AMA Los AngelesAmerican Marketing Association

Use LinkedIn Polls To Find Topics Your Community Values

Polls on LinkedIn Stories once offered a quick way to test professional interests through short, informal updates. LinkedIn has since retired its Stories feature, so marketers now need to apply the same audience-research principles through native LinkedIn polls, short-form posts, video prompts, and event discussions.

The underlying idea remains useful: give members a small choice, observe what attracts attention, and use the response to shape future content. A well-designed poll can reveal which themes deserve a webinar, mentoring session, speaker event, downloadable guide, or longer conversation.

For an Australian audience, relevance matters. A question that works for a Sydney technology company may miss the mark for a regional Queensland business, a Melbourne agency, or a Perth resources firm. Local language, industry conditions, and the timing of the financial year can all influence how people respond.

The strongest polls feel like a conversation rather than market research disguised as social media. Keep the wording clear, offer meaningful options, and return to the participants with something useful. That follow-through turns a few clicks into stronger community engagement.

Start With A Practical Member Insight

Begin by deciding what you need to learn. “What marketing topic interests you?” is broad and difficult to act on. A sharper question might compare artificial intelligence workflows, brand measurement, customer retention, or employer branding for the next professional development session.

The answer choices should represent genuine options rather than variations of the same idea. Four choices are usually enough for a LinkedIn poll, with an optional comment prompt inviting members to explain their selection. Include an “Other” option only when you are prepared to monitor and interpret written responses.

Think about the decision the results will support. If you are planning a workshop, ask members to select the skill they most want to practise. If you are scheduling a speaker series, compare possible themes. If you are building a content calendar, test several subject areas and use the result to prioritise upcoming posts.

A professional association can make this process more valuable by connecting the poll to its wider network. The AMA Los Angeles community demonstrates how events, mentorship, volunteering, and ongoing insights can work together; a poll can help identify which of those experiences members want to see more often.

Write Questions That Encourage Useful Responses

A strong poll is specific, neutral, and easy to answer on a phone. Avoid loaded wording such as “Which essential marketing skill do you need most?” It implies that every option is essential and may steer people towards the answer they think sounds most professional.

Instead, use plain language: “Which capability would make the biggest difference to your marketing work this quarter?” Australian professionals may respond more naturally to familiar terms such as “work,” “team,” “budget,” and “practical session” than to inflated corporate language.

Timing also affects participation. Australian marketers often face intense planning around the end of the financial year, which falls on 30 June. A poll about annual strategy may perform well in May, while a detailed training question could be more useful after EOFY budgets and priorities are settled.

Test the question with a colleague before publishing. Check that the choices do not overlap, that the timeframe is clear, and that members can answer without needing specialist knowledge. If the audience includes both experienced leaders and early-career marketers, avoid making one group feel excluded.

Turn Poll Results Into A Content Path

Poll results are a starting point, not a complete research report. Look at the percentage distribution, the volume of votes, the comments, and the type of people participating. A narrow result from a small but highly relevant group may be more useful than a large response from people outside your intended audience.

Share a short follow-up post once the poll closes. State what members selected, acknowledge the minority views, and explain what will happen next. For example, the leading option could become a live workshop, while the second-place topic becomes a blog article or peer discussion.

Use the same principle when promoting visual content. Guidance on highlighting local collaborations can help translate poll findings into a short video featuring a real partnership, case study, or community success story. A result about local business marketing becomes more memorable when members can see the work in context.

For an Australian organisation, location-based follow-up can add texture. A poll about regional marketing could lead to examples from Newcastle, Geelong, Adelaide, or the Gold Coast rather than relying only on major Sydney and Melbourne brands. Mentioning local conditions makes the content feel grounded and gives members a reason to contribute their own examples.

Plan Polls For Better Participation

A repeatable rhythm makes audience polling more effective. Do not publish several questions in one week and then disappear for a month. One thoughtful poll every few weeks gives members time to respond and gives your team enough space to turn findings into something useful.

Use these preparation checks before publishing:

Promote the poll through related channels without copying the same wording everywhere. A newsletter can explain why the question matters, while an event host can mention it during a networking session. A LinkedIn post should still make sense to someone who encounters it without seeing the other promotion.

Measure more than votes. Record impressions, voting rate, comments, reposts, profile visits, and registrations connected with the follow-up activity. If many people vote but few engage afterwards, the question may have been easy to answer but weakly connected to a real need.

Use Polls Responsibly Across Professional Communities

Polls can expose useful differences between industries, career stages, and locations, but they can also oversimplify sensitive subjects. Never treat a quick majority as proof that every member shares the same view. State the limits of the result, especially when the sample is small or self-selected.

Moderate comments promptly. Remove personal attacks, discriminatory language, unsupported claims, and attempts to turn a professional discussion into a sales pitch. Sensitive historical or social topics require particular care: publishers should consult reliable sources and avoid reducing serious issues to a casual engagement device. For example, readers exploring research on Kulmhof need clear, responsible historical context rather than a simplistic popularity poll.

Privacy should guide the design. Do not ask members to disclose confidential client details, workplace disputes, salary information, or personal experiences unless there is a compelling reason and an appropriate level of protection. Anonymous voting does not make every subject suitable for public discussion.

When LinkedIn Stories are unavailable, use a current LinkedIn poll, a short native video, or a text post with clearly separated choices. The format may change, but the method remains consistent: ask a focused question, listen carefully, report back, and build the next useful experience from what members tell you.

Turn the next poll into a visible step in your community programme. Publish the question, monitor responses, and announce how the findings will influence an upcoming article, event, bootcamp, or mentoring activity. When members can see their input shaping the agenda, participation becomes a practical form of community involvement rather than another passing click.