Is it strange that we openly share which state we should actually live in and what celebrity should be our roommate? Perhaps it is, but that hasn’t deterred over 4.3 million people from tweeting with #quiz in the last week. We’ve got an addiction, and it’s called quizzes.
What are the fundamental reasons for our undying need to take quizzes?
First, being categorized helps us make sense of the world. If I’m supposed to live in Texas and so are a bunch of my friends, I feel safe and like I belong. Slate editor Emma Roller had this to say on categorization “We like to believe the world is categorize-able,” having categories keeps things safe and simple.
Second, sharing our results makes our own journey through life significant. “Experience is important – personal experience – but it doesn’t really make sense – doesn’t live for you until you tell someone about it.” – Joseph Campbell, Philosopher
Third, we desire connection. Quizzes allow connection in two ways; we are able to “talk” with the quiz while we’re answering the questions, and we’re also able to connect with people who get the same result as us. Humans are designed to enjoy connection, and we actually get a high when engaging in conversation, quizzes let us do that.
That’s great, how do I get involved?
First, make your own Buzzfeed quiz: Buzzfeed doesn’t have their own quiz builder yet, but you can still make a quiz to get started. A word of caution, mediocre quizzes are worse than no quiz at all! That’s why it’s absolutely vital that you follow these best practices:
1. Have a smart title: By smart I mean catchy enough to draw in attention, but not so coy that it’s not understandable. Here are a couple of titles that work every time.
- The “Actually” Title: “How much do you actually know about the world?” adding the word actually turns your quiz into a challenge that no one wants to back down from.
- The Comparison Title: “Which celebrity is your spirit animal?” this one taps into our desire for categorization and feeds into our desire to be associated with celebrities.
2. Inject Personality: Put your own spin on quiz questions to create a bond with the quiz taker. The more fun your quiz is, the more it will get shared.
3. Use images: Having more pictures is highly correlated to getting more traffic and social shares, and who doesn’t love a smiling face?
4. Be overly optimistic: Feed the narcissist in all of us who just want to hear that we are amazing.
5. Write to a person: Pick someone who would enjoy your quiz and write like you are talking directly to them. This will loosen up your wording and make it way more fun
6. Don’t drone on: No one likes someone who talks to much. Keep your quiz between 6 and 12 questions.
Second, get your quiz into the world:
Some quizzes blow up on Facebook, others on Twitter, and still more on blogs. To optimize your quiz, share it on every platform. Luckily, quizzes are flexible and can go anywhere a YouTube video can.
On Facebook: There are two things to do on Facebook. First, share your quiz which will show up with a short description and image. (The image is important to getting more shares). The second is to embed it as a custom tab on Facebook so you can capture people who might not see your initial post.
On Twitter: Twitter shares that include images get 18% more clicks than those without. That’s why your quiz should include images! Sharing on twitter should be done twice, once when you first make your quiz and again one to two days later.
On Your Blog: Quizzes can be embedded right into blog posts. That way your regular audience can benefit from all the glory that is your new quiz.
Quizzes are irresistible. We love finding out what category we fit into and discussing our result with friends. You can benefit from this addiction by making your own quiz and following the simple steps above to create an experience that gets shared all over the web.