How to Write Instagram Captions that Increase Engagement
not confident in your writing abilities but want to create an engaging social media presence?
DON’T WORRY.
I’m about to reveal 4 simples steps you can take to write engaging social media captions that attract followers and enhance your social media presence.
Before we dive into these writing tips, consider your own social media presence from an outsider’s perspective. Would you be attracted to the content on your feed? In what ways can you optimize your social media presence to gain an audience that wants to engage with your posts?
Now, use these 4 tips as a guide to creating your next IG post:
The jury is still out on whether it is more important to post eye-catching pictures or incredible captions.
However, one thing is for certain: your caption should always relate to the (professionally edited) picture you post it with.
Listen. Nobody is going to want to click on a drool-worthy picture of a hamburger just to read a comment about how your mom accidentally dyed her hair pink last night.
Use your picture for inspiration and make sure that the photo accurately and directly associates with the written content you are sharing.
People relate to each other by sharing stories.
When you tell a meaningful, true story about your life, the message will be heard by your ideal audience.
We all forget that social media should be social, so use your captions as a way to conversate with your followers, just as you would in real life.
There is no sale without the story; no knockout without the setup.” - Gary Vaynerchuck
Gary Vaynerchuck’s latest book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is all about marketing yourself and/or business in a way that engages followers and entices them to:
like your brand
buy your products
In other words: gain the trust of your audience through jabs so that they will buy your right-hook.
Here are the deets:
A jab’s content aims to engage and trigger an emotion response while a right hook’s content aims to sell and self-promote (Read this Medium article for more info).
Don’t be the person who is constantly throwing right hooks; you don’t constantly need to be pushing your services on people. Throw enough compelling and eye-catching jabs to catch your audience’s attention just in time to hit them with a right hook—a call-to-action.
We are all guilty of writing captions that don’t require your audience to interact with the post.
While there’s a time and place for that, when it’s time to ask your audience to purchase your goods, including a call to action is crucial for boosting engagement rates.
call to action, noun. a piece of content intended to induce a viewer, reader, or listener to perform a specific act, typically taking the form of an instruction or directive (e.g. buy now or click here).
Think about it this way: your audience just spent time reading your caption, now what do you want them to do with the information you gave to them? It can be as simple as “Tag a friend in the comments below!” (hello, new followers!), “use this code for 15% off your bill at (insert restaurant name here), or “click the link in my bio to purchase tickets now!”
Convey the message you want your audience to receive in your caption and then give them a next step to follow through with. AKA--figure out what you want your reader to do and ask them to do it. It’s as simple as that.
But, spread out your call-to-actions. Including too many in your content will come off as salesy and annoying. Find a flow that feels comfortable to you and builds trust with your audience.
Still can’t find the words? I gotchu.