How You Can Use Polls In Instagram Stories
Instagram and other social channels constantly add new features that can prove valuable for everyone. One of the latest additions to Instagram is the poll feature in stories. Ask any question with 2 possible answers. Choose what you would like the two answers to be. The analytics are fairly straight forward. You are provided with a tally of the votes, and the people that voted. You can test poll selections being one item or a range, whichever bring most value. I want to give a few actionable uses for this new poll feature and hopefully get you to develop your own uses for using polls in Instagram stories.
Product Development
An easy win is gathering feedback to make your products or services better. Asking between to possible changes you may want to make to reaffirm your hypothesis. If you aren’t sure about pricing, for your existing or new product, you can ask about specific prices or see which ranges people may be willing to pay.
Content Development
If you have a large audience and great engagement with your stories, polls can be a even better way to give your followers and the general public the content they are looking to consume. If you are a photographer or a travel blogger you can have your community request specific photos or locations to visit. You are exploring London, and can ask where should I go next? Let the audience pick and give them something to be vested in. Should you go to Buckingham Palace or Big Ben next? You can get really creative with it. This is a great way for content connecting where you start a concept, and your community develops it out in the direction they want. You can do it really with anything, because you basically can use the poll as a split test. An author can get feedback on an upcoming book. An athlete can use it to really enhance fan experience, like fans picking an end zone celebration for a NFL player. You can really use it as a regular go to in your Instagram content strategy.
More Value and Leverage Added for 
Influencers
Influencers with current brand relationships or ongoing single post deals, have an added value delivered. It’s something that can highlight another way a brand can get value from an influencer. The influencer can have a story on behalf of the brand to add value to the brand, and deliver valuable feedback. An influencer can also have their own content that may connect better in their story, but have a brand pay to sponsor a poll within that story. With a new feature of value, comes another way for influencers to monetize based on the data and reach they can provide a brand.
An influencer can use polls with other story features to penetrate targeted audiences to further grow their followers, especially those in a specific demographic they may be looking to attain.
Regardless of what you think of the poll feature, you should at least test it out. Always try to test and find value in new features and platforms. You never know, you may actually find something that can take your brand to the next level.
