While Instagram marketing is mostly about visuals, you can’t ignore the power of a well-written caption. After you have chosen a photo or video and edited it, the caption adds more depth to what you are trying to express through the post. Your caption should be an extension of the post and help direct the user to take appropriate action. Keep reading to learn how you can write better captions for your own Instagram posts.
Instagram has a large character count at 2,200 characters, but that doesn’t mean people will read everything you write. Instagram only shows the first one to two lines of your caption in the user’s feed before they need to tap “more” to see the rest. Have the most important and attention-grabbing part of your caption immediately at the beginning of your caption to get the attention of your followers.
Marketers may sound repetitive when we talk about calls-to-action, but it’s for a good reason – they really work. It should be extremely clear what you want viewers to do as soon as they finish reading your post. Should they click the link in your bio? Send you a direct message? Or maybe simply comment on the post? Let them know exactly what you want them to do. Even a great post could be ineffective if you haven’t given viewers their next step.
Your Instagram caption is an excellent place to start a conversation. After all, social media platforms are meant to be social! Consider adding a question to your caption that will start a conversation. Try to stay away from yes or no questions because their responses are more likely to be one or two-word answers. An added benefit of starting conversations in your comments is that you may be able to use some of their responses as inspiration for new posts.
When you share an informative or witty post, ask your followers to tag their friends who may enjoy the content too. When they do this, it helps your reach and engagement. Asking people to tag their friends is also common for giveaway or contest posts. It can be one of the ways people can get extra entries, which happens to increase your reach at the same time.
How many times have you read “click the link in our bio” while scrolling on Instagram? There’s a reason for that! Instagram does not allow you to share clickable links in your captions. You could still add the link, but nobody will be able to click it. If you have something you want to direct your followers to, you can instead include a link in your bio. Hence why you read that phrase so often on the app. You may choose to use a “link in bio” tool that allows you to create a landing page with multiple links, or simply switch out the individual link to relate to your latest post. Just make sure that you direct people to that link in your bio in the caption of your post.
AI might be on the rise, but people are still able to tell when captions have been written by a human or by a computer. To maintain a vital level of authenticity on your accounts, write your captions just like you speak. There may be strategies and information you want to include, but you still want to come across naturally. Oftentimes, you can write your caption as if you were having a conversation with a friend.
Don’t be afraid to sprinkle in emojis (thoughtfully) throughout your captions. They can actually be incredibly helpful for reading comprehension when used correctly. When emojis are placed at the end of sentences or paragraphs, they can act as “bookends” and break up long amounts of copy. You can also use them in place of bullet points in your caption, to make a list more readable. Finally, they’re a great way to show readers what you want them to do. You could include an arrow or a pointing hand to show readers what you want them to do next. Keep in mind that you don’t want to overdo it on the emojis. Just a few in every caption will likely be enough.
Writing effective social media captions is an art. It’s an art that 98 Buck Social’s expert social media team excels at. We’ve helped over 7000 clients create a consistent presence for their business online with our strategic and effective Instagram captions. But our expertise doesn’t stop there. We can also write captions for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more! Get in touch with us to learn about our social media posting service today.
