Using Instagram Stories Polls for Your Business

If you’re using Instagram marketing for your business, getting higher engagement rates with your Instagram followers is necessary. When your Instagram followers engage with your content more, it signals to the Instagram algorithm that users of the platform are interested in your content. This will help you reach a wider audience and get more real Instagram followers. With more engagement, you can achieve higher search engine rankings and even land up on Instagram’s Explore tab. Using Instagram Stories Polls is one way to increase engagement among your audience. A larger audience can even result in more Instagram likes for your content, further increasing engagement rates on your profile. Here’s what you need to know about this Instagram feature.

What are Instagram Stories Polls?

In 2017, Instagram added the feature of polls to Stories which makes it possible for people to engage with content on the platform. With this feature, your Instagram followers must select 1 of 2 options provided in response to specific questions asked. These may be simple yes or no responses, or you could give them other options to choose from.

How to add polls to your Instagram Stories?

Creating polls for your Instagram Stories is easy. Once you have the picture or video you want to add to Stories, choose the Stickers option from the top right section of your screen. Then, click on the “Poll” icon and place it on your photo or video. The default choices for the classic poll are “Yes” and “No” but you can customize these options. The questions don’t have a character limit, but the character limit for the responses is 22 characters. Once you’ve done this, you can share it with your Instagram followers and see the results. Results can be viewed in real-time by swiping up on your Story. Since Instagram Stories last for 24 hours, so will your poll, but you can highlight it to make sure it doesn’t disappear after 24 hours. You’ll be able to see how many people voted on your poll choices as well as how many views the Story managed to get.

Sharing results from the poll can keep the interest of your Instagram followers as they are, after all, the ones who voted on the options given. To do this, you just have to click the “Share Results” option in the Views tab and let your audience know the results of the poll they voted on.

Why are they important for your business?

Instagram Stories Polls offer fun, creative ways for your Instagram followers to engage with your brand. So much of the time on social media is spent in mindless scrolling. There’s no dearth of Stories being posted by the many accounts already on Instagram. With so many users on the platform viewing Stories one after another, polls provide a refreshing change and give users an opportunity to express themselves with regard to the question asked. They are much quicker to capture the attention of your Instagram followers and get them to interact with your brand.

There’s no restriction on the type of question you can ask so you will be able to get feedback from customers and understand their interests better. Polls don’t always have to be used for business-related matters. They can also help you understand your Instagram followers in other areas of interest by helping you branch out and seek responses to questions that concern other topics.

When you utilize the input derived from polls and implement changes to your business decisions, it’ll help your audience feel like they’re being listened to. This will get them to engage with your brand’s content more. Higher engagement on your profile will mean higher search engine rankings, which will enable more people to come across your content. People who end up liking your content can drive up the number of Instagram likes on your profile and help you get on to the Explore tab of the platform.

By increasing engagement on your Instagram profile, Instagram Stories Polls can contribute to higher rates of business growth. In the rest of this article, we’ll take you through exactly how you can make use of Instagram Stories Polls in different ways for the success of your business.

How can you use Instagram Stories Polls for business growth?

To conduct market research

If you want to find out more about what your target audience’s preferences and interests are, adding a poll to your Instagram Stories is a great way to do this. You may be contemplating a new product line or working on a service idea for which market research is essential. You are, after all, offering a product/service to meet the needs of your target audience. Getting responses from your target audience about what they’d like to see next will put you on the right path and help you cater to their needs.

To showcase your products

You can even use polls to showcase your brand’s products and create excitement about your offerings. Adding the different products you offer to your Instagram Stories and asking your Instagram followers to choose between the 2 will give you an idea of their preferences. You can also add feed posts about your products to your Stories and include a poll to ask your Instagram followers if they’ve seen your latest post about your product.

To find out what your Instagram followers like and get their feedback

By adding polls to your Instagram Stories, you can get an idea of what your real Instagram followers are interested in. You can even invite feedback from your customers about your products or services and work towards incorporating this feedback in your business decisions. You can also share results of the poll to your Stories and thank your Instagram followers for taking the time out to give their opinion. Incorporating changes based on the feedback you receive will show your Instagram followers that you care about their opinions and you’re listening to them. This can help to boost customer loyalty for your brand.

To direct your audience to your website

You can include the link to your website in your Story and encourage your Instagram followers to swipe up after adding a poll to it. Create some hype around a blog piece newly added to your website or a section of your website through a poll. Tailor the poll to make it connect logically with what you’re directing your audience to so that you get to benefit from higher conversions.

To conduct quizzes

You can even make use of polls to quiz your Instagram followers about a particular topic and make it fun for them to engage with your content. Apart from this, you could also conduct quizzes that test how much your audience knows about your brand. When people engage with such quizzes, brand awareness is increased. You could also get them curious by directing them to your website to find the right answer to the question you asked.

To encourage your audience to take a social stance

Today, people are more interested in associating with and supporting brands that are conscious of social change. They’re more likely to view your business positively if you speak up about social issues. You can use polls to ask your Instagram followers if they know about the latest social issues going on and if they’re doing anything about it. Doing this will not only encourage them to take a social stance, but it will also show that your brand is a socially conscious one. This can help to improve the credibility of your brand.

To create hype around your campaigns, events, and contests

If you’ve got a big campaign, event, or contest coming up, you can make use of Instagram Stories Polls to create hype around it. Ask your Instagram followers if they’re aware of your upcoming events, or announce that you have a big announcement to make and check if they’re excited to find out what it is. You can even announce a contest and see if your Instagram followers have participated in it.

To engage your audience on ads

You can even add polls to the ads that you put up on your Stories and get your Instagram followers to take action on these Story ads by clicking on 1 of the 2 options provided.

To entertain your audience

All polls don’t have to be related to achieving some business goal. You can also use polls to keep your audience entertained and show off your brand personality. Discussing things that aren’t related to business can give your Instagram followers an opportunity to get to know you better. This can help them develop a personal connection with your brand and sustain the relationship in the long run.

Conclusion

With the growing popularity of Instagram marketing today, the platform presents a lot of competition for brands. In such a competitive environment, getting high engagement rates for your content is crucial to give you an edge. Instagram Stories Polls makes this possible and that’s why, it’s important to include it in your Instagram marketing strategy.