Luckily, in 2018 Instagram launched a new function that makes it simpler than ever to engage with, and receive feedback from your followers — the Instagram Questions.
Right here, we will explore 9 creative methods to use Instagram Questions to properly engage your followers.
Instagram Questions Ideas
1. Conduct a Q&A with your followers.
Influencers and celebrities usually use the Question function to conduct Q&As with their followers. For example, Ali Fedotowsky, a blogger and former Bachelorette, will typically tell her followers to “Ask me stuff :)” at the end of the day.
Her responses are normally fun, casual, and friendly — like “Today? The wine” in response to “Best part of being a mother?”. These Q&A’s enable Ali’s followers to feel like they are having a casual conversation with a friend. Additionally, the Q&A’s help Ali make stronger relationships with her audiencs and gear content towards what they want to know.
2. Showcase your brand’s values.
Away, a luggage firm with 502K followers on Instagram used the Questions Sticker to demonstrate their support for Pride week while engaging meaningfully with followers. In the first post, they wrote “Happy #Pride from all of us at Away”, and followed the post with a query — “How are you celebrating?” to further engage with fans.
3. Conduct a pop quiz.
WeWork, a firm that gives collaborative workspaces for startups and entrepreneurs, used their Stories to feature WeWork spaces around the globe with “fill-in-the-blank” quiz questions, like “WeWork in ____”.
Best of all, they finish their round-up of quiz questions with a “What quiz would you like to take next?” It is a great idea to use the Questions Sticker as a chance to ask followers what they want to see more or less of on your feed — it could help your team brainstorm more content while making sure you are making viewers feel like their opinion is valuable to your brand.
4. Ask followers their thoughts on new services or products launch.
If done wisely, you may think about using the Questions Sticker to ask your followers what they consider new services or products — however, conduct these Questions sparingly, since they may seem too self-promotional.
Beardbrand, a line of high-quality grooming products for men, effectively used the Questions Sticker to ask their niche audience how they felt about Beardbrand’s new shampoo and conditioner products. Beardbrand also posted their followers’ answers, and used it as a chance to demonstrate the brand’s sense of humor — for example, in response to a follower’s “Crafted by the gods” answer, Beardbrand posted “When you say so” with a side-eye emoji.
When you do decide to ask followers about their thoughts on your services or products, think about posting their answers with funny or unique responses, as well.
5. Share information from a thought leader or expert.
Your Questions function does not just have to feature your own brand — you may also use it to post helpful content from other experts in the area, as long as you believe your followers would still be excited about it.
For example, Eva Chen, an author and influencer with 1.2 million followers on Instagram, knows a great portion of her followers are moms as well — which is why she featured her sleep trainer, @thebabycoachofficial, on her Story to reply some of her followers’ greatest sleep-related questions. This partnership helps @thebabycoachofficial reach a new audience and develop her following, while providing Eva Chen’s followers with free, helpful tips — a win, win.
6. Use Questions as a lead generation strategy.
Megan Gilmore is a best-selling author and creator of the Instagram account @Detoxinista, which posts healthy recipes as well as Instant Pot tips-and-tricks. When Gilmore conducts “Ask me anything” Q&A’s, her followers typically ask recipe-related questions, which permits Gilmore to organically link to recipes on her blog — for example, in response to “A great vegetable soup recipe”, Gilmore links to her vegetable soup recipe.
But it is essential to note Gilmore does not just link externally in her Q&A’s — she also gives helpful tips and content from within the Story itself. When followers ask her about an Instant Pot, for example, she posted the reply right within the Story for other followers to see.
Simply put, you could use Questions as a chance to link to your site, blog posts, or other useful content, however, do so sparingly, and ensure some of your responses to your followers’ questions could be found within the Story itself. This could help drive traffic to other content, however, does not require your followers to be ready to click away from your Instagram page if they do not want to.
7. Share tips from within the industry.
On Instagram, HubSpot’s followers are sometimes other marketers — which is why it is useful for @HubSpot to post “What are some of your favorite marketing tips?” and share the responses of a few of its followers, so other marketers within the industry could collect tips from a myriad of sources.
Finally, you may use Questions as a chance to connect with your followers and learn from them, as well. Rather than asking questions directly related to your services or products, consider how you may ask a query that helps your followers learn more about the state of the industry, including tips, trends, and new ideas to enhance their own business strategy. Show them their voice is valuable, too.
8. Have fun with your followers!
Reese Witherspoon is an exceptional example of somebody who uses Stories, and Questions Sticker, to have fun with her followers — for example, during the press tour for Big Little Lies, Witherspoon used the Questions function to ask her followers for theme song recommendations for the tour. Later, she posted some of her favorites.
Finally, the Questions Sticker is an opportunity to have fun with followers and post lighter, more entertaining content. In case your brand is heading to a conference, you may utilize Witherspoon’s tactic to ask followers a great “theme song for the conference” or “favorite ice breakers to use at a conference”. Plus, posting their responses shows them you are listening and may make other followers more willing to partake in future Questions you publish.
9. Announce new releases.
Starbucks playfully quizzed their followers with a query that added up fire, chocolate, and sun emojis, and mentioned “The __ _____ is coming back…”. Starbucks then posted fans responses throughout the day, before lastly posting one page with the “correct” answer — “S’mores Frappuccino”.
By building suspense (and showcasing some humorous followers’ responses), Starbucks successfully made excitement around its new product while rapidly (and cost-efficiently) spreading the word. You may consider using a similar technique when announcing an upcoming new product or event.
