There’s no social media disaster worse than having an IG-worthy photo with a bland caption. 

Just think about it. You spend hours conceptualising the post, shooting the photo, and editing it to match your branding and IG theme. And for what? Zero engagement, and probably a few unfollows? That’s heartbreaking! 

Do you want to know why you’re engagement isn’t improving? If you’ve done your best in creating amazing photos, chances are your captions are the ones to blame. 

Here are common caption mistakes that you’re probably guilty of and ways to fix them. 

1. Too many emojis

Emojis are fun. Overusing them, however, takes your audience away from the message you’re trying to share. Furthermore, remember that not everyone is good with emojispeak. Use too many emojis, and your message will be lost in translation. 

What can you do? Limit your use to a few emojis every paragraph or line. 

2. Too many hashtags 

Here’s another element that people like to use and abuse in their captions — hashtags!

Hashtags are great. They help expand the reach of your post by making sure the right people see them. They’re a great tool to make your posts visible to your target audience, which is why some people pepper their captions with hashtags. 

What’s wrong with that? Too many hashtags within your caption make your message difficult to read. Not to mention, it can appear spammy too. Keep your caption neat and tidy by having all your hashtags at the end of the caption. You may also consider putting your hashtags as the first comment of your post. 

When there are no hashtags to distract your audience from your caption, they’ll be more likely to read it and might even respond to your call-to-action.

3. You don’t have a brand voice

A brand voice is important just as much as an IG theme is essential. Your brand voice is what gives your caption personality. It’ gives your audience a chance to get to know you on a deeper level. Think of the phrases that you’d like to associate with your brand. How do you want to “talk” to your followers? What are the words you’d like to regularly use in your posts? All these can help you create your brand voice. Additionally, it makes it a lot easier to write an effective and engaging Instagram caption. 

4. Your message is too long — or too short 

The caption length is a tricky business. You’ll find many Instagram experts recommending a specific caption length. Unfortunately, there really is no single sufficient length for Instagram captions. 

You need to evaluate your posts and see what works for your audience. To do this, consider experimenting with your caption length on several of your posts. After a week or two (or even a month), check your Insights and see which posts got the most engagement. Doing this simple experiment will help you determine the length you should follow for your captions. 

5. Your captions are mere descriptions

Stop describing what’s on the photo. Your followers can see them. Instead, start telling a story about it. What made you share the photo? What was the story behind it? Put some emotion into your captions and connect with the heart of your followers. 

Unsure who your ideal customer is? Download our FREE Ideal Customer Worksheet here.

Creating Instagram captions doesn’t have to be difficult. The secret is to get to know your followers. Spend time engaging with them and checking out their posts. When you know their likes, interests, and even how they post on Instagram, you’d be able to create the perfect IG post that they would love to engage with. 

Need help developing your social media strategy? Let us help you. We offer a wide range of social media services, from one on one consulting to full social media management. Click here to learn more.