How to write engaging instagram captions

Picture the scene. You read my previous post on scheduling your Instagram and you managed to batch taking some images for you Instagram. You shipped the kids off the grannies house, but now they’re back. Running round the house like tiny terrorists, bringing the decibel levels dangerously close ‘mum headache’ scale. You just need to write those Instagram captions and you’ll be good to go for the next month.

 

A whole month of not stressing about whether you forgot to upload to Instagram on the daily. If you can just write these captions, but between shouting at one kid to stop trying to get the other kid to eat toilet roll, the realisation hits that it’s 30 minutes past their dinner time and there’s throbbing in your head. Your mind goes blank…….. What are you going to write?

 

You have two choices (because we ALWAYS have choices) you could whack an emojis on it and be done. Feeling disappointed knowing that this isn’t really going to help your audience connect with you. Or you can read this post and learn how to write engaging Instagram captions that your audience will love.

 

Give yourself the gift of time

 

The first important thing is to give yourself time to do it right. I know, I know time is at a premium, but you need to have a little headspace. It’s so hard to write something meaningful and engaging while simultaneously trying to wipe snot off a toddler or spoon feed your baby that strange coloured puree.

 

This every day stress is exactly why you shouldn’t be posting to Instagram in real-time. You can’t see clearly the value that the image could give to your audience. So waiting and crafting a caption that will add to the image is the best way to ensure your image and caption pack an engagement punch.

 

A great caption will show your personality, add context to the image and encourage your followers to take an action. Ideally to feel compelled to leave a comment too.

 

We all know Instagram’s new algorithm favours posts that have a higher degree of initial engagement. So you can see why your Instagram captions really matter.

 

Let’s dig into how you too can create captions drive engagement and that convert followers into fans.

 

What’s your brand voice?

 

You are your brand and no-one wants to engage with Beige Bev. So you need to integrate your personality into your brand persona. In doing so your captions will represent the ethos of your brand.

 

Which 5 words sum up your brand? If you don’t know, ask your audience. ‘Which 5 words come to mind when you think or my brand or myself’. They will share things that you might not be fully aware of. Then the common suggestions could be chosen as a good representation of your brand voice.

 

This is what happened when I asked my membership this question.

 

 

 

Who are you trying to reach with your Instagram? Don’t say EVERYONE! (if you’re still confused about your ideal reader you need to go and read this post now, then come back here).  You need to know how old your ideal reader is, their gender, who else they follow, their likes and dislikes, even down to small details. This means you will be able to reach them where they’re at with your captions.

 

The anatomy of good Instagram captions

 

Instagram captions should have three main parts. The context, your personality, and then the call-to-action.

 

We need to contextualise our images to give them more power, to help illustrate your point and to help (through the personality you show) your followers to connect with you a little more with every image you share.

 

You can have great photos, but it’s hard for someone to relate to your photo and post as a whole if they can’t connect with it. Engaging Instagram captions will help them to do this.

 

Convinced? O.k, how do you create engaging instagram captions?

 

• Start with the purpose

 

Every piece of content you put out into the world should have a purpose…. yep every single piece. Whether it is to give your followers a laugh, to educate or to make someone feel less alone. Purpose is key. So think before you start to write your caption, what do you want to achieve by sharing this image?

 

• Make sure you give value

 

This is about following through on the purpose. Your intention might be to educate, but does it? Make sure you’re creating what you intend to create. Whether that’s education, entertainment, to sell something or to inspire someone, whatever it might be for you at that time. The type of account you have will determine the type of content you should be posting most frequently. Perhaps it makes sense for you to post more entertainment content. Or if you’re an educator, then education, inspire with the odd sales post would work well.

 

• Make the layout readable

 

Whether it’s a blog post or a caption, people are put off when faced with a chunk of text. Online we much prefer smaller succinct paragraphs. If you have a lot to say in your caption, then breaking up the text is a surefire way to get more people reading it the whole way through. The best way to do this is to write your caption in your notes app on your phone and copy it across, as it saves your formatting. Or you can use this handy app.

 

• Structure it like a story

 

All stories have a beginning, middle and end and so should an Instagram caption. This structure also helps to keep your caption to the point.

 

Start with an introduction that will hook them. What will catch their attention and compel them to read on? Next comes the body of the story where you give the value. Then, finally the end of the caption will be the conclusion, then to drive engagement with a  call to action.

 

• Ask a question

 

Questions are a great way to get your audience to respond. You make it easy for them to comment, as they will know the answer to the question. You’re also going to get more meaningful comments, rather than ‘Love this post’ comments!

 

• Determine your call-to-action (CTA)

 

What do you want people to do after they have read your post? A CTA acts as a signpost showing your readers where to go next. This could be to read a post, watch a video, download something or even buy a product or service. If you haven’t got a specific call to action you can use a question to build engagement.

 

• Draft your Instagram captions

 

Maybe something comes to you that you think would be good to share on Instagram, just make a note – I use Airtable or the Notes app to jot down the rough idea. Then when I sit to schedule I already have some ideas to work with.

 

• Write your caption

 

Now is the time to pull all of this together and actually write the caption. Look at each image and write, sharing the message you want to share (you could even dictate your caption if you feel more comfortable speaking than writing).

 

• Add mentions

 

Instagram’s API will increasing favour deliberate attempts to build connections. This means that reaching out by tagging an influencer in a relevant post will be favoured over simply using a hashtag. Think about whether a specific post is linked to an influencer. Are you speaking about something you learned from them? Did you make their recipe which you’re now sharing? If so tag them into that post saying why you’re tagging them.

 

Your followers can then check out their profile. The more kindest you put out into the world the more you will get back. You also want to be seen by your followers as someone they can go to to get a rich variety of information, not just pumping out your own content.

 

• Edit

 

Give the caption a read through to spot any clangers and also to make sure you have the most important information first. Instagram gives you 2200 characters for your entire caption. However, you only have around 240 characters before your message is cut off by the truncation. This means people will have to click ‘more’ to read the rest and they won’t do that if you haven’t hooked them straight away.

 

• Make sure your writing style is consistent in your Instagram captions

 

Consistency breeds confidence. If you’re usually very politically correct and then one day you start f’ing and jeffing on your feed, your followers won’t know what’s going on. They will view your brand as inconsistent and consequently their know, like and trust with your brand will reduce. If you’re a sweary brand, that’s fine, but keep it consistent so people know what to expect.

 

• Use emojis

 

Your use of emojis may depend a little on your target audience. However, they can be a great way to draw your followers attention to specific things, such as your call-to-action.

 

• Add hashtags

 

PLEASE don’t use hashtags that simply explain what the image is. Such as a selfie showing off your new haircut with #hair beside it. No-one is searching #hair and it’s just a waste of a hashtag. It also makes you look a little desperate….

 

What you should be doing instead is being more strategic in your selection. You want to use hashtags that your ideal audience member will be looking at, so you can get in front of them. Using hashtags that have an engaged community around them is so much more beneficial to growing your brand and your business, than whacking #tagsforlikes on your post and hoping for the best.

 

To find appropriate hashtags, check out what your competitors are using and what niche leaders are using. Click into one hashtag and see what others Instagram recommend to you. The size of the hashtag is also important. If you use a hashtag with eleventh-billion images in the gallery your photo will drop like a stone in the ocean never to be seen again. Instead pick smaller hashtags and test these out. Ideally you want your image to be at the top of the ‘top’ feed after 12-24 hours. If it isn’t the hashtag might be too big for your account at the size it is right now.

 

Don’t use the same hashtag group every time you post. Have a few groups that you can rotate between depending no the type of image.

 

• Post it baby!

 

Don’t just post and run. Hang around and engage with people. If no-one is coming to your party, then you go to theirs. Hop over to your feed and go on a little liking and commenting spree to try and encourage interaction and connection.

 

• Check the analytics

 

Don’t go crazy, but checking your analytics can really help you figure out what your audience is responding to and what you should do more of. You can find out when they are more active and post accordingly too.

 

 

There you have it. If you follow these steps you will write engaging Instagram captions that bring your audience closer to you and connecting them to your brand. What struggles do you have with Instagram captions?

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