How to Make a Poll on Instagram (Plus Tips and Ideas)
Our getting started with Instagram Stories series continues! In this post, we’re diving into how to set up a poll in an Instagram Story.
RELATED READING: The Easy Trending IG Story Advertising Technique You Need to Try
Polls are a great way to engage your audience on Instagram Stories, and learn something from them while you’re at it! And you can add polls to any of your Stories, whether you're using our free Instagram Story app, Animoto: Social Video Editor, or building your Story in Instagram.
In this article we’ll share:
- How to set up an Instagram Story poll
- How to view and share the results of your poll
- Best practices for doing polls on Instagram Story posts
- Ideas for Instagram Story polls
How to set up an Instagram Story poll
Setting up a poll in Instagram Stories is easy to do. We’ll break it down quickly with some step-by-step instructions and then dive in to give you more information.
- Create a new Instagram Story
- Tap the sticker icon at the top of the screen
- Tap to select the “Poll” sticker icon
- Fill in the question for your poll
- Tap “Your Story” or “Send To >” to share your poll to your Story
And now, on to the more in-depth instructions, complete with images to illustrate. You can create a poll using the poll sticker on any type of Instagram story, so open instagram, create a new Story of any kind (though we’re partial to Instagram Story videos), and tap on the sticker icon at the top of the screen. This’ll open up Instagram’s collection of stickers. Tap the one that says “Poll.”
This will add a poll sticker to your story. Tap on the text to replace “Ask a question…” with the question you’d like to ask in your poll. Note that you can also leave this blank. You can also tap on “YES” and “NO” to replace that text as well if your poll isn’t a yes or no question.
You can hold and drag to resize and reposition your poll. When you’re done, simply tap “Your Story” or “Send To >” to share. Then, just wait for the results of your poll to start rolling in!
How to view and share results of Instagram Polls
Once your poll is up, how do you view the results? You’ll notice that this is very similar to the instructions we shared in our post on how to ask questions in Instagram Stories. Simply view your own story and then tap in the lower left corner where it says “Seen by X” viewers. This’ll open up a screen that not only shows you all the viewers, but who voted and how many votes you’ve gotten for each answer on your poll.
And see that “Share Results” button? Tapping that will open up the results in a way that you can easily share right back to your Story.
Best practices for Instagram Story polls
When it comes to Instagram Story polls, it’s pretty self explanatory, but there are a few things to keep in mind for maximum poll success! Here they are:
- When positioning your poll, keep it out of the very upper lefthand corner. This is where your avatar appears and you don’t want it to block your poll question!
- Make sure it’s clear what you’re asking.
- Include emojis! When replacing “YES” or “NO,” keep in mind that you can include emojis. Emojis are attention-grabbing and can help make your poll more enticing.
- Remember your story is only up for 24 hours! Don’t forget to come back to check in on the results.
- Use imagery, such as a video, to illustrate what you are asking in your poll. Just make sure to position your poll sticker doesn’t cover up important parts of your imagery.
Ideas for Instagram Story polls
Finally, if you’re looking to start using more polls in your Instagram Stories but need a little inspiration, we’ve thrown together some ideas.
As a reminder, polls are a nice way to get your followers to engage, but that’s not all! You can also use polls to really get to know more about your audience. Here are some prompts to help you get started.
The examples in this section were created with our iOS app using our Instagram poll hack, which you can learn more about here.
Ask YES or NO questions
A yes or no question is the simplest poll. You can use it to get an opinion or use it as a quick test to gauge interest. For instance:
- Would you be interested in X new product? Yes or no?
- Have you seen X? Yes or no?
- Should I X? Yes or no?
- Do you like X? Yes or no?
Ask an X or Y question
Rather than asking a yes or no question, you can replace the YES or NO in the poll sticker with 2 separate things to find out people’s preferences. For instance:
- Which color sweatshirt would you prefer? Blue or Grey?
- How much would you pay for X? Less than $10 or More than $10?
- What content would you like to see more of? Tutorials or Jokes?
- What's your favorite type of pie? Pumpkin or Apple?
Gauge interest with a sliding poll
Note that you don’t have to always offer two options for your poll. Instead of selecting the poll stickers we’ve discussed in this article, try using the sliding poll sticker to gauge interest.
Select the sticker with the sliding heart eyes emoji next to the “Poll” sticker to get started. Then, edit the text to ask your question. You can also slide through to select an emoji for your sliding poll.
Have you used polls on Instagram Stories? What are your favorite types of questions to ask? Let us know in the comments. And if you’re looking for more inspiration for Instagram Stories, check out the other posts in our series: