When scrolling Instagram or TikTok, you will notice that the entire caption is not revealed while scrolling. You only get a small amount of the caption to preview. That being said, this real estate is essential to draw someone in so make it count. It’s the determining factor in crafting a successful social media caption.

The main goal for this small section of preview-able text is to make the reader go “wait what?”. If your caption preview does not invoke that curiosity, then you are doing something wrong.

To make this prime real estate work for you, think about the content ladder we talked about in the last chapter. Bring all those aspects of your Reel together into one short quip.

One way to do this is to tease the ending of the video.

How to properly write social media captions

For Instagram and TikTok

Same concept we tested before with a woman overlooking a beautiful cliffside ocean view. The on-screen copy says “Do you know where this is?”, and teased the answer with the beginning part of her caption saying “Can’t believe this is in Oregon!”

This is absolutely perfect because there is enough information to pull someone in without actually spoiling the ending. This preview of the social media caption would make someone curious to read the rest.

And it works on two levels. One, for the people who live in Oregon who do not know where this spot is and want to visit. Or it works for the people that had no idea something like this even existed in that area! Additionally it could lead to a high number of Saves for people’s “Travel” folders on Instagram.

Preview text of your caption is an important tool for you to get the viewers to stay there. Because the longer they spend reading the caption or comments, the more your Reel will be playing in the background. And that will help you stack up those views!

Using keywords in your social media captions

Your social media captions are also a great opportunity to use keywords. This isn’t to say that you should purposefully write long captions just to waste someone’s time. Or worse, to keyword-stuff to try to pull more attention. But rather you should write it to encourage the viewer to spend more time on your content. Even if it is to read a short caption.

So when writing that first little quip of your caption, ask yourself “would this make someone stop and stay?” Will it make someone go “wait what?” to find out more in the caption? Or would it make them want to finish the video to see the end? Strive for that!

What is keyword-stuffing?

To avoid keyword-stuffing, try to avoid using the same phrase multiple times. Mix it up, write it differently, add other context. And absolutely do not just list out keywords at the end of a caption.

The best way to learn about keywords is to research SEO (search engine optimization). Both TikTok and YouTube are search engines and follow many best practice SEO rules. Instagram and Facebook are getting there but not yet. Regardless, you should still use keywords and give details in your caption if necessary. But you should not put keywords JUST to put them.

An example of keyword-stuffing would be when you see social media captions on Instagram like this:

The section highlighted in red is an example of keyword-stuffing. If you are going to use keywords, then naturally work them into your caption. Don’t make a mad dash to use them by stuffing them all at the end. This action comes off robotic to the algorithm. And as we have already learned, the algorithm will always know when you are trying to cheat the system. Stay far away from keyword-stuffing and instead write full sentences. Your readers will be happy to read more if you offer more!

For YouTube Shorts

YouTube is a little different. When you make a YouTube Short, you will be prompted to add a Title to the post. You can also add a Description. So naturally you would think that the caption would go in the Description. Wrong.

Browse YouTube Shorts and you will find that the “caption” of a YouTube Short is rather short. Well that’s because the Title IS the caption in this case. That means you only get 100 characters to get to your point, tease an ending, and use any hashtags.

So the next time you want to post a Short, just remember that the Title is the caption. Be sure to write it as one. This simple fix should help you get a great boost in views and engagement!

Not all social media captions are created equal

Many creators will cross-post their content on multiple platforms. And honestly, good for them. Content takes time so you should leverage it in anyway you can. But I am also a firm believer that you should offer something new to each platform. Whether that is specific-to-TikTok content, or subscriber content on Instagram. There is a way to add different value.

Another way to do that is through your social media captions. If you use the same video on two different platforms, encourage a viewer to see or learn more on another. Whatever the case is, knowing how to write a caption for the platform it’s meant for is ideal. That way you are working with the platform, not against it.