To supercharge your online engagement, here are my 20 tips for better Instagram captions that will engage your audience and spark further conversation with your online community.
One of my favorite parts of content creation is writing copy. And I understand not everyone feels the same. Which breaks my heart, really.
Having punchy captions online is a powerful thing. They spark little conversations all over your content, from comments to DMs.
That’s called good engagement. We want our content to be discussed. Comments like “great shot!”, although nice, don’t generate further conversation. The goal is to build relationships.
In this post, I share my top tips to guide you toward better Instagram captions so you can engage your audience and start building relationships. And I’ll also include my own posts as examples.
Related: How to take authentic photos that engage your online audience
Inspire, Educate, Entertain
Let’s start with an overarching theme. Online content should always fall under three categories: inspire, educate, and entertain. This is a fundamental value of content marketing, as taught by my incredible mentors over at PHHNIX.
It’s also good to know what you use each platform for, depending on the type of content you’re sharing. For example, my Instagram content inspires and entertains. My blog is more educational.
There needs to be a value exchange between you and your audience. You make them feel something. They give your content lots of love.
If our copy is not engaging enough, we risk our readers going into “skim” mode. Or worse, ignoring the caption altogether. And that doesn’t go far to build relationships.
Without further ado, here are 20 tips for better Instagram captions to engage your online audience and build stronger relationships with your community.
20 Tips for Better Instagram Captions to Engage your Audience
1. Know your intent
Are you aiming to educate, inspire, or entertain? More than one is even better. Once you’ve decided which, lean into that and let the caption flow.
2. Use lots of white space
Long paragraphs tire the reader’s eye. Utilise white space by breaking up your paragraphs. Use it for effect.
Like this.
And a little bit like this.
Put the eye on a journey from start to finish.
3. Don’t make long lists.
When I see a caption with a list longer than 4-5 items, “skim” mode flips on. Listicles work better in a blog post, unless you have a loyal audience who you know loves your long lists.
4. Write short sentences
Self-explanatory. Instead of using “and” or “but” to string together long sentences, break them up! This makes for a more engaging read. And gives better cadence. See what I did there?
5. Make every word count
Short sentences doesn’t mean bad sentences. Keep your reader hooked. I often say “stitched prose” because that’s literally what it is. Every word, curated to the highest quality and meaningfully placed.
6. Don’t be lazy
Short sentences also doesn’t mean lazy writing. Please no more one-word captions. No more captions that say “couldn’t think of a caption”.
Not that laziness is a bad thing (I prescribe to it frequently), but where’s the passion? Why do you take photos, why do you post online? Do you have nothing to say about your art? Those are my thoughts when I see lazy captions. It doesn’t build good rapport for your brand.
7. Hook the reader in
The ever-dreaded “hook”. The first sentence holds such power as to be paralyzing. Spend some time here. Come up with something captivating. Hint: a short sentence usually does the job.
8. Don’t make your captions too long… yet
When building an online audience, no one knows who you are so it’s a lot to ask someone to pause and read your giant caption. Some will. But most won’t. Yet.
Start with short, punchy captions. And train your audience overtime to read longer copy. Eventually, you’ll develop a loyal community where long captions perform well and generate endless engagement.
9. Tell a story that links to your photo/video
Although this doesn’t have to be for every caption, commentary about the actual photo/video posted usually brings good engagement. If something catches your eye to stop scrolling, odds are you’ll want to know more about it.
10. Talk about the BTS
Content that gets awesome engagement on my platforms are when I share the behind-the-scenes. People love knowing how much work it took to get the shot.
Also little details, such as having a bad day, working through impostor syndrome, technical mishaps. Honesty is relatable. Which brings me to my next point.
11. Be honest
I find accounts with different variations of the same caption strange. You know the ones. Preachy. Overly positive. Inspirational rhetoric without any foundation.
Life is messy. People want to talk about that. So talk about it.
12. Don’t force it
I feel I need to make this point. While honesty and authenticity are powerful tools to stand out, don’t feel like you need to air out all your dirty laundry. Remember this is your corner of the internet and you don’t have to do anything that feels uncomfortable.
13. You don’t always have to be strategic
I see a lot of content about being “strategic” with your messaging. You must always provide value. You must always be informational.
But that’s not always the case. The best strategy is to be authentic. Write what feels good. It doesn’t have to feed back to your strategic goals every time. Coming off as too “salesy” can even put people off.
14. There is such a thing as too many emojis
While I’m an avid emoji user, you’ll hardly ever find one in my Instagram captions. I like that clean look.
And emojis aren’t bad. But it helps to weave them meaningfully into your prose. Too many looks messy and disrupts the reader flow. Personally I get sensory overload. Same goes for overuse of special characters (like !!!! and ????).
15. Write meaningful CTAs
I see a lot of lazy CTAs that don’t inspire engagement, like “new blog post” or “do you like hiking? Comment below!”.
And while these aren’t necessarily bad, they don’t provoke thought. Ask a more specific question. Give a taste of what’s inside that link. Stir curiosity, keeping in mind your reader’s pain points.
16. Write from a place of stillness and joy
When I’m in the mindset of “just need to get this shit done”, I end up producing crap. I’m stressed. I’m overwhelmed. Creativity is dead.
So just… slow down. Create some space for yourself. Light a candle. Drink wine. Grab your favorite playlist. Do everything it takes to make this a pleasant experience. This is the first rule of writing anything.
17. Understand what your community wants
As your community builds, you develop a good sense of your audience. After a good photo, what does your audience want from your art? Personal stories? How-to’s?
What worked in the past? Do those things again.
18. Be timely
People are more likely to engage with trendy topics that are relevant to the times. For example, when Instagram announced it will no longer be a photo-sharing app, I posted the below expressing my frustration with reels. And the comments ran.
19. Write what resonates with you
Our brains are always turned on, investigating shit and making sense of the world. If a particular realization strikes you, odds are it will be engaging to your audience. Write about all the strange, random, deep thoughts that you have on your journey. It helps to keep a notepad to jot things down in the moment.
20. Practice practice practice
My final tip: it doesn’t have to be perfect. Experiment, post, repeat. Everyone starts somewhere. Write what brings you joy and the rest will slot into place overtime.
