Curiosity-Led Social Media for Solopreneurs

Gallup reported record-low engagement recently, with millennials (roughly ages 29–40) notably disengaged—around 65% by the figures discussed in a leadership interview on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. That stat matters for solopreneurs even if you don’t manage a team, because your “team” is often a rotating cast of contractors, collaborators, and customers who can disengage just as fast.

Most small businesses treat social media like a megaphone: post more, promote harder, hope it sticks. The reality? Curiosity beats volume. Curiosity is the simplest way to create better content ideas, stronger customer relationships, and a marketing engine that doesn’t collapse when you’re busy.

This post is part of the Small Business Social Media USA series, and it reframes curiosity-driven leadership as a practical solopreneur skill: using better questions to build momentum, improve your messaging, and get more leads without sounding like everyone else.

Curiosity is a marketing skill (and it’s trainable)

Curiosity isn’t a personality quirk. It’s a repeatable behavior—and it can be built like a muscle.

In the podcast episode that inspired this post, leadership strategist Dr. Debra Clary points to research suggesting a direct relationship between a leader’s curiosity and team performance, plus a broader idea: adults ask far fewer questions than children. Whether or not you buy every number, the direction is hard to argue with—busy adults stop asking, and their results get stale.

For solopreneurs, “leadership” often means self-leadership:

• You set the strategy.
• You decide what to post.
• You interpret feedback (or ignore it).
• You make the next offer.

A curious solopreneur runs experiments, listens harder, and updates faster. That shows up in social media as:

• clearer positioning
• higher engagement from the right people
• content that sounds human
• offers that actually match what customers want

“The most effective leaders ask bold, open-ended questions instead of providing answers.” That’s leadership advice—and it’s also social media advice.

The solopreneur myth: “You need all the answers”

The biggest blocker to curiosity is the same one that hurts content: the pressure to sound certain.

When you feel like you must be the expert with the perfect take, you default to:

• generic tips (“3 ways to grow your Instagram”)
• overconfident claims you can’t support
• content that talks at people instead of with them

Dr. Clary calls out an “outdated model” where leaders think they must have all the answers. Solopreneurs do this too, especially on LinkedIn and Instagram: they present finished conclusions, rarely the thinking.

Here’s what works better for small business social media in the U.S. market: show your curiosity in public.

That can mean:

• sharing a behind-the-scenes test you’re running
• posting what you’re noticing in customer conversations
• asking your audience to help you choose between two directions
• documenting tradeoffs (“I tried X, here’s what broke”) instead of pretending everything is smooth

This doesn’t make you look less credible. It makes you look awake.

A practical content shift: from “answers” to “exploration”

If your posts feel flat, stop trying to be the final word. Try these formats for a month:

1. Observation → question: “I’ve noticed [pattern]. What’s your experience?”
2. Before/after thinking: “I used to believe [X]. Now I think [Y] because…”
3. Decision journal: “Here are the 3 options I considered. Here’s why I chose one.”

These formats reliably create comments, DMs, and sales conversations because they invite participation.

Curiosity-driven social media engagement (without posting 7x/week)

Curiosity improves engagement because it changes your intent. You’re not posting to perform; you’re posting to learn.

In the podcast, Dr. Clary shares that disengaged people often feel: “My leader doesn’t know me and doesn’t care to know me.” Translate that to marketing: people tune out when brands don’t show interest in them.

A curious social media strategy uses questions to pull signal from the market.

The 3-question engagement loop

Use this loop weekly (it works on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook Groups—anywhere):

1) “What’s not being said?”

• Look at your comments/DMs and ask: what are people implying but not stating?
• Example: Prospects keep asking price early → the real question might be trust or risk.

2) “What might we be missing?”

• Scan competitors and ask: what are none of you addressing?
• Example: Everyone teaches tactics; nobody explains decision-making or prioritization.

3) “Who has a different point of view?”

• Invite dissent in your content.
• Example post: “Hot take: posting daily isn’t a strategy. If you disagree, tell me why.”

These questions create engagement that’s useful—not vanity metrics.

Steal this: the “curious CTA”

Most CTAs are lazy: “Comment ‘guide’.” It trains low-quality interaction.

Try CTAs that generate market research:

• “If you had to fix one part of your marketing this quarter, what would it be?”
• “What’s the most confusing part of hiring a [designer/coach/consultant]?”
• “Which option would you pick, and what would make you choose the other one?”

Then track answers in a simple spreadsheet. Those answers become:

• your next 10 posts
• your next lead magnet
• your next sales page headline

How to run “curious meetings” when you don’t have a team

You still have meetings. They’re just different:

• client calls
• sales calls
• onboarding calls
• contractor check-ins
• partner chats

In the podcast, there’s a simple meeting structure: set an agenda, then ask what’s missing, and encourage challenge. Solopreneurs can adapt this to customer conversations.

The 10-minute “curiosity agenda” for customer calls

Use this at the start of discovery calls or client check-ins:

1. “Here’s what I want to cover. What would make this call a win for you?”
2. “What’s changed since the last time we talked?”
3. “What’s the real constraint right now: time, money, confidence, or clarity?”
4. “What have you tried that didn’t work—and why do you think it failed?”

This does two things immediately:

• You get better outcomes for the client.
• You collect language for your social media marketing.

If you want content that converts, stop guessing and start harvesting real phrases people use when they describe their problems.

A 30-day curiosity plan for small business social media (USA)

Curiosity becomes habit through repetition. Here’s a month-long plan designed for a one-person business.

Week 1: Build your “question bank”

Answer first: Your content improves fastest when you keep a running list of bold questions.

Create a note titled “Question Bank” and add at least 20 questions, such as:

• “What’s making this harder than it should be?”
• “What would you do if you couldn’t post more—only post smarter?”
• “What would make you not buy this?”
• “What’s the difference between people who succeed with this and people who don’t?”

Post 3 times this week using only questions + short context.

Week 2: Listen more than you talk (yes, on social)

Answer first: The best engagement tactic is replying like you’re doing research.

For every comment or DM, reply with one follow-up question.

Examples:

• “What have you tried so far?”
• “What outcome are you aiming for—more leads, higher prices, or less time spent?”
• “What would ‘better’ look like in numbers?”

You’re not stalling. You’re qualifying.

Week 3: Publish your learning, not your certainty

Answer first: Documenting is more scalable than performing.

Share:

• one experiment you’re running
• one result (even if it’s messy)
• one change you’re making next

A simple template:

• “I tested __.”
• “What surprised me: __.”
• “Next test: __.”

Week 4: Turn curiosity into leads

Answer first: Curiosity generates trust when you ask questions that reveal buying intent.

Create 2 posts aimed at prospects who are close to buying:

• “If you’re considering hiring help for [service], here are 5 questions I’d ask first.”
• “Three signs you don’t need [service] yet (and what to do instead).”

Then invite DMs with a specific prompt:

• “If you tell me your goal and what you’ve tried, I’ll reply with the next 2 steps I’d take.”

That’s not spammy. It’s a useful micro-consult.

People also ask: curiosity-driven marketing edition

Does asking questions on social media actually increase engagement?

Yes—when the question is specific and tied to a real decision. “Thoughts?” is weak. “Which would you pick and why?” works because it’s concrete.

How do I stay credible if I’m “curious” and don’t have all the answers?

Credibility comes from good judgment, not fake certainty. Share what you’re testing, what you’ve learned, and what you recommend based on evidence you’ve seen.

What if nobody responds to my questions?

Then your question is either too broad, too abstract, or aimed at the wrong audience. Tighten the prompt:

• ask for a choice between A/B
• ask for a number
• ask about a recent situation (“What did you do last time…?”)

Curiosity is the easiest advantage you can build this quarter

Small business social media in the U.S. is crowded, and it’s getting more automated by the month. Curiosity is the antidote to sounding like a template. It keeps your content grounded in real people, not recycled advice.

Dr. Debra Clary’s point lands cleanly for solopreneurs: performance follows curiosity because curiosity creates better thinking, better conversations, and better decisions.

If you want your marketing to produce leads without burning you out, pick one habit to start today: ask one better question than you asked yesterday. What’s the question your audience wishes more businesses would ask them?