It depends what you're trying to get out of it. If you're trying to relate with them then you can't really force that and you'd just have to try and steer conversation and hope to strike gold on a few things you might like in common.

But yeah, if you don't know if their interests match yours it turns into a prompting, then listening, then replying game. You conversate or ask about something general, maybe something going on around you, or something that is happening in current events, or hey, maybe you can even mention some pop culture release you haven't experienced, and ask them if they have.

If they have, then they'll tell you so and you can enquire about what they like about it, or if they don't like it, and you don't like it either, bam, relatable. If you ask about more general stuff then you can always make it more relatable by telling your experience when they've finished sharing theirs. You could ask if they paint, and if they do you can learn about it and follow up by saying you've never tried it or that you have and you're terrible, or whatever.

And then, of course, calling back to things they've mentioned previously shows you're a good listener and will get them to like you. Something like if they mention spending time with their mom recently, the conversation continues into other areas, you can later use that to pivot if the conversation dead ends by recalling, "so do you get to spend time with your mom often?" Mine doesn't live around here/I do all the time, too/what have you.