How to Create Twitter Polls and 4 Ways to Use Them

twitter polls

Twitter polls can be a really handy feature! When used the smart way, you can learn a lot about your audience and it can even shape the future of your brand. After all, they’re a pretty easy way to collect information, so they’re worth using!

But what if you’ve never created Twitter polls before? How can you actually make one and what should your poll be about? Well, this post has you covered with everything you need to know.

How to Create Twitter Polls of Your Own

The first thing to know is that you can either create a poll on desktop or mobile. Either one works just fine and the process is essentially the same for both.

twitter polls

What you’ll need to do is click the compose tweet button to create a brand new tweet. At the bottom of the box, you’ll notice a few blue icons. These icons allow you to add an image or video, add a GIF, create a poll, insert an emoji, or schedule the post. You’ll want to click the poll button, which you can see is marked in the image above.

twitter polls

Next, you’ll see a space to enter the question for your poll. Below that, there are entry fields for each option you’d like people to choose from. Every poll obviously needs to have two options, but you can add more by clicking the plus sign on the right.

twitter polls

The final decision you’ll need to make is how long you’d like the poll to run. It can go for just 5 minutes or all the way up to seven days. If you choose to run a poll for a longer length of time, then you’ll want to make sure you’re re-sharing the original post so it continues to gain traction. My polls typically run for one or two days so I simply retweet it several times throughout the day so it stays highly visible. I refer to this strategy as a second pinned tweet. See video below to learn more.

After you’ve filled everything out, you’re ready to post your poll! Now all you have to do is wait for the results to roll in.

4 Ways to Use Twitter Polls

Now that you know how to create your own Twitter polls, you might be wondering what you can use them for… Luckily, I have a few suggestions that will be beneficial for you and your brand. After all, you want to use polls as a way to learn about your audience!

1. Determine Your Audience’s Interests

In order for your brand to thrive, you want to ensure you’re taking your audience into consideration. What are they genuinely interested in? And what are their preferences? You can use Twitter polls to gather this information and so much more.

Find out which topics in relation to your field that they’d like to learn about. You can give them a few options to choose from and then create content based on which topic got the most votes. You might even want to ask how they’re most interested in consuming content. Do they prefer blog posts, podcasts, or YouTube videos? It just might open you up to some new ways of creating content for your audience.

2. Get Feedback for an Upcoming Idea

When that spark of inspiration comes along and gives you an idea for a brand new offering, there’s one question that inevitably follows… Is this something that would appeal to my target audience? And there’s one way to find out: Twitter polls!

If you have this idea you’re debating about pursuing, create a poll and ask those on Twitter if it’s something they’d be interested in. If you get enough positive feedback, then you’ll know it would be a good idea to move forward with. You can even use the poll to encourage people to message you with more details about what they’d like this particular offering to cover.

Not only is this great for getting feedback on new products and services, but you can ask for their opinions regarding branding, marketing ideas, content, and more. Never be afraid to ask for their suggestions. It gets them involved and makes them feel included in your brand.

3. Have Industry-Related Discussions

Is there a hot topic that’s currently taking over in your industry? Use Twitter polls to kickstart your own conversation about it. It will allow you to gauge how your audience feels about the news and how it may be impacting them. You could even ask if there’s something they don’t understand and would like to learn more about. Then, it just might inspire some creative ideas for your future content. It’s always nice to jump in on timely, relevant topics.

4. Learn More About Your Audience With Entertaining Questions

And finally, why not allow yourself to have some fun with Twitter polls? There’s no harm in posing some entertaining questions to your target audience. It gives you some more insight into their personalities and interests, which can be helpful for you in the long run.

Ask about their favorite TV shows and movies or their favorite brands. Find out how they’re likely to start each day or what their favorite social media app is. You can ask them anything you want! The question is, what would you like to learn about them?