Social Media Captions for Photographers

If the thought of writing your social media captions for the month makes you lot blench, you're not alone. Many photographers feel a rising tide of anxiety when it comes to sharing their work on Instagram or Facebook. And it's non considering they don't think their work is good enough, information technology's the captions that have them stuck. If you're not a confident writer, scheduling a calendar month of social media posts can trigger several hours of stress-induced procrastination.

Today, most social media revolves effectually photos and videos, but your explanation can make or suspension the post. The "story" you tell is as important as the images you lot choose to share. Your explanation provides context, adds personality, and can inspire potential clients to take activeness. It's fourth dimension to embrace the power of the caption — we've compiled our top tips to help you write killer social media captions that practise your photos justice.

The ascent of the long-form explanation

Ane of the most prominent Instagram trends in 2019 was the rise of the long-form explanation. Content creators, brands, and celebrities tapped into the power of the long caption to connect and engage with their followers. It'southward a tendency we expect to go on in 2020.

According to the latest research, the average caption length has doubled since 2016. At present in 2020, the average caption length is 405 characters — approximately 65-70 words.

The explanation is your space to educate your audience well-nigh yourself, your work, your style, and your mission. While celebrities like Kylie Jenner can get away with a single moon emoji as a caption, many businesses at present use lengthy captions that champion story-telling and authenticity. Information technology's a way to humanize your business — subsequently all, people connect with people, not businesses.

While short and sugariness captions will always have their identify, long-form captions offer more than merely a pretty film. Writing a winning caption is a skill that's becoming more and more important.

How to write an engaging social media caption:

ane. Write a Killer Opening Line

A great beginning line volition stop a scroller in their tracks. They see your image, merely it'south the caption that will make them stop to find out more. The longer someone stops to read your caption, the amend your mail service will rank with social media algorithms.

You only have 125 characters on Instagram before the rest of your mail becomes truncated, and users have to click "more" to read the rest. That's an action yous want people to take. Clicking "more" counts as date, which informs the algorithm that your content is engaging, which in plough means Instagram volition show your post to more people. Facebook is a lilliputian chip more generous and allows you 477 characters.

With then little real estate bachelor, you'd better brand the nigh of it. The fox is to ensure that you lot evangelize a punchy, attention-grabbing statement or question as your starting time line.

You could spark your followers' curiosity with an intriguing statement, take hold of their attention with a hard-hitting stat, or engage their emotional side. Any tactic you choose, the goal is to make them pause long enough to consider your words and to desire to read on.

Featured images in order of appearance: @ktmerry, @lostcoastphotography, and @paulvonrieter.

two. Utilise a "Phone call-to-Action" or a "CTA"

It'southward probably the oldest copywriting fob in the book, simply information technology'southward always relevant. Ask your audition a question or their opinion, seek their advice or approval, encourage them to complete an activity. Whatsoever tactic fits best with your brand, use it. The simple human activity of including a call-to-activeness — inviting your audience to comment, like, or salvage a post — will help bulldoze date.

Bonus Tips

• Allow your followers know what they stand to gain past completing your phone call-to-action: This tin be as simple every bit calculation "so that" to your call-to-action. E.g. "save this mail and so that yous tin can refer to it later for helpful pre-wedding tips." Tell them what they'll learn, when information technology will be useful, or if yous're giving something away.
• Brand your CTA stand out: Using emojis, line breaks, or a custom font from an Instagram font tool like IGfonts.io. Whatsoever method you prefer, make the action yous want people to accept stand up out.

3. Be Human

Spend some fourth dimension studying your social media insights to figure out who yous are talking to — what your clients look like. Y'all can call this a customer profile, an avatar, or an platonic client; the name is irrelevant as long equally yous know who you are talking to. If you lot're a wedding photographer, your customers may exist predominantly engaged couples in their tardily xx's and early xxx'southward. But your Instagram audition is more probable made up of females. The way yous choose to write on social media should address this.

Knowing who yous are talking to allows you to communicate as if you're writing to 1 person, which is much easier than writing to fill the social media void. Ultimately, you desire each person in your audience to experience as if you're talking specifically to them. That'south all people want — to feel like they're important, and non just part of the crowd.

Speaking direct to your "ideal client" allows y'all to break down the third wall. We aren't actors or characters in a picture; nosotros must communicate openly with our audition in a direct, frank style, humanizing the conversation.

People connect with people, non with businesses, so suspension downward that bulwark and get real with your audience. You're asking your clients to trust you to shoot the most important moments of their lives, they need to feel like they know you lot in order to trust yous.

Kirsten Lewis — @kirstenlphotog — is the master of breaking down the third wall and letting yous into her globe. After you lot've read several of her Instagram posts, you feel like you know her. You want to trust her to capture your near intimate moments — that'due south the ability of humanizing your captions.

4. Tell a Story

Stories are among the oldest forms of communication, and a skilful story stands the examination of time. Think of the myths and legends you lot studied at school that have been around for centuries. Stories connect u.s., they make an touch, and nosotros become personally invested in them. They're easy to recollect, nosotros want to share them, and they brand it easy to recall facts.

As photographers, we're exposed to stories every single day. We make a living visually telling other people's stories, all you need to do is have it one step further and put that story into words. These stories help give our images context — they tin can have a cute moment captured on camera and add a layer of meaning, helping our audience sympathize the significance of the moment, and to connect to it emotionally.

5. Go far Easy on the Eyes

Endeavour to put yourself in your clients' shoes, they've just sat down on the jitney on the fashion dwelling house, or possibly they're taking a quick interruption from their work, either way they've just picked up their phone for a quick curlicue and they see your mail. They start to read your carefully crafted sentences, only they're tired and merely wanted a quick break from what was happening right in forepart of them, meanwhile, your sentences gyre on and on and on, each idea running into the next. They start to zone out, feeling fatigued, they've lost what line they're on, they've lost what planet they're on, it's as if they're possessed by a zombie, simply really their mind has just drifted elsewhere, and before long they're scrolling on to the next post, looking for something fresh to feed on. Even if they're immensely interested in what yous have to say, earlier long the craving for brains volition kick in and they're off, standing on their mission to consume everything in their path, because on a tiny phone screen, it's hard to keep rail what line they're on and what sentence they were reading, so they keep scrolling. Information technology doesn't matter how carefully you've called your words, or how clever your telephone call-to-action is because your writing has striking them similar a relentless tidal moving ridge, and they've run a mile.

Did you observe we started talking about zombies?

Format your copy to make it easier to read.

Use line breaks, emojis, ane-word sentences — whatever yous demand to make your writing easier to digest in a landscape of captions all clamoring for attention — do it.

It's ok to suspension every rule you were taught in high school. As long as yous get your signal beyond conspicuously.

vi. Brand Time

Once yous've finished picking the perfect images for social media, it can feel like a whole new chore to then go and write captions for them. One of the biggest bug photographers have with creating engaging captions is that they endeavour to practice it on the fly, only writing the blank minimum required for that day or calendar week.

_____

Finding inspiration for your social media captions might seem tough, but you can look to your clients for inspiration. Call back about the prototype you are sharing and ask yourself what that moment meant to them, then use that every bit a springboard to launch into a story. Notice time to prioritize your captions to help avoid the panic procrastination — if you want to be successful on Instagram or Facebook, it's of import to not let your captions become an afterthought.

_____

If you're on the hunt for more ways to boost your photography social media, effort reading our blogs on creating connections using social media, how to use Instagram Stories for photographers, or online marketing for photographers (written by Mark Condon of ShotKit).

Share this post