Photo: captured. Filter: applied. You’ve got the perfect snapshot of you holding the Eiffel Tower in the palm of your hand with a gorgeous sinking sunset behind you as fireworks go off in all directions. In short, you’ve got the perfect Instagram-worthy vacation photo. Now, the only thing left to do is to come up with a witty and engaging caption that will not only draw your followers in, but will let your personality come through. No matter how hard you rack your brain wondering what are some good captions for Instagram, you hit a serious mental block and freeze. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. As important as the photo is, the caption really sums up what’s happening behind the screen. A good caption can make or break your post, and maybe even get that follower count up. So, kick your writing skills into gear and watch the likes flood in!
Keep it Short and Snappy
: @jantilim
When it comes to Instagram captions, the shorter the sweeter. Nobody wants to read a five-paragraph backstory or life-changing epiphany (save that for Facebook). This is not the time to pen a whole novel and fill up a ton of space. You can never go wrong with a quick and sharp line that sums up your experience. With that being said, make sure your caption is something directly related to the picture, and isn’t some vague line taken out of context that could be applied anywhere else. A line or two should do the trick!
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Use Emojis (Sparingly)
Emojis are like salt, a little bit goes a long way. Using an emoji or two is a great way to emphasize what you’re trying to convey through your caption and photo. They even have emojis specially made for travel, such as national flags or images of cities that can add something fun to an otherwise serious-sounding caption. That being said, using every type of heart or a whole paragraph of emojis will cause your followers to roll their eyes and keep scrolling past, or worse, unfollow you (gasp!). To sum it up, keep on using emojis, but don’t overdo it.
Be Genuine
As much as we all love to scroll through the endless enviable content that Instagram offers, it’s refreshing to have some authenticity on our feeds once in a while. It may be tempting to include the most recent trending hashtags for Instagram, but don’t feel like you have to follow what everyone else is doing. Using your genuine voice, tone, thoughts, and sense of humor will sound more natural and less forced. Letting people in on what’s really going on behind the screen, or thinking of something unique will make you stand out. Also, a little preparation could help too. When you book your airline tickets, do some research about some of the landmarks or scenery you’ll be seeing so you could get your creative juices flowing ahead of time.
Hashtag With Caution
#Ocean, #beach, #summer. STOP! Does this sound like you or someone you know? Using too many generic hashtags will do nothing for your post other than getting lost amongst the crowd of millions of other people posting the same exact thing at the same exact spot. Consider including hashtags that are community-specific, this could give you more engagement, likes, and will also look a lot cleaner. You’d be surprised about how many groups and subgroups there are on various different topics that you can be apart of – especially when it comes to vacation captions for Instagram. Do some searching in the hashtag section of Instagram by putting in general words like “travel”, “vacation,” or even your location, and see what smaller subgroups come up.
Be Punny
Puns make us all cringe, but they’re popular for good reason. It’s attention-grabbing enough to get someone to stop scrolling and maybe even have a good laugh. Not everyone appreciates puns, but they’ll definitely make you stand out among the crowd. If you can’t think of a good pun that relates to your photo, you can always just defer to a funny song lyric or relatable tidbit about what was really going on behind the scenes – as long as it relates of course! Whether you choose to use puns or not, always remember to check and recheck your caption for any spelling or grammar mistakes. Don’t ruin an amazing line or funny joke with a misplaced comma.
Engage With People in the Comments
Increasing your engagement is a surefire way to get to the top of people’s Instagram feed and get you more likes, which — let’s face it — is what we all really want! Engagement can mean anything from people liking your photo to commenting on it, so posting something that will get people talking, writing an open-ended question, and making sure to respond and like people’s comments can help get that follower count up. It’s also a good idea to tag as much as you can in your actual post, whether that’s your location or the Instagram handle of a cafe you’re eating in. That way, other people searching that hashtag will be able to see your new and improved post, earning you more recognition. Hooray!
Got any more tips on how to write post-worthy captions for the ‘Gram’? Tell us in the comments below!
