Although Instagram is a photo and video sharing platform, a great caption will go a long way. It isn't just about compelling visuals anymore. Writing an intriguing caption will drive up the engagement statistics on your posts and help boost your exposure. With Instagram's new algorithm, Captions are crucial to ensuring that your posts don't get buried under a sea of content.
Writing a good caption
There are many factors to consider when crafting a caption for Instagram. A well written caption adds context to the image or video that is being uploaded.
It's entertaining and shows the brand's personality, while also calling the followers to take some sort of action. Captions can be up to 2,200 characters in length and may contain emoji icons and up to 30 hashtags. This does not mean that your captions should all be novellas littered with hearts and smiley faces. However, it does leave room for creativity inside the copy itself.
Know your audience
Instagram launched on October 6, 2010 and has had over 40 billion posts uploaded to the platform since its release. Approximately 95 million images and videos are posted every single day. With over 700 million active monthly users, the audience pool to draw from is vast. That is why it is crucial to understand who your audience is on Instagram.
Before you begin writing a caption, think about the following questions: How old is your Target Audience? Where do they live? What industry do they work in? What kind of hobbies are they into? Once you have answered these questions, you can then begin to craft a caption designed specifically for your target audience.
Find you brand's voice
The voice of your brand is important to develop a tone in text. When looking for the right voice to use in your captions, consider the qualities and values that you want to be associated with your brand. This will help you to develop a brand identity that is relatable to your followers.
A good exercise for developing a brand's voice is to do some adjective brainstorming.
Choose words that you believe represent the values behind your brand as a whole. For example, a DIY account might use words like "bold," "creative," and "handy" to describe their voice. This technique is beneficial when crafting the perfect, attention-grabbing caption.
The art of hashtags
With Instagram's new algorithm, hashtags will need to be placed in the caption. Writing them in the comment section will no longer result in the post showing up in the search feed. This is one of the new changes that has many Instagram users upset. However, there is a way to use hashtags without muddying up your caption.
Separate the hashtags from the rest of the text by burying them underneath line breaks and periods.
It's quite simple to do. Once you have finished writing the copy for your caption, hit the 123 key and select return. Then, enter a period, asterisk, or dash. Instagram cuts off captions after three lines, so repeat these steps at least five times to ensure that the hashtag bundle is hidden. Your audience will only be able to see the hashtags if they click on the "See all" option.
Get them to engage
Captions are great for boosting engagement. There are many techniques in caption writing that can help you do this. The easiest way to get higher engagement is to simply ask a question. Users will most likely feel inclined to answer, especially if the question garners an emotional response.
Another way to increase engagement with a caption is by mentioning another Instagram user.
This works best if you are collaborating with another account. When both accounts mention each other in their captions, the followers from both accounts often crossover.
Helpful apps
If you are simply at a loss for what to put in your caption, there are a few apps that can help. Captiona is an idea generating app that is specifically designed to help with Instagram captions. All you need to do is select a few keywords that are relevant to your image or video. The app will generate suggestions for you to pull from.
The Hemingway app helps with the readability of your caption. Best used for longer copy, this app analyzes the text and points out the weak spots. Use this app in conjunction with Grammarly, which is a spellchecker on steroids, and your captions should be pristine and ready to post on Instagram.
