March 24, 2023
•
5 min read
Writing great Instagram captions is an art form that requires creative thinking.
While a strong Instagram caption can do many things, the best ones encourage your followers to take an action — and what that action is is entirely up to you.
Want to write better Instagram captions in 2023? The five tips we lay out in this post are guaranteed to improve your social media strategy and elevate your small business online.
Also Read: 5 Content Ideas To Spice Up Your Instagram
Instagram only shows the first 125 characters of a caption before people have to click “more” to read the rest. That means you need to make the most out of those 125 characters.
One of the biggest mistakes we see is when small businesses save their call to action or the most important part of their message for the end of their post. Treat the first part of your caption as the hook that will draw your reader in for more.
Front-load your captions with the most important stuff. Remember — think about what you are trying to get your follower to do then make sure the first sentence of your caption helps you achieve that goal.
Think about the things that make your followers frustrated:
Think about what your followers truly want:
Now write your Instagram caption in a way that addresses their frustrations and desires and how your business, service or product can genuinely help them get what they want.
One of the best ways to figure this out is to read the online reviews of your competitors. Find out where they regularly disappoint and frustrate customers and make note of the patterns. Excelling in these same areas is where your product or service can truly shine.
This is probably the trickiest part of Instagram caption writing and what separates the true professionals from the rest.
You should always write your captions in the same style and tone as your brand voice. But even more important is speaking to your followers in an authentic way that mirrors the way they speak.
One way to do this is to go back to your competitor review research. What words are customers using when they speak about their products? How are they describing the things they wish they had received from a particular service or product?
Even more importantly, what words do they use to describe what they loved?
We took a look at a popular Dior Lip Gloss on Sephora to give you an idea of what we mean.
We combed through the positive (and negative reviews) and found consistent language used across both categories.
People who loved this lip gloss said they enjoyed how not sticky the product was.
Those that hated it? ‘No colour payout’ was a common complaint.
Now a savvy competitor should take that lingo and incorporate it into their Instagram caption content.
All great Instagram captions entice followers to take an action of some kind. The best way to make sure it’s the right action is to spell it out. What do you want your followers to do?
While the ultimate goal is usually to book a service or sell a product, social media should never be used to sell and only sell. In fact, we recommend directly promoting sales in less than 30% of your content.
The rest of your posts should either be providing value to your followers, storytelling about your brand or encouraging conversation.
Engagement is great for the algorithm so a call to action that successfully encourages your followers to interact with your content should always be a part of your caption.
Whether you're offering a helpful tip or a discount code for a product, great captions usually include a valuable nugget or two for their readers.
This can encourage the action you want them to take i.e. 15% off your latest hair care products or perhaps sharing a new way to style your hair they want to save for later.
Brands that provide more value than they try to sell ultimately end up doing the most selling on social media.
Writing amazing Instagram captions that resonate with your followers might seem like an impossible feat.
Fear not — you can easily do it.
Like all good things, writing great captions takes practice.
As professional social media managers who specialize in helping small businesses shine on Instagram, writing effective captions is our bread and butter.
Since we started our creative marketing agency in 2019, we have written thousands of captions for clients in dozens of industries.
So if you need any advice on how to improve your Instagram content game for 2023, you’ve come to the right place.
.png)
.jpg)
.jpeg)
