Alias Tips for Listen & Count Polls

When creating a Listen & Count poll, you can add various keywords to listen for. For each keyword you can add aliases. Aliases are other words that count as responses for that same keyword. Below are a few tips to on using the aliases feature.

Common Misspellings

Typos are fairly common on mobile devices (or even on the computer). Listen & Count polls are conducted via web widgets as well as Twitter and SMS. It is not uncommon for someone to type a response with a misspelling. You will want to make sure this misspelling is also counted as a response. Put common misspellings of your keyword as aliases. If someone submits one of these misspellings as a response it will still be counted.

Synonyms or Related Words

Many words have synonyms or shortened versions. These alternative words may be submitted by your followers. You don;t want to miss a response simply because someone typed a word that is not the exact word you wanted.

Examples

Below are some examples use the two strategies for aliases mentioned above.

• Keyword: Chocolate
• Aliases: coco, cocoa, chocolat, choclate, choco, chocolte

• Keyword: Vanilla
• Aliases: vanilla, vanill, vnilla, vanila, french vanilla

Understanding Listen & Count Polls

Listen & Count polls allow you to set-up interactive polls and track how many times people respond with certain keywords.

Setting Up a Poll

In the Listen & Count polls area you can add new polls and edit existing ones. Polls have names, response tracking options, a poll question, start & end dates, a response option and a list of keywords that will be tracked. For each keyword you add, you can add aliases. Aliases are other words that count as responses for that same keyword.

For more details on setting up a Listen & Count Poll, read this blog post.

How Keyword Tracking Works

Responses which include the keywords you dictate are tracked and counted for your polls. On Twitter, keyword in replies to your Twitter messages are counted. SMS works similarly, as keywords mentioned in replies to your SMS number are counted. Website and mobile pages have widgets which show your polls question and allow readers to type in text responses. Responses with keywords are counted for your polls.

Date Ranges

Date ranges determine when keywords are counted. Keyword mentions and submissions outside of your set date range are not counted towards your polls. If you select "No Date Range (ongoing)", all keyword responses are counted.

Displaying Stats

Stats for each poll can be added to websites as widgets, allowing you to share results publicly. There is a Calendar Count Widget which shows results by day. There is also the Poll Count Widget which shows overall stats of your poll which can be displayed as a pie chart or column chart.

Using Listen&Count Polls on Your Website

Listen&Count Interactive Polls

One of the newest aspects of Squareberry is the Listen&Count polling features. Listen&Count allows you to track keyword responses on social media, through SMS, on your mobile website and even on your existing website. Adding polls to your existing website is easy and is a great way to make your website more interactive with visitors.

How to Embed a Poll on Your Website

If you want to add an interactive poll to your website you just need to follow these few easy steps.

1. When creating your Listen&Count poll, make sure you check the option "Track on Website Poll". This will cause a new text box to appear labeled "Enter Text to Display on Your Website Poll and Listen&Count Mobile Page(s)". Text entered in this box will appear on the Web Poll Widget that you embed on your website.

2. Every Listen&Count poll you create can be embedded on your website using a simple embed code. On the Listen&Count list screen click the "Web Poll Widget" for the poll you want to embed. A pop-up will appear that displays the embed code for this poll and you can select and copy this text. Paste this embed code into the HTML code of your website in the appropriate place and the poll will display there (just like embedding a YouTube video).

Best Practices for Website Polls

Home Page

Usually, the best way to feature something on your website is to put it on the home page. Adding a poll to your home page is the best way to ensure people see it and respond.

Side Bar

Another great way to feature your poll is on the sidebar of your website (if your website has a sidebar). Sidebars often run across websites and display on every page. This means your poll will be see throughout the site.

Graphic Links to Poll Page

Another method is to embed your poll on a page on your website, then link to it with graphics/buttons around the site. Create a graphic for your homepage that says something like "Take Our Weekly Poll". A nice graphic will catch the attention of site visitors and get them to click on the graphic and take the poll.

Listen&Count Polls on Your Mobile Website

Mobile Management Listen&Count Page

In the Mobile Management area, you can easily add an interactive poll to your mobile website. In Mobile Content, click "Add Page" and then "Create New Page". On the Add Page screen, select the "Listen&Count Poll" page type. You can name the page and change the menu icon, like any other mobile page type. For Listen&Count Poll pages, you have two options: "Use Current/Latest Listen&Count Poll" or "Use a Specific Listen&Count Poll".

Use Current/Latest Listen&Count Poll

The first option uses the current/latest Listen&Count Poll that you have created. This means, the page on your mobile website will automatically update to show new/fresh Listen&Count polls that you create. If you create polls that have an End Date, they will no longer display on your page after reaching the end date. A newer poll with a later end date will then replace it. If you have no dated poll created, it will then display the most recently created poll with no date range.

Selecting this option allows you to create pages like "Weekly Poll" or "Latest Poll' which will automatically update to show new polls you are creating in your account. There is no need to keep coming back to the Mobile Management Area, you can easily create new polls and they will automatically be displayed on your mobile site.

Use a Specific Listen&Count Poll

If you select the second option, a drop down appears allowing you to select any of your existing polls to display. The selected poll will show up from that point on and will continue to display until you change it. This setting is useful for permanent/ongoing polls with no end date, or polls you want to display for a long time without being replace by other polls.

Use Listen&Count for Customer Feedback on Social Media

Ask Questions on Social Media

Social media is not a one way channel. To fully utilize the power of social media, you need to start conversations. Conversations help you get people talking about your organization and allows you to receive feedback from them. One of the best ways to do this is by asking questions. Questions encourage your followers to respond, and asking questions on social media is easy, fast and monetarily ideal.

With Squareberry, you can easily schedule social media messages in advance to ask questions and get feedback. With the social conversation area, you can monitor and manage replies and comments that people make in a centralized social inbox. This makes viewing and responding to your followers' comments fast and easy. But, you may also want to track what kind of responses you are getting. The new Listen&Count polling system allows you to do this.

Track Descriptive Words to Measure Response

Listen&Count is flexible enough to allow you to track any keyword mentions, regardless of the context. Because of this, you can use it to gauge the opinions of your followers and see how people choose to describe your organization, services or products.

For example, if you have a restaurant, you can create a new Listen&Count poll and add keywords like "Great", "Good", "Okay", "Delicious", "Tasty", "Perfect", "Pretty Good" etc. Then, over the course of a few weeks or a month, you can schedule various messages asking about different food items you offer on Twitter. Your followers/customers will respond with answers to your questions and you can track how many positive and mediocre responses you get based on the keywords mentioned by your followers.

In person surveys or long forms are no longer ideal and take too much time. With social media and Listen&Count Polls keyword tracking, you can easily gather and monitor customer feedback.

Using the New Listen&Count Polling Features

What is Listen&Count?

Listen&Count is the new set of polling features in Squareberry. With Listen&Count you can track keyword responses from followers on Twitter, SMS, mobile devices and websites. Response stats will display on your account dashboard and you can even embed pie or column chart graphs on websites to show off your results.

Create a Listen&Count Poll

Setting up a Listen&Count poll is easy. Go to the Listen&Count Polls area (now a main option on the top menu) and select "Add Listen&Count". First, give your poll a name. This name is displayed at the top of your web poll widget and in your account to identify this poll.

Next, decide where you want to track responses. Check off SMS, Twitter and/or Website to determine where responses will be counted. If you check "Website Poll", a new text box will appear. In this box you will enter text that will display on your Web Poll Widget.

The next option is date range. This determines the date range during which responses will be counted. If you set dates, only responses between those dates will be counted and displayed as stats. "No Date Range" means your poll is ongoing and has no end point.

The Keywords area is where you add what words will be tracked and counted. Main Keywords are displayed on stats widgets and counted. Aliases are alternative words also counted towards the stats of that main keyword.

Lastly, there is an option for how you count multiple responses from the same person. This applies to Twitter and SMS. If you select "One Time", only the first keyword response from a Twitter user or SMS subscriber will be counted.

Get More Responses

Once your poll is set-up you need to get more responses. If you checked "Website Poll" and typed some text to be displayed you will be prompted to send a message with this text when you save your poll. This is a quick way to send an instant message out to get responses to your poll.

After setting up your poll, go to the Planner and schedule any number of messages to publish to Twitter and/or SMS. Your messages can ask questions, request responses etc. Any replies to you during your set date range and with your keywords will be counted for your poll.

In the Squareberry Mobile Management Area, you will find a new page type called "Listen&Count Poll". This allows you to quickly add a poll to your mobile website. You can select a specific poll to use or set the page to always show the latest/current poll.

You can also integrate your normal website with the Web Poll Widget, found on the Listen&Count list screen. Embed this on a sidebar or even your website home page. Your inputted text will display and website visitors can instantly respond to your poll.

View and Share Stats

Your account Dashboard now has a new box for "Listen&Count". If this is added to your Dashboard you can quickly see a pie chart of responses to your current Listen&Count polls.

The "Poll Count Widget" can be found on the Listen&Count list screen. This widget can be embedded on any website and has a pie chart or column chart option. This displays the stats to your poll and allows you to show off responses from your followers.

New Features - Interactive Polling Features

Run Interactive Polls with 'Listen&Count'

The Squareberry Team is very happy to announce the launch of Listen&Count Polling Features! With Listen&Count you can run interactive polling campaigns and track keyword responses mentioned by your followers.

Listen&Count Polling Features Include:

• Create Polls, Add Keywords & Alias Terms to Listen for & Track
• Get Responses on Twitter, SMS*, Website Polls & Mobile Pages
• View Results Charts on Your Account Dashboard
• Embed Charts as Widgets on Your Website to Show Off Results

Listen&Count Polling Features Availability
Listen&Count polls are available in all paid account types and marketer solutions. At this time, the Listen&Count area and features are not available in the free version of Squareberry.

If you currently have the Free version of Squareberry but want to try the new Listen&Count Polling features, email us at squareberry@squareberry.com and we will get you started with a free trial!

*SMS Polls - To gather and track responses to a Listen&Count Poll on SMS text messaging you need to have an active Twilio connection for sending SMS. Tracking responses to Listen&Count polls on SMS only works in accounts connected to Twilio and using SMS. Twilio connection is only available in Mobile + Social accounts.