Creating content that gets read and creates conversions often feels like a shot in the dark, but it doesn’t have to be. You can serve content your audience craves in one simple step – by asking them what they want!
My favorite way to improve my content strategy is to invite my audience to take a survey all about the content I’m currently serving, the content they wish to see more of, and the content that isn’t serving them at all.
It’s tough to ask these questions because sometimes we’re afraid of the answers we’ll find and the hard work that lies ahead of us.
But, if we want to be good stewards of our platform and community we have to be willing and eager to survey our audience and listen to their needs.
Why Would You Want to Survey Your Audience?
Surveys prove or disprove what you think you know about your audience.
When first starting out building your community, everything is conjecture. Who is your target audience? Guess and see if you’re right. What do they want to hear from you? Guess and see if you’re right. Is the content you’re creating serving them? Guess. Are you right?
Who knows?
- Surveys take your content to the next level by further directing your aim. They help you readjust if you’ve been “off,” and they help you reposition your target if, you find out, you’ve been aiming in the wrong direction all along.
- Surveys help you find out if your content is even reaching the right audience, if it’s building your desired brand reputation, and if it’s driving the proper response and results among your audience (i.e., is it producing profit, making conversions, growing your business?)
- Surveys also create a sense of ownership and participation in your audience – they feel as if they are now a critical part to the success of your content and brand, because, well, they are! Their feedback is invaluable, and they know it.
The Best Ways to Survey Your Audience
- Email a survey to your subscriber list.
- Invite comments to a question via an Instagram post.
- Create a simple, quick poll via Instagram stories.
- Host in-person interviews with current and past customers and audience members. (This one is especially helpful if you’re just starting out and have a very small social platform and email list.)
- Ask a question or series of questions using Facebook polls.
- Host a yearly, in-depth reader survey with an incentive. Promote it via your email list, social platforms and blog.
Tip: I personally love using Typeform for my surveys – it’s easy to use and aesthetically pleasing. I then either promote the survey just to my email list, or I direct my entire community to the link!
Tips for Effective Surveys
Don’t ask about futures or hypotheticals, like “what would you do if…” or “what will you do…” These will produce conjectured and unreliable results not based on fact. Instead, ask your audience what they have done, what actions they’ve taken, etc.
Don’t ask yes-or-no’s. Simply put, don’t ask a question that can be answered with one word. It’s (often) a waste of a question.
Be strategic in when and where you ask for feedback. For example, don’t survey your Instagram audience about your email content using an Instagram poll (yup, I’ve done this one). Your numbers will be skewed because people who aren’t even on your email list answer all of your questions anyway #facepalm.
Next Steps Once You’ve Surveyed Your Audience
Don’t just let the survey sit on your Typeform dashboard and never look at it again (ahem, yeah I’ve done this one, too). You’re sitting on a gold mine!
Put it into action by writing up what you learned about your audience. What did you learn that was news to you? What had you been previously thinking was true about your audience that, turns out, wasn’t true at all?
What kind of content do you need to start making going forward? What kind of content do you need to stop making?
Write it all up and put the document on your desktop or in the forefront of your Google Drive for easy access. Revisit it often, and don’t forget to update it by creating and hosting surveys regularly – at least once or twice a year!
