One of the best ways to start a conversation with new potential customers is to ask questions. I use this approach on my fly fishing company Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn accounts. In the example below I have taken a photograph of a section of a river. I have used capital letters to make the title stand out and used the word "Question" in that title so readers immediately know what type of post this will be. I then pose the question "Looking at this photo where would you expect to find lurking trout? The flow of the water is coming from the top right to bottom left".

It generated a lot of responses. People like to show off their knowledge and love being asked for advice. It also enabled new fishermen to learn from the comments given as many included reasons as to why they would expect fish in one location over another. It allowed me to demonstrate my expertise by giving the answer. Those that got the answer right I congratulated. I could also ask them further questions about where they fished and what fishing flies they used. It is a great way to start a conversation. Just take a photograph connected with your product or industry. Upload it and ask a question. See what happens. Be prepared to respond to comments.

Another fun way to engage with people is to ask the question "Who said this?" Ask people to identify a famous quote that is relevant to your business. Always add an eye catching image as a post that contains only a few lines of text will be missed. In the example above I added an image from an old book. This was relevant as the quote was from a famous Victorian fly fisherman.

A very popular and fun tactic to obtain comments is to ask for people to add funny captions to a cartoon or photograph. Search through auction sites like e-bay for old paintings, cartoons and photographs that would be out of copyright. I always like or +1 their response. I reply to each comment and thank them for their fun submission. I follow this up by ask them about where they go fishing and ask their advice on the best tactics for trout fishing in their local rivers or lakes.