Instagram has always been all about visuals, or has it? The quality of photos will surely make the difference in getting new followers and making them interested in your brand, but only with compelling captions will you create more engagement and break through Instagram’s algorithm.
The strong copy will shape your brand’s story and help followers realize they need the product you sell. Instagram captions, when written well, can be used in many ways – to increase website traffic, help you gain more followers, and grow your sales.
This is why we came up with several valuable tips you can quickly implement starting today.
Try not to sound like a robot
With the never-ending algorithm updates, your posts are more likely to be seen if Instagram likes your engagement rates. Your engagement rate grows when many people leave comments on a post, and you are responding to all of them.
So how will you achieve this?
Authenticity matters, so when writing captions, try not to sound like a robot but a natural person. Although you may tend to be strategic, you also want to sound natural and friendly to the user.
Include a call-to-action
First, try to answer this question – what do you want your followers to do?
Do you want them to visit your website, purchase a particular product, or enter a giveaway?
Whatever you want them to be specific – “Join our community, “Book your next trip“, “Click the link in bio,” or “Try our app free for seven days!”
Make the most of your first sentence
As you have probably seen, Instagram hides the rest of the caption behind a “more” link after a couple of lines of text. This is crucial; therefore, don’t hesitate to include the most important details at the beginning.
Thinking of the first sentence that users will see in their feed, make sure it is compelling and encourages followers to comment.
You can also start with an intriguing statement, capture followers’ attention with some unexpected stats, or share an exclusive offer.
Direct your audience to a link in bio
Clickable URLs are not allowed in captions but in your BIO. This is why optimized profiles on Instagram update URLs frequently point out the YouTube video, last blog post, or website and then mention the link in their captions.
Consider your caption length
To make it long or keep it brief, the question is now.
Marketing strategies are about quality over quantity, so the copy in your Instagram caption might be short, straightforward, or long, educational, and more in-depth text.
Your captions could be as long as a few words and a single sentence depending on your followers. This is a common practice for food companies and restaurants.
For instance, you may post the recipe in the caption, and people will surely want to read it if they like the image or video.
But if you doubt about your brand’s right voice, keep it brief, as some of the best captions on Instagram are short punchlines.
