It has always been Instagram’s claim to fame that it is THE platform for sharing visual content. The image occupies 90% of the post’s available space, captions are cut off at 125 characters, you can’t include clickable links in Instagram captions, and the feed algorithm penalises photographs with a lot of text on them.
People’s favourite Instagram functions—double-tapping to Like photographs, browsing filters, discovering new photos, and watching Instagram Stories—were all largely influenced by aesthetics. Instagram has undergone a transformation, as it often does. Sixty percent of Instagram users say they’ve found a new favourite product thanks to the photo-sharing app. And, naturally, sales captions go hand in hand with sales.
These are eight tried-and-true methods for crafting attention-grabbing captions for use on social network profiles.
To Begin With, What Exactly Are Captions?
Since Instagram’s inception in 2010, captions—the accompanying text that appears under photographs and videos posted to social media platforms—have taken on a far greater significance. For businesses who want to stand out from the crowd and get more people to interact with their products and content, captions are a must-have tool.
Whether you’re an established business, an up-and-coming influencer, or simply a regular Instagram user hoping to increase your following, the ability to create engaging captions is crucial to your success. Since the image is what stops someone from scrolling, the text is what compels them to click through or engage.
Nevertheless, you were already aware of it, and that’s why you’ve found us: to help you craft more engaging Instagram captions.
Don’t push the item, push the click
As organic Instagram posts cannot be “clicked,” the first suggestion in this list is relevant only to Instagram advertising.
We started with this one because it’s so important, even though it seems contradictory to many marketers and small company owners: sell the click, not the goods. Many individuals will strive to include as much information as possible in their captions, including technical details about the product or service being advertised. Although you mean well, the way you’re now writing your captions is ignoring a crucial detail:
The caption’s only job is to get people to click on the image, not to promote the goods.
Most Instagram users access the platform through mobile device, and if they find something intriguing, the first thing they may wonder is whether or not clicking on it would be worthwhile.
Convincing them to click through is half the battle; the other half is for your product or landing page to really close the deal and turn them into a paying customer. To ponder: how much information can actually be conveyed in a photograph? In just one minute of video? How would you describe that in 125 characters? Not enough to close the deal, probably. In this case, your website and/or landing pages are there to assist you.
Your brain sends an electrical signal to your thumb, telling it to click the “Learn More” button because you know the solution is there.
Limit yourself to the bare minimum
Instagram allows for 2,220 characters in a caption but cuts it off at 125 on mobile devices. This means that if your caption is longer than that, Instagram users will have to take an extra step (click the word “more”) to continue reading. Adding subtitles to a video is a quick and easy way to get the necessary information into your post.
As you’ll see in a little, longer captions may be really effective.
Two advantages result from keeping a caption to under 125 characters:
- Your message will be more likely to be read in its full if it is not cut off at unnecessary points when shown online.
- Because of its limited length, short copy necessitates that the marketer condense the benefits of their product or service into a single, concise expression.
Learn from your environment
Of course, the caption doesn’t make sense by itself. Its aim is to provide further context and encourage participation or action. A typical Instagram session looks like this:
Simply keep scrolling past the unimportant pictures.
Acquire an image of interest and pause to look it over carefully.
Examine the picture’s caption for more information.
It’s more likely that the user will look back at the image and consider doing some sort of engagement action with it (such as like, commenting, or sharing) if the caption is informative.
If the caption encourages the reader to take some sort of action, such as reading more, watching more, or buying something, then they may do so. The same holds true for commercials in particular.
No web addresses
Well, here comes the “Don’t do that” advice.
Promotion on Instagram is all about making a good impression. Depending on the brand, you may want the customer to think of you as clever, sexual, or elite. Including a URL in an Instagram post makes you appear desperate, inexperienced, or’sales-y,’ all of which are impressions that no business wants to cultivate.
It’s not a clickable link, it takes up valuable caption real estate, and nobody is going to copy and paste or type out the URL. You definitely don’t want to be on the wrong side of this hidden Instagram taboo.
If you must include a URL, you may utilise the “Link in bio” technique, which sends visitors to your Instagram profile and allows them to click through to the link there. The method can even be amplified in some ways.
Please keep in mind that there are exceptions to the rule of including a link in your caption. Choose a vanity URL with a catchy (and short!) domain if you want to stand out.