3 Easy Steps To Write Engaging Instagram Captions

How to write engaging captions for every Instagram post

So much emphasis is placed on posting appealing photos and videos on Instagram. However, if you don't put as much importance on writing engaging Instagram captions, you're missing out on a big opportunity to connect with your audience.

Captions can add context to your images, but what's more important is they can boost engagement and get your followers to take action - dropping a comment, visiting your website or purchasing your product.

But there's an art to crafting a captivating, engagement-boosting caption. So I asked brilliant social media manager Natasha from @shinewithnatasha to share some of her best tips for how to write an engaging caption. She had a lot of brilliance to share. Keep reading for her tips...

3 Secrets To Writing Engaging Instagram Captions

Instagram captions are almost as important as the images you post. This formula is how I write all of my captions for my clients as a social media manager.

What makes them personal is their brand voice and the use of things like branded emojis.

You can use this formula in two ways:

1 Starting with an image can offer inspiration for your text
2 Starting with a topic can help you write captions

1. Attention-grabbing first line

Think of your caption like a blog title or newsletter subject line. You want to stop their scroll, encourage them to read more, and tease what the caption is about.

The first line is what they’ll see when they’re scrolling or as a sticker on your stories, so make sure it’s impactful.

Happy Friday! I want to talk about captions today.

3 Tips That Make Caption Writing Easy...
This is the *secret* to writing CAPTIVATING captions for Instagram...
Steal my formula for perfect Instagram captions...

BONUS! Use these 3 fill-in-the-blank caption starters:

Here’s why I 100% disagree with X
How do you X without feeling X?
3 surprising facts about X…

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2. Value-packed body: short vs long, line breaks, emojis, inspiration and education

This is where you offer the value of your caption. “Value” can look like a lot of things, for instance education or inspiration.

Captions can be short or long depending on your brand voice. Longer, microblog captions are definitely “in” right now, but you can switch it up as works for you.

ALWAYS add line breaks and emojis for visual interest and to help your follower’s eye travel.

I also recommend adding bullets or lists when possible. Again, this helps break up longer text and is quick and easy to read.

3. CTA - engage, take action

You don’t want people to just read your caption. You want them to take action by engaging with you. Give them a suggestion for what to do next by including a call-to-action at the end of every caption.

Some popular calls-to-action you can use:

Link in bio
Comment your thoughts
Share with a friend that needs this
Share if you can relate
Save this to reference later
Sometimes I add “share and save” to the top and bottom of a caption to help with viral engagement
Comment your questions
Which was your favorite tip / tool / hack

Now you’ve got some quick and easy tips to create engaging Instagram captions. Take 5 minutes right now to write a caption and apply each of these tips. You got this!