The news and other media has been a long-time source of both information and entertainment. When the internet finally made its way into the everyday lives of our society, news and media took on a whole new platform to reach its audience.

A total of over 30 million Americans get news via the internet everyday. More and more websites pop up by the second, trying to compete with the rest of the reporting world when it comes to the latest buzz.

Those stepping into the realm of online news to compete with others in reporting the latest trends or scandals often feel overwhelmed. With so many news sites available, it’s hard to be noticed. Where should someone begin to find a way to stand out from the crowd?

If you’ve taken a look at social media, one of the best answers looks you in the eye everyday when you scroll through your social network feeds. The answer to your question are quizzes.

Creating a quiz will not only draw their attention, but will engage visitors through interactive content. When we’re done here, you’ll have 4 new ways to make your news site stand out.

  1. How A Single Quiz By Forbes Gets 250,000 Hits Per Year

Forbes quiz Who wants to be a billionaire

Forbes is one of the largest global business magazines out there that features original articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. Forbes created the quiz “College Matchmaker: Find Your Perfect Fit,” to add an interactive component to their list of top colleges that they produce every year as one of their big content initiatives.

Forbes created a quiz with results that linked to a tool that Forbes created which recommends colleges based on preferences. The links are personalized to people based on which quiz results they get.

The Forbes college quiz is a huge success; it gets 250,000 unique visitors per year.

Here’s how you can apply this method: If you dream to be as hugely successful as Forbes one day, turning big pieces of content like “the college advisor tool / top colleges list” into an interactive piece is a great way to get more social traffic.

  1. HotNewHipHop Builds Quizzes Off of Popular Topics/Artists to Drive Site Interaction

HipHopNews Quiz

HotNewHipHop is a site that empowers artists by letting them showcase their music to real Hip-Hop fans while letting their members enjoy the latest in Hip-Hop singles, mixtapes videos and news. HotNewHipHop (HNHH) created the quiz “How Well Were You Listening To: To Pimp A Butterfly?” to drive site interaction based on Kendrick Lamar’s latest album.

HNHH creates quizzes based on today’s most popular topics, artists, and songs. Their latest quiz is a knowledge test on Kendrick Lamar’s new album and how well you know its lyrics.

HNHH gets a ton of interaction, with 36.38% coming from Facebook and 34.54% coming from Twitter.

Here’s how you can apply this method: If you want to try out HNHH’s strategy, don’t be afraid to ride the popularity of certain topics with your quizzes. Make quizzes based on trends like album releases or scandals in your industry to generate buzz.

  1. How Adweek Drives Social Traffic With Their Marketing Mood Quiz

 

Adweek is one of the leading sources of news for marketing, media and advertising professionals. They deliver insightful, forward-thinking content across various platforms. Adweek created the quiz “What’s Your Marketing Mood?” which was “sponsored content” for a client of theirs.

Adweek’s strategy targeted marketing and created a quiz that tells their visitors what their marketing mood is based on a personality quiz. The results were always positive, so it encouraged social shares to drive even more social traffic.

The article containing Adweek’s quiz got over 900 shares on Facebook and over 150 shares on Twitter.

Here’s how you can apply this method: Use quizzes as sponsored content since you can white label each quiz. It’ll allow two different companies working together to share the spotlight in the public eye.

  1. How Upworthy Used a Controversial Topic To Spark Interactions With Their Quiz

 

How much do you know about Iran quiz Upworthy draws massive amounts of attention to things that matter. They scour the web to find compelling, meaningful media, and ideas that reward you deeply for the time you spend with them. Upworthy created the quiz “How much do you know about Iran?” to generate both leads and increase visitor interaction.

Upworthy went with a bolder approach b creating a quiz full of controversial material. Controversy easily stirs up visitor interaction as it splits the audience into two halves. Controversy creates a buzz that attracts more visitors to take the quiz and visit their website.

With how controversial the material was in the quiz, Upworthy brought in 26,000 new email subscribers and was shared out by influencers all over the world.

Here’s how you can apply this method: Be bold and use controversy to attract visitor interaction. Be careful with it though. Choose a topic that both sides can easily agree and disagree to. Avoid letting your topic backfire on you.

And Now Back To You

A ton of websites provide news every hour, on the hour. In an effort to compete with all of the news and media websites out there, how can your website improve audience interaction?

IF you use quizzes through various approaches to attract the attention of your audience, you’ll spur interaction with them.

You can turn bigger, more popular pieces of content into an interactive one, or ride the popularity of other quizzes. You can even use quizzes as sponsored content to collaborate with other companies, or spark controversy to create some form of buzz.

No matter the method, using quizzes is a reliable way to drive social interaction on your website.