With the age of social media marketing now upon us, brands and business from all over the world are taking advantage of free ways to grow their businesses and increase overall reach. Sites such as Facebook offer these brands the ability to seamlessly and non-intrusively connect with other individuals who share similar interests and want to stay updated without providing their emails or personal information. Social media can be a valuable way to increase both revenue and exposure, especially when the right tools are used. Surveys of your fan base can be an excellent way to gather information, but what information can be gathered and how can it be helpful? Below, we’ll discuss this so that you’ll be aware of why it is a good idea to start polling your social media fan base.

Feedback on Your Products

Perhaps the most straightforward element and benefit of polling a social media fan base is to gauge sentiment and receive feedback on products and services. Any business owner knows that feedback is crucial, yet hard to harvest via email or simple feedback forms on their own. Social media presents opportunities for pinging users through a passive format in the hopes that they will respond. The hidden advantage to this method when compared to email surveys and the like is that these individuals have a) demonstrated interest in your product or have already purchased it, and b) they have already engaged in a voluntary action when it comes to giving feedback (namely, liking or following your social media pages).

Free Opinions

Many larger businesses will spend vast sums of money to conduct focus groups and surveys of their products and services. Rather than spending thousands of dollars on such processes, social media can instead be used to gauge a large and relevant audience for no cost at all. There are many people who, when behind the screen of the computer, are more than willing to weigh in on anything and everything. Fortunately, your business or brand will be more likely to only attract those who have prior relationships with it. This allows for a free-flowing exchange of dialogue about advantages, disadvantages, likes and dislikes, and potential changes/improvements for future products and services.

New Content

Another great thing about consistent polling of users is that it can be a great form of content generation. Depending on your niche or brand, you may be able to periodically survey social media users on ideas and events that have to do with the brand’s scope but not necessarily the brand itself. A traffic safety company may ask users about a recent DUI checkpoint operation in the news, for instance. Combining social media with current events and a relevant focus is a great way to be pinging users with purpose, which can slowly help build organic, permanent audiences on social media.

Polling your followers can be an excellent way to find out what folks are thinking and what to do in the future. You can expect to obtain free feedback on your products and services, all of which can be done for free in most cases. As a side-benefit, you’ll also be generating new content for your users to peruse – each conversation is an additional opportunity for interaction between brands and customers.