You’ve spent the last 20 minutes pulling together the perfect post: the caption, the visuals, the text overlay. – You’ve nailed it, and now all that’s left is the final pièce de resistance: the “call to action” to drive engagement and turn this into a truly scroll-stopping post.
Except, when you actually hit post, you get crickets and the occasional heart-react – and sure, that helps, but it’s not the engagement you were hoping for. You wanted a conversation starter – an opportunity to connect, to share your expertise, and get to know your audience.
You wanted to ask a question on social media that made your dream clients want to respond.
The Psychology Behind Response-Worthy Questions
Yes, there’s a literal psychology behind asking questions, getting answers, and how that process works in our brains. And we loveee answering questions – whether it’s societal conditioning or instinctual, it taps into our desire to share what we know and feel heard.
People respond to questions when they can:
- Share their expertise, what they know, or their own experience.
- Give their opinion on a decision, or an opinion on a preference they feel strongly about.
- Feel like it’s applicable to them, that it relates to their interests and world.
Which is why asking questions (the right ones) can drive your engagement on social media. The problem is, what ARE the right questions? How do you get responses? What makes a “wrong” question?
The answer is, it truly all depends on the situation. Technically, you can ask whatever questions you want in the hopes it’ll get responses – but, if those responses leave no room for conversation, was it really a good question to ask?
On the other hand, if you’re trying to gauge your audience’s interest in a topic, style, or design – maybe even a new color palette, a simple swipe up on stories response of “yes!! I love!!” is a win.
But, where do you draw the line? When do you use one, but not the other (and what does that even look like!?)
How to Ask Questions That Actually Get Responses
The difference in the actual question could be simply swapping from asking “What’s your favorite color?” to “What’s a color you’d LOVE to see in your kitchen?” Or rather than asking “What do you think?” you’d ask, “Could you picture this in your home?”
You want to ask questions that pique their interest and give them an opportunity to share their two cents on your post!! You want to make them feel like it applies to them, that they’re truly a part of the conversation – not that we’re asking a random question because we have to.
And if you’re feeling too much pressure to come up with a good question on a post, don’t forget that not every post needs to end in a question. You can encourage engagement on a post without one – in fact, some of the highest performing and engaging posts for clients don’t ask anything at all!
It’s Not Just The Question – It’s How and When You Ask It
You might be reading this and thinking, “Amber, I’m literally already doing this and I’m STILL getting zero responses.” And I’m here to be the bearer of bad news…
It’s not just the question, it’s how and when you ask it!
AKA it’s the entirety of your social media strategy for your interior design business that determines if your questions (or really, any post you make) gets engagement.
You could have killer questions, but if your caption doesn’t make sense, your images don’t click, or your question is a box on a single slide story? You’re probably not gonna get the level of engagement you’re looking for, no matter HOW “good” it is.
Rather than focusing on the questions you’re asking, focus on your strategy (and if you need a little help, join SMM on Speed Dial, a membership for interior designers to help you show up and grow on Instagram).
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