22nd Jul 2019

How to Boost Your Engagement with Polls

The art of using polls to boost your engagement is a marketing strategy that has been used for decades. Sometimes it takes more than eye-catching videos or impressive content to capture the attention of the people. And when it comes to learning about your consumers and followers, polls have a unique advantage as it increases awareness, participation and shares.

Polls encourage interaction between your brand and its followers. They promote an open line of communication for everyone involved. Humans love participating and making their voices heard. Creating polls provides the perfect opportunity for you to figure out how to improve your brand.

One major advantage that this form interaction poses over trivia questions is that there’s no wrong answer and as a result, people won’t shy away from it. Creating polls on your social media platform is simple, as long as you keep up with the trends. Here are some things to consider when designing your polls;

 

Keep it Fun

Try and avoid making the poll too serious. You need to pose the audience an interesting question that is fun and enjoyable. Use fun topics that you believe your consumers would find amusing. Whatever area you decide to focus on, make sure that it still relates to your brand in one way or the other (after all, it’s still a form of marketing).

Avoid repetition and ensure that the audience cares about the questions on the poll. Making the polls fun allows you to humanize your brand and make it seem less stuck-up. Be straightforward, casual, a little bit silly, witty and charming, and try not to sound like a robot!

 

Get Valuable Insight

Use the process to find out what your consumers would prefer so you can improve your brand. Entertaining audience contributions allows people to feel like they’re contributing to the improvement of your particular brand.

Most times, manufacturers are forced into making assumptions about what they think their target customers want, or how things make them feel. But thanks to social media polls, you get to eliminate the majority of the guesswork. Viewing the responses of your audience allows you to learn directly from them and understand their needs better.

The poll that’s the most popular with them allows you to make adjustments to your plans and come up with a product that more in line with the desires of the people. Don’t shy away from asking them what they want, as it will go a long way in making your brand successful. You can also use polls to test reaction to new products or features.

 

Listen and Learn

Listening is one of the best ways to build a stable personal relationship. The same tactic can also be applied to social media marketing. Allowing your audience to participate in a decision process and taking their opinions into consideration, builds trust between you and your audience.

Not only will you make your customers feel heard and appreciated, the opinions provided could also serve as a means of generating future ideas and content.

 

Keep Up with the Trends 

In the world of advertising, timing is everything. Consider creating polls that reflect current events or holidays. Make use of relevant events and relate them to your brand. Example of this is how Dunkin Donuts used National Coffee Day to create a poll to engage their audience. They were able to use a popular holiday to boost their engagement level by asking a simple question (how much do you love coffee?). The poll allowed both individuals who loved the beverage to the ones that didn’t to participate and express their reasons why in the comment section.

Another example could involve asking the audience which team would win during a championship game. Encourage predictions and come up with ways to engage your audience before or after a major event!

 

Additional Tips on How to Boost Your Engagement With Polls: 

Make your poll engaging enough that your customers will respond.

Create polls that stay at the top of the mind of your audience and allows them to keep thinking about your brand.

Launch the polls at peak traffic times (during lunch breaks, or in the evening).

Be provocative.

Avoid becoming repetitive. Stick to using polls once or twice a week so as not to overwhelm your audience.

Take the time to respond to the comments made by your customers to ensure that they keep interacting with your brand!

 

Time to get started making your first poll! Here’s how.