Did you know that there’s over 500 million stories that are posted every single day on Instagram?
Because of this, Instagram has created and released a polls feature that helps keep your stories engaging and action based (interactive).
Haven’t you ever taken a poll yourself? Didn’t you feel like you could voice your opinion and that you were part of a community.
Not only that, people just like to take polls to see the results and see if they are giving the same answers as their peers.
It makes things fun and more exciting.
Think about it — Let’s say you want to sell a fashion product like lipstick.
So what you do is post an Instagram story with that lipstick on asking if you’d wear this.
Once people start engaging they’re going to get curious about that lipstick because they already made a “micro-commitment” with you by voting.
They’re now invested.
And obviously you don’t have to use Instagram polls to sell products, but it’s also a great way to gather feedback about your audience.
Think about a new content idea that you want feedback on. You can literally just ask your audience to vote with the Instagram poll and gather data right away.
I know it’s a simple feature, but Instagram polls are a very valuable tool to gain insight on your audience.
So, if you want to learn everything about Instagram polls then let’s read on.
How to Create a Poll
In a nutshell, here’s everything you need to know to create an Instagram poll:
- Create a Story Post
- Add a Poll to Your Story Post
- Place Your Roll
- Share Your Story
Create a Story Post
This is pretty cut and dry. What you need to do first is go inside the Instagram platform and create your post type as a story.
Social Media Examiner states, “To maximize the impact of your poll, the story should have some content related to the top of the poll.”
And, obviously that makes sense. You want to make sure that your content is related to your poll because you’re going to get a lot more results that way.
Make sure to add things like emojis and doodles, but just make sure you leave some space for the poll itself (DUH!).
Add a Poll to Your Story Post
Just like the first step, this is pretty cut and dry too, don’t you think?
Next, you need to add the actual poll to your story post.
In order to do this, you have to click up in the top right corner. There’s a square looking sticker with a face.
Tap on that, and then you’ll notice things like location, temperature, time, hashtags, some other things, and of course an Instagram polls option.
Tap on that.
Once you do, you’ll notice a pop-up that looks like the image below.
At this point, you need to simply add the poll question and answers.
Place Your Poll
After you’re done with the customization of your Instagram poll, simply finalize it. Now you’re going to have the poll in your actual story.
It will start out in the center.
Just like other interactive things inside Instagram stories (like stickers and doodles) you can tap and drag the Instagram story poll to wherever you’d like.
We always recommend placing your Instagram poll in a way that your audience won’t miss it and has the best chance of engaging with it. This is also a trial and error approach.
Share Your Story
Now we want to complete the story post.
Add it to your stories just like you would any other Instagram stories that you’d post.
Once you do that, people will be able to see this post just like any other stories post, but they will be able to take your poll (exciting).
Other Advice For Instagram Polls
Use trending topics on Instagram to include your audience in the discussion.
If you can get people to actively participate in polls then it opens the door for your Instagram account to get sponsorships or endorsements.
Like I mentioned earlier, Instagram polls are a great way to sell products by engaging people with micro commitments (like voting in the poll).
It makes them feel connected to the content and in this case the product.
Do Market Research
I mentioned this briefly above, but Instagram polls are one of the best ways to collect data on your audience as fast as possible.
You give yourself the ability to gather the data from your audience (without guessing) in the click of a button.
And because Instagram users are already conditioned to engage, you actually stand a pretty solid chance of getting a lot of feedback.
Lastly, if you didn’t know — Market Research is crucial to help you create content that connects at a deeper level with your Instagram followers and it will also give you ideas for other things such as contests and giveaways.
Conclusion
That’s everything you need to know about Instagram polls.
In all seriousness, it’s pretty straightforward.
Simply add a new story post and click the sticker button in the right corner. Once you do that, you’ll see the polls option.
Tap that and configure your Instagram poll and then re-arrange it to wherever you want it to be inside your stories post.
Once you’re happy where it’s located, simply finalize your stories post.
The Instagram polls feature is a great way to gather feedback from your followers.
This will help you get more Instagram followers and connect with your current Instagram followers on a deeper level.
Another great thing about Instagram polls is that it will condition your followers into engaging with your content.
As with all of our other recommendations, there’s never a one size fits all approach to using Instagram polls.
Some accounts and some audiences will take better to the polls, whereas some accounts and audiences will not care much about it.
Using the feedback of your audience is key to understanding if Instagram polls is something that will or can work for your account.
Remember: Create polls that have relevance to your story content. People will get annoyed with random polls with no meaning, so make sure to use them at particular times with specific content.
We want to hear you! Have you ever used an Instagram poll to help understand your audience and grow your Instagram?
Was there a specific thing you did or a specific type of poll that worked the best for you?
Is there something you’d like to see Instagram add in connection with their “polls” feature?
Have we missed anything?
Don’t forget you can buy Instagram poll votes from UseViral.
Leave us a comment with your recommendations and feedback.