How To Use Surveys And Polls To Improve Your Content

Do you know what's even better than sharing your own point of view and opinions? Hearing what others have to say about the topics you feel most strongly or curious about. In the spirit of inviting people to share their perspectives and participate in meaningful conversations with others, we want you to do just that!

By conducting surveys to gather responses from people in various demographics, you can write unique multiple opinion content with the responses you collect.

How To:

Here's where you come in! We want you and/or your friend(s) to start thinking outside the box when it comes to choosing a topic and begin creating Odyssey articles featuring multiple POVs by using the template below.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Choose a timely/relevant "controversial" topic on which you want to hear other people's opinions
2. Conduct a survey around your topic of choice

To conduct the survey, consider doing the following:

• Create a simple Google Form with all of your questions (first name, age, questions about your topic)
  • Share your Google Form across your personal social media accounts, send it to friends, classmates, and colleagues, and/or post it in relevant Facebook Pages/Groups
• Ask questions directly on your social media to gather responses
  • Ask questions or run polls on your personal Facebook profile, in relevant Facebook groups, on Instagram Stories (using the question and poll stickers), or on Twitter
• To get the most responses, try any combination of the above

3. Copy the text in between the BEGIN and END TEMPLATEsections below
4. Paste it into a new post in Odyssey's CORE
5. Fill in the placeholder text with your own words and results from your survey. Don't forget to remove the examples we've provided in the template.
6. Submit under Community: Relationships for a chance to be featured on Odyssey's Facebook and Instagram
7. Don't have an account? CREATE ONE

BEGIN TEMPLATE

Cover Photo:

Your cover photo should be relevant to whatever the topic is you are discussing. If you don't have a personal photo that makes sense with the piece, consider using a screenshot of a relevant scene from a movie or TV show. If nothing fits, opt for a stock photo from Unsplash, Pixabay, or Pexels.

Headline:

Your headline format is the following:

I Asked # [IDENTITY] About [TOPIC], And The Responses/Results Were [ADJECTIVE]

To be featured on Swoon, the survey topic must be related to dating, romantic relationships, single life, or sex, but this same idea for multiple opinion content using surveys can be creatively applied across all Odyssey verticals.

Headline Examples for Swoon:

• I Asked 13 People How They Feel About Wearing A Mask On A First Date, And The Answers Were Mixed
• I Asked 30 People What The Biggest Problem With Dating Is In 2020, And No It's Not Quarantine
• 120 Men And Women Guessed The Average Number Of People Each Have Slept With And The Results Are Steamy

Introduction:

Start with a few sentences describing the survey you conducted. Then summarize the number of people surveyed, who they are/their demographic (are they all in a specific age range? gender? etc), and how the survey was conducted. If you included polls in your survey, elaborate on those results here and even consider including screenshots of the results where applicable. Then create a numbered list using the listicle assembler tool in CORE to neatly display the responses.

Body:

1. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

2. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

3. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

4. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

5. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

6. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

7. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

8. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

9. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

10. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

11. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

12. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

13. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

14. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

15. "QUOTE." - NAME, AGE (if applicable)

Conclusion:

Elaborate further on the results and your opinion on them. Are you surprised? Did you expect these results? Share all of your reactions here. If there are any other results you collected from your data collection, also write about those.

END TEMPLATE

Pro Tips for Using This Template:

• Articles from surveys must feature at least 10 unique responses, but will ideally include 20+ responses from people. Remember: more responses make for more interesting articles!
• You may only use someone's full name if you explicitly ask permission to do so next to their quote. Otherwise, quotes from the survey should be cited as "First Name, Age" or "Anonymous, Age." (Note: Age is only necessary if the headline requires an age range for the survey. Example: "I Asked XX Gen-Zers" or "I Asked XX 20-Somethings").
• Feeling adventurous? Include screenshots or graphics to show visuals of any relevant results, graphs, polls, etc.
• Once complete, file under Community: Relationships.

For a little inspiration, check out these other examples:

• I Asked 950 People To Describe Their Ideal 'Type,' And Here's What They Had To Say
• I Asked 33 Women What They ACTUALLY Want To See On Dating Profiles, So Men Can Step It Up
• I Asked 20 Singles If They'd Break Quarantine For A Hookup And, #SorryNotSorry, Corona
• If You Find Yourself Drinking More While Quarantined With Your S.O., You're So NOT Alone
• I Asked 20 Girls What They Absolutely Hate In Bed, And Well... It's The Guys Turn To Listen
• I Asked 10 Women How They Actually Feel About Dick Pics, And Guys, It's NOT Hard To Understand
• I Asked 20 Guys What They Absolutely Hate In Bed, And Well...The More You Know
• 23 Girls Revealed How They ACTUALLY Feel About Splitting The Bill On A First Date
• 19 Girls Shared The Cringiest Messages They've Received From Guys Online And... Yikes
• I Asked 31 People If They've Ghosted Someone, And They Revealed 9 Reasons For Doing So
• 10 Sex Stories So Awkward They'll Give You 50 Shades Of Second-Hand Embarrassment