Creating and optimizing social media surveys and polls can help you gather valuable insights from your audience, boost engagement, and inform your marketing strategies. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it effectively:
1. Define Your Objectives
- Clear Goals: Determine what you want to achieve with your survey or poll. This could be gathering customer feedback, understanding preferences, or gauging opinions on a new product.
- Target Audience: Identify who you want to respond to your survey or poll. This will influence the platform, questions, and language you use.
2. Choose the Right Platform
- Facebook: Ideal for detailed surveys with multiple questions. Use Facebook Polls for quick, simple questions.
- Instagram: Use Stories for polls with the Poll and Question stickers, or the Swipe Up feature for linking to external surveys.
- Twitter: Use Twitter Polls for straightforward, time-sensitive questions.
- LinkedIn: Great for professional and industry-specific polls and surveys.
- Other Tools: Consider tools like Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, or Typeform for more complex surveys and then share the link on social media.
3. Craft Engaging Questions
- Clear and Concise: Keep questions short and to the point to maintain engagement.
- Simple Language: Use straightforward language that is easy to understand.
- Relevant Options: Provide relevant and balanced answer choices. For polls, limit the options to avoid overwhelming respondents.
4. Optimize for Engagement
- Visual Appeal: Use eye-catching images or videos to accompany your survey or poll to draw attention.
- Call to Action: Encourage participation with a strong call to action. For example, “We value your opinion! Help us improve by answering this quick poll.”
- Timing: Post your survey or poll at times when your audience is most active on social media.
5. Promote Your Survey or Poll
- Cross-Promotion: Share your survey or poll across multiple social media platforms to reach a broader audience.
- Pin Posts: Pin your survey or poll to the top of your profile for increased visibility.
- Incentives: Offer incentives, like discounts or entry into a giveaway, to encourage participation.
6. Analyze and Act on Results
- Monitor Responses: Keep track of responses in real-time to gauge engagement and make any necessary adjustments.
- Analyze Data: Use the insights gathered to inform your decisions. Look for trends, common feedback, and actionable takeaways.
- Share Results: Share interesting findings with your audience to show that their input is valued and to encourage future participation.
Example of Social Media Poll Creation and Optimization
On Instagram:
- Create a Poll in Stories:
- Open Instagram and swipe right to open the Stories camera.
- Take a photo or video, or upload one from your gallery.
- Tap the sticker icon and select the “Poll” sticker.
- Type your question and provide two answer options.
- Customize the look with colors and emojis.
- Share the Story and use relevant hashtags or tag users to increase reach.
- Encourage Participation:
- Post a Story before the poll to let your audience know it’s coming and why it’s important.
- Share the poll results and thank your audience for participating in a follow-up Story.
On Twitter:
- Create a Twitter Poll:
- Click on the “Tweet” button.
- Type your question and click the poll icon to add options.
- Enter your answer choices (up to four) and set the duration (from 5 minutes to 7 days).
- Add relevant hashtags to increase visibility.
- Post the tweet.
- Promote and Engage:
- Retweet the poll periodically to reach more followers.
- Respond to comments and thank participants to foster engagement.
Best Practices for Social Media Surveys and Polls
- Keep it Short: Limit the number of questions to avoid survey fatigue.
- Engage Visually: Use visuals to make your surveys and polls more engaging.
- Be Transparent: Let participants know how their feedback will be used.
- Follow Up: Share how you’ve used their input to make improvements or decisions.
By following these steps, you can create and optimize social media surveys and polls that effectively engage your audience and provide valuable insights for your brand.