Everyone gets stuck writing captions, especially when you’re trying to make your social media posts engaging, prompting reaction. In this post, I’ll share a few tips on how you can create social media captions that’ll get your audience talking to you.
1. Create Captions With Intention
When creating your social media post captions, think about what the intention behind the post is.
Are you trying to connect with your audience? Do you want them to take a specific action after reading your post? Is this simply to share your personality?
Thinking about the reason behind why your posting is the first step in creating a caption that engages your audience.
2. Encourage Conversations
Try to create social media captions which encourage conversation, and entice your audience to respond. A one-line sentence about how you like lattes probably won’t be enough – try to ask open-ended questions to prompt interaction.
If you have a basic caption idea think of how you can turn it into a question. For example, instead of simply saying “Iced lattes are my favorite” you could try something along the lines of “I love iced lattes in the summer – what’s your favorite summer drink?”.
Remember that open-ended questions usually drum up more conversation than general “yes” or “no” questions.
3. Include A Call To Action (On Occasion)
Including a call to action can be another great way to make your social media captions more engaging, while also inviting action. You could, for example, ask your followers to visit your latest blog post or answer your question.
But not every single caption needs a call to action. Asking for people to do something too often could cause you to lose some of your audience – I mean would you like a friend who only asks you to do things for them?
4. Add Value
Steering a little bit in the opposite direction of my prior point, a good way to connect with your audience is to add value to their day.
Use your social media captions to give your audience information, provide a laugh, or share some inspiration. Giving a little something can encourage your audience to give a little back. They may thank you, or share their own take on your post.
5. Put Yourself In Your Audience’s Shoes
What better way to create an engaging social media caption than to put yourself in your audience’s shoes?
How would you receive the message if you were on the other side of the conversation? Take a step back and consider the following questions:
- Why would my audience care?
- Would I have something to say if I saw this post in my feed?
- Am I giving my audience something to respond to?
- Would my ideal audience or client find this interesting?
- Does this caption reflect me (or my brand?
6. Be Yourself
You need to stand out from the competition and break through the noise, and the best way to do that is to be yourself and reflect your (or your brand personality).
Always remember to be true to your voice, and the way you communicate.
7. Tell A Story
If all else fails, a great way to create an engaging social media caption is to tell a story.
Share a struggle, an anecdote, or any story that your ideal audience or client can relate to. Telling a story will help you show personality, and can help create moments of real connection with your audience.
So yes, creating captions can be a little stressful, but always go back to basics. Social media is
social – it’s about talking to people and trying to get them to participate in a conversation with you, not you talking at them.
This post was first published on Dhariana Lozano’s blog.