How to use the Instagram question sticker to strengthen your online business

Want to know what’s going on with your Instagram followers?

Want to know their deepest, darkest desires or just something simple – like what they’re craving for dinner?

Head on over to your Instagram Stories.

With the question sticker feature on Instagram, it’s easier than ever to engage your followers, learn more about them AND increase sales to your online business.

Wondering what exactly a ‘question sticker’ is or what I’m talking about? I’ve got ya!

Ever see a little white box on someone’s Instagram Stories like the one in the image below? 👇

That’s what a question sticker looks like.

This little white box allows you to ask a question in your Instagram Stories so that your followers can easily submit an answer to your question.

If you’re wondering how this handy feature can be leveraged to support your market research so that you get even more leads and sales from your Instagram following, this blog post was written just for you.

Here are my top tips for using the Instagram Stories question sticker to boost your online business.

How does the Instagram question sticker work?

Adding a question sticker to your Stories is easy!

All you need to do is go into your Instagram Stories, select an image or video from your camera roll, and tap on the square, smiley face symbol right at the top of your screen.

Once that pops open, just click on the “Questions” option!

Next, type in the question you’d like to ask.

It can be anything from recipe advice to a juicy market research-related question.

Once you’re done, hit that share button, make some coffee or tea, and wait for the responses to come in.

You’ll find the responses to your question over in your notifications panel or within your Story’s viewers list.

You can easily tap a submitted response to reply back to someone in a private direct message, or share the response with your followers in a new Story.

(Yes, this process is best understood by opening up your Instagram app and trying it out for yourself! 😀)

The best part?

Only YOU will be able to see who submitted the responses! (Unless, of course, you decide to share the responses with your followers in a new story.)

6 ways businesses can use Instagram Stories and the question sticker

The question sticker within Instagram Stories isn’t just all fun and games.

Here are 6 ways that online business owners can use the feature to actually grow their business (like, for real).

1. GET VALUABLE FEEDBACK FROM YOUR CUSTOMERS

Want to know what you’re doing wrong or more importantly, right? Go straight to the source and crowdsource answers from your followers.

You can use the Instagram Stories question sticker to get valuable feedback on your business.

Here are some questions you can ask:

• “What did you enjoy about my [product or service]?”
• “Is there anything missing from my [product/service] or what would you like to see improved?”
• “What do you think of my new logo design?”
• “Would you recommend my [product/service] to someone? If yes, why?”

You can use the answers to fine-tune your strategy and collect valuable social proof that your business needs.

Who knows, you might even find someone with a success story that’ll make an excellent case study!

2. DO YOUR MARKET RESEARCH

Tap into the minds of your followers (literally) and find out what makes them buy something or keep scrolling. I’ve used this tactic a few times since the feature launched and it’s been a game-changer.

Not only has it given me tons of business ideas, it’s also helped me adapt my strategy in real-time and instantly increase my income.

Here are a few example questions you can ask in the Instagram Stories question sticker for market research purposes:

“What’s the first online course you ever joined?”

• By asking this question, you can do some competitor research and find out what courses your followers deem purchase-worthy.

“Would you be interested in buying a [potential product]?”

• I used this question to find out if my followers would attend a digital nomad retreat hosted by yours truly. The response was overwhelming, and I actually hosted my second in-person business retreat this month in Bali.

“What do you invest in?”

• I LOVE asking this question. It’s a great way to see what your followers value and where they spend their money.

3. BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FOLLOWERS

Your Instagram Stories don’t have to be about your business 24/7, and to be completely honest — your Instagram Stories shouldn’t just be about your business.

Use the question sticker to get your followers talking and interacting with you. It’s an excellent feature to find out what makes them tick and to connect with them on a human level.

With Instagram hitting over 1 billion monthly active users, it’s more important than ever to build a genuine relationship with your followers.

Here’s how I’ve used the Instagram Stories question sticker to build a deeper relationship with my followers:

• “What are your favorite fitness accounts on Instagram? I’m looking for some at-home workout inspiration.”
• “I bought some indoor plants for my office this month, but they aren’t doing so well. Any plant parents out there with some advice?”
• “Do you have any tips for staying focused?”
• “I’m trying to eat healthier. Do you have any recipes for cabbage?”

4. CREATE AN INSTAGRAM STORIES QUESTION STICKER SURVEY

What I like to do at the end of every year is survey my Instagram followers about my blog content. I want to make sure that my strategy for the next twelve months aligns with their interests and major challenges.

The Instagram Stories question sticker is a great way to collect ideas, find out what people are loving, what they’d like to see less of, and how you can leverage any trends to adjust your product offerings.

Here are a few questions you can ask:

• “What content would you like to see on my blog in 2019?”
• “What are you struggling with the most around [topic]?”
• “Would you be interested in seeing [business income reports]?”
• “Do you want to know more about [topic]?”

5. HOST A COMPETITION

Want to boost engagement and get some new followers at the same time? Hold a competition using the question sticker.

You can give your followers a set of clues and ask them to use the question box to guess the correct answer. The first person to guess correctly wins a prize.

I’ve seen makeup brands ask their followers to guess the shade of their next lipstick. It drummed up major anticipation for their product launch, and one lucky follower won a makeup gift set.

6. GIVE ADVICE AND POSITION YOURSELF AS AN EXPERT

Are you a whiz when it comes to SEO? Can you design pin graphics that go viral on Pinterest?

Use the Instagram Stories question sticker to share your knowledge with your followers and position yourself as an expert in your industry.

Hold your own AMA (Ask Me Anything), and let the questions come rollin’ in!

You can also theme your Q&A sessions around different areas of your expertise. For example, I’ve done ones around Instagram marketing, working remotely and hiring a business coach.

Besides offering free value to your followers, you can also use it as an opportunity to discover new pain points that you can fully address in a blog post or within a new product.

After answering a question, you can:

• Use some text and/or fancy gifs to drive attention to the link in your bio.
• Use the link sticker feature to direct people to a blog post that explains the answer in detail. (Hello, website traffic!)
• Use the link sticker feature feature to direct people to your related product, service or course.

Ready to Grow Your Business Using Instagram Stories?

Know you need to be showing up in your Instagram Stories, but not sure what to post that will actually make a difference in your business?

Story Vault is my answer to your question, What should I post today?

It’s time to stop wondering how others are locking in clients, leads and sales from social media. 💰

Imagine dramatically reducing the time you’re spending on social media, but seeing a 2x or even 5x return on your effort…

Story Vault is a curated collection of 800 strategic Instagram Story prompts covering the four seasons of business growth:

1. Get visible in your market… so you go from being invisible and unknown to “OMG I love watching your Stories!”

2. ​Boost your engagement… so you never get a “crickets only” response to your Stories again

3. ​Get qualified, ready-to-buy leads so you can build up your email list or book out your call calendar

4. ​Lock in chart-topping sales to your programs, products and offers (so you can STOP aimlessly posting on social media and actually see a return from it!)