Everybody has an opinion and whether solicited or not, we are always delighted to offer it. 

So, as a brand, why not take advantage of social media polls and get authentic feedback from your followers?

Of course, you’ll need to increase engagement on your social media polls for them to be truly useful, but we’ll discuss that later.

Part of what makes social media fun is its ability to give users a platform to express opinions and thoughts at a click of a button. And polls provide a perfect channel to take advantage of this social media phenomenon.

According to a recent study, an average user spends almost 2.5 hours a day on social media. This represents a huge opportunity for you to engage your target audience when they’re most active and ask them for their opinions and preferences using polls.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have built-in features that make it easy to create polls. Once these polls have been created, you can roll out your social media posts to increase engagement by using social media posting apps. You can also find tap into the power of social media using apps such as  Polltab and Poll junkie to help make the experience even better for your followers and saas SEO tools. 

Alternatively, you can schedule your social media polls, posts and other engagements in advance, on multiple social channels by using some of the best social media management tools. Just create the posts, schedule them and focus only on engaging with your followers. 

But if your social media polls have had little success, then you may be wondering, “Is there more that I can do?”

If this describes your current predicament, you need to take up the following tactics to help you increase engagement on social media polls.

Ready?

Let’s get started.

8 Strategies to Increase Engagement on Social Media Polls

Here are 8 of the best strategies you can employ to increase engagement on social media polls. 

1. Make the Poll Question Short and Precise

One question is the rule of the game. The shorter the poll, the higher the engagement it will attract. 

A poll is differentiated from surveys by how short and precise it is. Aim at engaging your audience in less than 30 seconds. 

It’s best to create separate polls if you have several questions and post them at different times to avoid overwhelming your followers.

Additionally, the question shouldn’t be too hard to answer. Simplicity is key. 

A follower that re-reads a question and can’t comprehend the scope or relate to it will simply pass it over. 

Look at how simple and direct the question in the Twitter poll below is:

Image via KnowYourMeme

2. Explore Creative Ideas

Creativity is an energy that easily draws followers to your social media content. By utilizing techniques that capture interest, you can make most of social media. Some of the basics include:

Create Polls on Trending Topics

Create polls on trending topics relevant to your industry or current affairs. People want to engage with social media posts that resonate with different aspects of their lives. 

Once your audience takes note of your captivating polls, they’ll more than likely keep interacting with you in the future.

Use a Variety of Poll Questions

Your fans on social media are exposed to different types of content on their feeds and keeping them coming back to your polls is not easy. 

So, try to mix up the question styles for every poll to avoid predictability and boredom.

Some of the best types of questions you can ask on a social media poll are:

  • “Would You Rather” Questions
  • “Do You Want To” Questions
  • “Your Favorite” Questions
  • “This or That” Questions
  • “True or False” Questions
  •  Funny Poll Questions
  •  Silly Questions

These questions are simple and since they are easy for your followers to answer, you’ll witness a faster and broader engagement.

Keep it Fun and Entertaining

You can make the experience much more fun by, for instance, adding a funny meme, picture, or infographic or poking fun at regular things that your followers use every day. 

You can also re-package some interesting feedback in a fun way that will keep the engagement rolling. 

Don’t be afraid to be as creative as you can. But also don’t overdo it and learn to strike a balance between usefulness and fun.

Image via Survey

Provide Easy and Relevant Response Options

The poll question should be easy to understand and so should the responses. Offer your followers response options that are relatable and easy to pick out. 

A range of two to four responses does not intrude on time limits and is enough to cover all possible responses.

3. Show the Results

Do you want to learn a faster way to increase engagement on your social media polls?

Reveal the results of the poll.

People often take polls because they’re the best ad agency software curious to know the consensus on the poll question and whether they share the popular opinion.

So, allow your followers to view the results. Twitter and Facebook have an auto-response feature that alerts your followers once a poll is completed and the results which is a great incentive for increasing engagement. 

It’s even better to activate the real-time result feature to generate leads and engagement.  

And it doesn’t have to end there. If you find the feedback interesting and can make for an insightful blog post on the topic, go for it. 

You can also use email marketing software to share the results with your subscribers and let them know of any changes in the company the poll may have inspired.

4. Choose the Right Platform

I know what you’re thinking.

“Don’t all social media platforms let you create and run polls the same way?”

Well, not really.

Each platform has a different poll feature and audience profile. Instagram, for instance, allows two response options and no voter anonymity while Twitter accommodates 4 choices and voter anonymity, but does not allow images or video in the responses.

So, if you want to increase engagement on social media polls, you need to choose the right platform where your audience is most active and one that offers the best features.

Here’s an example of a poll with multiple response options.

Image via Twitter

5. Set a Timer

A timer creates a sense of urgency and social media users would not want to miss a fun poll that piques their interest. If implemented right, this tactic can easily increase engagement on social media polls.

Again, learn each platform’s timing range so you can pick the best fit for your poll. Instagram polls run for 24 hours which can be limiting, while Twitter offers a large range from five minutes to seven days.

Setting a timer can also apply to how you schedule and post your social polls. Social media platforms have different times during which their users are most active. This can have a huge influence on how the fans interact with your poll. 

A quick online search can show you, for instance, that the best time to post new content on Instagram is midday or midweek, specifically, 11.00 am on Wednesdays. Leveraging the best post time should also increase engagement on social media polls.

6. Engage Your Followers

How many polls do you see on your feed that just sit there waiting for the timer to go off? 

For better poll results, listen to and engage with your followers. Make them feel that their opinion matters.

You can comment on their responses to strike a conversation. Regular interaction between you and followers can help you increase engagement on social media polls. 

If your followers know that you value their feedback they are more likely to say positive things about you and engage with your brand in the future.

It will not only increase engagement on social media but also prove to be one of the best tools to generate leads as well. 

7. Leverage Relevant Hashtags to Increase Engagement on Social Media

Hashtags help you reach relevant people beyond your current social media followers. Use relevant hashtags to increase engagement on your social media polls and reach new audiences.

Search for the most relevant and simplest hashtags and add them to your social media polls.

Adding hashtags that relate to your poll question is a brilliant move to get more people to your social media polls.

Make sure to add one to three trending hashtags and watch them generate better engagement for your brand. 

8. Analyze the Poll Results

Polls are fun to create and looking at the impressive responses they tend to bring can leave you wanting to create more. However, you don’t want to complete one poll and just hop on to the next.

It's important to read and examine the responses.

Here are some of the questions that can help you analyze the data:

  • Is this the response I expected? If so or not, why? 
  • Was I able to increase engagement in this particular poll?
  • What can I learn from this?
  • Are there insights I can use to improve my brand?

Make it a habit to ask these pertinent questions so you make the most of your social media polls.

Poll analysis can also show you what worked and what didn’t work for your audience. This will help you create even more engaging social polls in the future.

Wrapping Up

Social media polls are a fun way to interact with your audience online and to gain insights on how to improve your brand. And how you structure your social media polls heavily determines the engagement rate they receive. 

That’s why the strategies mentioned above are crucial to help you increase engagement on social media polls. Use these and see the results for yourself. All the best!