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Instagram's latest polling feature on stories allows brands to connect with their community and gain free, quick and invaluable insight into their personal preferences. If you're not using this feature, you're missing out!
Are you wondering how to use Instagram polls for your brand?Wondering how to engage the audience with polls in your Instagram stories?Well, then, this guide is for you.Keep on reading to learn everything about Instagram polls and how to use them in Stories.
How to Create an Instagram Poll
Looking for new and fun ways to engage with your followers on Instagram? Want to get more direct feedback from your audience? Well, Instagram has just introduced an awesome new feature on stories: Instagram Polling.Here’s how to create an Instagram Poll:
1. Create a Story Post
Take your photo or create your text and background post for your story. To maximize the impact of the poll, try to create some context related to the topic of the Instagram poll beforehand. Add any filters, text, emojis to your story (whatever floats your boat) leaving enough space to add the poll to your post.(If you’ve used the Sked (formerly Schedugram) photo editor before and prefer to add your favorite filters and effects to your images using our app, follow the instructions at the end of this article).To create an Instagram poll, tap on the Sticker icon at the top of the Story screen and select the Poll sticker option.
2. Enter your question and response options
An automatic prompt to add your question and a Yes/No poll box will appear. Type in the question you want to ask in the text field. You can ask any question of your audience, so get as creative as you like!The text option only allows up to 26 characters, however it’s best to keep the text short and sweet. This will make it easier for your audience to read and increase the likelihood of them responding to your Instagram poll. To customize the responses, tap each box and enter two reponses of your choice.Unlike Instagram's other stickers, there aren’t any other font colour/design options for polling other than the turquoise or pink (not just yet anyway).
3. Place Your Instagram Poll
Once you’ve finished customizing your poll, press the done button in the top-right corner of your screen. The poll sticker automatically will appear in the centre of the screen, you can drag the Instagram Poll around to fit your image, text and style of your image. You can change the Poll sticker smaller or larger.
4. Share Your Story
Share your Instagram poll just as you would any other Instagram story. Viewers that are following you will be able to scroll through your story and vote on their choice, polling of course is optional.
5. Monitor your Instagram poll results
Once your Instagram poll goes live, you can turn on the push notifications from your phone settings so it displays each vote as they come. Alternatively, you can view the Instagram poll results from your Instagram story by swiping up to the post analytics.Votes then turn the Poll sticker into percentages based on what your audience selected options. The percentage of votes are viewable to the public, however, who voted and the number of votes is only viewable to you.Analytics are only available whilst the post is live, so screenshot or jot down the results from your Instagram poll so you can utilise this information after the 24 hours that Instagram allows for a single story.
How to use an Instagram poll to engage with your audience
Instagram polling is an incredible opportunity to engage with your audience and make them feel as part of the decision-making process of your company.Here’s how brands can use an Instagram poll to engage with their followers:
Market Research
Whether you’re looking to source key data from your audience for an upcoming project or want to learn more about what their preferences are, asking questions via Instagram polling can offer incredible insight.Get opinions on:
- Options for a product (size, color, shape, etc.) - great for the early stages of the planning process
- Event Ideas- (preferred days, times or topics)
- Topics for a blog post - find out what your audience wants to hear from you, what resources you can offer
Ask for Feedback
What better way to find out what your audience wants than straight out asking them? An Instagram poll is a low-risk, quick and free way to do this. Not sure what type of questions to ask? Find out what people do and don’t like about your product. What products are your customers really after?Jess Ruhfus of @collabosaurus gaining key insights in a video on Instagram Stories on which topics would encourage her followers to watch Collabosaurus live videos.
Showcase your brand's personality
Authenticity has been a buzz word lately, with audiences expecting brands to be more human.
Cruelty-free and vegan nail polish brand Kester Black recently compared two of its own products to battle it out to see which product was quicker and more effective to use. The segment was a fun and engaging way for the brand to connect with It’s audience.There are so many creative ways to incorporate an Instagram poll into your strategy. It’s a fun tool that can showcase your brand personality and the day to day operations that makes your business unique. After a while, it can get a bit addictive so try not to overuse polls, or you may dilute the level of responses from your audience.
How to Edit Your Images Using Sked's Photo Editor
Adding an Instagram poll to a Stories post is not something you can do with Sked yet (although you can create regular Story posts using images/videos and schedule them to post automatically).But if you prefer to use our in-app photo editor to add filters and effects to your images before using them to create an Instagram poll on Instagram, here’s how.1. To enable Story scheduling for your account, login to your Sked Social account (or start a free 7-day trial). Click on Billing/Profile Settings in the sidebar menu (green arrow below).
2. Next, go to the Instagram stories section and turn on the 'Enable Instagram Story Scheduling' switch.
3. To create a Story post, proceed to the 'Upload Post' dashboard, select your Instagram account(s), and choose 'Story' in the Upload Media menu to the left of the screen. Upload the image(s) or video(s) you want to use from your computer, Google Drive/Photos, Dropbox, an Instagram URL or Canva. Click 'Continue'.
4. After approving your uploads, click 'Continue' to proceed to Image Editing. 5. Choose your desired crop by moving the pre-set Story dimension crop as desired. Magic Crop Make final edits to your post using Sked’s full-featured photo editor by clicking the
(pencil icon). Add text, filters, emojis, Instagram-like stickers and more by clicking on the edit
6. If you’re using an Instagram business account with Story links enabled (a Business Instagram account with over 10,000 followers), enter the URL of the web page you’d like to link your post to in the Post URL story link box. Then, either choose to send your Story post to Drafts, Add to Queue or Schedule it to publish automatically at a time that best suits your audience.
Over to you
Are you excited to start using Instagram polls in your stories? Have you already created some for your business and have some of the results influenced your business decisions?Now that you know how to create an Instagram poll, why not start carving out hours in your social media workflow by signing up for Sked’s 7-day trial. Our all-in-one Instagram scheduler allows you to automatically post images, carousels, Stories, videos and more. Tag locations, users and products and manage all your hashtags in one place to save 5+ hours every week.
About the author
Bianka Velevska is a marketing consultant, researcher and writer with an interest in brand design, entrepreneurship and business.
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