How To Write Captions On Instagram That Convert

Let’s be honest. Writing captions for Instagram can be hard. Often, times, you’ll open the app to post, just to close it in frustration because you don’t know what to say. You may be putting too much pressure on being profound, witty, deep, and entertaining, leaving you feeling stuck when it comes to sharing. 

Today I’m sharing how to write Instagram captions that convert what to write, formatting advice, and caption prompts to help you get started.

Why Do Captions Matter On Instagram

It could be easy to believe that photos are worth 1,000 words and that captions don’t play a role in your strategy. But engagement is the name of the game on social media, and you need to be strategically telling your stories (both in images and words!)

And if we aren’t letting our captions do the talking and we’re relying on our images to tell the story, we are missing a golden opportunity to invite our followers into action. While your pictures have to be engaging to make your followers want to read more, the caption itself might be the sole drive to conversion.

When you can partner storytelling images with the actual story, you’re increasing the level of engagement and showing the algorithm who’s boss!

What Should You Include When Writing Your Instagram Captions?

Instagram captions can vary a lot, but there are some essential items to include in every one. At the most basic level, a good Instagram caption offers value, adds personality, and inspires your followers to take action.

Give Value to Your Instagram Followers

If your last five captions are random emojis, song lyrics, or a quote, ….and you’re trying to sell a product or brand yourself, I’d reassess! You ARE an expert in your industry, so share what you know! Your advice will provide value, and establish you as an expert to the people who turn to you for insight. 

1. Share a Tip. Share tips, advice, and hacks for your industry that is super valuable to readers.

2. Tell a story. Humans have been communicating through stories forever. It’s a natural part of our everyday conversation, so becoming a good storyteller is crucial for social media. With storytelling, you open an opportunity for communication, and you’re showing a vulnerability that your followers will appreciate.

3. Motivation. Everyone loves a feel-good, encouraging message, and your audience will love the encouragement. So share an inspiring story or your favorite motivational quote.

4. Entertainment. Do you love cute animal videos or stunning travel photos? Social media brings value to its users through entertainment like funny videos, photos, and witty captions.

Take A Break

You want to share value with your followers, but you also want to make sure it’s easy to read and understand. Try and create space between each thought to help increase the readability of your caption. Whether you space it out with “.” “-” or emojis, breaking up the caption ensures your audience doesn’t feel like they’re working on reading it. 

Tell Them What You Want

It’s important to tell your audience what you would like them to do next! This could be…

• Click the link in my bio

• Drop a comment responding to the caption

• Answer this question in the comments

It’s most common to put the CTA at the end of a caption, but you can place it anywhere. Some CTAs can appear at the beginning of the caption if people aren’t reading your longer captions. Your calls to action can be small or big, but having a call to action is what leads to conversions.

Learn more about calls to action here.

Should Your Captions Be Long Or Short? Is There A Perfect Length?

If your posts thrive with pretty pics and funny one-liners, then keep doing your thing! 

Social media is all about finding what works for you. Longer, storytelling captions are compelling for your audience. We are all the same. We love feeling a connection, and that is why when we read other people’s stories on Instagram, we feel compelled to continue that conversation, it’s like the writer is speaking right to us. 

One factor Instagram considers in its algorithm is time spent on a post, so by telling a longer story or sharing a longer post, your readers will spend more time on the post, which tells Instagram people are enjoying the post!

Formatting Your Captions So Readers Engage

When it comes to the actual formatting style of your captions, it’s essential to keep in mind that one enormous paragraph may look daunting to read. That block of text won’t stop many people in their scroll, because it’s overwhelming to the eye. It takes about 30 seconds to read a full caption, but when since attention span on a post is usually less than 2 seconds, we want to make sure our caption is attention-grabbing.

I always type my captions in my notes app on my iPhone or format it as I type it into Later, my favorite Instagram scheduling app. 

It’s Time To Write!

Feeling stuck? Start here and fill in the rest of your caption. 

• Today I’m feeling a little:

• I Couldn’t Believe It When

• One thing I’m looking forward to is:

• Hi, I’m (name) and here are five facts about me:

• Double tap if _____

• “Tag your BFF”

• “Tell me what your favorite ____ is!”

• “Share Your Most Used Emoji”

• “Describe Your Weekend in an emoji!”

• Tag your favorite__________below!

• Share “exclusive” content through a link.

Insider Tip: I keep a note on my phone for moments of inspiration. I jot down caption ideas like stories or advice to share, and then I can go back to them later and polish them up before they go on the gram!

 Whether you’re an e-commerce brand selling products or a blogger, writing good Instagram captions can be a game-changer. I can’t wait to see your business and Instagram grow with captions that convert