I love a good opinion poll. Whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, an opinion poll is a great way to engage your audience, drive traffic to your website or business page and get the feedback you need for future campaigns or products.
It also makes for great content. In this article, I’m going to give you some tips on how you can create engaging polls that people will want to share every time!
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Craft attention-grabbing headlines for your poll questions to pique curiosity and encourage sharing. |
| 2. Keep poll questions concise and easy to understand, making it effortless for participants to engage and share. |
| 3. Incorporate relatable and trending topics in your poll questions to tap into current conversations and attract a wider audience. |
| 4. Utilize visual elements such as images, GIFs, or emojis to enhance the visual appeal of your poll and make it more shareable. |
| 5. Encourage participation by adding a call-to-action that prompts participants to share their poll responses with their networks. |
| 6. Leverage social media platforms and relevant hashtags to amplify the reach of your opinion poll and foster sharing. |
| 7. Analyze the results of your poll and share interesting findings with your audience, sparking further engagement and sharing. |
| 8. Engage with participants’ comments and responses, creating a sense of community around your poll and encouraging sharing. |
| 9. Experiment with different question formats, such as multiple-choice, open-ended, or ranking questions, to maintain audience interest. |
| 10. Monitor sharing patterns and engagement metrics to refine your poll-writing strategies and consistently improve your reach. |
1. Provide The Answer
If you’re asking a question, make it clear what the answer should be. This can be as simple as providing a range of answers or even a list of answers.
For example, the original poll asked “What is your favorite ice cream flavor?” In this case, there is no correct answer the question itself lacks direction and leaves room for interpretation.
But after adding in some other flavors as options (Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough), it becomes clear that Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is the best flavor ever!
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2. Connect With Your Audience
Get on their level and ask them questions about themselves. Ask them to share with their friends and make sure that your poll is easy to understand.
Use visuals to help your audience understand the question, and choose two options that are opposites of each other (for example: “Should we have more bacon?” vs. “Should we have less bacon?”).
Make your poll entertaining for your audience by writing it in a funny way or using questions they can relate to (I’m talking about you, parents).
3. Keep It Simple, Silly
You want to keep it simple. You’re not writing a dissertation, after all. Some people think that means you should use short words and sentences, but that’s not always true. Sometimes the most effective way to get your point across is with big words and long sentences.
Still, other times brevity is key, so “keep it short” doesn’t mean “don’t write at all.” The right way to say it: keep it simple, silly!
Here’s another tip: write in plain language instead of industry jargon or acronyms like “ASAP” or “LOL.” This will make your poll more accessible for everyone who reads it not just those who are familiar with industry jargon!
In addition to being simple, don’t forget about being fun! Making things an enjoyable read takes some effort but the results can be worth the effort and if you’re having fun while doing something legitimately important (like writing a blog post), then both parties win.
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4. Use Visuals
A picture is worth a thousand words, and adding visuals to your poll can be an effective way to break up the text and add humor. It can also help you make a point, as in the case of our example above: “Why do you think this picture is so funny?”
A good visual should be relevant to your question, not random or out of place.
Make sure it’s easy for readers (or voters) to understand what they’re looking at without having to spend too much time figuring it out and if possible, find creative ways of incorporating those visuals into some of your other content so that people see them more often!
5. Make Sure The Options Are Balanced
You’re not done yet. You still have to make sure that your options are balanced, relevant, and fair.
Here’s what we mean by this:
Your Options Should Be Balanced
They should reflect a variety of viewpoints on the topic at hand, and they shouldn’t contain any extreme viewpoints (i.e., “I love cats” versus “I hate cats”).
If you’re doing an opinion poll on what animal is the best pet for children, you don’t want “Dogs are best!” as one of your options even though they are objectively awesome pets because it will skew the results toward dogs and away from other animals.
The Question Itself Needs To Make Sense
This can be trickier than it sounds because there are often multiple ways to ask a question that get different results; for example: “Do you think being kind makes people happy?” vs “Is being kind enough?”
These two questions yield very different answers because no one would ever choose kindness over happiness if given these choices (and vice versa).
So when writing your question, make sure it flows naturally with how people speak in everyday life by asking yourself: “Would I say this out loud? Does this sentence sound right when spoken aloud? Does it flow well? Does it make sense?” If not change it!
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6. Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously
When it comes to humor, you have a lot of leeways. It’s not as though you need to be funny all the time; sometimes, being silly or just plain weird can be more effective than being straightforwardly funny.
Take this poll from BuzzFeed asking readers to share the most ridiculous things they’ve ever said in the middle of sex.
It’s not exactly laugh-out-loud hilarious (or even really funny at all), but it’s so absurd that people couldn’t help but share it with their friends because they felt like they were part of some sort of secret club, and what could be better than that?
7. Watch Out For Spelling And Grammar Mistakes
It’s important to proofread your poll before publishing it because even the most experienced writers make mistakes.
Spelling and grammar mistakes can be embarrassing for you and your readers. Readers won’t take you seriously if they see that you haven’t taken the time to edit your work or hire someone else to do it for you (even if it’s only $5).
Thankfully there are plenty of tools available that will help prevent these errors from ever happening: Grammarly is a great example, as well as Microsoft Word’s spell check and autocorrects functions.
If those don’t cut it for whatever reason (maybe they’re too slow or inaccurate), post a draft of the poll with all its typos on Facebook or Twitter for friends and followers to give feedback on what needs fixing before posting publicly.
Or consider hiring an editor you’ll be surprised how much better their suggestions will make everything look!
8. Ask Them To Share!
Once you’ve done all of the above, ask people to share your poll on social media, via email, or in the comments section of the article itself. You can also ask them to share it on their website or blog and mention it on their podcast.
Finally, you should include a link to your poll in any newsletters that you publish going forward (and if you don’t have a newsletter yet then make one).
The more people who are seeing your poll and are asked to share it by others the higher chance it has of going viral!
9. Be Human And Be Honest!
The reality is that people will share your opinion poll if you are genuine, honest, and human. You don’t have to be a writer to make this work.
If you feel like something is wrong with the world and you want to share it then start writing about how it makes you feel or what experiences have led up to this point and why it affects so many people.
You could write about your own experience of being discriminated against because of race, gender, or sexuality; talk about how your community has been affected by crime; discuss how someone close to you died from cancer because they couldn’t afford treatment;
Talk about mental health issues in schools… anything that has made an impact on your life will be relatable for others who have gone through similar circumstances.
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10. Keep It In Line With Your Branding
Your brand is everything. If you think of yourself as an expert in the field of opinion polls, then make sure that’s what people see you as.
Don’t get too rude or mean-spirited with the poll questions you want to do the opposite of this, by being honest and forthright about what you’re asking, but also kind and welcoming to readers who want to share their opinions.
You can include images or graphics in your opinion poll if it helps add some flair or makes the page more visually interesting for readers (and thus more likely for them to share).
11. Avoid Controversial Or Sensitive Topics (Unless It Fits Your Brand)
Avoid Controversial Or Sensitive Topics
If you want people to engage with your poll, it’s best to avoid particularly controversial or sensitive issues in your poll questions.
For example, a question like “Do you think women should be paid the same as men?” is likely to offend some people and could make them feel uncomfortable or angry enough to stop reading and therefore stop sharing the post.
On the other hand, if you’re running a brand that prides itself on being provocative and edgy (like Vice), then asking this kind of question may fit right into your brand voice and style!
12. Do Not Use Offensive Language!
This is perhaps the most obvious point of all, but it’s worth emphasizing: don’t use offensive language.
It may seem like a small thing, but remember that public opinion polls are widely shared on social media, and there could be some very sensitive readers out there who might take offense to your poll question.
Instead of asking “Do you think Trump is racist?” try something more neutral like “Is President-Elect Trump a racist?”
You should also keep in mind that many people will be reading your poll long after it was published and if you have any sort of questionable words or phrases in there, that can seriously damage its popularity over time (not to mention the fact that it could get you into legal trouble).
So unless you want to run the risk of getting called out for being offensive… just don’t do it!
13. Avoid Too Many Questions In One Poll! Stick To One Question!
There are a few reasons why it’s important to keep your poll as simple and easy to understand as possible. First of all, people won’t want to take the time out of their day if they can’t tell right away what you’re asking them about.
If a poll is too long or has too many questions, then people will get confused and leave. This will make it harder for you to get more shares on social media and make sure that the results of your poll are accurate!
Secondly, if someone takes the time out of their day just so they can answer one question for you to get some data from them, then there better be a good reason for doing so!
For example: if someone was asked about their favorite food and what would happen if aliens invaded earth tomorrow at 8 pm sharp (just because), chances are very high that they wouldn’t respond at all, and rightly so! That’s just ridiculous!
That being said… there should only be one question per poll or survey. And when asking such questions please make sure they’re relevant (meaning related) both within context (the topic) as well as outside context (general life).
So if I’m going into an interview tomorrow morning where I’ll be answering questions like “what did you eat last weekend?” then something like “what do think about today being Thursday?”
Might not fit because although technically related by definition alone (a 7 letter word meaning “day”), this type of question isn’t anything special enough where anyone would care enough about its outcome since most people already know what days look like;
Likewise with something along those lines where I could come up with any number ways myself via pure logic alone without having done any research beforehand which would mean less effort spent overall making things easier on everyone involved – including ourselves!”
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Conclusion
I hope you have found this post helpful. Social media is a fantastic way to engage with your audience and get them excited about sharing your content, so if you are not asking for their opinion in your marketing campaign then you are missing out on a great opportunity!
The main takeaway from all of this is that there are many different types of polls, so it’s important to find one that fits with what your brand is trying to achieve.
Remember that a poll needs to be interesting enough so people will want to share it, but not too controversial where they feel like they can’t share their true feelings on the topic (unless that’s the intent). Happy polling!
Further Reading
Expand your knowledge with these additional resources:
Crafting Effective Poll Questions: Discover the art of formulating compelling poll questions that yield valuable insights and engagement.
Engage Your Audience with Icebreaker Questions: Explore a collection of icebreaker questions that can enhance audience interaction and participation during live polling.
Writing Survey Questions that Get Results: Learn the techniques behind writing survey questions that gather accurate data and provide actionable insights.
FAQs
What are some tips for creating engaging poll questions?
Crafting engaging poll questions involves understanding your audience’s interests and phrasing questions in a clear, concise manner. Consider using open-ended questions and incorporating a variety of question types to keep participants intrigued.
How can icebreaker questions enhance audience engagement during live polling?
Icebreaker questions are designed to foster connections and build a comfortable atmosphere. Using them in live polling sessions helps break the ice, encourages participation, and sets a positive tone for the discussion.
What strategies can I use to write effective survey questions?
Effective survey questions are unbiased, easy to understand, and aligned with your research goals. Utilize both closed-ended and open-ended questions strategically to gather quantitative and qualitative data for comprehensive insights.
How do I ensure that my poll questions lead to actionable insights?
To ensure actionable insights from your poll questions, focus on asking questions that directly relate to your objectives. Keep questions clear and concise, and consider pre-testing them to identify any potential issues before distribution.
What are some common pitfalls to avoid when writing survey questions?
When writing survey questions, avoid leading or biased language, double-barreled questions (which ask about multiple things at once), and complex jargon. Instead, opt for simple and straightforward phrasing that everyone can understand.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.
