I have thought about running a poll, but don’t you just “get the answers” you want, because you choose and phrase the questions? A simple poll like a blog post Like/Dislike poll is of course a no-brainer, but there are situations where Multiple Choice don’t really fit the bill and a qualitative and more fulfilling answer is required. A solution might be to run a preliminary survey among the users who you will be polling, so that you don’t forget something and everybody chooses “Other” 8o)
@Jens – True, but there are ways to get more custom responses, if you get a polls app created for you. We’ve seen some interesting creativity applied for better data mining. Perhaps that’s something to keep in mind if you’re looking! Thanks for reading!
I haven’t thought of using polls in my site, but now that you mention it I believe I could craft a couple of posts to see what my readers want. As you may have seen I run a fashion blog (in Spanish) and your advice could help me out to give them the colors and topics they really want.
One question: DO you believe it is important to use tools such as Facebook for those polls or should I post directly in the site?
@Ariadna – Facebook is really an excellent way to gather the info you need, as everyone there is already sharing. The sentiment changes when someone arrives on a new website. It’s a little strange to them, so they are less likely to vote on a poll. Go with Facebook – see what happens!
In Psychology you learn there are open and closed questions, polls are classed as clossed but at the same time, if you are only looking for an answer between a few the results are easyier to use.
However you can also let readers comment under the poll if there is anything extra they want to add.
@John – That’s why researching and posing the right closed questions is important. But polls can only take you so far, it’s true. That’s not to say that they can’t be very, very useful. Thanks for your comment John, and keep reading.
I’ve tried running a poll on my website and it did not have much effect(at least I didn’t notice it) only about 10% of my visitors used it.. I’m thinking of setting up another one and I will try make it more catchy and see what happens. Thanks for the info.
@Sava – the trick is to keep trying, until your community responds – find out what they care about the most and begin there. Remember its about what the customer wants, not what you want!
I’ve had the most success using polls from Wepolls.com. Their polls are social. I get traffic back from their social network, and votes from their users as well as mine. It’s the best thing out there, by far.
I’ve always used polls for stickiness – you can build your own in Expression Engine and it’s really powerful – what’s more, you can take the results and build your own PR out of it, share the results, share the love 🙂 Zadoc Paet, I’m checking out that wepolls as we speak….. sounds awesome
@Yann, thanks for the tip – polls are certainly an excellent way to get your bounce rate down – something all social marketers need to focus on in the new year 🙂
I guess some people forgot that big things started from small things.. and online polls helps to improve our site and to recognize what our client wants through their opinions using online polls…
I guess some people forgot that big things started from small things.. and online polls helps to improve our site and to recognize what our client wants through their opinions using online polls…
18 Comments on “Are Online Polls Worth Using in Your Social Media Strategy?”
I have thought about running a poll, but don’t you just “get the answers” you want, because you choose and phrase the questions? A simple poll like a blog post Like/Dislike poll is of course a no-brainer, but there are situations where Multiple Choice don’t really fit the bill and a qualitative and more fulfilling answer is required. A solution might be to run a preliminary survey among the users who you will be polling, so that you don’t forget something and everybody chooses “Other” 8o)
@Jens – True, but there are ways to get more custom responses, if you get a polls app created for you. We’ve seen some interesting creativity applied for better data mining. Perhaps that’s something to keep in mind if you’re looking! Thanks for reading!
I think they are worth using. People like them and they are easy to do. You just have to have the right questions in them.
@Custom – the right questions – sounds easy, but it takes a while to perfect! Thanks for reading!
I haven’t thought of using polls in my site, but now that you mention it I believe I could craft a couple of posts to see what my readers want. As you may have seen I run a fashion blog (in Spanish) and your advice could help me out to give them the colors and topics they really want.
One question: DO you believe it is important to use tools such as Facebook for those polls or should I post directly in the site?
@Ariadna – Facebook is really an excellent way to gather the info you need, as everyone there is already sharing. The sentiment changes when someone arrives on a new website. It’s a little strange to them, so they are less likely to vote on a poll. Go with Facebook – see what happens!
In Psychology you learn there are open and closed questions, polls are classed as clossed but at the same time, if you are only looking for an answer between a few the results are easyier to use.
However you can also let readers comment under the poll if there is anything extra they want to add.
@John – That’s why researching and posing the right closed questions is important. But polls can only take you so far, it’s true. That’s not to say that they can’t be very, very useful. Thanks for your comment John, and keep reading.
I’ve tried running a poll on my website and it did not have much effect(at least I didn’t notice it) only about 10% of my visitors used it.. I’m thinking of setting up another one and I will try make it more catchy and see what happens. Thanks for the info.
@Sava – the trick is to keep trying, until your community responds – find out what they care about the most and begin there. Remember its about what the customer wants, not what you want!
I’ve had the most success using polls from Wepolls.com. Their polls are social. I get traffic back from their social network, and votes from their users as well as mine. It’s the best thing out there, by far.
@Zadoc – thanks for the tip, we’ll check Wepolls out! Keep reading 🙂
I’ve always used polls for stickiness – you can build your own in Expression Engine and it’s really powerful – what’s more, you can take the results and build your own PR out of it, share the results, share the love 🙂 Zadoc Paet, I’m checking out that wepolls as we speak….. sounds awesome
@Yann, thanks for the tip – polls are certainly an excellent way to get your bounce rate down – something all social marketers need to focus on in the new year 🙂
I guess some people forgot that big things started from small things.. and online polls helps to improve our site and to recognize what our client wants through their opinions using online polls…
@Web – opinions are really all that matter in business. You can’t function if your customers aren’t happy. Thanks for reading! – John.
I guess some people forgot that big things started from small things.. and online polls helps to improve our site and to recognize what our client wants through their opinions using online polls…
@Lock, well said. It’s the little things that keep great businesses going. – John