How photographers should write captions

1. Make a rough draft.

You’ve only got one chance at a first impression. Lean into the process of writing captions down and mulling over them for a while before you hit ‘publish.’

If you take your time and give yourself a chance to come up with things slowly, the quality will no doubt be better than if you just threw something in there on your way to a shoot. Know too that you’ll be playing a part in changing the social media landscape for the better, making people want to share your quality content with their friends, upping everyone’s dose of meaningful captions instantly. There’s lots of room out there for slow-cooked, thoughtful writing.

2. Put the key things up the top.

So you know how Instagram captions cut off after three or four lines of text and then you have to click ‘more’ to see the rest? Yeah. This means it’s extra important that you entice the reader enough that they can’t help but click ‘more’ because they’re just so gosh darn curious about what you have to say next.

The first few lines should hint at the important stuff, the call-to-actions, and maybe a couple of iconic emojis to make the words stand out.

3. Give people an action sleep.

Hands down the best way to get people to share your post and engage with your audience is to have some kind of action step or call-to-action baked into each and every one of your captions.

Use doing words to encourage people to do a thing instead of just tuning out and scrolling by. “Double-tap if you agree!” or “”Tag a friend who needs to see this today.” Ask them a question, invite them to enter a contest, or send them to a link in your bio and watch your engagement shoot through the roof.

4. Keep it light.

Despite the fact that Instagram has led some of the more socially significant movements of our time, the tone of the platform overall is pretty light. There just isn’t the space to take a deep dive into an academically robust topic.

The content on Instagram is meant to be digested on the toilet, or, erm...on the fly. It’s meant to be digested on the fly. If you’re a more serious kind of person, this doesn’t mean there isn’t room for you to be real! Just keep it as conversational, personable, and sincere as possible.

5. Don't waffle.

The last thing we want you to take away from all of this is that you have to sit down and write a novel every time you want to post a picture. The reality is, it takes a little bit of time to find your voice on the ‘ol Gram, and it’s ok if you only have a small story to tell.

Just make sure the short captions are punchy, have all the important pieces of information up the top (remember tip #2), and support the visual content so that the picture can do most of the talking.

As you begin to build your reputation among your followers as the skilled caption writer you know you can be, consider testing out different types of captions and see what works and what doesn’t. Ask for feedback from your friends and try to keep track of what kinds of posts generate the most engagement. The best thing to do here is to just keep on truckin’--even when the words don’t come easily. Everyone finds themselves in the murky water of writer's block every now and then, but when you do, it helps to throw some words around with a friend or play a word association game to get the creative energy flowing.

And, because we love you, here’s some inspiration to get the ‘ol cogs turning.

• Talk about your most embarrassing moment during a shoot and how you turned it around. Ask your followers to tag someone who they think can relate.
• Share your favourite memory from an engagement/wedding/elopement and invite your followers to tell you a story about theirs.
• Link to a recent blog post you did and give your audience a teaser about what they could learn from reading it.
• Be honest about the ups and downs of the side of your life that you don’t put on Instagram. What does a day in the life look like for you?
• Post a behind-the-scenes video of you posing your clients during a session as well as the final edited image. Ask your followers what their creative process looks like.
• Talk about your favourite song, or post a photo of your breakfast. People love to know who you are just as much as they love seeing what you do.
• In your experience, what are some Do’s and Don’ts of your photography niche?
• Tag someone you’re really inspired by and whose work continues to floor you time after time. Talk about how much you learn from the community around you.
• Share a hilarious expectation vs. reality of some of your earlier shoots and open up about what you’ve learned since you first picked up a camera.
• “Okay, hands up! Who has advice about how to ______.’ Remember, this isn’t just a one way street. Your audience is a huge resource for you to tap into for wisdom and advice.

Once you start writing and engaging your following, you’re going to have to start to own up to the fact that this genius copywriter everyone keeps asking you about is actually… you! When in doubt, make sure all of these things are ticked off the list.

▢ Are you leading with the important stuff?

▢ Does your caption include a call-to-action?

▢ Rough draft? Proofread? Spell check?

▢ Are you being the real you?

▢ Is your caption the right length for your followers?