Instagram Captions

Don’t let your carousel, image, or video get lonely! Always include a caption — doing so gives you a significant boost in engagement, from just under 4% to over 6%.

Making that Instagram caption longer gives you another, smaller boost, with variable results depending on length.

Quick captions still perform well. But short and sweet isn’t the obvious choice anymore Engagement-wise, the two sweet spots seem to be keeping it brief, at 1-20 characters, or going long, at over 2000 — but it’s a minor boost either way.

The most important thing is including an Instagram caption in the first place, so write one that feels authentic and make sure it comes from the heart!

In North America, having a caption still gives you a huge boost. But here, people seem to prefer shorter text.

After 20 characters, you’ll start to see some diminishing returns. But again, a long caption is way better than none at all — so don’t hold back if you have something to say!

In the UK and Ireland, having an Instagram caption improves post engagement.

Just like in North America, people seem to prefer shorter text. So, according to the data, 20 characters or less is the best for post engagement. Once again, though, a long caption is much better than none at all.

Your Instagram caption isn’t just about text! These fun little pictures have become a big part of communicating in the digital age, and they have an impact on how your content performs, too.

Globally, including at least 1 emoji in your Instagram caption will get you higher engagement, but after that, it doesn’t really seem to matter.

In North America, including some emojis in your Instagram caption does help, but you definitely can go overboard.

Including 11 or more emojis can have a significant, negative impact on engagement, while including 6-10 doesn’t really help your engagement. So keep it to less than 5!

In the UK, having at least 1 emoji as part of your Instagram caption will result in higher engagement, but beyond that, it won't really matter.

As we’ve seen, captions are the secret ingredient to take your Instagram performance to the next level. It doesn’t matter how great your photo or carousel is — including a caption will give your post a boost of engagement that it would never bring in alone!

Stay true to your voice
Remember that brand voice we talked about? Your caption is the perfect place to let it speak loud and clear! This is your chance to speak directly to your followers with the personality they know and love. Start strong Always lead your caption with the most important, compelling information. Instagram will clip your caption when it appears in users’ feeds, and unless it’s short, they’ll need to click ‘see more’ to read the whole thing. So give them a reason to keep reading!

Tell a story
Stories are what makes captions interesting. Think about it — would you rather read a dry list of facts, or a story about what they actually mean? Wherever you can, use captions to share the stories behind your brand and products.

Offer value
As they check out your brand’s Instagram content, your audience is asking themselves one thing — ‘what’s in it for me?’ Offer exclusive deals, special offers, or even just useful information to make following worth their while.

Don’t forget the CTA Never end your caption without providing a next step, such as signing up for your newsletter, leaving a comment, or even making a purchase. If someone reads your entire caption, that means you’ve done a great job of holding their interest — so don’t let it go to waste!

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