A well-constructed and compelling Instagram caption will lead to greater engagement. Captions are one of the things that the Instagram algorithm checks when ranking content in users’ feeds. Your followers will be able to see your photos and videos more often if you attract more likes and comments with a good caption.
With nearly one billion users, Instagram is not only one of the largest social networking sites, it is also one of the favorite mediums for social media marketing of nearly 50 percent of brands worldwide. The captions that go with your photos and videos are a great way to express yourself and engage followers. It is important, however, to keep in mind the technical side of how your Instagram appears and the bigger picture of how it is serving the brand that you represent, whether it is personal or business-related.
Instagram Caption Limitations
Though you can write captions up to 2200 characters, only three lines will appear with your Instagram post. Past the first three lines, the rest of your caption will be seen only if users click “Read More”. So, you need to wisely prepare your caption so that the most important part comes right in the beginning.
The limit of 2,200 characters includes emojis and hashtags, but you can only include 30 clickable hashtags per post. Like all good web writing, your caption should be able to grab attention and convey the essential message of your brand. Here are four ways to achieve this:
1. Know Your Audience
The better you know your audience, the more targeted a caption you can write to appeal to them. Instagram users come from all over the world and from various income brackets, so you should know who your ideal user is and what would attract their attention.
Instagram is a competitive field for businesses: the number of business profiles on Instagram is more than 8 million. Nearly 95 million photos are uploaded daily on Instagram, which is a huge amount of posts to compete with. Knowing exactly who you want to address through your captions is of great value, as it can help you target those users and appeal to their sensibilities.
2. Stay On Brand
If it isn’t already established, try to figure out what your brand voice is. Though the conversation on Instagram is informal in style and content, you cannot lose sight of the fact that your captions are part of the brand voice that represents yourself or your business’ brand.
Your caption should express your brand to the fullest, strengthening the brand image. Consistent branding will help you reach a more targeted audience and will also help your posts stand out.
3. Consider Length
As you know, while you can write a caption as long as 2,200 characters, only the first three lines of it will appear with your post in the feed. If you want your caption to be displayed in full, Instagram recommends using 125 characters or less. Take your time to plan the content of your caption and keep it brief, unless you have a compelling reason to write a long caption.
4. Use Hashtags Wisely
Instagram hashtags can make the copy of your caption look busy, but you cannot do without them. Place them subtly in your text so that they are not too intrusive. You can also hide your hashtags. One way of doing this is to put them at the end of your caption; you can purposefully create extra space in your caption by typing it in a note first and using punctuation like the post below.
You can also hide hashtags by placing them in a comment instead of in your caption. The hashtags will still create clickable links and make your post discoverable on hashtag pages, but they won’t crowd your caption.
Final Words
Instagram is a great medium to connect with your target audience and deliver content. Writing captions with your posts is an effective way to increase your engagement, create a brand voice, and improve you or your business’ presence on this vital social media platform.