The best Instagram captions can add context to your posts, show off your brand’s personality, entertain the audience and compel people to take action.
Instagram is an image-first social platform. If your photos and videos aren’t up to scratch, you’ll have a hard time finding success.
But even great images and videos can fall short of expectations if you’re a slouch in the Instagram captions department. The words that accompany your graphics are a key component of building a brand on the network, and especially forming a connection with fans and followers.
The best Instagram captions can add context to your posts, show off your brand’s personality, entertain the audience and/or compel people to take action.
Captions can be up to 2,200 characters in length and include up to 30 hashtags.
That said, most captions are nowhere near that long or stuffed with that many hashtags. No matter the length, the important thing is for your Instagram captions to grab attention and be easy to read and follow.
Here, you’ll find 264 Instagram captions you can model or just copy-and-paste directly into your own Instagram posts. At the end of the list, we’ll also provide a few tips for writing effective Instagram captions of your own.
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Short Instagram captions are the way to go if you want followers to see your whole caption without having to tap More.
This example from Vancouver-based pizza shop Grano proves that sometimes, two words are just enough:
Want to go even shorter than short? Try a one-word caption. You may want to boost these captions with an appropriate emoji.
Funny Instagram captions might not work for every brand, but when the time is right, a little humor can be just the thing to inject some life into your Instagram feed.
As the weather starts to improve, Instagram comes alive with flowers and sunshine. Here are some captions to add some pizazz to le printemps.
Perhaps the most Insta-worthy season, summer offers plenty of great photo ops—and the captions to match.
As you’ve already seen, seasonal Instagram captions can help you keep things fresh throughout the year. Here are some great options for fall.
Snow, lights, the holidays—winter is full of special moments to capture for the ‘Gram.
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Get the free guide right now!Look at this adorable snowy caption from Lee’s Donuts:
From sunny summer days to moody winter storms, beaches provide loads of material for Instagram content.
Whether it’s your birthday or you’re wishing a happy birthday to a fellow Instagrammer, birthdays are a great excuse to celebrate on Instagram. Not your birthday? You could also celebrate the anniversary date of a product or business.
Ah, the ubiquitous selfie. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you’ve got to caption ‘em.
If your significant other tends to share your Instagram space, check these Instagram captions for couples.
Sometimes, someone else’s words perfectly capture everything you want to say.
We’ve got a whole blog post explaining how to use hashtags effectively in Instagram captions, but here are 10 popular hashtag picks to try, along with the total number of postings for that hashtag.
Here’s everything you need to know to create your own original Instagram captions that work.
The better you know your audience, the easier it is to tailor your Instagram marketing strategy to their needs and expectations.
Instagram demographics tell us that the largest group of users is 25 to 34 years old, and that women very slightly outnumber me on the network. But those are the broad strokes. In order to create the best Instagram captions for your audience, you need to understand who’s following you and seeking out your content.
How old are they? Where do they live? What sorts of jobs do they have? What do they do outside of work? Our post on social media audience research can help you figure this out.
To further define your audience, it’s a good idea to create audience personas. This helps make sure you think of your audience as real people with real preferences you can speak to.
Once you know who you’re talking to, you can answer questions that will inform what you put in your captions:
This example from bidet producer Tushy showcases the brand’s good understanding of their following. This type of edgy humor wouldn’t necessarily sit well with other audiences:
If you haven’t identified your brand voice as part of a broader social media marketing strategy, ask yourself: ‘What are the qualities and values I want my brand to embody?’ Make a list and use it to shape your voice.
You might also try jotting down a few adjectives that describe your business and use those to find the right tone. “Bold,” “curious,” and “authoritative” might make sense for a travel brand, for example.
In general, Instagram users don’t expect a formal or serious tone. Of course, it depends on the industry and audience, but you should strive to keep things light, use humor where appropriate, and show personality. For some Instagram post inspiration, check out this episode of Fridge-worthy, where our social media experts break down why this sparkling water company’s brand voice is SO GOOD:
If you want your entire caption to display “above the fold,” stick to 125 characters or fewer. After that, followers will have to click More to see the rest of your text.
So, don’t bury the lead. If you’re going to use a longer caption, make sure to put the most important and attention-grabbing info right upfront. Put any @mentions and hashtags at the end.
In this example, it only makes sense that information about the giveaway is front and center. After all, that’s what this post is all about, and the bold intro helps grab the audience’s attention.
Use hashtags that are relevant to your post and target audience. Don’t use so many that they crowd your copy and make it difficult to read.
If you want to use several hashtags but don’t want to clutter your caption, group your hashtags in one “paragraph” at the end of your post.
Asking a question in your Instagram caption is a sure way to spark engagement with your post. Engagement is a key component of the Instagram algorithm. It also creates a great opportunity to interact with your audience.
You won’t likely want to ask a question in every Instagram caption, but this is a good strategy to employ from time to time. Just make sure that you monitor your comments and get engaged in the discussion your question sparks.
If you want people to take a specific action after viewing your post, don’t be afraid to say so. If you want people to visit your website, direct them to the link in your bio.
In this example from clothing brand Frank and Oak, the caption includes a call to action asking the brand’s followers to post pictures using a branded hashtag.
Interesting note: We recently ran an experiment and found Instagram posts that included the phrase “link in bio” in the caption slightly outperformed other posts.
Or if your post is shoppable, encourage users to check out the featured products.
Your call to action may be the most important part of your Instagram captions, so write it carefully, give it an edit, and maybe even do some testing to see what works best.
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