5 Tips to Writing Captions

Have you ever stared at that blinking cursor on your screen and agonized over what to say? Believe me, you are not alone.

By far one of the most challenging aspects of social media is writing captions! We hear from our clients all the time that they just don’t know what to say or how to say it in a way that fits their brand.

If this sounds like you, you are in luck! Read on for 5 tips to writing captions that will keep your audience interested and engaged. These are the very strategies we use in our own marketing and with our clients' marketing as well. Once you get this recipe down writing captions will become a breeze!

5 tips to writing captions

1. Schedule Time For Captions

The worst time to write captions is at the end of a long day when your creative juices are fried, or conversely when you need to post something ASAP and you don’t know what to say. We like to schedule time each week to create all of the graphics or imagery for our social media, and then schedule a separate time (preferably in the morning or when you are feeling at your best!) to write out all of our captions. This dedicated time will help you focus on the task at hand and get into the creative mindset needed to write in the voice of your brand.

2. Create a Storyline Loop

We like to refer to this as “The Seinfeld Method''. Seinfeld, (one of the greatest shows of all time) was known as the show about nothing. Each episode would start with a seemingly random topic, and then throughout the episode split off into separate storylines that all ended up weaving together. In the end, the viewer is brought back to the place that the story began.

We love to follow this method in our captions by relating the key topic at hand back to the core message of the business or brand. Then, use your caption to tell a story that ties back to this core message and has a beginning, middle, and end!

3. Create Content Buckets

There are so many things that you can write about on social media, it can start to feel overwhelming. That’s where content buckets come into play.

Before you even start posting, think about your business, your services, and what sets you apart from the competition. Write it all down and then segment these pieces into different blocks or categories that make up the overall story of your brand. Use these categories to plan out your social media content by alternating between the content blocks each day!

4. Create a Master Calendar

Using your content buckets, plan out the type of content you will post each day. For instance, every Tuesday could be for success stories and every Friday for team introductions. Planning your content in a master calendar like this will limit any overwhelming feelings of anxiety and give you a clear roadmap for creating content each week.

5. Leverage Brand Guidelines and Messaging

The main purpose of your captions is to share your brand story with the world. Have the resources you need like your messaging and brand guidelines at the ready when you are writing captions. This will be a big help to stay on message and on brand in your social media captions.

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