The LinkedIn Polls application is a great tool I tested recently as an experiment for our new client Foresite, a fantastic digital agency.
How does it work? • Log onto your LinkedIn account as normal • Select the 'More' option (on the left of the search function), which will highlight a drop down menu • Click 'Polls' • Select the 'Create a Poll' button • Work your way through the instructions What's its purpose? This requires a bit of pro-active thinking as the options are pretty extensive.
Here's a quick overview though: •To create an interesting news angle backed up by an illuminating statistic •To find out more about a new market for a new product or service launch •To appreciate a particular trend What edge do LinkedIn polls have on commissioned research? •It's cost effective - it cost me $1.
50 per answer, plus I was able to specify the number of answers I wanted returned - so in total, I spent $150 on a concrete survey question (in comparison, it cost approximately £200 for a simple yes/ no response from the same number with YouGove, Vanson Bourne and Omniboss, so clearly a cheaper option).
•It offers targeted demographics, which can be specified geographically, by industry, profession and even job title.
For example, UK technology based marketing directors and business owners.
•This did actually deliver responses, I had over 100 answers in 4 days - how I don't know, another reason I'm annoyed that I didn't think of LinkedIn in the first place!.
The ease of setting the parameters, then sitting back and waiting for the results to come in is a much brighter prospect than approaching people on the street.
•The data is categorised and analysed by the polling function, saving the manual trawl through Excel this normally requires •Results can then easily be grouped by age, gender, position, and company size.
The downside •The way the function is presented visually is a little puzzling - you might also find it difficult to survey those outside of your own network or the US of A - you are able to go outside of this, but it's not obvious by any means •It took a few attempts to be able to categorise and break down the responses, but I go there eventually.
How did it turn out? Over 30 hits, along with linkbacks to Foresite's website, so all in all, a good piece of PR: http://tinyurl.
com/37brtps Scores on the doors: 8 out of 10
How does it work? • Log onto your LinkedIn account as normal • Select the 'More' option (on the left of the search function), which will highlight a drop down menu • Click 'Polls' • Select the 'Create a Poll' button • Work your way through the instructions What's its purpose? This requires a bit of pro-active thinking as the options are pretty extensive.
Here's a quick overview though: •To create an interesting news angle backed up by an illuminating statistic •To find out more about a new market for a new product or service launch •To appreciate a particular trend What edge do LinkedIn polls have on commissioned research? •It's cost effective - it cost me $1.
50 per answer, plus I was able to specify the number of answers I wanted returned - so in total, I spent $150 on a concrete survey question (in comparison, it cost approximately £200 for a simple yes/ no response from the same number with YouGove, Vanson Bourne and Omniboss, so clearly a cheaper option).
•It offers targeted demographics, which can be specified geographically, by industry, profession and even job title.
For example, UK technology based marketing directors and business owners.
•This did actually deliver responses, I had over 100 answers in 4 days - how I don't know, another reason I'm annoyed that I didn't think of LinkedIn in the first place!.
The ease of setting the parameters, then sitting back and waiting for the results to come in is a much brighter prospect than approaching people on the street.
•The data is categorised and analysed by the polling function, saving the manual trawl through Excel this normally requires •Results can then easily be grouped by age, gender, position, and company size.
The downside •The way the function is presented visually is a little puzzling - you might also find it difficult to survey those outside of your own network or the US of A - you are able to go outside of this, but it's not obvious by any means •It took a few attempts to be able to categorise and break down the responses, but I go there eventually.
How did it turn out? Over 30 hits, along with linkbacks to Foresite's website, so all in all, a good piece of PR: http://tinyurl.
com/37brtps Scores on the doors: 8 out of 10
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