There's so much you can do with Instagram, which is why more than 1 billion people use it to connect, capture, and share memories via posts, stories, and live streams, to name a few.

But did you know that you can also use Instagram to create polls? Instagram Polls let you interact with your followers and sample their opinions on any subject.

For instance, you can use polls to know exactly what your audience wants from your posts and stories. In this article, you'll learn how to create an Instagram Poll with ease.

What You Need to Start an Instagram Poll

To create a new poll, you need to have the Instagram app installed on your phone. You cannot do this on the web client. You'll also need to know how Instagram Polls work. We'll show you how in a bit.

You'll also need to figure out your goals and objectives for organizing the poll. Do you need it to figure out content direction, sample feedback from followers, or decide between what's hot or not? Be clear on why you're doing it.

You'll also need to fine-tune your poll questions and answer options to make voting easier. Avoid ambiguous and confusing words that can make it difficult for respondents to understand your question or provide an answer.

Related: How to Create and Use Polls in Google Meet

How to Make an Instagram Poll

Creating a new poll is pretty straightforward. You'll find this option in the Instagram Story section of the app. Follow these simple instructions:

  1. Launch the Instagram app on your phone and tap on Your Story in the top-left corner of your screen.
  2. Alternatively, you can swipe right to add a Story.
  3. Tap the round Capture button at the bottom of your screen to take a photo.
  4. You can also tap on the thumbnail at the bottom-left corner to choose a photo or video from your camera roll.
  5. And if you prefer a blank or different background, tap on the Aa Create icon on the left.
  6. Tap on the Stickers icon at the top of your screen (It's the icon with a smiley face).
  7. A menu containing several widgets will pop up. Tap on Poll. This will bring up a Yes/No poll and prompt you to type in a question. You can replace the Yes/No field with custom text if you like.
  8. You can start rating-based polls too. To do this, tap on the emoji slider widget and select the emoji you'd like to use. Again, the widget will prompt you to type in the question.
  9. Tap on the blinking cursor and enter a question in the Ask a question field. Your question can be anything and any length, but it's wise to keep it short, simple, and straight to the point.
  10. You can change the background color or add different kinds of effects to make your Instagram Poll more eye-catching.
  11. Tap on Done once you've typed everything out to save your changes.

You're now ready to share your Instagram Poll.

Related: How to Create a Snapchat Poll In Minutes

How to Share Your New Instagram Poll

Here's what you need to do to share your Instagram Poll.

  1. Tap on the forward arrow button at the bottom-right corner of your screen.
  2. This will bring up a Share menu with three privacy options. By default, Instagram selects Your Story as the sharing setting, but you can change this to either Close friends or Message.
  3. If you want to post your poll to Facebook, you can tap on Sharing Options and select your preferred option.
  4. Choose Not Now if you're not interested in posting it on Facebook. When you're done, return to the main menu and tap Share.
  5. To share your poll with specific people, select Close friends and tap on Add People.
  6. Select the followers you want to share the poll with and tap on Done.
  7. You can also search for a specific user using the search bar.
  8. Tap on Share when you return to the Share menu.
  9. To share your poll as a private message, select Message and tap the Send button next to each recipient. However, note that polls sent as direct messages can only be responded to by another message. This may feel like an extra hurdle, and you should only use it with people you know.
  10. When you're ready, go back to the Share menu and tap on Share.

How to View and Share Your Poll Results

Instagram allows you to view your poll results via the Your Story tab for up to 24 hours after posting. You can also share this result with participants so they'll know the outcome of the poll.

Here's how:

  1. Head over to the Your Story tab at the top-left corner of your screen.
  2. Tap on the poll result or swipe up to see the results page.
  3. You can tap on the Download icon to save the poll to your camera roll. You can also tap on the Send button next to it to share it as a post or on the Bin icon if you want to delete it.
  4. Under the Poll results tab, you can quickly tell who voted what.
  5. To share the poll results, tap on the Share Results button, followed by the forward arrow button in the bottom-right corner.
  6. Select how you want to share it and tap on Share.

That's pretty much everything you need to know about successfully running a poll on your Instagram profile.

Related: How to Create a Poll on LinkedIn

Get Opinions With Instagram Polls

Whether they're your family, friends, colleagues, partners, customers, clients, or fans, you can poll your Instagram followers and ask them to vote or share their opinions about any subject.

For instance, you can run a quick poll to determine what your friends want to see. Polling can be a fun, interactive, and educative activity for you and your followers if done right.

What's more, you can also run social media polls on several other popular social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat, and so on.