After recently returning from a slew of industry-related conferences and shows where I attended many a seminar, one thing stood out: Performers and models know how to work (and werk) social media; but for the most part, entities that do not interact directly with the public – producers, brands, etc – most certainly do not.

With this trend in mind and an awareness of how important consumer data is, here’s a basic tutorial on how to use Instagram Polls.

Instagram Stories launched in 2016. The feature lets users share many moments throughout the day, which appear together in a slideshow format. The photos and videos shared to Stories disappear after 24 hours and will not appear on a user’s profile grid or in feeds. This allows users to post more frequently without risking the dreaded overshare.

Stories may have initially seemed like a cheesy Snapchat rip off; but given Instagram’s dominance in the social media space… well, rip off or not, Stories is worth engaging.

Stories has actually grown into its own since its inception too. For instance, one relatively recent recent update brings Instagram Stories even further away from the Snapchat mold by introducing Polls. Polls allows users to ask a question and receive responses from friends and followers – which, if used correctly, is invaluable.

It works like this: First, take a photo or video through Instagram Stories and swipe up to reveal the sticker drawer. Next, select the “poll” sticker and place it wherever you want. From there, write out whatever question and the answers voters will be able to pick from.

Once published, anyone who views the story will be able to vote and see the real-time results. If voters want to follow the poll, they can just click on the story a second time (or third, or fourth), and the tallies will update with the latest results. Participants can’t see the names of other voters, but account owners can. And of course, everything disappears after 24 hours, unless you archive it – which is another function we will cover later.

Image below shows how the Polls function looks right before being published.