5 Ways To Use Facebook Questions For Lead Generation, Traffic & Beyond!

Do you dig Facebook questions?

I can safely say I do! I find them awesome in the truest sense of the word. Facebook questions are loaded with features that can give you valuable information that you can assimilate and make business decisions accordingly.

In order to fully grasp the value of Facebook questions, this article will be divided into two sections:

1. Facebook questions overview
2. How to use Facebook questions for branding, lead generation, content marketing, market research, traffic generation and more

Facebook Questions Overview

As you see in the above screenshot, a typical poll-type Facebook question consists of:

• Main question body (pointed at by the red arrow)
• Poll options that users can add to(pointed at by the blue arrow)
• Placing the mouse on certain answer option gives the exact votes for that option on the right hand side
• Impressions represent raw number of times your question has been seen on your wall and the newsfeed of your fans. (Pointed at by the purple arrow. The number of impressions is only visible to page admin(s).)
• Number of comments the question received so far (pointed at by the yellow arrow)
• Share option that allows users to share your question with their friends (pointed at by the light blue arrow)
• Pressing the “…” (pointed at by the green arrow)opens a popup window listing the names of people who favored a specific answer as you can see here:

Clicking the main question body displays a popup including more details…

• Total number of answers/votes. (pointed at by the blue arrow)
• Number of question followers (pointed at by the red arrow)
• Sharing, editing and deleting options (pointed at by the red frame and visible only to the page admin(s))
• Question comments (pointed at by the green arrow)

Why I Believe Facebook Questions Are Awesome and How You Can You Use Them Intelligently

Unlike conventionally “anonymous” polls, Facebook questions allow you to know who answered what by clicking the “…” beside each answer. That’s an invaluable feature if ask me! On top of that, adding the comments part allows you to get the best of both worlds: polls and open-ended questions.

Now, let’s get to the most important part: How can you use Facebook questions for lead generation, branding, content marketing and market research purposes?

1. How To Use Facebook Questions For Branding Purposes

Comparing the number of impressions (purple arrow in the first screenshot) to the number of votes (blue arrow in the third screenshot) can instantly tell you how engaging your question is. In the above example, we had 38 impressions versus 15 votes. This means that almost 40% of the people who viewed the question found it interesting enough to answer. You can use this information as a guideline for future questions/updates by repeating what works and avoiding what doesn’t.

The key is to consistently post quality updates that are niche-relevant, compelling, unique, fun and diverse. If you do, your fans will keep coming back for more and will gladly share your page with their friends.

2. How To Use Facebook Questions To Tweak Your Content Marketing Strategy

Comparing the number of votes for each option can instantly tell you which answers are more popular than others. You can integrate this information into your content marketing strategy. In other words, if many people in your target market agreed on a certain answer, you want to focus on addressing the same topic in your tweets, blog posts, you name it.

Click on the “…” to see who answered what. If some names fit your target audience criteria, you need to take notes of their answers in order to notify them when you publish relevant content in the future. It boggles my mind how many people miss out on this very important step!

3. How To Use Facebook Questions For Market Research?

You may also leverage Facebook questions to ask market research questions the same way you would use ordinary polls. Make sure to encourage people to provide comments to the question in order to get more insights on your market’s trends.

4. How To Use Facebook Questions For Lead Generation

Depending on the answers people give you could find some qualified leads. In the branding section, I recommended including diverse types of questions some of which can be tailored to lead generation. The best lead identification questions are the ones that include some options that are implicitly relevant to your product.

Again, use the “…” to find people who expressed the most interest in your product. Still, you will need to qualify these leads by checking their social profiles in depth and if you find a good match, you can use some intelligent ice-breaking techniques to strike conversations with them.

5. How To Use Facebook Questions To Drive Traffic To Your Blog

You can include a link to your blog post as part of the question and ask people to check it out to answer the question. Here is a great example in that regard:

Would you go for Lady Gaga or Guy Kawasaki? Check out these killer Facebook page designs and name your fave(s) a link to your blog comes here

It goes without saying that if you want people to leave their beloved Facebook and run to your blog, you’d better provide a very compelling and irresistible question.

Your Turn…

What are your thoughts on using Facebook questions for branding, lead generation, market research, traffic generation and content marketing? Do you think they are more suited for some of these objectives than others or they can be equally effective for all of them? What is your personal experience with Facebook questions? Your valuable contribution is greatly appreciated.