How to write social media captions that drive engagement
Social media is becoming increasingly important by the day within the entertainment industry. But without an effective caption on your posts, it’s unlikely that your posts will drive a lot of engagement. An effective caption will essentially drive metrics such as likes, ticket sales to an event, or link clicks to a website. Therefore in this article, we’re going to discuss how to write a good caption that will make your audience want to engage with your content.
Firstly, you should be paying attention to your audience demographics so that you have a good idea of what they’re into, their location etc. For example, if your audience primarily speaks Spanish, it’ll be pretty pointless writing a caption in English as it won’t drive as much engagement as a Spanish caption would. You get the idea. In order to identify with your audience, personal pronouns should be used such as “you”, “your” etc. This is simply because the post will be positioned as if you are talking directly to the audience member. Also, asking a question within the social media caption immediately encourages an interaction. Here’s some examples:
- What’s your favorite song right now?
- What festival do you want to attend?
- What do you find difficult within the music industry?
- Have you ever wondered what a DJ’s life looks like?
The aim of this practice is to get your target audience to subconsciously answer the question in their mind and thus write a response on social media. Currently, many producers are writing captions such as “my new song is out”. As this has no direct impact on the audience, they are psychologically less likely to engage. Therefore, captions that speak directly to the audience are a lot more effective.
Next, you have to provide a valuable proposition to the audience member. After all, they want to know what’s in it for them if they help share your new video or song. If your caption does not establish any value for your audience, it won’t be effective. What are you going to provide in exchange for listening to/sharing your content? Is it a 1-1 interaction such as a personal message? A social media shoutout? A chance to win free gig tickets? Early access to new music? You have to put yourself in the position of the fan so that they’re inclined to engage with you, for example: “What do you find difficult within the music industry? Let me know in the comments for a chance to win a free backstage pass to my Ibiza show”.
Finally, you shouldn’t try to give all the information away in a post. For example, let’s create a scenario in which you’ve just released a new song onto Spotify. Some producers may decide to post the entire track to their Facebook page. However, this method provides no reason for the audience to listen to your song on Spotify. Instead, only post a 30 second preview so that they have to listen to the entire track on Spotify, for example: “What’s your favorite song right now? Share this Spotify link to your page for a chance to win a 10 minute Skype call”. Or alternatively, you could simply post a caption accompanied with a link to buy tickets to your upcoming show.
By using an effective incentive for your audience, you leave them hooked and genuinely wanting to engage with your content. After all, there is something in it for them. An effective social media caption combined with great content is incredibly important for social media growth.