Instagram polls are just plain fun.
Whether you’re voting on the next food item that a local chef will add to their menu or giving your favorite interior designer an opinion on paint color, pressing that little button makes us as consumers feel relevant where we might have otherwise been quiet observers.
Plus, it feels a little bit like a game, and who doesn’t love games?
Instagram is constantly looking for ways to keep its users entertained and interactive, so the platform introduced different story features like polls, questions, and slide ratings back in 2017.
If you’ve never experimented with polls on Instagram before, the basic process is to start with a question and write two possible answers for your followers to choose from. You can customize your answer choices to your liking and once a selection is made it reveals a percentage breakdown of the results.
In combination with other business Instagram story insights (like replies, forwarding, sticker taps, and follows), polls provide invaluable market research data.
Learn about the demands and interests of your target market and make informed decisions on promotions, product design, and more.
Compared to other forms of marketing like print and TV, social media marketing (particularly Instagram) marketing highlights the interactive connection between a business and its followers. Not only did your audience make the conscious decision to follow you, there’s a good chance those followers are actually interested in your content and want to interact wherever possible.
If you aren’t already using Instagram polls to increase engagement on your stories and posts, now’s the time to start. Here are a few ways you can use Instagram polls to boost sales.
1. This or That Story Polls
Ask your Instagram followers to choose between this option or that option. It fulfills a human desire to feel heard and provides excellent market research on the tastes of our consumers.
You are receiving and collecting visual data that can further inform your marketing strategy and ultimately gets people talking about your brand.
This is the age of social media, where brands must be present in order to maintain relevancy and reach their audience. To leverage the power of Instagram, companies must be mindful of what their consumers are asking for. When they see a new product or service come to market, they will want to know more about it.
Here are a few examples of this or that story polls for online clothing retailers:
- Black dress or white dress
- Heeled sandal or flat sandal
- Jacket or no jacket
- Heavy or Light on accessories
Here are a few ideas for marketing agency questions:
- Colorful or monotone branding
- Humorous brand voice or serious tone
- Weekly or monthly newsletter
- Facebook or Twitter
Here are a few poll examples for real estate agents:
- Modern or colonial
- Driveway or garage
- Clawfoot tub or rainwater shower
- Large front yard or back yard
Here are a few examples of this or that story polls for nonprofits:
- Shave your pet or don’t shave your pet
- Donate or Volunteer
- Lots of knowledge or need more info
- Watch a webinar or read an ebook
Use side-by-side photos to represent the two options and see which one generates the most interest. Asking your audience to choose “This” or “That” is a great way to gauge what they prefer and can even help you make informed decisions on future products and purchases.
If you’re designing a product or service from scratch, check in with your Instagram followers to see which option is preferred.
From a marketing perspective, this draws interest, and you will connect with your customers, but it can also increase your overall sales by minimizing your customer experience gap. The closer you’re able to get to providing exactly what your target market wants, the higher your chances for success.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with fun poll content!
2. Gauge Event Participation on Instagram
Use Instagram polls to remind your followers about an upcoming event or launch date. Ask a question and take action based on the answers. Send registration information to anyone who isn’t planning to attend.
- “Will you be at the webinar tonight?” (Yes or No)
- “Are you coming to the shopping event?” (Can’t wait! or I still haven’t signed up)
- “What topic would you like our next presentation to be on?” (Email marketing or Social media engagement)
These are great ways to gauge interest. Compared to a simple text-only reminder post or flyer, the interactive question requires your followers to actually think about attending and take an action by providing an answer.
3. Play Poll Trivia
Feel free to get creative with this one.
Ask your Instagram followers rapid-fire questions in a long-form, multi-post story. Try sticking to one general topic that’s somehow related to your business or choose engaging content that you believe will generate interest. Here are a few examples:
- Use This or That form for a string of vacation destinations
- Ask viewers to choose their favorite looks after the Met Gala
- Ask questions about Rock & Roll history
- Use True or False polls for a string of statistics
- Ask viewers to choose their favorite dog breeds
- Ask questions about the history of your organization
Poll trivia will keep your followers engaged and may even encourage them to view your stories more frequently. Plus, a person who has fun answering your trivia polls and tapping through your story could end up seeing more of your content through the Instagram algorithm. If the platform determines that your content is interesting to an individual, it’s going to be promoted.
Asking questions in this style will feel more like a game. And it’s better than just the usual act of tapping through stories. It’s memorable and fun!
4. “Do you want to ____?”
The response to this poll should be somewhat obvious. Ask your followers if they are interested in your product or service offering, but make both answer choices actionable. Here are a few examples:
- Do you want to get involved? (Yes! or Can I get more info?)
- Do you want to know more? (Absolutely or Send me a message!)
In this Instagram poll form, you’re offering the illusion of choice while simultaneously confirming a follow-up from anyone who answers.
In both scenarios, you have a jumping-off point to get in touch with your followers. Real engagement is a back and forth, a conversation, not just one-sided responses.
The process is simple.
Small businesses, solopreneurs, real estate agents, nonprofits – anyone with a social media presence – can learn a lot from their interactions on Instagram, and the process is so simple.
Instagram provides plenty of opportunities for business and creator accounts to learn from their audiences and interact in new and unique ways. Stand out from a crowd of boring story posts and give your audience a chance to contribute in real-time.
Take advantage of the polls on Instagram and watch your engagement grow. The post-customer questions and feedback process is difficult enough, why make it more difficult?
If you’re looking to increase your email marketing engagement, sign up for a demo with us today.
