My Number One Caption-Writing Formula For ENGAGING Instagram Posts

I have a super juicy, top-secret Instagram tip for you..  💦                                    

Are you ready?!

Today, I am going to give you the secret sauce - my number one caption writing formula for Instagram. 🤫

This isn’t your grandma’s boring, old school caption writing either. This is how I write captions that make my audience know, like, and trust me - all within 2200 characters.

This caption writing formula will get them to engage more, buy more and get TONS more value!

Let’s dive into the 5 parts of your perfect Instagram caption.

You may notice that this formula is a common copywriting structure. I wanted to distill it down for you for Instagram because it WORKS.

With this formula, you can create clear and concise captions that your audience will LOVE to read.

The Hook                

This is where you are going to get some EMOTION out of your audience.

They may:
⚡️Hate it
⚡️Love it
⚡️Resonate with it
⚡️Be happy reading it
⚡️Get sad reading it
⚡️Be intrigued

All are good. All are exactly what we want because it makes them ⚠️ PAY ATTENTION.  ⚠️

We only have one to three lines of text before Instagram inserts the read more button, so we want to get them to read right from the beginning.

Getting the ‘read more’ clicks feeds the always-hungry algorithm, and it makes sure that your audience is devouring the content you’re producing.

Here’s an example from my own Instagram:

“How I gained 2k followers on Instagram last week”

See how that makes you think “Holy crap, I want to know how to do that!”

Boom. 💥

You can also spice up that hook by inserting emojis. Either at the beginning or the end of the title, it doesn’t matter - your goal is to stop the scroll and to get them to read. 

This is a perfect place to use branded emojis, so that people can see right away that the post is yours.

You can also write the hook in all caps, bolded letters, or a … to get them interested.

Agitate The Problem

Now, we don’t want to make someone cry here. 😅

The point isn’t to upset people, but it IS to outline a problem that your audience may be having.

The key here is to point out something that your audience may be struggling with, and have it relate to your hook.

They’ve already started reading, so you want to keep them engaged by relating to them and recognizing the problems they may be having.

Some ground rules, my friends:
🔑We do NOT want to be spammy or sleazy here. No clickbait. Keep on topic and really deliver the content you started writing about before.
🔑Do not lie (SO not cool!)

This may be common sense, but we want our audience to know, like, and TRUST us. Have integrity with your content, even if you are using these tactics in your writing.

If I am still using my 2k followers example, here is what I would follow the hook up with:
“Are you still struggling with the Instagram algorithm?”

“Are you still struggling with creating Instagram reels content to grow your following organically?”

We want to highlight and agitate the problems your audience may be having, so they will continue reading and learn how to solve that problem.

Acknowledging the Problem         

Next, we want to acknowledge the problem.

DISCLAIMER ⚠️ We don't want to be an asshole about it though.

Don’t just call it out nonchalantly and leave them hanging.

Instead, we want to empathize with the problem. 

Take a second to be in their shoes. 

Wrap them in a warm (virtual) hug and tell them that you understand what they have been going through. 💕

Tell them that you have seen it before.

In my example, I may say something like:
“Hey, I've been there!  I've had zero followers and struggled to grow a following organically too!”.

This is a great place to give a very short personal anecdote or a story.

We want to keep this very, very clear and concise. Keep it down to a sentence or two!

Solve the Problem   

The next big step here is to SOLVE.

The problem that we identified and sympathized with?

We want to give them a solution that they can use.

This is the part that I see most people struggle with when writing this kind of caption formula.

We now need to provide real value and solve their problem.

This part of the caption is solution-based, and we want to give them short, actionable tips to give them a quick win and get them started on solving their problem.

Bringing my example back, I can’t really guarantee 2k followers, but I can give the strategies that I used to get that result. I can go back and break down exactly how I did it.

Deliver the value that you alluded to when you hooked the audience to read the post.

Give them options and solutions, while still talking to the problems they are experiencing. ✨

Call To Action     

The grand finale is a call to action or CTA.

You have already:
-Identified their problem
-Empathized with them
-Given value and solved the problem

Now what?

If they liked what you’ve done, we want them to continue the journey with you.

This can be a million different things, depending on your industry.

If you want them to take further action, this is where you provide them the opportunity to do so.

Offering freebies or lead magnets are good options for social media CTAs as it continues giving value without asking for massive commitment or investment.

Another easy CTA is to simply ask for engagement on the post. Asking to leave an emoji or to tell you something about themselves is an easy way for them to engage in a super-easy way!

This way, even if they might not buy from you, they WILL give you something of value back in return for your valued packed post. A little bit of engagement can go a LONG way on the ‘gram!

I use this formula so frequently, you can see it in action over on my Instagram!

And if you want MORE social media tips and tutorials, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’ll be dishing out weekly trainings 💪💪

Now, go rock those Insta captions!!

WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO 🎥