Do you get stuck while writing captions? If so, then don’t worry because you’re not alone. There are other writers and marketers who get stuck making their social media posts engaging and prompting a reaction.

While we are on the topic of social media captions, let’s discuss this: You should never ignore visuals on social media. Words combined with good graphics are a great way to show a brand’s personality.

With the right captions, you can add context to your posts, show off your brand’s personality, entertain the audience and/or compel people to take action.

I’ll share a few tips so that you can communicate with your audience and have them talk to you using social media captions.

Create Captions With Intention

If you create captions just for the sake of creating them, take a break and reconsider your social media strategy.

After doing that, you’ll have a clear goal behind each post. For example, maybe you want to connect with your audience? Maybe, you want them to buy something or subscribe to something? Or simply, your want an emotional connection by sharing your personality or pictures with your family?

Whatever it is, have an intention behind each caption. So thinking about the reason why you’re posting is our first step.

Encourage Conversations

Conversations are a great way to engage people on social media. So whenever you are writing captions, encourage people to respond and have a conversation. For example, you can ask them about the SEO tool that helped them with a campaign immensely.

A one-line sentence may not have the same powers as an expanded question does. Ask open-ended questions instead of one-liners.

Open-ended questions also have more chances of sparking a conversation than a yes/no type of question. For example, if you ask, “Is Ubersuggest helpful?” people might just reply yes or no.

Instead, you can ask something like, “There has been a lot of buzz about Ubersuggest lately. What’s your take on that tool? What features do you enjoy? And which ones do you not like?” It will have more chances of starting a conversation.

Include a Call to Action (At the Right Time)

There’s something about a call to action. The simple words, click now, has more power than you think. But sometimes you have to think more than just writing “click now.”

These calls to action will make your posts more engaging while inviting action at the same time.

Again, it can vary depending on your goals. For example, you can ask people to comment on the post. Or you can ask them to visit your landing page.

But you don’t have to ask them to do things always. It can create a negative impact. Instead, include calls to action thoughtfully.

Add Value

It’s time to be honest here. People don’t follow you because they are lonely in their lives and have no friends. Most likely, they are looking for value.

What’s in it for me? People are thinking about this. Whether it’s entertainment in their leisure time or growth for their business, they want something in return.

So have a habit of providing value. This is not confined to writing perfect social media captions; Use this principle on other marketing channels as well. Whether it’s a blog post or a YouTube video, give people something of value.

Give your audience information, provide a laugh, or share some inspiration.

Now, all of the above talks may sound strange to you. You may ask, “David, but where do I get my benefit?” Well, while you are giving them value, encourage them to give a little back.

Market strategically. People don’t like a me-too kind of brand. Provide value and ask about giving something back thoughtfully.

Put Yourself In Your Audience’s Shoes

Again, this is in continuation to our previous point. You want to think about things from your followers’ perspectives.

What would the message sound like if you were the follower, instead of the social media caption writer?

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Why should the reader care?
• If I was scrolling through my feed, how would I respond to this post?
• Would my ideal buyer person respond to this positively?
• Does this post sound like our brand?

Be Yourself

The followers you have on social media are there because of your brand personality. For example, they perceive you as this funny, innovative guy. So if you start to come off as a dry, corporate guy in your posts, they wouldn’t respond well. They may start to unfollow you as well.

So your best bet is to be yourself everywhere, let alone when you are writing social media captions. This is a surefire way to stand out from the competition.

Tell a Story

This is the life-saving tip. If you are not getting any response, come up with a story. Now, I don’t want you to set up your typewriter and write a fake story. Think of an original one.

Everyone has a story. They either don’t know that they have one or they don’t know how to tell it. If you are one of them, don’t worry. Just think about the special brand moments that come to mind immediately.

Stories don’t always have to be emotional. You can think of a funny one. After that, just tell it how it happened. You don’t have to be a great storyteller for that. Just go back to how it happened. Hopefully, it’ll strike the write cords.

Do you have a secret formula for writing social media captions? Let me know in the comments below!