Caption This: How-To Write Your Best Instagram Captions Yet!

How-To Write Your Best Instagram Captions Yet! 

You don't have to be a writer nor an Instagram super-star when it comes to writing killer Instagram captions. 

Instagram is a very visual place, but the text that you pair with your social photos can make a huge difference in the amount of engagement you get on the posted image. 

After all, you want people of course, like your photo, but you also want them to weigh in & interact with what you have to say and share on social media. After some work on my end perfecting my captions & getting people to engage with my posts, here are my tips to writing your best Instagram captions. 

Set aside a time of day to plan out either your next three posts or a week's worth of posts.

I use Planoly & RewardStyle to plan Instagram posts. 

After you selected what content {images} you'll be sharing soon, it's time to write the captions. 

Pro-Tip: 

Don't ever just post a photo with no caption &/or an emoji. When I see this on the 'gram, I often don't like that image, because I figure the user posted by mistake or just randomly posted with little to no thought. 

Caption This! 


Caption Writing:


When crafting your Instagram captions, think of it {breakup} your words in two parts. 

The first part of your caption is like your lead--it needs to draw the other Instagram accounts into you, your feed, & that photo. It can be something witty, funny, a quote, you get the picture. 

The second part of the caption should be tailored to your image & what reaction you want to get out of your followers. The main goal is to get the last part of your caption to call upon your followers to do something. 

Creating a Call-to-Action {CTA} in your captions is critical for boosting your engagement. 

Call to Action Examples:


- Asking your followers a question & or taking a poll. 

Example:

Are you more of dark chocolate or milk chocolate person? Leave your taste in the comments! I'm hungry & want to know. 

- Call to Stories. Did you film a little behind the scenes on your Instagram Stories today? Say so in the second part of your caption.

Example:

Today, while shooting, we did a little behind the scenes of what it's like to get ready for a campaign shoot! Pop over to my story to get the behind-the-lense-scoop! 

-Ask for advice. People love to give their two cents on everything. If you're going on a trip & need recommendations, here's where you utilize the CTA concept in the second part of your caption. 

Example:

Heading to Itlay in-less-than one month! Have you ever been? If so, leave your top three must see/do Italian spots in the comments. Ciao!! 

Engage-Engage! 

It takes time, but slowly people {more people} are interacting with your awesome captions. Once someone comments, show the love--respond, interact with that person, try to start a little convo in your comments section. This will also boost your Instagram visibility & engagement. 

Pro-Tip: 

I {almsot} always try to return the comment love. If someone takes time to answer/react to your content in a genuine manner--show them some love on their photos. That's how-Instagram friendships & relationship happen people. You want to grow your social media community & being genuine as well as engaging is the way to do so. 




Complete Caption & Call to Action Instagram Post Examples:


Here is a practice witty caption with a CTA example for you. For instance, it's springtime 
& you're posting a spring-related photo. 

Caption A Option 1:

Springtime has officially arrived! I'm so excited, I wet my plants!
__

Spring is my favorite season, what is the one time of year that gets you the most excited for a change? 
#springtime 

Caption B Option 2:

Springtime has officially arrived! I'm so excited, I wet my plants!

__

Today, I visited the cutest greenhouse. Go to my stories to see what plants I picked up to spruce up my front porch! #plantlady 

Pro-Tip:

See how that works? If you're writing a bit longer of a caption or want to keep your text neat & clean, I recommend adding one topic-specific # hashtag like I did. & then, add a few more {5-10} is a sweet spot in your comments after you post your photo. 


The last tip, be genuine in the comments you leave. Forget things like cute shirt! Or love that sweater! Take a second, read what others have written & interact with that. Good things & genuine engagement on your posts will follow. 



I hope this post helps with your writing awesome Instagram captions! Follow me @katelynchef for more blogging content! 

3 comments

  1. Queen of Insta!!
    - MEG | livingasunnylife.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so bad at thinking of creative captions, but I try! I also do the same..setting aside time to work on them before I post.

    Shauna

    www.lipglossandlace.net

    ReplyDelete