Quick answer: start a new post, pick the poll option in the editor, write one question, add two to four answers, choose how long it runs, then add a line of post text explaining why you are asking. Publish, reply to comments and share what you learned afterward.
The button part takes a minute. The part that decides whether anyone votes, and whether the results tell you anything, is the writing. So rather than list rules in the abstract, we will build one poll from scratch and carry it all the way through to the follow-up post.
Our example: Morgan leads a small customer support team at Northwind (a made-up company) and is rewriting the team’s one-on-one schedule. Morgan wants to know how often other teams actually meet with their manager.
If you would rather start from a ready question, the free LinkedIn Poll Ideas page has questions and options sorted by topic.
Step 1: Decide what you want to learn
Before you touch the editor, write one sentence that starts with “I want to know”. Morgan’s is: “I want to know how often people in other teams have one-on-ones with their manager.”
This sentence does two jobs. It keeps the question about experience or preference, which people can answer in a second. And it rules out polls with an obvious right answer, which produce lopsided results that say nothing. “Are one-on-ones useful?” would get a wall of “Yes”. “How often do you have them?” gets a spread.
Step 2: Draft the options before the question
This feels backward, but it saves time. LinkedIn polls have tight limits, and the options are where they bite.
| Part | Limit |
|---|---|
| Question | 140 characters |
| Options | 2 to 4, up to 30 characters each |
Both numbers, plus every other LinkedIn character limit, live on our LinkedIn limits page.
Morgan’s first draft of options:
- Every single week, no exceptions
- Roughly every two weeks
- Once a month or so
- Only when something goes wrong
The first one is 32 characters, so it will not fit. The last one is a joke more than an answer. Second draft:
- Weekly
- Every two weeks
- Monthly
- Rarely or never
What makes these work: they do not overlap, they run in a logical order from most to least often, and together they cover nearly every real answer. If you think a lot of people will want an answer you did not list, swap the last option for “Other” or “It depends” and ask them to explain in the comments.
What we checked
We ran these options through the same counting function our Character Counter uses. “Weekly” is 6 characters, “Every two weeks” 15, “Monthly” 7, “Rarely or never” 15. For comparison, an option like “Remote, at least four days a week” comes out at 33, three over the limit, while “Mostly remote” is 13. Thirty characters is roughly three or four short words, so plan for that.
Step 3: Write the question around the options
Now the question only has to set up the options. Morgan’s:
How often do you have 1:1s with your manager?
That is 45 characters, well under the 140 limit. It is one question, it uses words the audience already uses (“1:1s” is common shorthand in most offices), and it fits on one line on a phone.
A few other questions that follow the same pattern, written as examples:
How do you prepare for a first sales call?
When do you send your first follow-up after an interview?
What slows down onboarding most at your company?
Avoid leading questions. “Don’t you agree weekly 1:1s are a waste of time?” is an opinion with a question mark on the end.
Step 4: Open the poll editor
The exact buttons move around as LinkedIn updates its apps, but the flow is the same on desktop and mobile:
- Start a new post from your home feed, the way you would write any post.
- Look for the poll among the extra post types. It is often behind a “more” or plus icon in the editor.
- Type the question into the question field.
- Enter at least two options. Add more, up to four, with the add option button.
You can also post a poll from a company page you manage. Open the page’s own post editor and follow the same steps.
Step 5: Pick the duration
LinkedIn offers a few fixed durations. A short poll lets you share results while the topic is fresh. A longer one gives people who check LinkedIn less often a chance to vote.
Morgan picks a middle option for a first poll, then plans to note when most votes arrive. After two or three polls, that pattern will tell you more about your audience than any general advice.
Step 6: Write the post text
When you finish the poll, LinkedIn returns you to the post editor. This text is where you explain yourself, and skipping it is the most common reason polls get ignored. Three short lines are enough:
I’m rewriting how our support team does 1:1s and I’m curious what other teams actually do.
I’ll share what I learn in a follow-up post next week.
If you picked “Rarely or never”, I’d love to hear whether that works for you.
The first line acts as your hook, since it is what shows above the poll in the feed. Our guide on how to write a LinkedIn hook has openers that work well here. Before posting, paste the text into the Post Preview to see it in the mobile view.
Step 7: Stay with it while it runs
A poll is a conversation starter, so be in the conversation. The comments are usually more useful than the vote counts.
When someone writes “We switched from weekly to every two weeks and nobody missed it”, reply with a real follow-up: “What made you switch?” That one exchange can teach you more than a hundred votes.
Do not argue with how people voted. They answered honestly. Curiosity works better than correction, and it keeps the thread friendly enough for others to join.
Step 8: Close the loop with a results post
Most people let the results disappear. Morgan promised a follow-up, so here is a sketch of it:
Last week I asked how often you have 1:1s with your manager.
Most of the people who voted picked weekly or every two weeks. The comments were more interesting than the numbers: several people said the schedule mattered less than whether the meeting ever got cancelled.
Here’s what we’re changing on our team…
Notice what this post does not do. It does not call the result research or claim it shows what “most teams” do. A poll shows what the people who voted picked, and they are not a random sample. Say so plainly.
To compare how the poll did against your usual posts, put its reactions and comments into the Engagement Rate Calculator. Our guide on what a good engagement rate on LinkedIn is explains how to read the number.
Where polls usually go wrong
Looking back at Morgan’s first drafts, most mistakes were already visible before the poll went live:
- An option that runs over 30 characters and has to be cut down in the editor
- A joke option that splits votes away from real answers
- Options that overlap, like “1 to 2 weeks” and “2 to 4 weeks”
- A question with an obvious right answer
- No post text, so nobody knows why you are asking
- Polling every few days, which starts to look like a tactic rather than a real question
- Never sharing the results, which gives people less reason to vote next time
Your next poll
Write your “I want to know” sentence, draft the options first, and check each one against the 30-character limit. If you are stuck for a topic, browse the free LinkedIn Poll Ideas page and adapt a question to your field. Then use our LinkedIn commenting strategy to keep the conversation going once the votes come in.