How to Write Great Instagram Captions!

Yes, Instagram is all about the pictures, but (and there’s always a but) you want more than just a picture on your IG page. You want to build relationships and gain engagement. To build a successful Instagram profile, you need more than just people liking your photos. You need them to ENGAGE, COMMENT and ultimately BUY - and that’s where captions come into play. So, what exactly does a great caption do? It compliments the picture by adding content, a brand voice and a call to action. Each caption can have up to 2,200 characters, emojis and up to 30 hashtags. Here are some practical tips to help you on your way to caption greatness:

USE A CONSISTENT BRAND VOICE

This might sound like a weird tip, to begin with, but it’s actually quite important. Your captions should sound and feel like all the other social media or traditional marketing messages. Instagram isn’t exactly a “serious tone” platform, but your voice should represent your brand, even it’s on the lighter side. PLACE THE IMPORTANT STUFF IN THE BEGINNING

Keep in mind that the maximum allowance of characters for your Instagram caption is 2,200. But, the important thing to remember is that your caption will cut off after a few lines of text, so you need to top-load the important stuff. Hook your readers with great content in the beginning so they’ll want to tap the “more” and see the rest. Call to actions (CTA’s) are a great way to get them reading more! INVITE FOLLOWERS TO TAG THEIR FRIENDS Never be afraid to ask your followers to “tag a friend” or “share with a friend”.

- Tag a friend who needs a little sparkle in their life! - Tag a fellow diamond lover! - Ready to shine today? Tag a friend and brighten up their day!   ADD EMOTIONS WITH EMOJIS We live in the time of emojis, and your Instagram caption is the perfect outlet to let them shine. Adding emojis give your caption personality and flavor, and immediately draw attention to your captions. You can try out various methods of using emojis: placing a few at the beginning to grab your followers’ attention, add them at the end or simply try a caption made entirely out of emojis and see what the results are!

GIVE SHOUT OUTS WITH @MENTIONS One of the best ways to boost engagement is by featuring other IG users and tagging them in your captions. This will grab the attention of the featured user and possibly their followers to like, comment and re-post. It also shows you value your community and followers and show some Insta-love!

ADD HASHTAGS AT THE END OF YOUR CAPTION There’s no specific rule that you need to add hashtags at the end of your caption, but placing them sporadically inside your caption is unnatural to the eye, and make the caption harder to read. Placing them at the end will also hide them in the “more” section, which is perfectly fine since the function of the hashtag is to generate a greater search for your find and not to add value to your caption. So it’s now time to put all these tips to action and start writing some awesome Instagram captions! And don’t be shy: Join the conversation on our FB Group and let us know which caption tips work best for you!