A strong caption has the ability to make or break a post. It can inspire, draw followers in, increase your reach and engagement and help create a more personal connection to your community. Captions also play a crucial part in delivering your desired message and educating your audience. It’s a vital part when planning your social media as part of a marketing strategy. To help you create captions that are guaranteed to keep your audience hooked we are sharing our top tips for writing on social media.
Creating captions with intentions
A compelling caption has the power to create more engagement and reach, shape your brand’s persona and ultimately elevate how successful your business will be through social media. In order to write the perfect caption, you need to first start with what your intentions are when posting. Are you hoping to promote a new and exciting product launch? therefore you should consider promoting your post ensuring it is seen by your targeted audience and including a CTA such as ‘Learn more’ or ‘purchase now’.
You can also create your own Instagram shop which provides users with more information about a product with a single tap and takes users directly to your online store to make a purchase, all still within Instagram. Perhaps you are wanting to share a fun holiday experience with your audience, therefore you need to make sure your tone of voice is witty and cheerful so your audience can get a glimpse of what you experienced adventuring. Remember that our emotions heavily influence what we buy. The best captions tell a story and then lead to the offer, if you’re able to spark emotions through your captions, you are that bit closer to converting the reader into your ideal client.
Once you understand what you want your caption to convey, and the result you want, you will successfully learn how to drive more followers to read your caption, visit your profile and click the link in your bio. Also driving more likes, comments and shares from your post. If the goal of your post is to reach a larger audience or bring more followers to discover your business then don’t forget to also include hashtags!. Hashtags are, after all, the most effective way to get your posts seen by as many people as possible, including people who don’t yet follow you. Hashtags make your content discoverable and searchable through social media ultimately driving more people to your page.
Make the most of the first sentence
Instagram automatically shortens captions after a few sentences, so it is vital that you include the most important details of your post at the beginning of your caption. This feature means users only see the first sentence of a caption on a post, so it is key that you ensure it’s compelling or asks a question and that you include your CTA before the end of your caption. A CTA is great for telling your audience exactly what you want them to do, whether it be viewing your Instagram stories, commenting on your posts or visiting your Instagram shop, a CTA holds the power to rapidly grow a business and sales. You need to lead with the hook of your caption so your audience is drawn to read more.
Don’t forget to also add a question at the end of your caption as this will encourage your audience to comment on your post and interact more with your content directly. Using FOMO (fear of missing out) when applicable is also a great example of encouraging followers, with the power of words, to take action, we all know those moments where you want something and all of a sudden you have a few hours before the offer expires? yea that’s disappointing right?. Instead, imagine being told that the offer was going to run out a few hours beforehand; it gives you time to purchase what you were waiting for and what’s more, you will feel more of an urgency to make your purchase.
Adding value to your captions
Offering tips and tricks or any kind of information for that matter that will help to educate or help your audience will increase value to your post. Adding valuable information within your caption increases the chances of your post being reshared or saved for safekeeping increasing engagement. Your goal should be to teach or share with your community something they didn’t already know. These posts are perfect for your audience to save and share so make sure to ask them to do so at the end of your caption.
Write like you – not like a robot
Authenticity is key on social media. Nobody wants to see captions that look like they were copied and pasted straight from a website. Put yourself out there and write exactly how you would speak to your audience as if you had them in a room sitting right in front of you. You can be strategic and write thoughtfully but it is key that you maintain a consistent tone throughout your posts that reflect you and your brand. You want to come across natural to the user otherwise that caption you’ve spent hours perfectly curating won’t be read past the 1st line.
Your brand has its own unique tone of voice and personality and, depending on your demographic, you will be aiming your posts towards a specific group of people and your captions should reflect that. When you’re talking to your audience it is key that you direct them in a way similar to how they converse. They will be more likely to participate and engage with your content this way. Writing personally with your audience also builds trust and rapport, ultimately benefiting your business and sales in the long run and building more of a community behind your brand.
Use emojis where relevant
Relevant emojis placed within sentences or at the end of captions can serve to break up long bits of information/text and can also direct readers to take a certain action, such as ‘clicking the link in bio 👉🏻’. Just make sure that when choosing your emojis that they match with your tone of voice and branding. You don’t want to come across off-brand or trying to be something you are not, especially when you’re aim is to draw an audience in to learn more about you. The tone of voice and facial expressions are vital elements of in-person communication, but they have been stripped away from us when we are consuming content through captions on social media. Emojis are a solution to this.
There’s even research to support a correlation between using emojis in captions and a higher follower count!. The best part? emojis are also universally understood. Even if we can’t read the language the caption is written in, we can easily understand emojis and therefore the caption’s tone of voice. Just remember – your captions will benefit the most from emojis that capture the essence of your business and welcome your audience into the conversation with your brand.
The conclusion? Instagram captions are one of the most valuable tools you can use to improve your marketing strategy. If done correctly a caption has the ability to spark lively conversations within your community, surrounding your business and ultimately drive engagement and reach. Captions connect a brand to its audience and can shape your brand’s personality and story, helping your audience get to know your brand and what you offer. The perfect caption will add context to an image, show off your brand’s personality, entertain your audience, and/or compel users to take action.
