The 82 best social media engagement questions and advice from top social media marketers to help you boost metrics

The number one goal on social media is engagement. Increased engagement leads to higher reach, audience growth, and ultimately more customers. So, interacting with your audience is essential. An easy way to do this is by sparking conversation with social media engagement questions. 

To get your creative juices flowing, we’ve assembled a list of 82 engaging questions for social media, plus advice from fellow social media marketers about interacting with your audience. 

The power of social media engagement questions 

While engagement is the primary reason for asking questions on social media, there are other benefits. Social media prompts that encourage conversation also improve post reach, build connections, and can lead to valuable insights. 

“We always get a lot of engagement when we post content and ask for users to weigh in with their opinions. This drives discussion, gets people sharing, increases cross-posting opportunities, and frequently inspires future posts.” - Sebastian Schäffer, Dofollow 

According to Forbes, some demographics are 62% more likely to become loyal customers when brands engage with them on social media. Other benefits of using interactive questions for social media include: 

• ‍Building a connection with your audience by getting to know them personally and collecting diverse perspectives. - Josh Gorero, The Narrative Project

• ‍Sparking conversation about your brand and product offerings. - Lauren Hutchins, Lauren Hutchins Media

• ‍Encouraging your audience to return to your posts to continue the conversation and see others’ reactions to their comments. - Laura Taylor, TELUS International

• ‍Showcasing your brand’s personality. - Emily Paetau, DigiSphere Marketing

• ‍Giving your audience a voice, so they feel valued and want to continue interacting with your content. - Jenn Dixon, Landmark Abstract

• ‍Inspiring user-generated content related to your brand’s products and services. - Lorrie Rose, Creative Pod UK

• ‍Obtaining feedback on your current product or service offerings and future developments. - Sara Trzemzalski, Ignite Social Media 

Now knowing their power, let's explore some examples of engagement questions for social media.

Types of engaging social media questions (with 82 examples)

‍What are good engagement questions for Facebook? What are some funny questions to ask on an Instagram story? The possibilities are endless. But, it’s important to ask questions related to your brand and product. 

To help, we’ve identified 6 types of social media engagement questions and compiled a list of 82 examples, plus advice from top social media marketers. We encourage you to use this list as a source of inspiration and customize questions for your clients or brand. 

I. "This or that" social media questions 

"This or that" or "Would you rather" questions can be fun social media engagement posts. They’re easy to answer and are great for encouraging engagement or polling your audience. Depending on how passionate your audience is about a particular topic, they may also spark a debate in comments. 

“I like asking questions that directly relate to your audience. I don't have a go-to list of questions since they have to be unique and purposeful.” - Sara Trzemzalski, Ignite Social Media 

"This or that" questions can be about anything that asks people to choose between two options. Here are some examples that you can customize for your future interaction posts:

1. Do you prefer tea or coffee? 

2. Would you rather travel to the past or the future? 

3. Do you prefer the window or aisle seat? 

4. Would you rather communicate only by emoji or GIF? 

5. Would you rather read a book or watch the movie adaptation? 

6. Would you rather work for Michael Scott or Ron Swanson? 

7. Do you prefer spending Saturday mornings watching Netflix on the couch or hiking your favourite trail? 

8. Do you prefer going to a live concert or sporting event? 

9. Would you rather spend your vacation on the beach or at a ski resort?

10. Would you rather read minds or be able to fly? 

11. Do you prefer Instagram or TikTok? 

12. Would you rather make lots of money in a job you hate or less money in a job you love?

13. Would you rather explore space or the ocean? 

14. Would you rather speak with animals or be able to communicate in any foreign language? 

15. Do you work better early in the morning or late at night? 

16. Do you prefer texting or FaceTime? 

II. Fill-in-the-blank questions for social media 

Fill-in-the-blank questions are also great for social media engagement. They’re another easy-to-answer question type, but allow your audience to be more creative with their responses. 

“For almost all platforms, the shorter the question, the more likely you’ll receive a response. Ask questions that are simple to respond to, but can also provide thoughtful details and insights.” - Josh Gorero, The Narrative Project 

Here are some examples of fill-in-the-blank social media community questions to inspire engagement: 

17. If _______ was an Olympic event, I'd take home the gold. 

18. My go-to social network is__________. 

19. When you were a kid, __________ was the best snack to find in your lunch box.

20. _____ is the soundtrack to my life. 

21. If I could go anywhere in the world right now, I'd be in _______. 

22. My favourite local business is _______. (Tag them in the comments!)

23. __________ is the most important thing to have in my work environment.

24. Life would be boring without __________. 

25. I set __________ alarms to wake up in the morning. 

26. My all-time favourite book is __________. 

27. I can’t live without _____. 

28. To impress someone on a first date, I’d cook _____. 

29. _____ is the key to success. 

30. My go-to binge series is _____. 

III. Open-ended questions 

Open-ended social media engagement questions especially encourage discussion. They can be simple and only require a one-word answer or more thought-provoking. Generally, they’re a great way to get to know your audience and give them a voice. 

“I especially like using open-ended questions and often see these posts generating entire conversations between patrons in the comments.” - Lauren Hutchins, Lauren Hutchins Media 

Here are some examples of open-ended questions for social media engagement:

31. What’s something that always makes you smile? 

32. Which social media platform is your favourite and why? 

33. What’s the best quality that someone can have? 

34. What do you love most about your job? 

35. What’s the best flavour of ice cream? 

36. When was the last time you tried something new? 

37. If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you bring?

38. What’s a difficult lesson that you’re glad you learned? 

39. What’s the best time of day to post on social media? 

40. What’s the best advice that you’ve ever received?

41. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

42. What’s your favourite way to exercise? 

43. What would be the title of your autobiography? 

44. What’s something that you do differently than most people? 

IV. Questions that prompt content sharing 

Some fun engagement questions for social media encourage people to share content in the comments. It can be photos, videos, blogs, recipes, etc. and turns your post into a potential source of entertainment and information that people keep coming back to. 

“My favourite questions get people thinking. Also, an eye-catching graphic is essential for getting people to answer.” - Jenn Dixon, Landmark Abstract 

This is also an opportunity to inspire user-generated content by asking your audience to post content related to your products and services. Here are some examples:

45. What are your most used emojis? Share a screenshot in the comments.

46. Are you team working from home or working in the office? Share a photo of your workstation below. 

47. What’s your favourite way to use [insert product here]? (Show us in the comments 📷🎥)

48. It’s #LoveYourPetDay, comment with a photo of your little ones. 

49. Are you ready for the snow? Let’s see photos of your storm chips! 

50. What’s your favourite podcast? Post a link in the comments. 

51. Where’s your favourite place to curl up with a hot beverage or a good book? Share a photo in the comments! 

52. Describe yourself in three emojis below! 

53. Do you have a green thumb? Show off your plant babies in the comments!

54. Where was the last place you went on vacation? Post a photo below.

55. What’s your favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe? Share a link in the comments!

56. Can you judge a book by its cover? Post a photo of the last book you read in the comments and tell us your thoughts. 

V. Holiday-related questions 

In addition to wishing your audience a happy holiday, add a personal touch by asking about their plans or traditions. These posts are great for common calendar holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as social media holidays like National Pizza Day or Earth Day. 

“Use questions that encourage your audience to share a personal story or experience instead of a yes or no answer. Think of questions for social media as a ‘Yes, and’ improv game where you want community members to keep the conversation going.” - Laura Taylor, TELUS International 

Here are some examples of fun questions to ask on social media for holidays:

57. What’s your longest Christmas tradition? 

58. The best pizza topping is _____. 

59. What’s your favourite Halloween movie? 

60. What’s the best gift that you’ve ever given or received? 

61. The most important dish on the table at Thanksgiving is _____. 

62. How are you celebrating National Dog Day? (Photos are encouraged!)

63. What’s your favourite Easter candy? 

64. How do you hold yourself accountable to your New Year’s resolutions?

65. Please share your favourite holiday cookie recipe in the comments below.

66. Would you rather receive chocolates or flowers on Valentine’s Day?

67. What’s an easy way to live a greener life? 

68. Do you watch the Super Bowl for the game or the commercials? 

69. How do you spend time with your loved ones on Family Day? 

VI. Brand or product/service-related questions 

Finally, social media audience engagement questions can be used for market research. By asking questions about your brand, you can get quantitive and qualitative feedback to improve your current products and services and gauge interest in future developments. 

“You may need to experiment with question themes and their execution a few times before understanding what your audience engages with the most.” - Sara Trzemzalski, Ignite Social Media 

These social media engagement questions should be very tailored to your company, but here are some examples to get you thinking: 

70. What was your top reason for purchasing [insert product or service]?

71. Do you have any questions about [insert product or service offering]?

72. What’s an [insert your industry] product you cannot live without? 

73. How do you use our [insert product or service]? (Share a photo in the comments!)

74. What’s your favourite feature about [insert your product or service offering]?

75. Are there any [insert industry] products/services or features you wish [insert brand] offered? 

76. What’s a [insert brand] product you cannot live without? 

77. Do you have a favourite [insert industry] blog? 

78. What’s the most important thing you look for in a [insert product or service]?

79. How is your life better after using [insert brand]’s [insert product or service]?

80. What kind of content would you like to see from [insert brand]? 

81. What’s your biggest challenge related to [insert industry]? 

82. Why would you recommend [insert brand] to a friend? 

How to ask engaging questions on social media 

There are many features and platforms that you can use to post social media questions to

increase engagement. You can include a question in post captions, host live Q&A sessions, post a photo or graphic of your question, ask questions on stories, and utilize polls for social media survey questions. 

To boost metrics, reply to comments and messages, post when your audience is most active, and utilize trends when planning content. Here’s some extra advice from top content marketers:

• ‍Strategically place questions on the right platform. Fun, light-hearted questions that are quick and easy to answer do well on TikTok and can help increase your Instagram engagement rate. Whereas, discussion engagement questions on Facebook and LinkedIn posts tend to work well since everyone can add their perspective in the comments. - Laura Taylor, TELUS International & Sara Trzemzalski, Ignite Social Media

• Use emojis to survey your audience in comments or post reactions if a platform doesn't have a poll feature. - Sara Trzemzalski, Ignite Social Media

• ‍Consider user behaviour on each platform. For example, Instagram is a visual platform, so include your question in a photo or graphic to catch attention. - Josh Gorero, The Narrative Project

• ‍Ask for feedback. Engage with your audience and ask if they learned anything from your post to inform future content. - Jenn Dixon, Landmark Abstract

• ‍Continue the conversation when you see a lot of discussion about a certain topic by asking additional questions in the comments or a follow-up post. - Josh Gorero, The Narrative Project 

Use social media questions for engagement 

Social media engagement questions are a great way to interact with your audience and boost metrics. We hope you find our list helpful in creating interactive posts for social media clients or your own brand. Don’t be shy about experimenting with different questions to see how your community responds and, most importantly, have fun!