and Social Media Engagement

Posted by Meghan Richards
AdOps Executive

Social media polls can boost customer interaction, increase brand awareness and involve consumers in decision-making, Meghan Richards observes.

Getting your audience to engage with your social media content can be tricky, even with well-written copy and eye-catching imagery. But words and images aren’t the only tools to be utilized – polls, specifically on social media, are a great way to boost interaction, increase brand awareness and involve your consumers in your decision-making.

Back in the ‘90s, Mars was ready to switch things up and replace their tan-colored M&M’s with another shade. The company decided to give the decision to the public, so they offered candy lovers the chance to call a 1-800 number and vote for either blue, pink, or purple. By the end of the two-month long campaign, they had gathered 10 million votes. (Blue won, receiving 54% of the votes.)

Nowadays, advertisers don’t have to rely on the old-fashioned telephone to engage with the public: social media platforms enable brands to interact directly with their consumers, and offer plenty of ways for brands to use public sentiment to their advantage.

People love answering questions and sharing their own opinions, and polls provide the perfect avenue for this. Brands can gather and analyze responses to learn exactly what their audience wants, eliminating the need to make assumptions about their customers’ desires. This immediate feedback can help advertisers create strong content which resonates with their intended market, increasing the likelihood that their audience will engage with it. And when polls have a high engagement rate, they reach more people organically, with algorithms favoring this kind of interaction.

When you give your audience the opportunity to voice their opinions and involve them in decision-making, it strengthens their relationship with the brand, and as a result, builds customer loyalty. If brands can utilize this loyalty to create an online community, then the potential insights gained from user engagement can be used as market research. This feedback allows brands to gain insights, judge consumer preferences, and discover new communication channels.

Listening is one of the most important things a brand can do online. If your brand is just broadcasting its own agenda, it isn’t truly engaging in a conversation.

Jeremy Goldman