Remember when we used to mock those ridiculous Facebook posts?
“If you were a bread, what bread would you be?” or “Comment your birthday month and I’ll tell you which Disney princess you are!”
We’d roll our eyes at the obvious engagement bait.
We knew it was stupid.
We knew it was manipulative.
And yet… people ate that shit up like free pizza at a college party.
Those posts worked because they tapped into something fundamental…
Our desperate need to be entertained and our even more desperate need to talk about ourselves.
The “free iPhone” scams were even more brilliant in their evil simplicity.
“We have 1000s of unboxed iPhones with little dents, so we can’t sell them, might as well give them away! Just like and share!”
Pure engagement farming that got pages to millions of followers before flipping them to sell random dropshipped garbage.
It was all powered by our basic human psychology…
We want to be entertained, we want free stuff, and we want to feel special and the list goes on and on.
Those tactics worked. They just happened to be wielded by scumbags who turned engagement into empty manipulation instead of genuine connection. (Which is ironically the one thing that is lacking so much now, cause people just want to punt their warez)
But what if we used those same psychological triggers for good?
What if we created content that was genuinely engaging without being of the super cheese variety?
Opinion Traps are fun to play with. They work well on Twitter and I see them popping up on FB lately too.
Instead of “What bread are you?” try “Hot take: People who put pineapple on pizza have better taste than people who refuse to try new things. Change my mind.” (Funny thing is. You’ll get the moral high ground police that’ll comment “WELL IT’S NOT A HOT TAKE IF YOU SAID IT’S A HOT TAKE” No shit sherlock, but it got you to engage didn’t it?)
You’re still asking for engagement, but you’re sparking actual conversation about something people have real opinions about.
Plus, you’re subtly positioning yourself as someone who thinks outside conventional wisdom, cause you’re willing to mix it up.
Another one to use is an Experience Exchange
Instead of fake giveaways, try “I’m collecting stories about the worst business advice anyone’s ever given you. I’ll share the best ones (anonymously) in next week’s roundup.”
You’re getting engagement, gathering content for future emails, and creating genuine value by crowdsourcing useful information, plus the fact that you’re allowing people to send you things shows that you genuinely value their opinions etc.
The last one is a Vulnerability Hook
Instead of arbitrary personality tests, try “I spent $10K on a business coach who told me to ‘just believe in myself harder.’ What’s the most expensive lesson you’ve learned the hard way?”
You’re sharing something real about yourself while inviting others to do the same. Natural engagement and not just baiting for clicks.
And as much as I want to slap Gary Vee because of some of his takes. When he said that he attention economy isn’t going anywhere, he was right.
We can either master it ethically or watch the cheesy engagement farmers continue to win by default.
And if you’ve been building your audience properly. You’ll know that they’re smart enough to see through bullshit.
So you might as well them something worth engaging with.
Stephen Walker.
P.S. These were just vague examples but I’m sure you got the gist of it. Whatever niche you’re in. I’m sure you’ve seen the outlandish stuff that passes as content, so at least wrap it in something that makes sense and is a net positive for engagement.