In the past, it was totally possible to find out exactly what you wanted to learn from your students over Twitter — if they took the time to write out an answer, and if you tracked replies, followed hashtag or got your followers to favorite or retweet corresponding tweets.
Needless to say, it got a little complicated. As a result, Twitter wasn’t always viewed as the best resource to quiz your customers for quick input — until now. In October, Twitter unveiled its latest feature: Twitter Polls.
You can now ask your followers simple two-response questions with an easy-to-build poll. Polls can be build from any desktop computer, or in the Twitter app for iOS and Android. They remain active for 24 hours, giving students a window to answer. How they vote isn’t revealed publicly, so students can rest easy with their opinions.
Needless to say, this presents an awesome opportunity for your store to better connect with students, boost social media engagement and learn what your customers want so you can make more informed business decisions. It provides information fast, and instead of overcomplicating your question with multiple options, only being allowed to provide two answers keeps things simple and to the point. It’s practically designed for stores and students!
First, let’s go over how you do it.
Step 1: Create a Poll
Creating a Twitter Poll is easy to do. When you click to write a tweet, you may have noticed the new pie chart icon. By clicking that, you can write your poll.
Simply write your question in the top field, and each answer in the bottom two. Then hit Tweet. Your poll is posted!
The images we used were done in a desktop browser, but it works the same way on the mobile app.
Step 2: Collect Your Results
After 24 hours elapse, you’ll have results broken down in percentages for you to use. This can help you decide if there are certain types of products your students want you to carry, if you need to adjust your buyback hours or any other question you can think to ask.
To get the most mileage for your results, be sure to promote your poll while it’s happening. Polls can be retweeted and responded to like any other tweet, so be sure to pay attention to what your students have to say beyond the poll results.
Need help coming up with some poll questions to ask your students? Here are a few we came up with. Fire away!
The possibilities are of course endless, but these are just a few ideas we had as a jumping-off point. Whatever you choose, let us know if you have success with your poll and what you learn to use at your store!
