How do you write scroll-stopping Instagram captions?
In this video, I'm going to share six copywriting tips
with real life examples that you can use
to skyrocket your engagement. And be sure to watch to the
end for my quick list of favorite social media tools.
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Hey guys, what's up?
It's Alex.
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Now, I am super excited about this week's video,
because it is one that a lot of you
have been asking me to do for a while now,
how to write killer social media captions.
Now I'll admit, it took me some time to release this video
because I'll be honest, I am a big believer
in only teaching things on the internet
that you've actually done
and have real results and evidence to back it up.
I don't typically write social media captions for my clients
as I tend to stick to those higher level
key conversion pieces
like sales pages, webinars, and websites.
But if you follow us over on Instagram at Copy Posse,
then you might've noticed
that we've been seriously killing it
on the content over the last few months.
Huge shout out to my amazing social media team.
We've been experimenting like crazy in our posts and stories
with different designs, formats, and techniques
to grow and engage our audience...
And we've been growing like crazy.
In fact, we have more than doubled our following
in the last three months alone
and just this week we finally hit the 10K mark.
So instead of doing a standard
"How To Write Instagram Posts" tutorial
and show you what everybody else is doing,
I'm going to share our own best performing posts
and proven strategies that we've used
to boost our following and engagement dramatically.
Now, first things first, like all types of copy,
Instagram captions need to follow the ABCs of copywriting.
So first they need to get attention with a great graphic
and a compelling headline.
Second, they need to provide a benefit or some sort of value
in the form of education, entertainment, or inspiration.
And lastly, they need a strong close.
They need to give people one clear and concise
call-to-action.
Copy that?
All right, let's go.
Here are six tips for writing killer Instagram captions
along with real life examples from the Copy Posse.
Tip number one,
to get more likes, share a relatable story.
So, my most liked post of all time is this one.
It is a known fact that actual photos of people
do typically get more likes,
especially for a personality based brand like mine.
So, yes, while this photo did help me grab attention,
I opened the caption
with a very strong and relatable question.
What if my client doesn't like my copy?
This speaks to one of the biggest insecurities
that copywriters have
no matter how long they've been doing this.
Trust me on that and it's a question that I get a lot.
In fact, this post was inspired
by one of my Copy Posse Launch Pad students,
who was feeling a little bit derailed
after a client sent back her work
with a bunch of slashes, edits, and comments.
So I shared our quick exchange with my Instagram community
because let's face it,
it was real, it was authentic, and it was 100% relatable.
I knew other people would benefit from hearing
that even experienced copywriters like myself
and my high-level coaching students have doubts sometimes.
And yes, we often have to deal with
less-than-glowing client feedback.
So rather than trying to pull content out of thin air,
as much as you can, share real stories
and be as specific as possible.
Remember, the more specific the story,
the more relatable your copy.
Lastly, don't be afraid to create polarity,
take a strong stand for something you believe in,
or own up to your own imperfections.
Nothing engages people more than a story that validates
their own concerns, doubts, and fears,
or speaks to a shared cause, mission, or belief.
All right, tip number two, to get more saves,
share your favorite tips and tools.
So my three most saved posts of all time
all share one thing in common.
They are short educational lists
of my top copywriting tools, courses, and books.
So these types of quick top five or top 10 lists
provide insider tips and invaluable shortcuts
on a topic that is highly relevant to your followers.
And there's just something about lists
that we as humans just absolutely love, right?
It's actually scientifically proven
that we love lists because they're simple
and they provide easy frameworks
for us to process information quickly
in an otherwise oversaturated
and overwhelming information age.
So now you'll see in the caption
that on top of a compelling headline
and a detailed list that supplements the graphic,
we also have a clear CTA that says,
"Comment yes below for us to DM you the links."
And sometimes we even include
a save for later call to action in the graphic
directly above the save button.
That makes it really, really clear and easy
for a follower to just click once,
save that to their archive,
and then they can refer back to it later whenever they want.
All right, tip number three, to get more shares,
post a thought-provoking meme or quote.
Oh yes, the biggest crowd pleasers of them all,
memes and quotes, both are punchy, straight to the point,
and offer a quick burst of fun, just like a tequila shot.
Memes have the ability of uniting us
using the universal emotion of humor.
There is no better way to do this
than through satire of real life.
And while quotes may have gotten a bad rap lately,
thanks to those spreading oversimplified, stolen,
and sometimes painfully cliche wisdom,
the numbers do not lie, people love quotes.
The bottom line is this, both quotes and memes
are indisputably powerful and share worthy,
especially when they are relevant to your audience
and speak to their sense of identity,
or a common belief system.
So for example, this is my most shared post of all time.
It's a funny quote
and speaks directly to who we are as writers.
Now here's a meme post that I created
that was shared a lot too.
Again, it brings us all together
through humor and a sense of belonging.
Here's what people think copywriters do
versus what copywriters actually do.
Now while memes and quotes are punchy,
you don't want to overdo it.
One of the best ways you can distinguish yourself
from just another random quote or meme account
is to mix up your content
and when you do share a quote or meme,
use copy in your caption
that provides context and even more value to your followers
and whatever you do, don't forget the call-to-action.
All right, tip number four.
To get more comments, ask a simple question.
So one of the best ways
to get your followers to comment on your posts
is to ask them a question, of course,
but here's the thing, you want to keep it quick
and ask a question that requires very minimal effort.
So I like to include the question in the graphic itself
as well, because don't forget,
we are in the scrolling generation
so you can ask a multiple choice question
like I did in this post
where I asked my followers to let me know where they're at
on their copywriting journey.
Or if you do want to keep your question open-ended,
that's cool too.
Make the question painfully easy to answer,
like in my most commented post of all time,
where I simply asked my followers
to tell me where in the world they're from.
It requires very little effort to answer,
and it evokes a strong sense of pride and identity.
So these types of posts are great
to easily engage your audience as Instagram's algorithm
tracks and monitors your engagement rate.
So the higher your engagement rate,
the more likely your posts are to be seen by more people
and the faster you grow.
But again, you do not want your entire account
to just be these types of posts,
because then you're not adding a lot of value
for your audience.
They are a great way though, to get conversation going
and have a little fun between your heavier content posts.
All right, tip number five,
to get more leads, provide valuable resources.
Because Instagram prohibits hyperlinks
in the captions themselves,
it can be really challenging for brands
to send their followers to their website.
It requires a lot of interest
and serious manual effort from the reader.
Those three little words, "link in bio"
require a surprising amount of work,
which means you better be giving people a damn good reason
to stop their scrolling, go to your profile,
click the link in the bio,
then to leave the Instagram app altogether
to access your website,
and then take the desired call-to-action,
which is to sign up or buy something.
With that being said,
social media can still be a great source for leads,
but see this as an opportunity to put on your marketing hat
and ask yourself this question,
what can I give my followers that is so good
that they'll want to stop what they're doing right now,
leave Instagram and go get it?
So the answer to that is
to share a highly valuable and relevant resource
that helps them solve one of their most pressing problems.
So for example, this is one of the posts
that led to the most amount of link clicks
at the Copy Posse.
As you can see, it's a visual representation
of my hot offer checklist
and while the video does offer
a tangible preview of what you'll get
when you click the link in bio, I did not stop there.
The caption brings the heat.
I opened with a strong question headline,
and then I offer tips on how to get the most
out of this free resource and then of course,
I end with one clear and concise call-to-action,
to click the link in bio.
By the way, you can get your copy of this checklist
at the link below and now tip number six,
to get more followers, make it playful and have fun.
So the best posts of them all are the ones that get
a lot of likes, comments, shares, and saves
because those are the posts
that keep people coming back for more
and boost your following like crazy.
So my most engaging posts of all time across all metrics
was this power words post.
Power words are a copywriter's secret weapon
when it comes to giving your copy some needed pizazz.
So in this good old fashioned word game,
we listed down some common adjectives
and offered alternatives
that can evoke more emotion and action in your copywriting.
We then asked our followers to fill in the blank
and find a better word for "increase".
So these kinds of posts are really fun and easy to answer,
but they also evoke our human competitive nature,
add a ton of value, and provide a unique opportunity
for your audience to interact with you in a fun way.
By mixing up the style, format, and design of your posts,
while of course always following the ABC copywriting rules
in your captions,
you'll boost your engagement and following in no time,
plus you'll have a fun, creative, and exciting feed
that keeps people coming back again and again and again.
Now, before I let you go, as promised,
here's a quick list of my go to social media tools
that we use here at the Copy Posse.
Number one, Canva.
So I am obsessed with Canva,
it's so user friendly and totally customizable
and I love it that me,
someone who has zero design skills whatsoever,
can use these gorgeous templates and designs
to create amazing, amazing graphics.
Now, this platform has been a savior
in my copywriting Agency and Academy
because I use it for absolutely everything,
the PDFs and worksheets in my coaching program,
the download-ables like my Hot Offer Checklist,
I use it for all of my social media posts
and even my YouTube thumbnails.
All right, number two, pretty-caption.com.
So this simple web tool is a game changer
for formatting Instagram captions.
Now I'm sure you guys have experienced this before,
where you actually paste a caption into Instagram
and Instagram moves all the paragraph spaces
and it turns your caption into this like
crammed up long ass wall of text
and it looks nothing like how you want it to,
so this tool just makes it really easy
to make sure your captions
look exactly how you want them to look,
beautifully spaced out and aligned.
So to use it,
you just paste your caption into this website
and then you copy it into Instagram.
All right, now last one,
number three, the Later app.
So Later is a great tool
for you to schedule your posts in advance
so that you can plan your content timeline
and actually preview your feed in advance.
I also use it to manage all of my social media profiles
in just one handy place.
Okay guys, that's it for me this week.
Give me a thumbs up below if you found this video helpful.
As always, thank you so so much for watching.
Don't forget to subscribe
so you don't miss my video coming next week
and in the meantime, check out my video
on four digital marketing and social media trends
that are taking over the internet.
You can watch that video right here
and I will see you again soon with a brand new tutorial.
Until then, I'm Alex.
Ciao for now!
Canva, it, blah.