with relevant photos or videos tend to get 75% more engagement.
- Make it shareable: Encourage users to invite friends or share results.
- Know your audience: Tailor content and engagement incentives to what motivates them.
- Simplify participation: Reduce required effort through one-tap voting, autofill, etc.
- Provide value: Offer rewards like deals, entertainment, or free products.
- Limit frequency: Avoid overwhelming your audience across channels.
Test different types of interactive posts to see what resonates most with your audience. Analyze engagement metrics and listener feedback to refine your approach over time.
Where to create interactive social posts
Now that you know what interactive posts are and how to create them, let’s explore some of the top platforms to publish them on.
Facebook is ideal for interactive content given the size of active daily users. Take advantage of built-in features like polls, challenges, stickers, and questions prompts. Use Facebook Stories to add AR effects and stickers. Promote posts to wider audiences beyond your core following. Track engagement insights in Facebook Analytics.
Instagram lends itself to visually engaging polls, quizzes, AR effects, and shoppable posts. Leverage swipe up links, shoppable tags, and stickers in Stories. Partner with influencers on collaborative challenges and filters. Use AMAs or “ask me in comments” prompts in feed posts. Measure metrics like saves, shares, comments, and traffic via Instagram Insights.
Twitter polls are hugely popular for quick surveys. Also engage followers with shareable personality quizzes and topical hashtags. Tweet conversational content with AMA-style Q&As. Partner with influencers for co-hosted Twitter chats or tweet-a-thons around events. Track tweet engagement and click-throughs in Twitter Analytics.
TikTok
On TikTok, challenge prompts and hashtags drive viral video content. Launch a branded challenge and encourage UGC. Use stickers, effects, and green screen templates to make video creation accessible. Collaborate with creators to demonstrate challenges and features. Track challenge views, entries, and engagement via TikTok analytics.
Snapchat
Snapchat is made for fun, engaging AR experiences. Create branded lenses, filters, and stickers for everyday sharing or tie them to specific campaigns. Promote unique Snapchat content across other social channels. Use Snap Pixel or Partner APIs to measure Snapchat activity.
YouTube
YouTube supports various interactive content to drive video engagement. Use info cards, links, playlists and end screens for built-in CTAs. Embed quizzes before videos. Add poll overlays to gauge reactions in real-time. Use YouTube Analytics to track time on site, traffic sources, and other metrics.
Measuring results
It’s important to analyze metrics to continually optimize your social media strategy. Track data like:
- Impressions and reach
- Engagement rate
- Link clicks / actions
- Contest or UGC entries
- Content shares and tags
- Conversion rate
- Audience polls and feedback
Compare interactive posts to static content. See which formats and strategies perform best. Personalize approaches per platform. Use what you learn to improve future social initiatives.
Tools for creating interactive posts
Consider these tools to streamline interactive content creation:
- Adobe Spark: Easily create polls, quizzes, stories and videos.
- Zyro: Build full-featured online quizzes and surveys.
- Snappa: Craft engaging social media graphics and images.
- Canva: Access templates for social posts, quizzes, and more.
- Eko: Produce interactive video content.
- Woobox: Launch social media contests, sweepstakes and more.
- Overly: Add interactive elements to social videos.
Conclusion
Interactive social media posts provide a fun, engaging way for brands to connect with their audience. Polls, quizzes, challenges, AMAs, AR effects, and other formats invite participation over passive consumption. Tailor interactive content to platform strengths and brand voice for the best results.
Test different types of posts and continuously optimize based on performance data. When done thoughtfully, you can gain valuable consumer insights, increase reach and engagement, and drive business objectives through social interactivity.