How to use instagram polls
How to Drive Engagement with the Poll Sticker on Instagram Stories
Instagram Tips & Resources
By Alyssa Gagliardi
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Updated on October 12, 2022
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5 minute read
Superstar engagement + data galore = Instagram polls.
Published March 8, 2022
Instagram Poll stickers are one of the easiest ways to engage your Instagram community.
From collecting feedback to gauging interest for an upcoming launch, the quick interaction can help inform your content strategy.
We’re breaking down how to use polls on Instagram Stories, plus five fresh ideas to drive engagement.
What Is an Instagram Stories Poll?Instagram Poll stickers are pretty straightforward: they let you poll your audience on your Instagram Stories.
Simply ask a question and share up to four different options for your community to choose from.
You’re essentially collecting data and driving engagement in one go. It’s a win-win.
FYI: Later is a social media management tool trusted by over 4M businesses, creators, and social media managers. Sign up for free to plan and automatically publish your social media posts today:
How to Add an Instagram Stories Poll StickerIt's quick and easy to add a poll to your Instagram Stories. Here's how to do it:
Click the "+" icon at the top of your Instagram Home feed and select "Story."
Next, tap the large white circle to take a photo (press and hold to film a video), or select existing media from your camera roll.
Locate the sticker icon (a smiley face) at the top of your screen to open the Instagram Stories sticker tray, and scroll until you see the "Poll" sticker.
Tap “Ask a Question…” above the poll to type your question. You can also select the color wheel at the top of the screen to customize the sticker.
Tap each answer to edit the different options users will be able to choose from.
Once finished, tap "Done" in the top right corner to exit the poll editor.
Press and drag to move the sticker, or use a pinching motion to resize it.
Post your Story and let the responses roll in.
Once your Instagram Story is live, you can check the results of your poll by swiping up on the published Story and selecting the eye icon.
Simple as that.
Start scheduling your Instagram Stories in advance with Later today — available on all paid plans.
5 Ways to Use Instagram Polls to Increase EngagementHere are five ways to boost engagement using Instagram Poll stickers:
Promote a Blog Post, Article, or Guide
Create Suspense for an Upcoming Launch or Collab
Gather Feedback from Your Community
Play a Game of "This or That"
Educate Your Community
Recently dropped a blog or informational guide? Create a fun quiz about the topic using the Instagram Poll sticker.
Once you’ve got them hooked, round off your final Story with a link sticker inviting your audience to learn more.
By creatively introducing your audience to your content, you’re bound to drive more traffic to your site.
DID YOU KNOW: You can also drive traffic to your blog or website by popping the link in your Instagram bio using Later’s Linkin.bio tool.
Idea #2: Create Suspense for an Upcoming Launch or CollabIf you have something exciting in the works, teasing the news with an Instagram Poll can help build excitement.
For brands launching a new product, try sharing a photo or short video with a poll asking your community if they want to see more.
If you’re a creator teaming up with another creator for a collab, create a poll inviting your community to guess what you’re working on together.
TIP: Add a countdown sticker to your Instagram Story so followers get a notification when your launch or collab goes live.
Instagram Polls are a fun and informal way to learn what your audience wants.
From gauging interest about new content ideas to collecting feedback on a potential partnership — let them know you value their opinion.
For example, creator Jaclyn Forbes shared an Instagram Story asking her followers if they were interested in shopping her outfit.
When 92% of voters tapped “yes”, she posted Stories with links to shop her OOTD.
The takeaway? Give your followers the reins and let them guide your next post.
Choose one: scheduling your posts in advance, or posting on the fly?
Everyone loves a lighthearted poll, and a game of "This or That" is the perfect avenue to learn more about your audience.
Simply poll two similar options and invite them to choose their preference:
Curious about your community's skincare routine? Ask them if they prefer sheet masks or clay masks.
And if you're wondering whether they think pineapple belongs on pizza, ask them in a poll (for the record.
.. it doesn't).
How much does your community know about you and your niche? Test their knowledge with a handful of polls.
For example, if you’re a sneaker brand, quiz your followers about different shoe styles.
Bonus points if you plug your products too!
Gamifying the education process can help generate engagement and conversations in your DMs. Plus, it creates another way to interact with your followers.
And there you have it!
Whether you’re looking to build brand awareness or learn more about your target audience, creating polls are a great engagement-driver.
So, are you ready to experiment with Instagram Poll stickers?
We have a feeling you're voting "Yes."
ICYMI: You can plan, schedule, and publish your Instagram Stories in advance with Later. Create an account today:
About the Author
Alyssa Gagliardi
Content Marketing Specialist
Alyssa is a Toronto-based creative writer and Content Marketer at Later.
If you can’t reach her, she’s probably glueing gems to her face or thrifting. Keep up with her nonsense on Instagram – @alygeethnx.
Plan, schedule, and automatically publish your social media posts with Later.
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a Complete Guide to Polling Your Followers
- To make an Instagram Poll, start by creating a new Story post by swiping right on Instagram's home screen.
- Ask a yes or no question or any question with two options, then share the poll to your Story.
- View the results of your poll at any time within 24 hours of posting by swiping up on the Story slide.
Whether they're just for fun or for informal research purposes, Instagram Polls are a fun way to interact with your Instagram followers. You can customize the question and the two responses (or stick to a straight-forward yes or no) and choose a background from your camera roll.
Once responses start rolling in, you can see how your followers voted, and even get a breakdown on how many people voted for each option and who exactly voted for each. After you collect responses, you can share the results with your followers so they can also see how people voted overall (but not who voted for what).
Here's how it's done.
How to create an Instagram Poll on your Story1.
Open the Instagram app. Tap your profile icon at the top-left of the screen or swipe right to add a Story.
2. Take a photo by tapping the circle on the bottom of the screen or choose a photo or video from your camera roll to post by tapping the small picture icon at the bottom-left of the screen. You can also tap the "Aa" Create icon to pull up a blank background.
Choose a blank background or a photo from your camera roll as the backdrop for your poll.
Abigail Abesamis Demarest 3. Tap the Stickers icon, which looks like a square smiley face, at the top of the screen to pull up a menu of post additions.
Tap this icon to add a poll, location tag, GIFs, and more. Abigail Abesamis Demarest4. In the pop-up menu, tap the Poll icon to ask a question with two answer prompts. To ask a sliding scale question, tap the Sliding Scale icon, which should be located next to the Poll sticker option.
5. Tap the Ask a question… field, then type your question or a quick phrase on whatever topic you want people to vote on. For a regular poll, tap the Yes and No boxes to change the responses, or keep the boxes as-is if that works for your question. For a sliding scale poll, select an emoji to add to the sliding scale.
You can edit all three fields in a poll.
Abigail Abesamis Demarest 6. When you're finished editing the question and response fields, tap Done.
7. Tap Your Story to share your poll with all your followers, or Close Friends to share the poll with your Close Friends list. You can also search for a friend or choose one from the Suggested list to send the poll via direct message.
Once your poll is ready to be posted, tap "Your Story" to share it with all your followers. Abigail Abesamis Demarest How to view and share results of your Instagram Story Poll1.
To view the results of an Instagram poll you've created, open the Instagram app and tap your profile icon at the top-left of the screen to view your Story.
2. On the Story slide with the poll, you'll see the overall results. For more information on how many people voted and what each person voted for, swipe up on the Story slide or tap Seen by on the bottom-left of the screen.
After people start voting on your poll, you'll see the overall results on the Story slide. Abigail Abesamis Demarest3. To share the results of your poll to your Story, tap Share Results, then select Your Story or Close Friends.
- This or that: Give your followers two options and ask them to choose which one they prefer.
Poll your followers about fun, random topics or ask them what types of content or formats they prefer on your feed. - Yes or no: Ask a yes or no question to gauge how your followers feel about specific topics. Again, you can go the random route or ask more curated questions to gauge interest in specific subjects when it comes to your content.
- Sliding scale: Rather than a straightforward yes or no, or having to choose between two different options, a sliding scale allows your followers to choose where they fall on a sliding scale in response to your question.
1. Open the Instagram app on your device and tap the Messages icon in the top-right corner.
2. Select a recent conversation or tap the New Message icon in the top-right corner.
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On the message screen, tap the blue camera icon next to the textbox at the bottom of the screen.
4. Take a photo or select one from your camera roll, and tap the Stickers icon, which looks like a square smiley face, in the top-right corner of the screen.
5. Select Poll in the pop-up menu.
6. A poll box will appear over your image — type your poll question into the Ask a question section, and tap inside the Yes and No boxes to change the answer options.
7. When your poll is ready, tap Send at the bottom-middle of the screen.
Note: When you send an Instagram Poll through direct messages, the poll is not interactive, meaning the recipients will not be able to answer the poll by selecting an answer option in the image. They will have to give their answers via a separate message beneath your poll message.
Abigail Abesamis Demarest
Abigail Abesamis Demarest is a contributing writer for Insider based in New York. She loves a good glazed donut and nerdy deep dives into the science of food and how it's made.
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This type of question is relevant for commercial accounts that want to increase purchase motivation. Usually there are several such surveys on the same topic, which go one after another in turn.
1 example (heating for sale):
We start the survey “Which model do you like better No. 1 or No. 2?”. You can repeat 3-5 stories with different options. Next, choose the models for which the majority voted, and announce SALE on them (launch of the sale).
Those who voted see the answers of other users and which product is "leading", so you should not go to the trick and pass off another product as the one chosen by the poll participants.
2nd example (for making money on advertising):
Are you interested in telling about something. For example: “Do you want to know how I lost weight for the new year?” and add a motivating before and after photo. Or “Tell me where I got such a hairstyle / made such a closet?” etc.
If the majority answered “Yes”, in the next stories post, for example, a photo of a miracle cure, product, person or company and a link to the advertised object.
3rd example (to increase coverage and subscriptions):
“Run a draw?”. If the majority answered "Yes", then continue to warm up. Next ask: “What to play?” (Answers: men's or women's sneakers; discount on course No. 1 or course No. 2, etc.) For most answers, you choose a product and announce the start of the draw and the conditions.
If the product is desirable (because the majority voted for it), then the reaction can be massive.
The main thing is to write down the conditions of the draw in detail: what needs to be done (subscribe, like, tag friends in the comments), the dates of the draw, etc.
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How to make an Instagram Stories poll ➔ ideas for stories
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Content
- 1 How to create an Instagram poll
- 2 Instagram Stories poll ideas
- 2.1 General survey
- 2.2 Evaluation survey
- 2.3 Educational survey
- 2.4 Motivational or warm-up survey
Instagram polls are a good way to engage your audience in communication. First, they are used for variety. Standard content is boring, while questions increase the interest and engagement of subscribers.
Secondly, to find out something or ask for advice. For example, "Which picture do you like better?" or “Will a certain topic of articles be interesting?” and others. You can ask anything on Instagram, because people like to express their opinions on the Internet. Why not take advantage of this?
Another reason to use engagement surveys on Instagram is to engage and encourage action.
For example, you can take the account of a store that sells outerwear.
How to create an Instagram Poll
By posting several photos of coats, you can ask your followers about which one is more interesting. Then you can post information about the discount on them. This will attract the audience and increase the chance of acquisition.
The survey tool is found in Instagram Stories stickers. Step by step how to add to stories:
- To post in Stories, you first need to select a photo or video for the background. Or you can take a photo or shoot a video through the Stories functionality.
- Then upload it and add the "Survey" sticker.
- Next, write a question. If your question does not fit completely in the field of the sticker itself, write it separately using the "Text" function.
- Add answer options. Only two are allowed. You can enter no more than 15 characters in the answer option, it is allowed to add emoji.
Other elements can be added to the sticker in the Story: emoji, gif, hashtag or location.
If there is no such sticker in the Stories functionality, update the application to the latest available version.
All responses are displayed in Stories statistics within 24 hours after publication. There you will also see who exactly voted for a particular option. You can track the effectiveness of surveys on the LiveDune service. It will allow you to track the change in Stories reach.
- If the survey is in Direct, then you need to go in and find the plus sign or pencil in the upper right, select users and click "Next".
- Then you need to select a photo using the icon at the bottom left and follow the same steps as when creating polls in stories. After that, it remains only to send and wait for answers.
there is no automatic calculation and analytics on the answers, you have to process everything manually.
Instagram Story Poll Ideas
There are many tools on Instagram to increase follower engagement. Through polls, you can find out the opinion about your content, what excites followers, and get to know new readers.
General survey
The most common type of survey suitable for getting to know your followers on Instagram. Examples of such questions are:
- “Have you read a book…”,
- “Where do you prefer to relax: on the sea or in the mountains?”,
- Do you like rain? etc.
Evaluation survey
This type of survey is created to send or receive an assessment of any opinion from subscribers. Assessment surveys are very similar to general questions, but differ in wording. For example, an evaluation question is:
- “Is my rubric useful…?”,
- “Which camera is better…?”,
- “What to tell in the next post about business?”.
To arouse more interest on Instagram, you can use a provocation. But be careful: not everyone likes such tricks.
Educational survey
They are great for educational blogs, such as language blogs. Examples of such questions are:
- “Where is the emphasis placed correctly: cakes or cakes?”,
- “What is the term for ...?”,
- “Do you know about life hacks for our products?”.
Through educational questions on Instagram, you can tell your followers about new features of your products or additions to services.
Motivational or heating survey
Most applicable for online store accounts to encourage the target audience to buy. Also applicable for warming up on Instagram before selling info products. There are several options for using such surveys.
The first option is to post a series of questions with different types of products like “What do you like more: model 1 or model 2”. After voting and choosing the leading positions, you can announce the sale of these products at a discount.
