Write the perfect instagram caption

Are you giving your Instagram captions the care and attention they need to make an impact and encourage action? If not, you are missing out on a key opportunity to market your business effectively on Instagram. Yes, amazing graphics, images & video will “stop the scroll” but if you want to know how to convert this to followers, likes, saves and even sales, captions are where it’s at! But there is so much more to a caption than just saying what comes into your head in that moment or describing the content. Captions should be carefully crafted and structured in a certain way to help build connections, show off your brand personality and compel people to take action.

Here, we are outlining the key elements you need for writing the perfect Instagram caption (keep reading for our top tip and an example!).

Why is a good Instagram caption important?

A good Instagram caption not only elevates your post and gives it context, it also gives an opportunity to provide value, tell a story and of course encourage engagement. Instagram’s algorithms love engagement so strong, compelling captions will help drive engagement and reach getting more eyes on your content. Captions are also great way to show off your brand voice & personality which helps build connections with your audience as well as providing an opportunity to expand on a subject. Giving your audience value in the form of tips, advice or education in your captions is a great way to position yourself as an expert in your field (and encourage saves and shares!).

Crafting the perfect Instagram Caption

Here are the key elements that go into crafting an impactful caption:

1.     Goal – always start off with a goal for your post e.g., encourage engagement, inform/educate your audience, drive website traffic, increase sales. Defining your goal will determine how your post caption is shaped.

2.     Hook – the first line of your caption, also known as the “hook”, should grab attention and entice people to read further. Remember it is only the first few words that will be visible at first as the rest of the caption will be hidden behind a “more” link that people will have to tap to expand. An impactful hook can be the difference between people reading on and engaging or scrolling straight past.

3.     Value – remember to offer value in your caption in the form of tips, tricks, advice, news or any kind of information that helps to put the post into context or increases its value.

4.     CTA – don’t forget to add a CTA (call to action) telling people what action you want them to take! Think back to your original goal for the post and relate it to that to increase engagement, drive web traffic or encourage follows. For example: “Follow us for more tips”, “Drop me a DM to find out more”, “Head to the link in our bio” or “Save this post for later”.

5.     Personality – showing off your brand voice and personality is key to being relatable to your target market and building connections. Captions are the perfect place to put your real self out there and write as you speak. Being authentic and real goes a long way to coming across as a friend to users and building relationships and a community.

6.     Length – consider the length of your caption. Depending of the goal of your post, your caption may be short & sweet or longer and more in-depth. Think quality over quantity and always make it easy to digest.

7.     Emojis – using emojis helps to break up text in a caption making it easier to read and of course makes it more fun! Springling emoji’s throughout your captions help to give it some life and show off your personality as well as providing a great way to reiterate an action (think an arrow to indicate to leave a comment or pointing finger to encourage a swipe of a carousel). Don’t overdo it though…too many emojis can look spammy and will put people off.

8.     Storytelling – use descriptive wording to help paint a picture, tell a story or describe something in more detail. This will help the reader really immerse themselves in your post and give your image or video life and context.

9.     Hashtags – don’t forget hashtags! Hashtags can help you to be found by users following or searching for specific tags and also help Instagram to categorise your post and show it to the right people. They should always be added to your caption (not as a comment) to be picked up by Instagram’s search engine. Always use hashtags relevant to your post and industry avoiding generic and overpopulated hashtags.