By Emily Raunig
You may not think about Instagram captions much, but the right caption can elevate your content and create better engagement. It can be tricky to describe the work picture or video you just posted without boring your audience, but that must be the goal!
Instagram captions shouldn’t be overlooked just because you put a picture up. You should focus on pairing your graphic and caption to make quality content that can lead to sales and brand awareness.
If you need help creating great captions for the content you post, here are six quick ways to create the perfect caption.
- Keep your Captions Short and Sweet
Before you focus on anything else in your caption, remember to keep it short. While it may seem challenging, keep your captions under two sentences. There are exceptions, especially if you’re telling a story; however, don’t try to stretch it out if you don’t have much to say. According to Meta, about 95 million photos and videos are posted daily on Instagram. People are scrolling through so much content nowadays that they often don’t take a hard look at captions. If you make a caption too lengthy, consumers will likely right past it. Keep your caption straight to the point with a solid call to action.
- Focus on Your Audience
When writing captions to promote your business, you want to put yourself in your audience’s shoes. They don’t want to scroll down your page and see every post promoting your product or service. Once in a while, share fun information in your captions. Tell a joke, share a quote or something that will catch their attention. Fun captions will lead to higher interactions and new followers.
- If You are Sharing a Story, Engage the Your Audience
Sometimes a longer caption is warranted for the picture or video you post. For instance, if you are highlighting an employee that has worked for you for 20 years, you aren’t going to put up a few hashtags; you want to give them the recognition they deserve. So, if you are going to share a story, make it engaging. Be descriptive to make your audience feel like they lived in that moment. Use strong keywords and emojis to keep their attention.
- Format Your Caption
If you stick with a longer caption, you don’t want it to be a huge paragraph. Remember to create spaces between a few sentences to break the content up, so it’s easier for your audience to read.
- Add a Call to Action
You generally want to add a call to action to your posts. When you are highlighting a product or service you provide, you want to add a sentence saying, “click the link in our bio to learn more.” You want to make it as easy as possible for your audience to get to your website and shop. If you share a funny post or a quote, you can always add a sentence saying “like if you agree.” These small calls to action are an easy way to get better engagement.
- Converse with Your Audience
If you have a big enough following, a good tactic to get engagement is posing a question in your caption relevant to the picture you just posted. A simple question such as “what’s your favorite movie?” can fill your comment section compared to other posts. Again, you must have a sizeable following for this strategy to be effective.
Writing the perfect Instagram caption that’s engaging and sharp can take practice. Even if you don’t think Instagram captions are essential, they can be a great tool to get your audience away from your social media and to your website. They also can add to your brand voice and allow people to get to know your brand better. Try to give yourself time in your busy day to think of an engaging caption that your audience will enjoy. If you are too busy running your business or just find social media overwhelming, we can help! Contact us at TLC Marketing Consultants today.