A high engagement rate is what we as social marketers want! It makes sure that posts get popular and puts them under the nose of as many potential customers as possible. Without engagement, a post is ineffective. And Instagram captions play a bigger role than you think. In this article, you’ll learn how to put together great captions that get the highest engagement.
Why do marketers need captions for engagement?
As a marketer, you want to increase your conversions. And in order to do that, you need to communicate a clear message and a CTA to your audience. A caption does just that.
With a caption, you can tell more about the story or the message behind the photo or video. Are you promoting a product, an event or are you having a sale? Use the caption to explain how and where people can buy the product or when the event is. Check out an example of a good caption and CTA by Join‘s influencer Aranka Haverkamp.
How to make the most effective captions?
No one wants to have to dig through a long piece of text. Certainly not on Instagram. Be sure to follow the next steps to create an effective caption.
1. Ideal length of your caption
It depends on what you need to say. Can you get your message across in one paragraph? Perfect! The shorter, the better. If you need more space, fine. But stick to the essence of the message and don’t make it too long.
2. Divide captions into paragraphs
Do you still have a long caption? Then divide it into shorter paragraphs. Put the most important information in the beginning, so that people get intrigued and read the rest of the text.
Use spaces or emojis between the paragraphs. Make sure you don’t have any emojis or spaces at the end of a paragraph, otherwise it won’t work.
3. Know what you want to say and include a clear CTA
Do you want people to tag their friends? Give a comment? Or share the post? Tell them.
Or do you want them to go to your website? Instagram allows you only one link and that’s the one in your bio. You have to tell people to go there. Do you have a blog post they need to read? A free product they can get? A video to watch? “Click on the link in my bio” is often clear enough.
4. Choose the right hashtags for high engagement
Hashtags make sure your post gets seen. It works almost the same way as SEO. Instagram shows the posts with hashtags to people who are looking for them or are interested in them.
Choose your hashtags strategically, stick to the subject of the photo and avoid common hashtags like #love, #travel or #beauty. The magic number of hashtags is between 11 and 20. The limit is 30.
Conclusion
A good Instagram caption can lead to a high engagement rate and an increase in conversions. Even though it takes some time to put together the right caption, it is totally worth it if you want to grow your business.
