How to Write the Perfect Instagram Caption

Any social marketeer will understand the struggle when it comes to Instagram. After their algorithm changes, profiles that already have high engagement are the ones being displayed more often. That means those of us starting from the bottom are struggling to see much of an improvement.

Simply put, the more comments and likes you receive, the more likely you are to appear in your followers’ feeds. So the trick is to improve engagement! If you’re satisfied with the posts but you don’t seem to be getting anywhere, it might be your captions that are the problem. A perfect caption will show off the personality behind your brand, making you more relatable as a business. It might also amuse people and/or prompt them to perform some sort of action. Here’s some advice:

1. Think About Your Target Audience

Instagram has 1 billion active monthly users, but unfortunately not all of them will be interested in you. As a result, it’s vital that you tailor your posts to your target audience. Think about what interests them and what might appeal to their sense of humour. Once you understand exactly who you’re talking to, your captions will come naturally.

2. Tag People

If your post features another Instagram user, why not tag them in it? This will encourage them to engage with your post, along with some of their own followers.

3. Consider the Length of the Caption

It’s worth bearing in mind that people normally scroll through their Instagram feed quite quickly. If you’re unsure what length your caption should be, it’s probably best to keep it short and sweet so that people will actually notice it.

More often than not, your posts will be able to speak for themselves, so if you want your whole caption to show, 125 characters will do the job. However, the limit is quite generous with Instagram, so don’t be afraid to share the story behind the post, if you feel it’s truly relevant/worth it.

4. Think About the Hashtags

Hashtags can help improve engagement considerably, but only if you use relevant ones. If you’re reluctant to use them because you think they look spammy, you can add full stops to separate them from the main caption. You could even put them in the comment section. If you’re unclear about hashtags, we have previously shared a post that can help.

5. Ask Questions

If your aim is to encourage comments, you could consider using your caption to ask a question.