Engage with library users on Instagram by creating a poll, asking a question, posting a quiz, and featuring their re-post.
Ask a Question by creating a Poll
This feature lets you ask a "yes or no" or "this or that" type of question and allows users to answer by choosing one of the two options presented. You can even use emojis to answer your poll. This feature is great to gather user input or to simply ask a silly question and engage with users. You can ask:
Have you read this book yet? (yes/no)
Would you rather we ___? (yes/no)
Should we ___ or ___? (__/__)
Do you prefer __ or __? (__/__)
*Note: After answering your question, the statistical results of the poll will be immediately visible to the person who answered the poll
This video from Splash shows how to create a Poll on your Instagram Story.
Ask Them an Open-Ended Questions through the Question feature
This feature allows you to ask open-ended questions. Ask your viewers a short question and let them send you a reply. You can either ask them fun questions for the purpose of engagement or you can ask for their input on a serious library issue. This feature lets you share your viewers response anonymously. You can choose to share their response if you want to but always ask them permission first. Let them know their response will be anonymous and no one will know that they sent that response. To repost a viewer's response, you will need to take a picture of something. You can take a picture of a blank background or you can get creative and take a picture of different parts of the library. Things You can ask:
What are you currently reading?
What services would you like to see at the library?
What's your favorite part of the library?
Why do you like your library?
Gives us suggestions on how we can improve?
The possibilities are endless. Get creative!
These two videos from KnowledgeBase show you how to post a Question to your story and then share the responses you receive.
Engage with Patrons through a Quiz
Ask your viewers a question and let them guess the correct answer out of two, three, or four possible answers. You can:
Quiz them about library history
Quiz them about knowledge from a specific topic and then promote books on that topic
Quiz them about an author
Quiz them about library services
This video by Phil Pallen shows you how to create a Quiz on your Instagram Story.
Re-post when the library gets Tagged
When an Instagram viewer tags you in their Instagram story, ask their permission to re-post their content onto your own story. (This will only be possible if the user has their profile set on public.) Getting tagged in a story is a big deal. This means people are promoting your library account to their own Instagram followers.
This video by Howfinity shows how to re-post Instagram Stories you were tagged in.