8 tips for your stories + 101 Survey Ideas on Instagram to boost your engagement

How to make a poll for your Instagram story? Increase your engagement on the platform by involving your followers and creating original content.

8 tips for your stories + 101 Survey Ideas on Instagram to boost your engagement
Emeric
Senior Content Writer @ BoostFluence
Social Media
October 24, 2021

The social network Instagram offers a loved feature: the poll sticker. Wondering how to make an effective poll on this platform? You've come to the right place.

In this article, discover how to boost your engagement on this prized social media by actively soliciting participation from your subscribers.

The key? Create an original and relevant Instagram poll.

Whether it's to highlight your products, ask playful questions or even introduce a touch of whimsy with a fun slider in the top left of your Instagram stories, these polls can revolutionize your content strategy.

The advantage of polls on Instagram lies in their ability to achieve a level of interaction often superior to classic stories. So why not leverage this powerful feature to find out the preferences of your followers?

Start by taking a photo, embed the poll sticker, offer two answers and wait to see the poll results.

With our 8 techniques and 101 suggestions, not only will you know how to create an impactful survey, but you'll also discover how other brands are leveraging this tool.

Are you ready? Dive into this universe and redefine your approach to stories!

1. Create a quick Instagram survey quiz.

Posing engaging questions is a simple, yet brilliant, idea for an Instagram survey. This approach is ideal for brands looking to establish their presence outside of their product offering.

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A survey also allows for great flexibility. You can choose to ask questions related to the industry you're in, specific questions about your products, current events, and so on. Start with easier questions and gradually increase their difficulty until you find a level that suits your audience. After all, you want to make sure you don't discourage your followers from participating because they don't care about the questions.

A good example of how to use questionnaires in your Instagram polls comes from @parksproject, a national park apparel brand. Parks Project uses engaging opinion polls in their Stories to help promote their brand's goal of helping preserve national parks across the U.S.

Each week, they create a multiple-question quiz using Instagram polls.

This simple game they create for their fans is featured every Tuesday. It's helped them establish a routine of visiting their profile to further engage with it. At the end of the game, they include a link to help drive traffic to their website. A simple and subtle way to direct your Instagram users to your products and content!

parksproject instagram screen

When designing stories like these, don't forget to remember the correct story dimensions, to make sure nothing gets cut off!

Discover all the good Instagram publishing formats here.

2. Measure interest in new products with a survey on Instagram

Imagine: you're a small retail store that can only stock a limited number of items. You are at a standstill between two similar items. You've asked your partners and employees and no one can help you make a decision. Why not just ask the people who are likely to buy that item - like your subscribers?

Retailers and restaurants can use this Insta poll idea in the same way for their Instagram stories. You can ask your followers whether or not they would buy a specific item or prefer one color or style over another. The best execution of this strategy I've seen is when boutiques (and small businesses) use this guide for their upcoming offers. One shoe brand @mgemi does a great job of surveying their subscribers through such surveys.

Mr. Gemi has been seen using surveys when they receive new samples from their suppliers. They want to ensure that their new items are fashionable, but not so far off the beaten track that it will turn off their existing customers.

In the example below, the responses rejected the item, allowing the brand to better tailor its choices to consumer desires:

mgemi instagram screen

3. How to properly use Instagram polls to publish consumer content

There's a very simple way to make sure your audience likes the content you publish. By asking them directly!"

When deciding what content to post, you should always rely on your marketing strategy and knowledge of your target audience on Instagram. To make this knowledge even more specific, you can use Instagram polls to "test" your content before posting it in the feed!

Before you decide to test a new type of content or post about things you didn't before, run a simple poll asking your followers if they'd be interested in that type of content. It's a great way to measure your subscribers'interests and build a good content strategy! It can also help you ensure that you don't lose subscribers as a result of posted content.

Finally, it opens up a conversation between you and your subscribers. Your followers will feel valued as you try to tailor content to their preferences. @letterfolk uses this Instagram poll idea to help plan future content for the company's Instagram account.

Recently, they posted behind-the-scenes stories that showed how a photo shoot was going for their products. At the end of the story, they simply asked their followers if they'd like to know more about the behind-the-scenes content. The result? An overwhelmingly positive response, which gave the brand a clear idea of what their subscribers like to watch and what'they want to learn.

letterfolk instagram screen

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4. How to share a survey to redirect to your website

Redirecting traffic to your website is perhaps one of the best Instagram survey ideas you can have. You don't need to pay for ads, so it's free traffic!"

This approach allows for a high level of customization. You can drive traffic to specific product pages, category pages, or even just to a specific post that needs more traffic!

Since you can be super flexible with the content you promote, emoji sliders and polls will work well in your story. This Instagram poll idea can be combined with other ideas I've outlined above (such as trivia), but it can also stand alone.

@Target, a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer, uses this strategy to help drive product sales on its website by offering subscribers a choice between different products. By swiping up, Target takes you to a page that shows featured products and also shows similar products in the category.

target instagram screen

5. Offer more response options with an emoji slider on your Instagram story

Instagram story polls offer a simple means of engagement that isn't available elsewhere on the platform. However, with traditional Instagram polling, you're limited to just two options.

The emoji slider is a great way to provide more options when asking a question in your story. You can use the slider as a spectrum on which answers can fall or simply as a way to host more than 2 options on your poll.

The largest wedding media group, @Target@theknot, uses the emoji slider to provide more options to their follower base for simple questions and, more importantly, a way to engage on their profile. A great Insta survey idea.

theknot instagram screen

6. Follow new trends for your Instagram strategy

Staying up-to-date with current trends is crucial, and the Instagram app remains a flagship tool for this. Doing a survey on Instagram is an innovative way to create engagement with your followers.

Don't know how to implement it? Don't panic!

For example, if a big sporting event is taking place this weekend, create your story asking: "Who do you think will win?". Answer choices could be as simple as "yes or no" or the names of the competing teams.

You can also customize Instagram's poll so you can view the results to get a better sense of your followers' preferences.

Is a show making a comeback or a new series premiering? Ask in a story in a group: "Will you watch the premiere tonight?".

Trying out an exotic dish? Share the story and see if your subscribers would dare to try it, and how they use the flavors.

This Insta poll idea has a ton of flexibility and availability for customization. Experiment with different options and see what your followers like to see.

@tacobell, the Mexican fast-food chain, uses this strategy to further engage its followers on Instagram. Taco Bell uses Instagram polls at sporting events to better communicate with its followers. Varying the questions ensures that their followers don't get bored and interact with the brand outside of tacos.

tacobell instagram screen

7. Build suspense and reactions to see the results

Do you have a big announcement to make for your brand soon? Maybe a new product line is dropping or you're adding a new content section to your blog? Or maybe you need to push an old product that deserves a little love?

One of the simplest Instagram poll ideas is to draw attention to these upcoming launches and to spruce things up a bit. You can conduct a survey in a variety of ways, from simply asking your subscribers if they're excited about a new product launch, to evaluating if they'knew about it, to demonstrating how someone might use it.

Tree tent company, @tentsile, and make-up retailer @sephora, are two great brands to illustrate.

Recently, Tentsile used this strategy to promote a new product they were launching. They gave a sneak preview of the new tent and asked if their subscribers were excited about its future release. They received a largely positive response, which reinforced support for the new product.

tentsile instagram screen

Similarly, Sephora used an Instagram poll to promote a product they were already offering. They promoted it by solving a problem its consumers were experiencing and offered them the solution. Users can swipe-up the story and be redirected directly to the product.

sephora instagram screen

Use this approach in a way that fits with your brand. If you have a big project coming up, make sure your followers know about it too!

8. Do an Instagram poll just to connect with your community

Finally, using Instagram polls doesn't always need to have a bigger reason behind it. Adding a simple emoji slider to your photo can change your posts without too much effort!

Add one to your post to show off the space you're in for the day, a meal you ate that's worthy of a photo, or anything else you think deserves readers'attention!"

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Let's take @wework as an example. This coworking space has hundreds of locations around the world and has worked hard to showcase the creative spaces its team has designed. The company used simple emoji sliders in its Instagram polls to highlight them. While this alone isn't enough to gauge interest in future design, the Instagram poll idea is great for simply adding an interactive element to your stories. Plus, it's easy to do!

wework instagram screen

101 Instagram poll ideas for your stories

Before anything else, before posting an Instagram Story with a question, edit the title "Ask me a question" of the sticker.

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What should be written in the title?

  1. Write the answer here!
  2. What's new?
  3. Welcome!
  4. I'await your questions!
  5. Be original.
  6. Be careful!
  7. Your opinion.

A title should fit in 16 characters. What's more, users often use emojis instead of writing something. They add questions in text form somewhere on the photo.

Now let's get to the questions!

Fun poll ideas for your Instagram Stories

Here are some fun ideas. You can take them and post them to your Stories on Instagram.

  1. What funny nickname did you have as a child?
  2. What games did you like to play?
  3. Tell me about your perfect weekend.
  4. How many hands do you need to keep track of everything?
  5. What's your spirit animal?
  6. What's your most hilarious memory of us?
  7. What's the worst thing you've ever bought?
  8. Can you describe yourself in one word?
  9. Have you ever cheated on someone?
  10. Have you ever lied about your age or weight?
  11. What's your biggest addiction?
  12. Are you a morning person?
  13. Do you like giving or receiving gifts?
  14. Birthdays or Christmas?
  15. If your life were a movie, which would it be?
  16. 1 million euros or 1 year of life without the Internet?
  17. What would happen if everyone looked the same?
  18. What is your most expensive purchase?
  19. What superpower would you like to possess?
  20. What did you try for the first time during the 2020 shutdown?

Insta poll for blogger pages

  1. What places would you recommend visiting?
  2. The 5 best apps for photo editing.
  3. Is it worth promoting Instagram with 2,000 followers?
  4. How do you promote your account?
  5. How did you start your blog?
  6. Who was the first person on Instagram you followed?
  7. Three tips for new bloggers.
  8. Tell us about the last book you read.
  9. Where's the best place to buy clothes on Instagram?
  10. The Instagram blogs you read most often.
  11. Where do you get ideas for your posts?
  12. What are the mistakes not to make when promoting a blog?
  13. Tell us about healthy eating.
  14. How to monetize Instagram?
  15. What type of cars do you like?
  16. What gift can I give my mother for her birthday?
  17. Which laptop is best suited to gaming?
  18. How to choose the right Korean cosmetics?
  19. What gives you energy?
  20. How do you think age is a key player in relationships?

Ideas of questions for everyone

  1. What kind of people don't you like?
  2. Do you have a skeleton in your closet?
  3. What's your favorite music group?
  4. What do you prefer: a private house or an apartment?
  5. Do dreams made for Christmas come true?
  6. What was your last major purchase?
  7. How do you spend your free time?
  8. What is the most enjoyable thing?
  9. What language do you want to know?
  10. What's the latest photo on your phone?
  11. What kind of sport do you like?
  12. What rules do you follow on a daily basis?
  13. Which app do you use most often?
  14. How many followers do you know in real life?
  15. What funny situations happened this week?
  16. With whom would you never go on vacation?
  17. What perfume do you like?
  18. What's more important to you: career or family?
  19. Are you still in touch with your first accident?
  20. What do you value most in friendship?
  21. What is most important: money or health?
  22. Which profession do you find most difficult?
  23. Have there been any tricky situations in your life?
  24. What kind of person do you admire?
  25. Do you play video games?
  26. How often do you read or watch the news?
  27. Tell us about your favorite movie.
  28. What kind of music do you prefer?
  29. What new words have you learned recently?
  30. Who's the first celebrity whose crash you remember?
  31. What's your biggest fear?
  32. 5 things you can't live without.
  33. Do you believe people can change?
  34. What are your pet peeves?
  35. Do you have any pets?
  36. Who inspires you?
  37. What are your plans for Christmas?
  38. Do you have any fetishes?
  39. The most embarrassing situation that's ever happened to you.
  40. Do you most often think about the past or the future?

Frequently asked questions on Instagram Stories

  1. What situations do you try to avoid?
  2. Your favorite quote.
  3. How can you have fun in summer if'there's no money?
  4. What will you do with $5 million if you win?
  5. What will you never do?
  6. Share recipes for your favorite dishes.
  7. What did you collect as a child?
  8. Did you read comic books at least once?
  9. What questions bore you?
  10. What'is it forbidden to ask on a first date?
  11. Do you make a plan for the day?
  12. What childhood dream was left unfulfilled?
  13. Fast-food or healthy eating?
  14. What are the attractions in your town?
  15. The 10 best songs.
  16. Tea or coffee?
  17. What'is happiness for you?
  18. What's your daily routine?
  19. How would you spend a dream day?
  20. What values do you appreciate in people?
  21. Have you ever thought about deactivating your Instagram page?

Conclusion: Why take an Instagram survey

Creating a survey on Instagram via a new story has become a must for digital communications experts.

In fact, an Instagram survey is not only a valuable tool, but also a great way to boost your stories and boost your followers'engagement.

This article has offered you essential ideas on what type of survey to leverage, how to use them, and ensure better engagement for your content.

A story poll offers a golden opportunity to engage your subscribers by allowing them to vote, strengthening interaction with your brand and increasing traffic to your websites.

Communications strategy, coupled with a careful creative strategy, is key.

Be creative, offer quality content, and use performance indicators to gather maximum data.

With these tools, it's possible to customize your approach and measure the effectiveness of each survey. In this way, your success will be reflected in your Instagram Stories data.

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