Wondering what it takes to receive more engagement on your Instagram Story Polls & Questions Stickers?

Hearing crickets when you use polls and the question sticker in your Instagram Stories?

Or worse yet, are you only receiving responses from spammy bots and automation? <major eye roll 🙄> Also, see this post on bots & growth hackers watching your stories.

Using Instagram polls & questions effectively is a great way to market your business, connect with your audience, build your know-like-trust factor, have some fun, and [when the time is right] sell your products & services!!

Plus you can’t beat the added bonus of your Instagram followers consistently engaging with your polls and stickers in your Instagram stories! The engagement that your audience gives you each time they press a button inside your Instagram stories signals to Instagram that you have amazing content that your audience needs! AND it moves your stories further up the Instagram stories feed <cough Algorithm cough cough>

If you’re asking yourself why your Instagram polls and questions stickers are going unanswered, here are the top 5 reasons why!

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1) You haven’t made it fun for them to engage with your Instagram Story Polls & Questions

Your Instagram polls and sticks do not have the ‘YES! OMG! or LOL’ factor to the questions you are asking.

Making it suuuper easy for your audience to tap next or exit without feeling like they need to respond.

PS: Never underestimate the relatability factor in the things that you discuss via polls and stickers on Instagram!

Do you know how many times I’ve asked my audience if they drink coffee or tea?

Probably 8,792 – you know how many times they’ve answered? Probably 8,792

2) Your audience is not in the habit of engaging with you through stories & DM

If you aren’t replying or reacting to other accounts stories, sending DMs or responding to the DMs you receive (and, by the way, liking the message is not the end of the conversation) then your audience is not used to communicating with you through stories!

Making it suuuuuper easy for them to tap next or exit.

See the pattern here?

You are teaching your audience how to engage with you through your own actions and reactions.

If you maintain radio silence, or you only expect to hear a response or hold a conversation after you’ve posted your own content, you are inadvertently drastically decreasing your ability to create an engaged audience.

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3) You only use Instagram story polls & questions when you are attempting to sell

Market Research – amiright?! Wink wink, nudge nudge.

Yes, asking your audience important questions when you are creating upcoming products or services by using Instagram polls and the question sticker is absolutely vital feedback.

However, nobody wants to purchase from an account that they don’t know, like, or trust.

And nobody wants to be ‘sold too’ even if they are in research mode before making a purchase.

If your only connection through polls & questions is to constantly be in “get that coin hustle mode” then you are going to hear nothing but crickets, and crickets don’t carry coin.

You shouldn’t be showing up in your Instagram Stories with polls and questions just to sell.

In fact, you should have a well mapped out content strategy that begins by introducing the subject and sharing value on the subject.

From there you can take your content further with a feed post, blog post, or freebie optin.

Only then should you be asking the in-depth questions in your Instagram polls and questions to guide your now warmed up audience into a buying decision.

4) When your audience takes the time to engage with your Instagram story polls & question stickers you instantly reply to them via DM

This strategy is best used sparingly and only under specific circumstances. For example, if you have warm leads in your polls & questions, relationships that you have already nurtured, then by all means begin the conversation and reply to them.

But dead stop at replying to each and every single person who took the time to answer.

Do you know what one of the great things is about Instagram stories? It gives us a ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse into the accounts that we follow.

We can come in and peek around to see ‘what the deal’ is. Almost as if we are Dorothy and peeling back the curtain on the Wizard to see what’s all up in there before we take the next step.

If this is your first foray into testing out polls and the question sticker via Instagram stories, do not reply to every single vote you receive with a DM.

You are stripping away the anonymity part of your story viewers who felt comfortable enough to vote.

Replying to each and every answer you receive is like waving a big red flag to your audience that they are about to be sold too – and they can smell it coming!

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5) You use your audience’s Instagram story polls & question answers ‘against’ them

Ah yes – this is my favorite ‘don’t’ on the list!

If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of this then I’m about to lay on the cringe.

It goes a little something like this.

Imagine this: you are tapping through the Instagram Stories of the accounts you follow. Suddenly you stumble across a question sticker asking ‘Where would you go on your next vacation if money were no object?‘

Super fun question right?!

You answer with your bucket list dream vacay (Egypt, naturally) and the next you thing you know, you receive a DM along the lines of ‘HeY gUrL I can help you book that trip to Egypt in no time if you want to get in on my next [thing that will make you instantly rich overnight]

Want a copy of my in-depth strategies & tips for creating more Instagram Engagement?

Grab >> The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Engagement << while you’re here!