How do you make your posts stand out when there are millions of social media posts being uploaded every hour?
The secret is with the caption. That bit of text just before the main part of the post, in this case a link to another page, that has the important role of not only grabbing attention from social media users but then converting them to your website. It can be a lot to achieve in only 280 characters (on Twitter anyways).
This strategy for writing captions will work on almost any platform but works best on platforms where the link is clickable in the post. It also works regardless of if the social media user is a follower or not and can even work on users who have no interest in the topic at all!
How to Write Engaging Captions for Social Media Posts
Regardless of whether or not you’ve got a social media following before releasing an article, you still need to write the caption as if no one is following you. This means that you’ve got to write the caption in a way attracts the right people and then converts them to your website or into followers.
The easiest way to guarantee a high conversion rate is to follow a problem – solution formula when it comes to your captions. The article is the solution so the caption has the job of making the viewer think that they have the problem that you can solve. You’ve got to build up to the viewer clicking through onto the article by giving them reasons to do so.
The best way to implement this is to use the End Goal Method which states that you should “describe the process, sell the solution”. This means that you should be giving value in the caption which then gives the assumption of value within the link.
Regardless of whether your social media content finds its way to the right audience or not, this strategy is almost guaranteed to peak interests in your article.
How to Attract Customers with the First Line of a Caption
The first line of your caption is the first thing that viewers will see on most social media platforms, so it has to do the job is attracting attention whilst also leading into the article. The goal is to grab the viewers’ attention and then give them a reason to read the article.
The best method is to share the takeaway point, a shocking fact, or the core problem worded in a scary way in the first line. This will grab a viewer’s attention and will mean they’re more likely to continue reading the caption and then click onto the article. It’s a bit of a cheap trick but it does the job. Also, depending on what you open with, the viewer could perceive you as already given them valuable information so might assume that the article will also contain valuable information.
This strategy works because it gives the viewer the most exciting information straight away without any build up or boring stuff. Think of it like an opening of a film that’s a flash forwards to when everything’s kicking off. It immediately grabs attention with excitement, which can then create an interest in the article that wasn’t there before.
How to Build to the Sale in the Caption
If the opening line successfully grabs a viewer’s attention then they’ll quickly read through the rest of the caption which is why the “body” is equally important. The body’s job is continue building to the article but to act as traditional sales copy.
If we go back to the opening of a film analogy, use the body of the caption to jump back to the beginning of the sales pitch. For example, if your article is about getting engagement on social media then the opening line could be “people engage with content that affects them” and then the body could talk generally about getting engagement with posts. The goal here is to give them a reason for clicking through to the article.
Think of the body as its own little problem – solution with the article link. You’ve got to sell the article in a few short lines (depending on social media platform but shorter is always better) so consider every word. It’s best to go for a 2 point structure which is an introductionary problem, and then pointing to a solution. This can be achieved in a few sentences or even in just 1, as long as there’s 2 points then it’ll work.
This strategy works because you grab a viewer’s attention with the opening and then give them the “sales” pitch whilst they’re still invested. You’ve already given them the exciting part so you can use the body to expand on what they’ll gain from reading your article. Remember, this section is the why and should act as a setup, or prologue in the film example, to the article.
Overview
- Approach captions as a problem – solution situation
- Start captions with something that will grab attention
- Use the body to then give a reason for reading the article
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