Polls and live voting are a fun and immediate way of generating powerful content, allowing you to amplify the voice of your audience. Everyone has an opinion, so give them the chance to express it.
The power of using an audience's views to demonstrate a mass opinion on a range of subjects lets you ultimately become a source of representative information. That becomes a story in itself.
We thought we'd share our thoughts about what we think works when it comes to using social polls in Live TV.
The most important tip - Keep it simple
Keep your poll simple by not giving too many options and using an easy call-to-action/mechanic so people understand it. If the topic isn't of a serious nature then use humour wherever you can - people are more likely to engage if it's fun.
#ImACeleb got us asking that universal question... how do you say scone? @richardaarnold cant seem to make his mind up though! pic.twitter.com/mjkfUZH9JQ
- Good Morning Britain (@GMB) December 1, 2016
Run polls across multiple platforms
Using social media gives you a large audience to gather opinion from and essentially lets you become a source of research information. You don't have to limit yourself to one source of content as there is no doubt your audience will be connecting with you in lots of different ways. Running polls across Twitter, Facebook, 3rd party apps, website, email or even SMS (for those who still do), and aggregating the results together allows you to reach a variety of audiences. From our experience, the more opportunities and channels to engage, the greater the success.
Track opinion on a large scale
People are already sharing their views on key topics and social polling lets you track that sentiment/opinions on a large scale. We ran a live poll during the Brexit vote and found that from half a million Tweets around certain keywords, the mentions for voteleave/leave and voteremain/remain represented the actual referendum result. While this isn't an exact science, it gives an insight into the current topics people are talking about live on social. We would say this is no less powerful or representative than official exit polls, and the results would suggest this is more accurate. Why wouldn't you want to use that content?
Lots of different ways to run Twitter polls, which should I use?
The answer is, whichever you prefer. Some prefer to run native polls (see below) as they are easy to run and you get an instant ongoing snapshot.
Others prefer to create hashtag-based polls as they're an easy call-to-action and do not require people to go to specific destinations to participate. It also means you maximize shareability and audience reach, driving trending opportunities especially when the audience is seen to mobilise in a certain direction. You could create a poll that uses multiple Twitter hashtags for the different possible answers. Alternatively, you could use one hashtag to drive the poll and prescribed keywords to dictate the answers.
At the same time, you could have a Facebook post where people can respond with those very same keywords to vote. The keyword answers from both Facebook and Twitter can then be aggregated together, giving you the opportunity to engage with your audiences across both platforms. In the same way, you could add in a web vote, SMS or email for that matter.
Share your poll results live so people see how the voting is going
The dynamic poll results can be displayed live during your show which further pushes the audience to get involved. Whether you agree or disagree with how the vote is tracking, it becomes a talking point for the presenters and further drives social conversations with your audience.
Whether you keep the display simple or want to do something a bit different, the key is to integrate the look and feel with your normal onscreen graphic representation. That said, don't be afraid to get creative. Polls don't need to be basic bar graphs - there are many formats for graphics visualisations.
Turn your polls into competitions
Turning polls into a realtime social competition gives the audience an extra incentive to participate as a lucky person(s) will win some kind of prize at the end of it. Randomly drawing a winner from all the voters at a given time gives a point of reference and an end point for people to work towards. This makes it clear when the voting ends and creates a sense of achievement.
Acknowledge your audience and amplify reach
It's important to acknowledge your audience's vote by thanking them directly or by showcasing them as part of your broadcast. Additionally, you could use a direct response feature to automatically reply to those who've engaged with the poll with a message thanking them for voting or send offers/links if it's a sponsored poll.
Finally, don't be afraid to ask your audience's opinion
Often when people run a poll they expect a certain outcome and may be surprised if it's not what they'd expected. We think that's good - that's when you get great insights.
Don't be worried if your poll gets low levels of engagement at first. Ultimately it's about communicating with your audience that you welcome their opinion. As your audience learns that you care about what they have to say, and you start showing it, you will eventually see greater engagement. The key is asking for an opinion and acknowledging it to drive its ultimate success.
Our social engagement platform STORY lets you manage a variety of social polls and competitions with ease. Get in touch with us to learn more.
Over the last 20 yrs, Scott has specialised in online and mobile technology solutions focusing on consumer & social interaction. With a history of working in and growing successful start-up businesses, Scott thought he had seen it and done it all until he came a
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
21/10/2025
As Amazon's Prime Video prepares to launch its coverage of NBA basketball under a major new deal, Grup Mediapro has announced that it is working with the st...
21/10/2025
ATLANTA Good news for consumers using an Atlanta DTH receiver to watch ATSC 3.0: with a new software update, they will be able to blanket their homes with Wi-Fi...
21/10/2025
While recent news has been heavily focused on Hispanic migration into the U.S., The 2025 Hispanic Market Report from Claritas highlights the fact that this gr...
21/10/2025
MAIDENHEAD, UK RWS has hired Michael Wayne as its head of media and entertainment in Los Angeles where he will lead the company's media localization busines...
21/10/2025
Imagine Communications and Rohde & Schwarz today announced a definitive agreement under which Imagine will acquire Pixel Power Limited, a wholly owned subsidiar...
21/10/2025
Atlanta DTH (ADTH) today announced a major update that will expand the functionality of its NEXTGEN TV receiver by enabling gateway capabilities allowing viewer...
21/10/2025
Heartland Video Systems, Inc. (HVS), a premier video systems integration, consulting, and expert ATSC 3.0 implementation firm announces that it has partnered wi...
21/10/2025
QuickLink, the leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest integration solutions, today announced the appointment of Austin Hinton as it...
21/10/2025
nternet connectivity startup Miri Technologies Inc. will use this week's NAB Show New York as the launch pad for its latest ground-breaking innovation, the ...
20/10/2025
Inside TAMS: How Time-Addressable Media Stores could redefine sports workflows By Paul Markham
Friday, October 17, 2025 - 08:57
Print This Story
A penalty...
20/10/2025
Transformational production: Inside TVN's remote production push for the DFL...
20/10/2025
How NBC Sports Transitioned Stamford Facility to One Format: 1080p HDRMulti-year plan harmonizes workflows, simplifies operationsBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial ...
20/10/2025
NBA on NBC' Studio Production Team Is Ready for Tip-Off With Coast-to-Coast...
20/10/2025
Under pressure: TVN CEO Markus Osthaus considers the German sports broadcasting ...
20/10/2025
(L-R) Maria Dizzia, Carmen Emmi, and Russell Tovey attend the Plainclothes pre...
20/10/2025
In March, we launched Concerts Near You to help listeners find concerts from their favorite artists. Since then, more than 3 million people have used it to disc...
20/10/2025
Em diversas cidades do Brasil, um movimento tem se fortalecido para celebrar o poder, a beleza e a profundidade da criatividade negra. O Dia AMPLIFIKA, agora em...
20/10/2025
In cities across Brazil, a movement is growing that celebrates the power, beauty, and depth of Black creativity. AMPLIFIKA Day, now in its fifth edition, return...
20/10/2025
Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft rendering...
20/10/2025
DENVER and MUNICH Imagine Communications today announced its plans to acquire Pixel Power Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rohde & Schwarz. Financial terms of...
20/10/2025
LOS ANGELES G Morgan has joined Globecast, a provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, as executive vice president of sales, Globecast Am...
20/10/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wisc. Heartland Video Systems and Zixi have partnered to enable broadcast-quality live video delivery over any IP network....
20/10/2025
A. R. Rahman on Facing Fear and Finding the Divine In an interview with Berklee President Jim Lucchese, the Oscar-winning composer reflects on how courage and...
20/10/2025
Monday 20 October 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cookies. ...
20/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz transfers Pixel Power to Imagine Communications Companies work collaboratively to ensure continuity and ongoing support for existing customers...
20/10/2025
RT 's Prime Time is set to host the final Presidential Election Debate this Tuesday night, October 21, providing an opportunity to hear directly from Irelan...
20/10/2025
NVIDIA and Google Cloud are expanding access to accelerated computing to transform the full spectrum of enterprise workloads, from visual computing to agentic a...
19/10/2025
Back to All News
Sins of Kujo' Comes to Life in New Live-Action Series Set for Spring 2026
Entertainment
19 October 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to cl...
18/10/2025
New England Sports Network (NESN) has chosen Harmonic, working with Astound Business Solutions, as its enterprise technology partner to transform primary distri...
18/10/2025
NEW ORLEANS, La. In the run-up to the start of the NBA season, WVUE-TV and Gray Local Media have announced a deal with DirecTV that will greatly expand access t...
18/10/2025
Berklee Celebrates 40 Years of the Fall Together Concert Faculty composers Bob Pilkington and Greg Hopkins are among the featured artists for this year's ...
17/10/2025
NEP Group Receives New Equity Investment From 26North Partners LP, Co-InvestorsCarlyle remains the largest shareholder as the company prepares for the futureBy ...
17/10/2025
Apple Lands Five-Year Deal for F1 Distribution in the U.S.Besides airing on Apple TV, the sport will be amplified on other Apple servicesBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Ed...
17/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Marshall Electronics' Bernie Keach on the Future of PTZ Camera...
17/10/2025
L2 Productions' REMI Facility in Austin Can Produce Content From AnywhereMusic festivals, sports events are produced via flypacks and remote control roomsBy...
17/10/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
17/10/2025
(L-R) Christopher Meyer, Addison Timlin, Cooper Raiff, Lili Reinhart, Alyah Chan...
17/10/2025
M sica e arte se uniram em uma noite especial na semana passada na ZIV Gallery, ...
17/10/2025
Music and art came together for one special night last week at ZIV Gallery, an i...
17/10/2025
Spotify and FC Barcelona are extending our partnership through 2030, continuing a collaboration that's redefining how fans, players, and artists connect. Th...
17/10/2025
MURRIETA, Calif. The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC) has deployed DigitalGlue's creative.space storage platform to streamline video production by centrali...
17/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. Football continued to cement its reputation as a bulwark of TV advertising in Q3 2025 with new data from iSpot that showed both the NFL and coll...
17/10/2025
The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC), the premier competitive saltwater fishing series, has transformed its production workflow by adopting creative.space, the...
17/10/2025
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, announces the release of StudioPro Version 4, ...
17/10/2025
Although the annual Grammy Awards celebration is best known for recognizing achievements in the recording industry, the show often proves a visual spectacle as ...
17/10/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leading provider of software-defined data storage and data services, has promoted Alex Dunfey to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from his for...
17/10/2025
The University of Arizona (UofA) has significantly upgraded its broadcast communication infrastructure with the integration of Riedel Communications' advanc...
17/10/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that New England Sports Network (NESN), owned by Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North, has selected Harmonic as its en...
Polls and live voting are a fun and immediate way of generating powerful content, allowing you to amplify the voice of your audience. Everyone has an opinion, so give them the chance to express it. 
