Get Started on Polco
The Polco platform offers numerous assets to help you successfully onboard. Understanding all of the tools and how to use them is the key to using Polco to your fullest advantage. Start with this video, then take a look around our Knowledge Base.
Get Buy-In From Your Team
Not only do your Polco administrators need to understand how Polco operates—your staff also needs to understand how to use Polco. Even though they won’t necessarily post surveys or polls, they will need to understand the basics of Polco to help answer respondents’ questions.
Your staff also needs to understand the benefits of Polco. For example, Polco can assist them in gathering input about a specific question or what residents would like to see as part of your organization’s operations. Polco’s variety of question types will help you gather information that can be used in many areas, including budgeting, planning and selection of possible alternatives (for example, selecting playground equipment).
Create and Post Your First Questions
Creating and posting questions is fundamental to Polco. Your questions need to be easily understood and presented in a non-leading and unbiased way. This is a major factor in establishing the credibility of your survey.
Polco’s platform offers a variety of different formats for posting a question. Each question should be well thought out and concise. You can attach additional background information to help your residents better understand the question.
A complete tutorial on creating questions—as well as one on posting them—can be found here.
Reach Out to Your Community
Having a well-designed outreach program is essential so that you can gather as many community stakeholders as possible. Because Polco verifies registered voters, having numerous registered stakeholders who follow you will give you more valid survey results.
Social media is one of the best ways to reach busy individuals and is a conduit for communication. In today’s fast-paced world of technology and instant communication, Polco fits into most people’s everyday busy life cycle.
Check out our tips for engagement and outreach here.
Analyze the Data
Once you have posted questions and received results, understanding and using the data is an essential part of the entire process. The respondents voiced opinions, and they want to know the results, as well as how you are going to use them. Remember: Don’t be afraid of the results, but rather learn from them.
Find everything you need to know about interpreting your data here.
Learn from Your Efforts
After you’ve posted a question and gathered your information, it’s time to learn from your process. Did you ask your question correctly? Did you receive respondents who represent the community as a whole? Did you receive a sufficient number of responses? Learn from each survey or poll so that you can make the next one even better.