Are you noticing a dip in overall engagement with your brand in the digital space? Chances are you’re panicking, assuming that you are doing something wrong and that your brand is about to lose relevance- but fear not, I have an easy way to increase brand awareness that literally anyone can do. The answer to all of your engagement issues is social polls. I’m not talking about election day though, I’m talking about the “poll” feature that many of our favorite social media channels have debuted in the past year. Social media polls are one of the MOST overlooked methods for increasing your overall brand awareness. In fact, polls have unique advantages in helping you learn your audience better and should hands-down be added into your social media strategy, especially if you are seeing your numbers decline. But enough about how polls are going to save your business, allow me to shed some light on why social polls work and even provide you with some tips to ensure success!

Let’s be Honest - People LOVE to Feel Important

So many businesses fear that utilizing social polls will bore their audience and scare them away, but in reality, things are actually completely opposite. Polls give your average social media a feeling of importance. You may not realize this, but you posting a generic poll to all of your followers actually makes each and every follower you have feel as if their opinion matters to you, and let’s be real. Everyone loves to shout their opinion on social media. Why not give them the ability to do so in a positive manner instead of bashing one another on their old high school flame’s Facebook status?Before I move on to my next point about polls it is worth mentioning that when your posts have a high engagement rate, they reach even more people organically. This means that when your followers are engaging with your polls, your chances of reaching someone who doesn’t already follow you increases exponentially.

Sweet Simplicity

Social polls are an incredibly quick and easy way for your audience to give their two cents. Unlike those annoying survey emails that require you to sign up, answer ten to fifteen questions, and essentially sign your life away by the end of it, a social poll is right there where your audience already is and they can select an answer with just a tap of an option. Since submitting an answer is so simple, often times a user is even compelled to shed some light on their answer in the comment section, thus increasing your engagement and organic social reach.

Get Your Audience’s Insight

Many marketers and business owners often find themselves guessing or assuming what their audience is looking for and how they feel about certain topics. Why stress on an assumption when you could easily just post a quick poll and get a first hand take on how your audience actually feels. By understanding and reading your poll responses, you can learn from your audience directly, allowing you to better cater your content and products to their direct needs! Why wouldn’t you want to hear their opinions first hand? Personally, I think a guessing game is going to do nothing but cause problems in the long run.

Tips for Making Effective Use of Your Polls

Now before I let you go, I wanted to give you a few tips for polls that will ensure that you succeed. Here are a few ways you can boost your poll engagement rate:

• Keep Things Interesting
• Post During Peak Times
• Do Not Overwhelm Your Audience
• Respond, Respond, RESPOND!

Utilizing polls in our social strategy is an effective method to increase overall brand awareness and engagement. By adding in polls you will be able to find out more about your audience, as well as getting your brand in front of a new audience!