We went to the Ohio Renaissance Festival over the weekend. Despite the trip being cut short due to weather, our family had a blast. Because I was sick, we went on a different weekend than usual so it was a new experience. And one new experience I noticed was the tents advertising side quests.

There were side quests within a festival that was already pretty amazing! And unlike the many unofficial side quests that happen within the festival, these were out in the open.

With this being our fifth year of us attending this festival, we have a list of shows we have to attend and foods we have to eat. But without fail, there is something that draws us from our schedule and becomes our favorite part because we didn’t expect it. This year, it was the pirate games. We had no plans of doing it until one of the pirates came up to ask our daughter if she wanted to play. She looked at me, and after I nodded, she took off like a rocket through the fence to join the other kids. So even though we didn’t participate in an official side quest, we did find ourselves on a very enjoyable one.

What does this have to do with social media? And why do you need to start thinking about your own side quests? Let’s talk about it.

Why social media side quests?

When it comes to social media, you need to know your audience backwards and forwards. You need to know their needs and wants and what motivates them.

The ones who have been around awhile pretty much know your marketing when they see it. And if they keep sticking around, they may get to the point where they can recite your story. Kind of cool, but that also highlights the need to delight them with the unexpected every so often.

Enter: side quests.

Side quests can take you on an unexpected journey in your story. You’re not necessarily moving the story along, but you could be. Maybe your customer needs to have one more experience before they buy from you or become a loyal ambassador. That can be the side quest you help them with.

Where do you find a side quest?

I think you have two different ways to include them into your marketing.

The first is by partnering with a different organization or company who has a similar audience. An alliance can further both of your audiences along on their journey to buying. What do you have in common? What kind of work can you do together? How can you create the unexpected together? Teaming up alone might be unexpected, but creating a bit of whimsy in addition to the partnership is always a good call. What can you do to help your audience? That’s always a great question to answer together to help you get to a marketing answer that will work.

The other is looking at your audience. Is someone using your organization in an unexpected way? That’s always something great to highlight when you find it. Or maybe your audience has a certain interest in common. Use that to show that you really do know them.

You really should keep an open mind here and don’t be afraid to experiment. In a world where we’re all trying to get certain numbers, experimentation is regularly thrown away in favor of what we know works. But the right kind of experimentation can actually help your numbers explode and get you to a much cooler place with your audience. So always leave room for at least a little experimentation when trying to achieve those all important numbers.

Know when you’re just off-topic

I have run across a lot of Facebook pages where all they do is engagement bait. Whether it’s fake holidays or silly memes, that’s all they post. On some of them, I’ve never seen anything even remotely related to the goal of the organization. Do I think they’re getting good numbers? For sure. Are those numbers actually doing anything for the organization? Absolutely not.

Side quests should be a rare and fun adventure. They should not be your whole social media plan. Side quests are meant to delight an audience, and that can’t happen if they’re done frequently. But a rare one that is truly connected to the audience? There is absolutely nothing more delightful than that.

What was the last side quest you took your audience on?