How well do you know your customers? Do you know what they like and what they dislike?  Do you know what they want and what they need? Do you think you know what your customers expect from your products and services? Getting to know and understand the ins and outs of your customers is a fundamental goal for growing any business, large or small. 

With the heightened use of social media channels, engaging with your customers is as simple as a click of the mouse.  When was the last time you asked your social media followers what they want from your products or services? If your answer is “I don’t remember,” you need to start! 

Unfortunately, if you don’t spend the necessary time and energy to adopt social media into your overall marketing plan, you are missing out on learning more about your customers, engaging with your customers, building lasting relationships, and adding value. 

Social media channels such as Twitter with over 300 million user accounts and Facebook with over 700 million user accounts present an attractive opportunity for online survey research.¹ That’s one billion total users! – And that’s just from the top two social media sites alone. When incorporating online surveys into your social media marketing mix, there’s an opportunity to gather feedback, make fast connects, and build lasting relationships. 

Conducting online surveys can elevate your social media activities to a whole new level. Whether it is a one question online poll or a full online survey, conducting surveys via social media is a way to engage your customers. For example, here are strategies to develop, incorporate, and promote one question online polls or online surveys into your social media marketing activities: 

Listen: Monitor topics of interest to your social community.  There are a variety of reasons to utilize online surveys, including conducting product research, identifying current market trends, or profiling customers. 

Expand: Expand your social network, and therefore produce a survey panel. Developing a strong social network across different social media channels is similar to developing your own survey panel.  As your number of followers increases, so does your survey panel. All of your followers are potential responders who have a genuine interest in your business.  With continued participation and interaction by your followers, you continue to earn their trust. 

Test: Interact with your social network. Share one-question online polls to test how your followers respond. Manage that feedback to construct a plan for the design and development of future one-question polls and online surveys. 

Ask: Engage with your followers. Ask your followers for ideas on survey topics.  If you don’t have a defined and targeted sample of respondents, ask your followers to share your surveys. 

Recognize: Recognize those followers in your social network that have shared survey topics or those that have assisted by sharing your surveys with their followers. People appreciate being recognized for their contributions. 

Promote: If your followers are willing to contribute ideas and share your survey to their followers, they are likely to share the results of your survey. Consider offering your social followers an incentive for promoting survey results.  You could offer an advanced review of the survey results before they are shared with the public, a free white paper, discounted or free admission to a webinar, or entry into a raffle.  There are several low-cost incentive opportunities. 

¹ Taylor, Chris (June 27, 2011). “Social networking ‘utopia’ isn’t coming”. CNN. http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-27/tech/limits.social.networking.taylor_1_twitter-users-facebook-friends-connections?_s=PM:TECH. Retrieved January 6, 2012.