Using Polls to Drive Social Media Engagement

People love sharing their thoughts, especially if they receive a reward. Millions of people use apps that pay them to complete surveys and opinion polls. Some people even do it for free, and if you ask anyone what they think about trends or current events, you'll probably get a lengthy response.

When running a business, you're usually trying to convince people that you have the best products and services. As a result, you don't seek their opinions unless you're angling for a positive review. However, online polls allow you to ask for their thoughts, spark discussions, and make your customers feel valued.

Learning to use polls to increase social media engagement is fairly simple, but you'll need to utilize best practices to maximize your reach. Otherwise, you'll struggle to convert your responses into tangible sales. Once you've mastered the art of creating polls, you could earn tens of thousands of responses from visitors worldwide.

Why Should You Share Polls?

Every day, hundreds or thousands of people mindlessly scroll past your content when it appears on their feeds. Polls break up the monotony by inviting people to take action instead of passively viewing your post. Interacting only takes a few seconds, and you'll create a vivid memory in your visitors' minds. They might even check your page later to see the results, giving you more free traffic.

Polls also provide instant gratification. Customers love sharing their opinions, and when they choose an option, they get a dopamine boost from engaging with your content instead of passively scrolling. Some viewers get another thrill when they see they selected the most popular choice, while others take pride in choosing a "dark horse" option.

In any case, polls offer a fast, convenient way to boost engagement. You can upload a poll in minutes, and they don't require a lot of planning. Once the fun begins, you can share your poll multiple times to keep your feed active. Uploading a new poll every day might get old, but if you aim for one per week, you'll have an easy way to fill out your content calendar.

How Do You Upload Polls?

Most social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter/X, Tumblr, TikTok and LinkedIn, have a poll feature. On Instagram, you can share polls on Stories that expire after 24 hours. Other sites make your polls a permanent addition to your feed, allowing you to check the results anytime.

The exact steps to upload a poll will vary across different platforms. When you start making a post, look for the option to add a poll, then enter the question and responses. Choose a duration, then launch your post and watch the results pour in. You'll start getting feedback almost immediately if you have a large audience.

Some websites, such as Twitter/X and Tumblr, allow you to add hashtags to boost your visibility. Adding a large clump of hashtags can be distracting, so try sticking to one or two. Throwing in an emoji makes your post stand out even more.

Once the time runs out, your poll automatically stops accepting responses. The results usually appear in bars or percentages that you can easily view. Remember that everyone can view the results, not just you, so avoid asking questions about sensitive information.

How to Drive Engagement with Social Media Polls

Get Creative

You can ask your viewers just about anything. However, basic questions, such as "What's your favorite color?" or "Do you watch TV?" will bore your audience and leave them wondering what this has to do with your business. As you learn how to use polls to increase social media engagement, you'll have to think creatively and come up with queries that people don't see daily.

Thinking about your business offers a good starting point. Consider your industry, products, services, and primary demographics, then look for questions you can pull from these topics. For example, if you sell makeup, you could ask your audience, "What's your favorite foundation shade?" or "Do you think lip liner is necessary?"

If it suits your brand's voice, you could get a bit wacky with funny or oddly specific questions, such as "Why do cats always want snuggles at 2 in the morning?" However, don't rely on these too heavily--you're still running a business profile, not a meme archive.

You could also ask your employees and coworkers for ideas. You'll get access to diverse experiences, and they might pull inspiration from their own corners of the Internet.

Quiz Your Followers

How well do followers know your brand? Quizzes give your audience a fun activity with a dopamine boost for everyone who chooses the correct answer. Ask questions about your business, such as "When did we open?" or "What's our most recent product launch?" Then, add one correct answer and a few false ones. You can provide the answer when the poll ends or include it in the comments section.

Try quizzing your audience on general knowledge related to your industry for more fun. This could double as a marketing tactic if you figure out how to tie it into your products. An insurance agent might ask, "Who needs life insurance?" or "What's the perfect age to buy life insurance?" before explaining that everyone can benefit from their services.

Discuss Current Events

News headlines often inspire poll questions. Everyone's discussing these topics anyway, and touching on current events will show followers that you're a trendy, relevant company. You could even share your thoughts to get the conversation started.

Politics are divisive and often lead to infighting in the comments, so avoid talking about laws and candidates. Instead, focus on cultural shifts and industry news. You could ask viewers what they think about technology, music, fashion, travel, and other trends, or discuss changes in your field, such as the growing shift toward AI.

You don't want to rely too heavily on trends for social media content--otherwise, people might accuse you of engagement farming--but this gives you an occasional boost when you're running low on ideas. You'll also attract followers who don't usually comment on your posts.

Give Your Audience Control

You can review your analytics, develop plans, and learn about sales psychology, but nobody understands your customers' needs better than they do. Polls give them the chance to offer feedback on new products and services. You'll provide a few options and ask your viewers which one they prefer, then look at the results and implement this feedback into your strategy.

This doesn't mean you have to include your customers in every step of the process. That might reveal trade secrets, and most won't understand technical details. Instead, you'll ask for their feedback on basic product features, such as designs, color schemes, flavors, and fragrances. With a simple click, your followers will feel like trusted insiders.

It's important to note that your followers can see the results, so only ask these questions if you're prepared to take their feedback seriously. Otherwise, they might start asking why you always ignore their responses. This won't necessarily spark a PR crisis, but could dent your reputation.

Once you launch the product, highlight the poll and thank everyone for their opinions. Please mention that you delivered on their feedback and can't wait to include them in the process again. When your audience feels valued, they're likelier to choose you over your competitors.

Make an Announcement

Polls offer a fun, quirky way to make announcements. To start, you'll incorporate the announcement into a question similar to these:

• "Did you know that we're about to launch our biggest sale of the year tomorrow?"
• "Who's excited for our upcoming livestream?"
• "Are you staying up for our 8 P.M. product drop?"

For the options, you'll write enthusiastic responses, such as "Yes, I can't wait!", "Whaaat? I had no idea!", and "You know it, friend!" While this isn't an accurate opinion poll, people will still tap one of the options, increasing your engagement numbers and breaking up the monotony of scrolling.

Stay Concise

When you write a poll, you're limited to a small number of options. This means that you can't anticipate everyone's opinion. Including nuance in polls is also difficult since you usually have a short word count. While you could try to capture everyone's thoughts with lengthy, oddly specific choices, it's best to keep it short and let your viewers elaborate in the comments.

Likewise, ensure you're asking simple questions that don't require a lot of thought. They don't have to be ridiculously simple, but nobody's checking out your profile because they want to write essays or take on challenging brain teasers. Shorter polls also earn more responses because they have a broader appeal.

Offer Instant Gratification

Survey websites invite you to create long-form questionnaires with images, multiple-choice, and open-ended queries. While this is great for seeking detailed feedback, it's not ideal for basic polls.

You'll have to direct your followers to another site, which immediately weeds out the people who don't want to make the extra click. Once a customer arrives, they'll have to spend 10-15 minutes answering the questions and won't see the results.

Sharing a poll directly on the platform has the opposite effect. When someone casts their vote, they'll see the results instantly, which provides immediate gratification. Plus, you'll get more responses because your viewers don't have to leave the site.

Add Personality

Asking questions with a bland, sterile voice could make voters feel like they're taking an SAT exam. When you write a poll, inject your brand's voice into the query and options. If your brand has a playful, upbeat tone, try including humor and emojis.

Some businesses require a more professional tone, but you can still give your posts a little character. Imagine you're speaking directly to your viewers. What would you say to put them at ease? A polite, friendly tone makes your company seem more like a friend than a corporation.

Reply to Comments

While most voters are silent, you'll probably get a few people who discuss their opinions in the comments. Some want to elaborate on their thoughts, while others want to sway the poll's results or make their opinion known. Whatever the case, this offers yet another opportunity to engage your audience and strengthen your following.

Take time to read the replies and write sincere, personalized responses. This will increase your engagement and show audiences that you're listening to them instead of mindlessly producing content. Make sure you maintain a positive, uplifting tone and avoid talking about anything too personal. You might even find opportunities to recommend products or services.

If you receive a particularly insightful comment, you could share it on social media with the user's permission. This makes them feel good and keeps your profiles active.

Discuss the Results

Polls offer two projects to add to your social media calendar: the poll and a post about the results. You don't necessarily need to discuss the results if you asked a fundamental question. However, if you asked something more intriguing or specific, talking about the results will show followers that you're listening and provide some interesting tidbits.

Once you've discussed the responses, you can discuss your feelings about the poll. Did the results surprise you? Would you do anything differently? Did you receive more votes than you expected? You could even ask your followers to share their feelings in the comments section.

Start Optimizing Your Site Today

Now that you know how to use polls to increase social media engagement, it's time to take the next step with E-Marketing Associates' complete SEO guide for small business websites. Search engine optimization (SEO) enhances your website to increase your search engine rankings and boost your visibility.

One common method is adding search engine keywords to your site, such as "coffee shops near me" or "local hardware stores." This may boost your rankings when customers search for these particular strings. Other tactics include optimizing your alt tags and metadata, increasing your site's loading speed, writing educational blog posts, building backlinks on other websites, and refining your headers.

To get started, schedule a 15-minute discovery call. We'll discuss our SEO services and how they could benefit your small business. In the meantime, sign up for our newsletter for free small business and hospitality news.