What used to be an app to post pictures of food and share selfies with your friends has evolved into a platform offering mind-blowing exposure in the world of online business. Recently, Instagram has become an amazing platform to attract new customers for an existing business or to build an entirely new one which is why it is important to learn how to write super engaging Instagram captions!
As of 2018 Instagram has amassed an astounding 1 billion users which have grown even larger since then.
Businesses that are not capitalizing on the organic reach of Instagram are missing out big time. Just capturing a small percentage of users on the platform can have a very positive impact on your business.
The problem with most accounts on Instagram is that they lack engagement.
Someone may have a ton of followers but if they aren’t engaged then those followers don’t mean much. Engagement is important as more engaged followers are more likely to buy products you promote and therefore make you more money.
In this article, I will go over some actionable tips which you can implement in order to increase your engagement and gain an active following.
So first of all, why should you be on Instagram in the first place?
Instagram is now one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world. Practically every large scale business has a presence on the platform.
If you are a business owner or would like to be then an Instagram presence is vital. Without an Instagram presence, you will be losing lots of customers to competition with a large following.
With Instagram, you will miss out on a ton of potential leads and sales. If you haven’t hopped on the Instagram bandwagon yet, now is the best time to get started.
What makes engagement important?
Many new Instagram users focus a lot on their follower count. Yes, this is definitely important, however, it should not be your only focus. The engagement rate is also vital to keep an eye on.
You could have 1 million followers but if they are not engaged followers that like and comment on your posts, they are not very useful. Unengaged followers are very unlikely to check out products your promote and purchase them, therefore not providing you with any monetization opportunity.
An engaged audience that frequently likes, comments, and shares your posts are better to have than a larger unengaged audience.
Now that you know why engagement is important, let’s jump into how you can create your captions in order to ensure the greatest amount of engaged followers.
Caption essentials to increase engagement
Engaging Instagram Caption Wizardry Strategy 1: Ask a question
The first tip I have for you is to ask a question in the caption. Asking a question related to the post can have a dramatic increase in that posts engagement. People will comment on an answer to the question if they feel that they have something to say. Without a question most people wouldn’t feel the need to leave a comment, however, a question will motivate them to express their opinion to your question.
Engaging Instagram Caption Wizardry Strategy 2: Use a call to action at the end
Believe it or not, a subtle prompt can greatly increase the likeliness of a viewer to take action. Without a call to action, most viewers will see a post and then just keep scrolling. Using a call to action psychologically makes a viewer want to actually take action!
If you are wondering what type of call to action to use, here are a few examples.
- Ask them to share the post with someone who would enjoy it
- Ask them to leave a comment
- Tell them to share their thoughts
These simple call to actions can lead to massive increases in engagement on your posts.
Engaging Instagram Caption Wizardry Strategy 3: Evoke emotions
Aiming to bring out certain emotions can be a very powerful strategy in the world of online marketing. As humans, we are prone to act on certain emotions and to take action.
There are 4 main emotions you will want to use in your captions
- Urgency
- Curiosity
- Inspiration
- FOMO (fear of missing out)
Urgency
If you’ve ever wondered why people are eager to purchase limited edition items or items that are on sale for a short period of time well it’s due to urgency.
Businesses all over the world use urgency in their marketing methods. Creating a sense of urgency is what encourages people to act right away.
This prevents customers from thinking too much and just acting impulsively. Without urgency, people tend to take their time and think more about something. Instilling a sense of urgency will encourage viewers to act right away.
A popular method of urgency on Instagram that has been used a lot is where accounts tell users to follow quickly since they will be going private soon. This encourages a lot of people to follow them. You don’t necessarily have to use this one, but coming up with a creative way of using urgency in your captions is definitely a good idea.
Curiosity
Curiosity is an important emotion to target. When humans become curious they often do what they can to find answers. Finding a way to make a viewer curious after reading your caption will likely make them comment on your post as well as share it with their friends.
Inspiration
You don’t need to be in the motivational or inspirational niche to use this emotion to your advantage. Simply dropping nuggets of inspiring words in your captions can go a long way. Give this a try from time to time and it should do a good job of increasing your engagement.
FOMO
The fear of missing out is a big one. This is the emotion that causes over 60% of millennials to purchase a product that they saw on social media. Humans like to be involved and don’t want to miss out on opportunities. Instilling a sense of FOMO into your viewers through your captions will be sure to make them engage more in your posts.
Closing remarks
Overall, Instagram is a rapidly growing platform which you should use to your advantage. By implementing the tips I have discussed in this article, you should have no problem increasing your engagement and therefore building a loyal following to support your business!
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Make it happen,
Liam