On your marks, get set…. VOTE!
Like them or hate them, Instagram stories are here to say. You might think it a waste of time to devote any part of our busy daily schedule in order to create content for stories that only last 24 hours, and if you did, many people out there would agree with you.
Whatever the case, what better way to conduct market research than by asking your audience for their feedback, and how do you do this?
Yes, Instagram Story Polls!
Stories are an ideal format we can use to maintain and cultivate the connections we have with our followers. By incorporating Instagram Story Polls in our content strategy, we can do exactly that. Plus, it’s really cool to see the poll responses fly in in real time and I must admit there is a certain quality in not having to pay specialized market research agencies the big bucks they normally require for something we can do ourselves.
I tell you what else is cool… Anyone with an instagram account can vote. And if that wasn’t just delicious enough, it doesn’t matter how many followers you have, you might even have none, and still your vote will count. When it comes to Instagram polls, casting your ballot is your inalienable right.
Question is: Is there a right way to use Instagram Story Polls, and what purpose will these polls serve?
Well, that’s two questions really. But first:
What are Instagram Story Polls?
Designed to be interactive, Instagram Story Polls enable you to poll your audience with the use of stickers, among other things. But today’s all about stickers!
Stories are known to boost engagement on Instagram, and we all know that Insta is the engagement platform par excellence.
It’s a zero sum game where any question you might have has the potential to receive quasi instant gratification.
Of course the larger your audience, the more feedback you’re going to get, but every one, even the 35 billion followers account started from scratch didn’t they?
Ok. I got carried away with the billion thing but you know what I mean?
So back to this story, a most quizzing story designed to trigger your attention, titillate your feedback, which in turn can be used for market research!
There are two polls you can use to quiz your audience:
- The emoji slider poll
- The traditional question/answer poll
The emoji slider poll sticker enables you to slide your answer to either side. It’s fun… Who doesn’t love sliding just for thrills… And besides it’s interactive so you don’t even have to type anything. A must as you eat your popcorn!
The traditional question/answer actually requires to either say yes, or no to a question and the cheek of it all… To type your answer!
How To Create Instagram Story Polls?
It’s actually pretty simple.
- Click on the circle that has your photo inside your instagram account.
- Choose an image as a background or use the camera to take a new one.
- Get creative! Add the text that you want to feature in the story and then choose your favorite sticker.
- Publish your story.
- Wait for your audience’s feedback.
Here are some stickers you can use in your stories:
- Questions
- Polls
- Text
- GIFs
- Hashtags
- Mention
- Time and Weather
- Location
- Emojis
How To Use Instagram Story Polls For your business?
According to the latest global market research report, every year, upwards of $45 billion is spent on market research throughout the world. Companies are willing to invest this kind of money by working with specialized marketing agencies who charge them a pretty penny ($45 billion worth of pretty pennies) to get them the information they need.
But what if you could do your own market research? For free! Or very little money spent
If you want to cut down the middleman and save yourself money you can then allocate elsewhere then…
With Instagram story polls, you can…
Polls provide a unique access to market research, if you know how to use them.
If you want to understand what drives your audience, the insight you can gain from these polls can be invaluable.
Use these polls for just about any data you want to pull like:
- Which demographic groups are most likely to purchase your products and or services
- How does your brand stack up against your competition
- The market opportunity for your products and or services
- What kind of messaging resonates best with your audience
The more you learn from your audience, the better you can serve them, and Instagram Story Polls can definitely help you gain that extra knowledge by providing a wonderful and fun to use market research platform.
Get Ideas for Future Content
As a direct result of the market research we touched upon earlier, polls turn out to be an ideal platform for content ideas. Why?
Because audiences can tell us exactly what our content focus should be and the beauty of this is that it can compliment, improve or even force us to re-evaluate our very own content strategy.
After all, the value of any content we create can only be measured in terms of how it actually serves the needs of our audience.
Here’s a painful truth content strategists always have to learn: Audiences don’t care about content creators’ great ideas. They don’t care about how well an article is written, how a book flows seemingly from one topic to another.
None of that matters to them. What they do care about is how this content is going to help them. What’s in it for them!
The content you write is and should never be about what you, but rather about your audience.
And what better way to find what your audience wants your content to be about?
Yes! Instagram story polls.
Promote Your Affiliate Links
Affiliate marketing is one of my personal favorite method of monetization. I use it in my private network of some 300+ website.
But like most thing in online marketing, discretion is the name of the game and you don’t want to transform the platform you work on to a giant sales board. What better way than to ask your audience if they want to see your affiliate products then by asking them through your instagram story polls.
But like most things in online marketing, discretion is the name of the game and you don’t want to become a giant sales board.
In other words, the less you sell, the more people will want to buy from you as long as you ask them for their permission beforehand.
Want to earn a few pennies selling affiliate products? Like the wonderful blender you’ve just used in one of your cooking videos?
How about asking your audience if they want to know what utensils and appliances you use to create all those wonderful recipes?
A majority will say yes of course, after all we are all motivated by emotional triggers and polling them through your stories will get you the feedback you need.
The Complete Guide to Marketing Reseach
Instgram has come a long way. From a platform made to post photographs it has become a fully fledged business hub, which, if used in the right way can propel businesses by unleashing their full online marketing potential.
And this is particularly true for small businesses with limited marketing campaigns
Whether you’re new to social media marketing or want to keep up with new methods and trends, we can help you to:
- Define your goals
- Build your following organically
- Drive sales
Case study:
One of our customers had a popular cooking channel on Instagram. She had been growring her audience steadily but felt her competitors were gaining larger audiences while producing content that didn’t look better than what she was already creating. Namely, cooking recipes.
She reached out to our agency to explore the possibility of advertising her channel as a means to grow her audience and of course the first thing we did was an audit of her channel, and how it stacked up against her competitors.
Next we ran a series of Instagram story polls, some of which with specific questions about the type of recipe her audience was most of.
The feedback was extraordinary and it enabled us to understand her audience’s needs much better. As a result the number of followers exploded.
Want more actionable tips on effective business strategies? We’ve got you covered. Join me on Instagram today and don’t miss my daily tips on how to grow your business online.