Ever wonder what’s in an online poll?  Everyday millions of online polls tell me everything I need to know about myself – what kind of car I should buy, what Disney character I’m most like, and what my internet age is, but what’s really the purpose of all of this?  If used correctly, online polls can collect valuable information from your website’s users, as well as recruit some of their friends.

Knowing, understanding and catering to your target market is an integral part of successful marketing, and provides examples on how to differentiate your product and/or service from your competition.  Some of the most commonly researched statistics are a target market’s…
    1. email address
    2. age
    3. ethnicity
    4. location
    5, smoke/drink
    6. religion
    7. favorite foods
    8. favorite music
    9.  what they read
    10. what they watch
    11. who their friends are

The possibilities are literally endless.  The more you know about your audience, the more personally you can cater to them – and better yet, find them!  For instance, if you find that a majority of your website’s visitor’s also read Maxim magazine, you might want to consider advertising in Maxim magazine to find more users who would enjoy your site.

There are many easy ways to add polls and accumulate info directly on your website with websites like easy-poll.com, twiigs.com & micropoll.com, but unless your website is already established and attracting visitors, these polls are of little help except for collecting your visitor’s information - if your users even decide to help you out by answering the poll in the first place.  Personally, I feel these websites tend to leave the “Viral Marketing” part of things out, which in many cases tends to be the most integral part of the poll during the early stages of a company’s growth.

Before I go any further I want to point out that when I say “Viral Marketing”, I’m talking about an innovative and often subliminal marketing approach meant to trigger a reaction from the user (and in this case cause them to submissively fill out personal information, forward to friends and embed on their social networking profiles).  The best viral marketing polls come when companies who collaborate with Marketing and Web Development Companies to produce and develop innovative and strategic research driven viral marketing campaigns.  For a campaign to be truly viral it must possess one of the following qualities:
        1.    Edgy/Scarey
        2.    Surprising
        3.    Original
        4.    Sexy
        5.    Pop Culture
        6.    Emotional
        7.    Topical
        8.    Cute
        9.    Weird

For example, A fun poll a dj could use would be…

Which Turntable are You?

1. Gender – Male or Female
        Is our audience primarily male or female?
2. Age
        What are our audiences age ranges?
3. City & State
        Where is our audience located?
4. College degree?
        What is the general education level of our audience?
5. Information Source of Preference – TV, Print, Music
        How does our audience like to receive information?
6. Stranded on an island with one thing – Food, Friends or Technology?
        What is our target audience’s thought process?
7. Game System of Preference – Atari, Nintendo, Playstation
        How technically savvy is our audience, how in tune they are with the times, and if I was to choose a game system to advertise within which would it be?
9.  Pre-game Music?
        What other types of music are they into, and perhaps what should be considered when experimenting?
10.  What you’re going to eat right before you spin your set- Fast Food, Healthy, Just a Coffee
        Where you should spend your advertising dollars to recruit new friends.?

Really have fun with this, produce more original questions to acquire further research driven results.  In the end, the more you know – the more you can help your audience.

In most cases, at the end of a Viral Marketing Poll an answer and picture would generate based on their answers, classifying them into categories.  Personally, I would have classified them into one of four groups ….
        1.    Old School (Manual drive turn-tables)
        2.    Average  (Direct drive vynil turn-tables)
        3.    Technically savvy (CD turn-tables)
        4.    Truly Innovative (A Microphone)

I really recommend taking the extra steps to allow users the ability to embed these results directly within their website or social networking profiles.  You will also want to allow them to forward these results to their friends and spread the word to acquire new members for your website. 

To get your polls out their, you might want to consider allocating funds for a Google PPC Campaign and purchasing advertising space on third party websites (when they allow for polls to be displayed within their advertisements).  Social Networking and Blogging platforms are also excellent paths to take when trying to get the word out online.

After the results come in, it’s time for you to go to work.  After analyzing the information and learning more about your target market (and how to find them), You can truly start to cater to their likes and dislikes to build a more permanent and long-term relationship (and grow!) as you continue to entertain your visitors and keep them on your website.

Ahh online polls, who would’ve guessed you could learn so much by telling people what you think about them.

Anthony



http://www.toprankblog.com/2008/02/top-ten-online-marketing-tactics/

http://the-raw-prawn.blogspot.com/2004/11/nikes-viral-marketing.html

http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/198590.html?aff=rss