How to write effective captions for your Instagram posts
Putting together an effective Instagram strategy is vital for artists due to the sheer level of potential the platform offers for expanding your reach. Many focus on the visual content they upload to Instagram and neglect the written copy that accompanies the images, which is a huge mistake. Not only do your captions build a connection with your audience, but they humanise your brand. As long as your images are of a high quality, the focus will fall on the caption that goes alongside them. Don’t let a great photo be let down by a mediocre caption. We’ve taken a closer look at the methods for crafting effective Instagram captions to generate increased engagement.
Firstly, take ample time to draft your caption; don’t simply publish the first thought that comes into your head. Write out a few options and see which one you like the most. Often, rushing your caption results in failing to encourage engagement as effectively as possible. Particularly if you’re revealing a big piece of news, you should take the time to draft your caption several times until you are completely happy with the result. If the post is particularly important, it is worth asking those around you for their opinion on whether the caption makes them feel encouraged to engage with the post.
It is important to remember that while Instagram allows lengthy captions, the whole body of text won’t be visible to users unless they tap ‘more’ to see the rest. For this reason, make sure that the earliest part of your caption captures the interest of your audience. Without capturing attention within the first two lines, nobody will click to read your whole caption and you will waste the opportunity to connect. Make sure to make the subject of your post clear early on so that your audience will be able to decide quickly whether to read on.
If you’re really looking to increase engagement, include an instruction in the post. For example “tag a friend who eats too much pizza” would be worth adding to an image of a pizza, or “tag a friend who is always sleeping” would be a great addition to an image of you taking a nap. By asking your audience to complete an action, you can kickstart the engagement on a post and encourage more people to get involved and share it. Every single interaction makes your post spread further across the internet and connects with more potential fans. Instagram’s algorithms favour posts that are generating interaction organically, recommending them to more users.
Fitting into the same strategy you could also ask your followers to answer a question. For example, “what is your favourite song at the moment?” This is a great way to encourage fans to comment, thus spreading the post further and allowing more people to see it. When asking a question, aim to ask something that is simple and quick to answer. For example, asking “where are you from?” is likely to provoke more answers than “tell me why you got into electronic music?” Put simply, people are lazy. Nobody wants to sit and type out an answer to your question that takes several minutes to write.
The best captions on Instagram usually include a simple direction to the link in your bio, whether this is a new blog post, a new track or tickets to your next show. As you can’t share an active link in your captions it is important to switch the link in your bio and include in your caption that people should click it. This is the simplest way to drive traffic using your Instagram captions. The best accounts on Instagram are consistently editing their bio link in order to fit with current campaigns.
Another great way to increase engagement is by asking people to tag their friends. People are most likely to comply if they feel that they can benefit from doing so. For this reason competitions that include tagging a friend in the comments usually are some of the most beneficial campaigns you can run. The key is not to use this too often, if you ask people to tag a friend under every photo you may start to appear desperate and damage your brand. Use it once in a while when you feel that a post is particularly good and has the traction to go viral.
Lastly, don’t forget the importance of hashtags. You may want to include these in your caption or as a top comment. Either way, it is important to choose the right hashtags and not overload your followers with too many. Make sure to stick to relevant hashtags that fit with your post so that you don’t appear desperate. It is also helpful to take a look at the most popular current hashtags in order to see which ones will put your content in front of more people. As an artist, you could use popular hashtags like #tbt #motivation and #life.
Perfecting your Instagram captions is an integral aspect of being successful on Instagram. Without posting great captions, you won’t be able to reach your full potential on the platform. Don’t let a great photo be let down by a low-quality caption that doesn’t entice your following. By putting together a great caption to go alongside a high-quality photo you ensure that you are giving yourself the best possible chance to succeed on Instagram.