Are You Taking Advantage of Instagram’s Questions Feature?

Instagram has emerged to be a powerful platform for brands to market their business. 80% of users on the platform follow at least one business account. With more businesses using Instagram marketing as an important component of their marketing strategy, there’s immense competition. Several businesses operating in the same industry can create business accounts on the platform and take advantage of Instagram marketing.

In an environment of such tough competition, making your brand stand out can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. Engaging your Instagram followers with high quality, interesting content will ensure you bring in the Instagram likes, comments, and interactions needed to boost your growth on the platform and experience its benefits.
One way to get higher engagement on Instagram is by using its Questions feature which was introduced to the platform in 2018. Here’s what you need to know about how to use it, why it matters, and the various ways you can boost business growth with it.

How to use it

Making use of the Questions sticker on Instagram is simple. This feature is available for Instagram Stories. All you have to do is open your Instagram Stories and either upload or take a photo that you want to add to your Stories.

After that, select the square smiley face that’s visible at the top right hand corner of your screen. You’ll see an option labelled “Questions.” When you choose this feature, you’ll see the default questions sticker – “Ask me anything.” You can change this by adding the text for whatever question you have in mind. Once this is done, you can add a feature or a filter to it if you’d like and then share it to your Stories.

To view the responses received from your Instagram followers, click on the section that shows who all have viewed your story. You’ll be able to see the responses here and you can choose to share these responses to your Instagram Stories with answers so that other Instagram followers also get to see them. While others will be able to view what you share with your stories, they won’t know who sent them in those questions. The names will remain anonymous.

Why you should use it

Engagement is very important on Instagram if you want to grow your brand through Instagram marketing. With higher engagement rates on your profile, Instagram’s algorithm is signalled as to the legitimacy of your account, and you can get higher search engine rankings. Your content also has greater chances of appearing on the Explore tab on Instagram. This is very important because it enables more people to view your content and exposes your brand to a wider audience. This can help you get more Instagram likes and real Instagram followers.

When there’s the interaction between you and your Instagram followers, a more personal connection can be established and each can get to know the other better. Through questions, you can gain insights about your audience that can aid in making business decisions. Even your Instagram followers are likely to feel that their voices are heard, and their opinions are taken into consideration when you make appropriate use of the Questions feature on your Instagram Stories.

This can eventually lead to greater brand awareness, higher conversion rates, and building of customer loyalty towards your brand.

Different ways you can use it

There’s a lot you can do with the Questions feature on Instagram. Here are some ways to use it effectively:

Conduct a Q&A

The most direct way of using the Questions feature in your Instagram Stories is by conducting a Q&A where your real Instagram followers can ask you any question they want related to your brand and you will have to respond to them. People may send in questions about your products/services or even other aspects of your brand that they seek clarity on. Be prepared to answer these questions honestly and offer your Instagram followers some value. When they gain more clarity on aspects of your business or its products and services, they can make more informed decisions about it.

Get insights about your products

Your Instagram followers don’t have to be the ones asking all the questions. You can even use the Questions feature to ask your audience to share their insights about your products and services and offer feedback. Reviewing their responses carefully can help you understand what they like and what they don’t so that you can make the necessary changes. This has a huge impact on business decisions. Your customers should, after all, be your top priority and since they’re the ones buying your products or services, their opinions are important. Be prepared to receive some negative feedback though, and have a strategy in place to deal with it.

Sharing positive feedback of your Instagram followers about your business or its products/services can also serve as a testimonial for others who may be motivated to buy what you’re offering when they see what existing customers think of your products. Customer testimonials are more effective in gaining your audience’s trust because it’s not based on an obvious profit motive. People are more likely to look into a product that is recommended by existing customers than believe some marketing message from a brand trying to sell its products. This can result in a growth in conversions.

Asking for, responding to, and acting on your audience’s feedback will also show them that you care and this can help increase their loyalty towards your brand.

Announce new releases

Create some hype and anticipation around the release of new products by asking your Instagram followers to guess what’s coming up soon or if they’d like to get a sneak peek of what’s in store for them. This can get your audience curious and have them send in as many responses as possible, which only helps to increase the engagement rate on your profile.

Emphasize brand values

You can even use the Question feature to connect with your target audience over brand values. This can be an issue related to your brand like a sports company inviting questions or discussions related to physical health. It can also be a campaign or an issue that your brand supports which needn’t necessarily be related to the industry your business operates in. It could be something like an issue related to climate change or mental health. Such discussions help to show your brand in a positive light and show your Instagram followers that your brand doesn’t forget social consciousness.

Let your Instagram followers connect with an expert or thought leader

You can even invite questions from your audience and have an industry expert or thought leader answer them. This can encourage your audience to send in more questions while offering them expert advice in exchange.

Highlight FAQs

You may end up being asked the same question by different Instagram followers and responding to each one separately isn’t convenient. You could choose to respond to the FAQs and share them in your Stories for all to see in such instances. Saving them to your Highlights will make it easy for you to access them whenever you need.

Make it entertaining

You don’t only have to use the Instagram Questions feature for boosting sales and conversions. You could also connect with your Instagram followers by posting something fun to entertain them. Whether it’s a favorite TV show, sports, or leading trends, Questions can be used to start a discussion and establish a personal connection with your audience. When you do this, your audience is more likely to feel a personal connection with your brand.

Tips for using it

The most obvious thing you need to know is that you must respond to what your audience has sent in. They’ve taken the time and effort to write out their thoughts, so responding to them will show them that their effort was worth it. You don’t want to leave anyone hanging, otherwise, it could discourage them from engaging with your brand in the future.

You also shouldn’t overuse the feature just because you’re excited about it. While the feature can boost engagement and help you gain more real Instagram followers, you don’t want your audience to experience fatigue from its overuse.

Make sure some goal drives the use of Questions in your Stories. Remember, you’re not just a personal account doing this for fun. While it is a fun feature, you need to have clarity on why you’re using it, what you hope to achieve from it, and how you can adapt depending on your audience’s reactions.

Conclusion

Inviting questions from your Instagram followers and asking them questions is a great way to engage with your audience and grow your business. There are many ways that you can use this feature as part of your Instagram marketing strategy to maximize its benefits. If you aren’t already making use of this feature, it’s about time you started so that you can experience its benefits for yourself.