The Art Of Writing The Perfect Social Media Caption

Ever sat over a picture, video or something you have to publicly post to the internet and been gripped by fear? You hesitate with the caption, re-write it or end up scrapping it altogether only to start over again. “Caption anxiety” is a term you sometimes hear people utter when it comes to attaching that line of text to your ad, story, picture, video, blog etc. What many social media users and marketers forget to remember is exactly what a caption is used for. Whenever I struggle with it, I revert back to this simple definition:

“A good caption informs us about the things we cannot see and encourages us to look at an image more closely.”

In the ultra competitive world of social media however, captions have become almost as important as the image they accompany. Despite this, 90% of captions we see online include “living my best life” as a caption for literally anything that could be perceived as a good time. Couples photos are also invariably captioned with the words “partner in crime,” “best friend” or even “this one.”

Originality is something we don’t see a huge amount of on social media but for those who are able to offer it, the likes and engagement will come. You may think that when it comes to writing good captions or ad copy, you either have it or you dont. Well that’s where you’re wrong and in this blog I’m going to show you some simple steps on how to create better social media captions;

What’s the message:

Firstly, think to yourself what the basic message of the post will be. If you’re sharing a photo of a product or something highly visual, then maybe you want the photo to speak for itself? In this case keep your caption snappy and eye catching. Many people make the mistake of explaining exactly what their picture says. For example: if you’re posting a picture that has “50% off our new sports line” written in the picture, you don’t need to repeat this word for word in the caption also.

If the goal of your post is to have people share it or direct people to click a link, then a strong opening line and a clear call to action at the end is essential. This was done brilliantly by Iceland for their Christmas ad that was posted to social media. The initial line is eye catching and entices you to watch the video and the call to action is simple and clear.

Length:

The perfect length of social post captions are between 50 and 80 characters. The sentence you have just read was 75 characters and so you should aim for something similar. You can read the limits of various social post captions here but between 10 and 15 words in my opinion is optimal regardless of the platform that you’re posting to.

If you’re writing a caption with much more detail and those reading it will need to click the “See more” button to finish it… then it’s too long! Most people on social media will simply scroll by posts like this. If you do need to put a lot of text in a post i.e. for the T’s and C’s of a competition, then post these T’s and C’s on a landing page you can link off to, or just post them in the first comment.

#Hashtags

On social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, using hashtags properly can be the difference between your post being seen or not. For example: the next time you’re sharing an Instagram post, if you put #travel in your caption, Instagram will straight away tell you that there are say 54,000,000 posts with the same caption. By combining both popular hashtags and more niche hashtags that are relevant to your photo, your posts will appear on more discover and home pages.

If you’re working for a brand, then keep an eye on relevant hashtags that your brand might be able to post about. This is an authentic way to get discovered and add to a conversation among your audience. Don’t post too many hashtags either as posts with over 20 just look spammy and desperate.

To Emoji or not to Emoji?

Back in 2016 when I worked as a full time meme maker, emojis were the name of the game. Nothing got posted without an appropriately relevant emoji. In 2017 alone, emoji usage on social media increased by 766%. I’ve even recently noticed them making their way onto LinkedIn posts since it began altering it’s newsfeeds to look more like Facebook. My advice on emojis would be to use them sparingly but they definitely do make posts more attractive and engaging especially on more visual platforms like Instagram.

Humour:

One thing that I believe is key to social media posts is that they have a conversational or humorous tone. Although this may not work for every brand or individual on social media, keeping your captions and messages as informal and fun as possible should be a general rule. I’ve written before about how Conor McGregor’s ridiculous Instagram captions are part of the reason why he is so popular and the same goes for lots of well known brands online.

Proof-read it:

If there’s one thing that social media has taught us, it’s that the range of grammar and spelling levels in comment sections and captions is something that I could write a whole other blog on. However, it’s a lot easier to make spelling or grammar errors than you might think. Whether you’re posting a holiday snap or writing ad captions for a campaign, have a read over them or get someone else to review it before you post.

If your branded posts don’t normally get a big reaction, try post something with visible errors and within seconds there’ll be a flood of comments from people correcting you. That wasn’t a sideways tip for getting more engagement on posts but it will happen. I’ve mocked up the below to include some of the most popular grammar and spelling errors that I regularly see online. Grammar Nazis look away now.

If you didn’t see much wrong with the above, then seek some help immediately! If you’re still struggling with your brands’ captions or written content however, then get in touch with me. You can also scrutinise any and all of my future social media captions by following me on Instagram and Facebook.