CTA Captions: How To Boost Content Engagement Using Your Captions

Over 2 billion people use Instagram monthly. As one of the largest social media channels on the planet, Instagram has become a content hub full of opportunities. However, with its ever-growing success, it has also become one of the most competitive platforms to master as a social media marketer.

On the back of Instagram Reels and Explore, searchability within the Instagram platform has become a vital concern for brands hoping to see their engagement increase.

One factor that plays a huge role in searcahble success is content captions. While many brands pour focus into their creative content campaigns, many forget that the description below drives search traffic starts conversations and can skyrocket a post to the top of a user’s feed.

“Captions play a crucial role in shaping your brand’s personality and telling a story. Compelling captions can enhance your content’s meaning, encouraging your followers to engage with your post. This increased engagement is vital, as higher engagement rates are favoured by Instagram’s algorithm, making your content more likely to be seen,” says John Stojan, CEO of digital marketing agency, Famium.

With this in mind, we’ve delved into the benefits of content CTA captions in your social strategy and collated eight tips to remember when crafting your own call-to-action captions in 2024.

Why Do Your Instagram Captions Matter?

When creating content for social media, there are a number of things to consider. Have you chosen the right platform for your demographic? Is your content on trend with your nearest competitors?

However, one of the most overlooked elements of a perfect social strategy is the content caption. Not only does a good caption boost post dwell time, but it gives you the best opportunity to call your followers to action and send them in the direction of your products, services or website.

“Instagram relies on word embedding, and just as SEO is important for Google, it is important for Instagram. Gone are the days in which you could simply throw a few relevant hashtags in the caption of your post, sit back and watch your content blow up with likes and comments. You have to be mindful of the captions that you write for your posts if you want new prospects to find your content, says David Villa, the CEO of IPD.

If your viewers complete an action based on your content caption, algorithms on social platforms such as Instagram and TikTok decide that your content is interesting and engaging to their users.

Your content marketing strategy should be full of keywords, hashtags, and a strong call-to-action, often driving viral post success and increasing searchability on Instagram’s Explore page and TikTok’s For You page.

Can You Optimise Your Caption Length?

Your content captions can range from short and snappy to long-form text, depending on your audience and the content you are sharing with them.

If you can make your point in less than a paragraph, this is usually the ideal length of a well-optimised caption on Instagram. However, those writing longer-form pieces should ensure that their writing is well spaced out into paragraphs for easy reading/scrolling.

There are up to 2,2000 characters available for a caption on Instagram, so the key is to use them well. With most social media users preferring to skim through content captions, getting your hook in their first and following with bold, well-structured statements is a must.

With this in mind, let’s have a closer look at eight essential steps you can take to improve your captioning habits in 2024.

How To Write Compelling Captions In 8 Simple Steps

According to caption expert and Later’s Social Media Director, Chantal Hermetz, “A good social media caption summarizes your content while adding value, in as few words as possible.”

From prioritising a strong hook to getting that tone of voice just right, here are eight ways to optimise your caption strategy and write engaging copy for call-to-action success.

Craft a Compelling Hook

Social media users have increasingly short attention spans, making them one of the hardest groups to target in 2024.

In order to keep the engagement flowing, your content captions must start with a creative hook that draws the reader in. As we mentioned before, the higher the dwell time, the more searchable your post will be.

For example, look at this post from Later. Starting with a relatable one-liner, the social media experts prioritise humour and a conversational tone within their hooks.

(Image Source: Later Media on Instagram)

Better still, the brand also tapped into the newest pop culture trends within their hook, in turn reaching over 100K people after using the keyword ‘barbie’ alone.

Ensure that your hook immediately notifies the viewer about the content above and lets them know exactly what you want them to do. For example, if you want your consumers to enter your newest giveaway for a chance to win products or services, mention the term ‘giveaway’ in your hook.

“Create a hook and include it at the beginning of your copy or in the first few seconds of your video. This keeps followers engaged and excited to soak up the rest of the content you are sharing,” says Caitlin Strempel, a social media expert at Rising Ranks Digital.

Include a Strong Call-To-Action

Your content end game is action. You want your consumers to visit your website and purchase your products. You want your followers to take action on your post and share it with their peers.

If you want to spark a conversation with your content marketing strategy and boost your engagement success, here are some tips to consider:

• Ask questions: The best CTA is a question. If you want to boost engagement, encourage your consumers to start a debate in the comments section with a crafty question or phrase.
• Be Clear: If you want your CTA to be successful, ensure that it is precise. Describe the action you want your followers to take, and provide them with the most streamlined route to do this. For example, if you want your consumers to visit your website, why not include a link to the page you’re talking about within the caption?

Hashtags, Hashtags, Hashtags

Hashtagging is one of the most effective tools to improve your searchability. Including hashtags within your cations instantly opens up your post to more eyes.

Leveraging viral hashtags and niche-specific keywords helps align your content with the right people. If your demographic dont know about your brand, they are more likely to find it on a hashtag-based search.

(Image Source: Social Insider)

According to SocialInsider, profiles with under 5,000 followers on Instagram that included hashtags within their captions archived a higher reach and increased engagement from the Explore page alone.

Include Emojis

Emoticons are one of the best caption aids for social media marketers. These cartoon-like images help add personality to a caption and can quickly catch the attention of the viewer.

In fact, the use of emojis alone can increase content interaction by 57%, making them the perfect partner for a call-to-action caption.

“Emojis are an excellent way to convey emotion and tone in text-based communication. They can help convey sarcasm, excitement and humour in a way that text alone can’t, and they can help guide the reader to understand the intent of the copy,” says Rebecca Kowalewicz, VP of Digital at Clearbridge Branding Agency. “Think of the times you’ve read an email one way, only to find out that the sender’s intent was the opposite of how you felt. That happens in business communications as well.”

Look at this example from FedEx. This is a great demonstration of how to use an emoji to capture attention at first glance.

(Image Source: FedEx on Instagram)

In this picture, you can see this emoji, 👀, which indicates that the brand has been ‘spotted’. What a fun way to gain consumer attention and draw viewers to your caption in seconds.

However, according to Kowalewicz, using emojis sparingly is the key to killing your content captions.

“Try to limit your use of emojis to one or two per social media post, for instance, and don’t use them in every single post,” she says. “Use them only where appropriate. For example, if you’re promoting a new line of athletic shirts, using a runner emoji in a post could add a bit of fun.”

Optimise Any Longer Captions

If you have a lot to say within your caption, that’s ok. Just make sure you say it in the right way. Long-form captions can be used on more chatty type content to help describe what is going on in the image above.

For example, one of the most popular trends amongst influencers in 2024 is to create bulleted caption lists to describe a large carousel of update-like photos.

(Image Source: Zoe Sugg on Instagram)

Take this great example from influencer Zoe Sugg. She allows a line for each photo. This ensures that the cation length doesn’t exceed the character length while still appearing chatty, informative and engaging.

When writing your own long captions, ensure that your content is split into paragraphs in order to highlight any CTAs.

Encourage Content Conversation

Your captions should encourage conversation. If you truly want to raise your engagement stats, your caption call-to-actions should aim to keep viewers interacting with your post for as long as possible.

A great way to do this is to ask questions within your caption that spark debate or simply mirror the language of your audience.

Get chatty with your caption, and you can expect conversation in return. Trial humour, emoji use and mentions that encourage viewers to share your content, tag friends and engage over and over again.

Use the Right Voice

Last but not least, ensure that you’re using the right tone of voice when crafting your captions. You want to write something that your viewers can understand and relate to, especially if you want them to take action on your content.

“Studies on social media engagement have shown that authenticity is highly valued by users, and they are more likely to engage with content that feels genuine and personal,” says Stojan.

“Understanding the science behind Instagram captions and their impact on engagement is essential for social media success.”

Trial writing your captions in the way that your viewers talk. If they are of a younger generation, it could be time to start using relatable emojis and text speak. If your audience is older or in a professional industry, opt for a more informal tone for the best shot at success.

Start Cross-Promoting

Use the caption as an opportunity to cross-promote your other channels. Your CTA can quickly let your followers know where to go next for more brand updates, deals and drama.

This is a great way to let your audience know where they can find you and often drives engagement to your other social media platforms.

For example. If your Instagram post references a certain trend or piece of content that you have shared over on another channel, it’s a great idea to mention this within your caption.

Cross-promoting helps build follower accounts across all channels for a greater chance of targeting larger audiences for lead qualification.

Wrapping Up CTA Captions

As we step into a new era of captioning, grabbing audience attention is the goal. With so many social posts to battle, brands must pour focus into both their content strategy and their captioning strategy.

The key here is to create call-to-action captions. These are punchy, quickfire approaches that get consumers clicking. Whether you’re asking questions that spark a comment debate or letting your targets know exactly where they need to go next to checkout with your newest offers, CTAs are the solution for driving mass engagement.