Are You Writing Your Social Media Captions the Right Way?

When it comes to knowing how to write social media captions for your business, most of the time, you know what you want to say. If not, you definitely know what not to say (ever heard the phrase “if you wouldn’t say it to your Grandma, don’t say it at all”?).

However, it doesn’t stop there. You need to know how to say it, and why. 

How can you effectively get your message across? How can you grab your audience's attention? Most importantly, how can you successfully direct them back to your website? 

Below, we outlined how to write an effective social media caption by explaining the wrong way, and the right way, to write social media captions.

Want to start driving better results with your social media strategy? Contact us online or call us today at (616) 490-1068 to speak with a strategist.

How to Write Social Media Captions: The Wrong Way

Before you can learn how to successfully write your social media captions for the best responses and greater ROI, you must learn what NOT to do.

1. Hard Sell

Hard selling on a social media post is always a hard no. People don’t turn to social media to be sold a product. Your social media audience wants to engage with your company on a personal level. 

This means it’s out with the “preaching”, “in-your-face” captions, and in with the conversation starters, laughable memes, and friendly pieces of advice.

Not sure you have the time or capacity to keep up with social media postings for your business? Contact our team today.

2. Overshare

Keep it simple. Oversharing with a long caption can turn your reader away (which you don’t want!). Which caption are you more likely to read: a lengthy paragraph, or a concise, spaced-out 2-3 sentences? 

Additionally, you don’t want to overshare too much information; leaving the reader hooked and wanting to learn more is what leads them to click back to your website!

3. Repeat Captions

Social media posting for B2B businesses can be mundane and a “chore” (let’s face it, it’s not on the top of your priority list). Getting caught in the cycle of using the same 3 word-phrases in your captions for the sake of cutting back on the time you spend writing them leads to repeat content. 

In the fast-paced world of social media, your audience will get bored easily if they read the same caption over-and-over again. Find a few key phrases that stick, but use them sparingly. Always add variety in your caption writing to keep your audience engaged.

Not sure you have the time or capacity to keep up with social media postings for your business? Contact our team today.

4. Overuse Hashtags

Lastly, don’t crowd your captions with a whole paragraph of hashtags. Do some research on the prime number of hashtags relative to each social media platform before posting - most of the time, less is more!

How to Write Social Media Captions: The Right Way

As you can see, there is absolutely a wrong way to write social media captions for businesses. Fortunately, this also means there’s a right way to write social media captions for your business. 

Below are the five key elements of creating effective social media captions.

1. Grab Their Attention

First, start your caption off with a bang. The first sentence of your caption determines whether or not the reader continues reading. Grabbing their attention with a surprising fact, funny joke, or a question are excellent ways to stop them in their scrolling. 

Not sure you have the time or capacity to keep up with social media postings for your business? Contact our team today.

2. Add Value to your Caption

Once you have their attention, add value. What did you get their attention for? This is where you address their concern or solve their problem. Global Web Index found “54% of Social Browsers use social media to research products”. Position yourself as an expert, and provide content that educates researchers about your product or service.

Try writing in an inverted pyramid style; giving them the most important information first to keep them interested and wanting to read more. Remember, be careful not to hard sell!

3. Write a CTA

Since you’re leaving the reader with the feeling of wanting to learn more, make sure they know where they can go to learn more (your website!). 

Calls to Action, known as CTAS, direct the reader from your social media post to your website page, blog, or article. Be careful not to use the same CTA phrase all the time, or you’ll end up repeating yourself. 

4. Make the Caption “Pretty”

As stated above, the absolute wrong way to write a caption is to make it one long paragraph. Use spacing and emojis to break up your writing, add a personal touch, and make it easy to digest. 

Separate your “attention-getter” from your value-add section, and your value-add section from your CTA, with a blank line. Add emojis for a fun pop, and make sure your tone is personalized and thought-provoking. 

Not sure you have the time or capacity to keep up with social media postings for your business? Contact our team today.

5. Include Your URL and Tag Appropriately

Finally, don’t forget the link! Make sure you always include a link back to your website AND make sure it’s landing page is the subject of your social media post. 

Additionally, increase your post’s reach by using tags when appropriate. Sharing an outside article? Tag the publisher. Sharing a review? Tag the reviewer. This makes their audience your audience, too. Posts with links and tags are also favored in most social media platforms’ algorithms. 

Not Sure How to Write Social Media Captions For Your Business?

When it comes to social media for businesses, there’s right and wrong things to say and right and wrong ways to say it. 

Writing your social media captions the right way increases ROI, website traffic, and audience engagement with your business, no matter your industry. A Statista study concluded that in 2021, businesses found their social media efforts increased their exposure by 88%, and generated new leads by 69%. 

Not sure you have the time or capacity to keep up with social media postings for your business? Contact our team today.

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