[Ahem. Don’t forget to follow 10 new people.]

Let’s take a poll!

For Day 20, we’re taking a brainstorm and creation break while keeping our engagement going.

We’re taking a poll.

It can be on anything you want (as long as it’s not offensive or controversial to the point it will cause you to lose followers).

The poll doesn’t have to connect directly to your work but pick a question that is in character with your personality and brand. If you want to use the poll results for your own data, make sure you ask the right questions the right way. Give a deadline for when votes need to be in. I gave mine two days to allow for lag time in RTs.

Actually, what better source can I find to guide you on “how to poll” you than this post from Survey Monkey? Pls give it a quick scan.

Polls aren’t the kind of a post you can automate across platforms. That might work out for the best, as you probably would speak to each audience a little differently anyway. Buffer won’t even let me create a poll, at least not that I can figure out. So let’s assume we have to go to each platform separately.

Different outlets:

• Twitter makes polls easy. They let you offer a max of four answers and you decide how long the poll is up/live.

• For Facebook, the only place you can create a poll is in a GROUP page. You can’t use the poll format in a profile or a fan page. In this case, you still want an excuse to reach out there so there’s a work around! Share the results of your poll from another platform (rumor has it you might not want to mention the platform by name or they bury the post but I can’t confirm they do that). Talk about what you think it means, ask followers what their opinions are, etc. “I recently ran a poll where exactly half of the people say they like to create in the comfort of their home and the other half prefer somewhere out of the house. Where do you go to create?”

• LinkedIn offers a how-to on doing a poll there; it’s put in the same place as your regular posts in your account/profile.

• Instagram lets you create a poll in your STORIES but not feed. Here’s a how-to guide. There are a TON of free templates you can use in addition to the one Insta provides.

• If you have a YouTube channel, obv this wouldn’t work. How might you engage in a poll there? Well, what if you turn your poll idea into a short video about why you think the poll is relevant or important, or ask people on the street, or maybe make a quick vid talking about your expectations and/or sharing the results of your poll? Lots of ways to engage on whatever platform is your favorite.

Remember when I followed up on asking how your RT&Win went? This follow-up is gonna be public. The day following the close of the poll you have to commit to showing final results and/or offering an assessment or insight into them. (And no, that won’t be your task for tomorrow or the day after its finished, it will be in addition to it!)

Get polling!