How To Write Good Instagram Captions: 8 Bookmarkable Tips For Perfecting Your Copy

Writing good Instagram captions can be really hard. Should your Instagram captions be funny? Serious? Inspirational? Should you use emojis and hashtags? And what about your call-to-action? Why Are Good Instagram Captions So Important? A great Instagram caption will stop a scroller in their tracks — and the longer someone spends reading your caption and engaging with your post, the better your post will rank with the Instagram algorithm. Captions are a powerful tool that can be used to encourage likes, comments, and even visits to your website. And if your post gets enough engagement, it might even end up on the Explore Page. What’s more, captions are a huge opportunity to build a stronger relationship with your audience. And while celebrities like Kylie Jenner can get away with a single moon emoji as a caption, for brands and influencers, lengthy captions that champion story-telling and authenticity are driving great results. The “micro-blogging” caption trend is a great way to connect on a deeper level with your followers, which in turn can boost brand loyalty. Not forgetting that a good Instagram caption with an effective call-to-action (CTA) is one of the best ways to inspire your followers to comment on your posts. And that means even more engagement on your account. In a nutshell, you can’t afford to leave your captions as an afterthought.

Write a Killer First Line: Ever thought of the perfect joke after it was a little too late to tell it? We’ve all had a similar feeling when we come up with the perfect Instagram caption once we’ve already published the post. The lesson? Don’t rush the process. Instead, write a few ideas for captions down, sit on them for a bit, poll coworkers on which one is best, and generally take your time. Making the first part of your Instagram caption super-engaging and enticing is a sure-fire way to boost the amount of time people spend viewing your post.

Front-load the important stuff: The maximum character count for an Instagram caption (2,200 characters) is basically a formality. But the important thing to note is that captions are cut off in users’ feeds after three to four lines of text. That doesn’t mean you should keep your captions super short so users can see 100% of it without having to click “more.” Instead, front load your captions with the important content or text calls-to-action — and leave any hashtags, @mentions, or extraneous information for the end.

Add a Call-to-Action: simple act of including a call-to-action in your Instagram caption and inviting your audience to comment or like a post can go a very long way when it comes to driving more engagement.

And the best bit — the engagement doesn’t stop with Instagram! A good CTA can inspire your followers to engage with your business website, sign up to a newsletter or shop online. If you want more engagement on your posts, all you have to do is ask! Add a call-to-action to your Instagram captions like “double tap if you agree”, or ask a personal question to encourage more comments on your post.

Use a Consistent Brand Voice: from the obvious tips on using proper grammar and spelling, one of the most important parts of any good Instagram caption is a consistent, and on-brand, voice. Your Instagram captions should mirror your brand personality, and they should sound and feel like the rest of your marketing channels.
In general, it’s a good idea to take a more informal tone in your captions, as this will make your posts more personable which is great for encouraging engagement!

Direct people to a link in your bio: Clickable URLs aren’t allowed anywhere except the single “website” box in your bio. That’s why optimized Instagram profiles update that URL frequently to point to their latest blog content, YouTube videos, products, or offers — and then refer to that link in their Instagram captions. For example, are you running a contest, or want to increase subscribers to your blog? Just change the link, and then post a photo that mentions the new link in its caption.

Use emojis: Emojis, the cartoon-like emoticons available to most smartphone users, can add some personality to an Instagram caption. That’s why a lot of brands use them in their captions — even the more “serious” brands. There are a lot of different ways to use emojis in your posts. For example, you can use them at the beginning of a post to catch people’s eye or replace any words with emojis or at the end of the caption to make it fun.

When in doubt, keep it brief: Depending on your audience, your captions might need to be longer than a few words or a sentence. For example, if you’re a food company, you might post entire recipes in your captions — and that’s OK, as long as you’re front-loading the caption with the most important information (like the name of the recipe) so it doesn’t get cut off. But if you’re not sure what your brand voice is yet, a good rule of thumb is to keep it brief. Some of the best Instagram captions are short punchlines, or in some way make their point quickly and let the visual content do most of the talking.

Tracking and Refining Instagram Caption is the most important step. As you test out different types of posts on Instagram, keep track of how different post types work — including your captions. Instagram doesn’t have a whole lot to offer in terms of analytics, so you’ll have to do this manually. Try listing each post on a spreadsheet and keeping track of its URL, the time it was posted, how many Likes and comments it got, and the types of feedback you’re getting from your followers. Coming up with good Instagram captions might seem hard, but if you want to be successful on Instagram, it’s important to not let your Instagram captions become an afterthought. Whether you’re an ecommerce brand selling products or a blogger sharing content, writing good Instagram captions can be a game-changer for your Instagram engagement. Understanding how the different platforms are used by users at different stages of the funnel, how they’re interacting with it, what content they like to see, and what devices they’re accessing that content on are all important pieces of the puzzle to help you better optimize your campaigns moving forward. Eggfirst advertising agency is all about putting the customer at the forefront of their social media marketing strategy in a more detailed way than previously possible. We make personalized thoughtful content and our content marketing strategy is powered by big data and innovative tech that defines the way our brands communicate with customers. In this competitive industry often saturated with sensationalist talks around constant innovation, this should provide marketers and brands with an idea of practical and actionable improvements that social media marketing can provide to their existing branding strategies.