Everyone’s using photos on Instagram - I mean, it’s literally required. Everyone’s just scrolling along, liking this post & that post, but you know what will make them pause?  A captivating caption. 

The photos are the wave hello, but it’s the captions that start the conversation. It’s the captions that connect with your audience. It’s the captions that convert.

But, Kinsey, how do I capture & convert my audience? I’ve broken down the process into 5 easy steps that you can (AND SHOULD) apply to every stinkin’ caption you write.

Want to listen to the podcast episode about this topic? Click here!

The Purpose

I’m not just talking about the topic of your caption here; I’m talking about how your topic applies to your audience. Ask yourself these questions:

• What am I talking about?

• Who am I talking to?

• Why should they care?

• Why do I care that they care?

No one’s going to slow their scroll for something that’s a) boring, or b) irrelevant. If you write your caption for your reader with an understanding of your larger purpose, you’re much more likely to end up with an engaged follower who’s primed to take action.

Most often on Instagram, the pause-worthy captions fall into 3 categories: entertainment, education & inspiration. It’s best to formulate your caption so that it fits into one of these categories because it will give your audience a reason to read AND make them feel as if they’ve gained something afterward. It will make them both like & trust you. It will also make them keep an eye out for your future posts

The Hook

One of the first things I learned about story-telling (way back in my 3rd grade days) was to start every story with an attention-grabber (ahem, a hook). 

Our teacher told us to always make the last sentence of our first paragraphs enticing enough to keep our readers reading. (In my little elementary school brain, I always pictured a giant cartoon fish hook dangling a juicy, taunting earthworm.)

On Instagram, you need to cut out the fluff & straight to the chase. Grab your reader’s attention with that very first sentence, and here’s why: Instagram only reveals a certain number of characters in your caption, then hides the rest in the land of [...more].

Approximately, the first ~80 characters will show up before we have to click that blasted button. Sometimes it’s a few more & sometimes it’s a few less, but the point is - it’s a good idea to get a feel for what 80 characters looks like. 

This is because there’s no time for small talk; there’s only time for dangling. You need to offer that juicy worm right up front. Make your reader wonder what they’ll find in the mysterious land beyond.

And once they bite, once they tap that button…welllll shoot, you’ve got’em. 

The Call-To-Action

If you’re going to take anything away from this post, here’s the step you should pay attention to. 

A call-to-action (or CTA in nerdy marketing lingo) is most simply a request - specifically, asking your reader to do something. Cough, take action, cough.

In your caption, this could be as easy as asking the reader to double tap your photo, or as hard as asking them to click the link in your bio. 

It’s important to include a CTA in every single one of your captions. Why? Because if you’re reading this, you’re trying to use Instagram strategically. You’re trying to gain a following of people who like you, trust you and more importantly, who want to support you.

BUT no one likes to be sold to out of the blue. It feels a little swindle-y. You need to prime your audience with little asks, so that when it comes time to make the big ask, they’re ready & willing to support you.

You need to get them used to you asking things of them. And - this is one of my struggles - you need to get comfortable doing the asking. 

So, here’s my favorite formula for CTAs: small ask, small ask, big ask. Or, SSB as I like to call it! (I just made that up 5 minutes ago.) But now, I’ve decided to create a downloadable guide to show your our exact method to CTAs.

Grab our How-To Guide to Instagram Call-To-Actions!
(P.S. We’ve included 10 CTA Templates that you can start using in your captions today!)

The Format

We’ve all seen those captions… The elephant-sized blocks of text that start your head spiraling before you even begin to read. Whew, I let out a long sigh just thinking about it. They could be written by Elizabeth Gilbert or J. K. Rowling, and they’d still be tough to tackle.

I think you’re picking up what I’m throwing down: Format your caption so it’s easy to read.

You’ve already got your reader’s attention; now, you need to keep it. You want to make it as easy as possible for your audience to stay engaged with your post. And here’s how you do it:

Length

Keep those sentences short, sweet & to the point. Stop yourself from going on tangents, and try to eliminate any unnecessary information. (Side note: This doesn’t mean to take your personality out of your writing. It should still be human, not robotic or mundane.)

Spacing

Normal paragraphs become giant blocks of text on instagram because, well, there’s not a lot of room to work with. It’s a good idea to add “sentence breaks” (paragraph breaks in the normal world of writing) after every 1-2 sentences to break up giant looming block and make your caption easier to follow.

Instagram, of course, can make this difficult (insert eye-rolling emoji here). When you type your caption in the platform, these line breaks (hitting the “Enter” key twice) are not always recognized. 

Luckily (but annoyingly) there are two simple fixes for this. Within the app, you can hit the “Enter” key once, then type a period, then hit the “Enter” key again. Or you can type your caption outside of the app, such as in your notes app or email, then copy/paste your caption into Instagram. Either will keep your captions tidy. 

The Hashtags

Hashtags are sort of my archnemesis. (Okay, Kinsey, melodramatic much?)

Simply put, I find them super annoying to research and I feel a little weird when using them in my captions (can’t really put a finger on why -- I guess it just feels less genuine?) 

However, they do work to get your content in front of new eyes, which helps you gain awareness. And the whole point of using Instagram strategically is to grow your brand awareness and tribe, so I guess it’s important we use them.

How to select hashtags:

Here’s the gist: You can use 30 hashtags per photo on Instagram. And honestly, it’s a great idea to use all 30. I’ll take more exposure with a side of fries, please.

It’s a good idea to select a variety of hashtags to, again, gain more exposure. I like to pick my tags based on:

1. Location (of the photo & my main audience)

2. Subject (of the photo or the caption)

3. Audience interests (what tags are my readers following?)

You should also take a look at how many times the hashtags you want to use have been used by other Instagrammers. You can do this easily by searching for the hashtag on the app.

If a hashtag has - excuse me - a buttload of uses, then your content will have to compete with the millions of others using the same hashtag, and it will likely get hidden in the chaos that is the Instagram feed.

 On the other hand, if a hashtag hasn’t been used very many times, there are likely not a lot of people are following it, and once again, your content will not be seen. 

Try to select hashtags within the middle range of uses. I like to select a few that have around 5,000 uses, a few with around 100,000 uses and a few in between.

How to Put Hashtags into you caption:

Alright, you’ve selected those 30 awesome hashtags, now what? 

In order for the tags to work, you can copy/paste them into either your caption or one of the comments on your photo. Either way will enable your content to be found on the app.

Some people prefer to put the hashtags in the first comment because it seems less intrusive or blatant (remember that weird shame I have about using hashtags I mentioned earlier?), but it may take a little more time (especially if your using a scheduling app like Planoly or Later).

Along the same lines of “hiding” your hashtags, some people like to take the trick even further. If you use a certain formula, whether in the caption or the comment, your hashtags will be hidden in the Read More Land. 

Here’s the formula: Period, Enter, Period, Enter, Period, Enter, Period, Enter, Period, Enter, Hashtags! (Hit the period then “enter” x 5, then paste your hashtags.) It looks something like this:

I like to do this, because, shame. But it’s really not necessary. The most important takeaway is that you should be using hashtags. All damn thirty of them.

Well, there ya have it. If you follow these five steps when writing your captions, you’ll find yourself captivating your old & new followers, creating more engagement on your posts, and priming your audience for those eventual big asks (that convert!).

Don’t forget to download our free guide for How To: Use Call-To-Actions in your Instagram Captions here.

This ONE STEP will make the biggest difference in capturing & converting your audience.

Grab our How-To Guide to Instagram Call-To-Actions!
(P.S. We’ve included 10 CTA Templates that you can start using in your captions today!)