Need some ideas for original Instagram captions?
For some business owners, the thought of drafting a month’s worth of good Instagram captions is a stressful task.
I get it: that’s a lot of words!
And making sure that each one is compelling, enjoyable and encourages an action at the end is… well… not always the easiest thing to do.
That’s why in this article, we’re doing the hard work for you.
Keep reading to find out 17 ideas for original Instagram captions…
… so you never have to think about what you’re writing again.
Instead, you can focus on sharing content and building relationships with your community.
Are captions still worth writing?
Just in case you were wondering whether there’s any point writing Instagram captions as a business or content creator on an image-first platform, we’re here to tell you:
Yes, there absolutely is.
Because while great images and video content is still a priority on the platform, it’s your captions that will take your engagement and impact to the next level.
Alongside the growing use of text-based content (one of our 7 biggest Instagram trends for 2020), long-form captions (or “micro blogs” as they’re sometimes referred to) remain popular.
If you take a look at brands like Suitcase magazine and Holland & Barrett, you’ll see these longer-form captions in action.
Of course there is still a time and a place for short captions.
For example, if you’re sharing a value-packed, informative carousel, you may not need to have such a lengthy caption.
However, for the most part, longer-form captions are the best way for you to provide real value to your audience by giving you the room to tell stories and share your wisdom.
Whichever caption style you choose, don’t leave it as an afterthought.
Writing great Instagram captions is essential to increasing engagement, connecting with your community and proving your authority.
Introduce yourself
You don’t have to be a brand new Instagram account or business to share an introductory Instagram caption.
Every few weeks it’s worth re-introducing yourself to your loyal fans and sharing a little bit about yourself with new followers.
People are nosey and love learning more about their favourite brands and businesses.
Here are a couple of great caption examples from brand designer, Pippa and jewellery maker, Alice Stewart.
But how can you make an original introduction Instagram caption?
Why not share two truths and a lie? Encourage interactivity from your followers by getting them to guess which facts are true about you and which one isn’t.
Or follow Kelsey’s lead from Paper + Oats, who adds a unique spin to the traditional introduction caption.
Take us on a day-in-the-life
Take people with you on a typical day-in-the-life to show them what’s involved in the daily running of your business.
There’s something incredibly satisfying about seeing what goes on behind the scenes of a business and your Instagram community will love being taken on this journey with you.
You could share a summary of the day or use timestamps to call out the highlights.
Want to make your day-in-the-life Instagram caption more original?
Why not share a month-in-the-life instead?
That’s exactly what copywriter Emma Griffin did with this Instagram caption.
It’s fascinating to see what goes into being a successful freelance copywriter, from writing assignments to networking to creative hobbies.
Share a before and after
Everybody loves a transformation.
But whether that transformation is about you and your business, or about someone who’s used your product or service, is up to you.
In this before and after from skincare brand Dermalogica, the Instagram caption includes a quote from a happy customer and two images side-by-side to show off a transformation.
Reflect on then vs. now
If you’re a personal brand or entrepreneur, a twist on the typical before and after is a then and now style caption.
In this caption from 7-figure online marketer Amy Porterfield, she reflects on her first year of business.
It’s encouraging and humbling to learn more about her entrepreneurial “before and after”.
Provide education
Some of the best Instagram captions are the ones that provide step-by-step strategies and lessons.
These work really well alongside text-based carousels, Reels and IGTVs, and encourage people to hit save to come back and reference the information later.
To ensure that your educational Instagram caption isn’t too overwhelming, use bullet points to break up the information into bite-sized chunks.
And don’t forget to tell people why this information matters.
What are the benefits of implementing your advice?
Will they feel more confident, improve their health, better their mindset, book more sales calls, stop wasting time?
Whatever it is, let them know the tangible outcome.
Some examples of original educational Instagram captions include this one from sommelier and brand coach, Sam Capaldi.
And this from A Beautiful Mess. Of course, if the post is about something as mouth-watering as ice cream, the benefits of following the recipe are fairly obvious!
Showcase a client testimonial / transformation
One of the best ways of generating leads and making sales through Instagram is by sharing positive reviews, testimonials and stories of transformation.
As often as possible, use your Instagram caption as an opportunity to share the before and after story of a customer or client who used your product or service with great results.
Or use that space to give them the room to share their positive feedback.
Here’s an example of a transformative story from sales coach, Katy Prince.
What makes this a brilliant example of an original Instagram caption?
Katy calls out the specific challenges her client faced before they worked together, which many of her followers will relate to.
She then goes onto explain how things changed for Kelsey for the better, before explaining how these kinds of results are the reason Katy does what she does!
All-in-all, it’s a really brilliant, original Instagram caption.
Reveal a challenge you’ve overcome
Sharing some of the biggest challenges you’ve made along the way as a content creator or business owner makes for a very compelling Instagram caption.
In this example from photographer Katelyn James, she talks about a specific challenge that relates to the image.
The Instagram caption tells the story of how Katelyn’s camera was broken while she was photographing a maternity shoot.
Despite never usually shooting manually, she made it work, overcame the challenge and was really proud of herself and the end result.
Tell us your morning routine
In the same way that people are fascinated by a day-in-the-life, many also love a morning (or evening) routine.
If you’re a small business owner or content creator, use your Instagram caption to talk about what time you start your day, the typical breakfast you eat, whether you do any exercise and/or whether you spend time on any other activities like journaling.
If you’re a brand or business with a few people working behind the scenes, you might want to share more about what tasks are first on the to-do list for that day.
Is it catching up with contractors, shipping recent orders, or having a team meeting?
Or, if you want to create a really original Instagram caption about your morning routine, why not follow photographer Kika Kutova’s lead?
In this Instagram caption she shares a more unconventional Monday morning routine that wasn’t particularly “Instagrammable” but which actually set her up for a very productive afternoon.
Talk about your favorite books/tools
The advantages of sharing a round-up of your favorite books or tools is twofold:
- It gives your followers a flavor of who you are by learning more about your tastes and the way you like to work
- It’s valuable information for anyone looking for inspiration or suggestions from someone whose opinion they respect
Alongside a Reel, marketing mentor Molly Ho shares the 5 books that have changed her life.
People love listicles and this is why drafting “Top 5 Favorite [fill in the blank]” captions is a great way of engaging and entertaining your followers.
Celebrate a milestone
Whether it’s your business anniversary, a goal you’ve reached or a new team member you’re bringing on board, make sure to celebrate these milestones with your followers.
In this example from the owner of Creative Founders, Kristin reflects on one year running her business.
She thanks her community for their support and the original founder of the company in a heartfelt caption that sparked lots of comments.
Share your goals
Where do you see yourself in the next 1, 6, 12 months?
Share your short- or long-term goals with your community to give them a behind-the-scenes peek at your journey.
For example, watercolor artist and educator Jessica Peddicord talks about one of her biggest 2020 goals: Finding a new tea towel vendor.
What makes this an original Instagram caption is the detail she shares, explaining why this was her goal and how she managed to achieve it.
Offer your opinion on your industry
Why not create a truly original Instagram caption by sharing your unique opinions on your industry?
Whether controversial or not, voicing your thoughts about your niche or industry is a great way to attract the right people (and repel those whose views differ wildly from yours) and to demonstrate your expertise and/or experience.
For example, artist Emily Jeffords uses this Instagram caption to share her opinion on what it means to be a creative entrepreneur in 2020.
She encourages her followers and budding artists to only only focus on the work, but to understand how to run a business so that they can be successful long-term.
Promote a paid-for product/service
While not every Instagram caption should be an opportunity for promotion, there is a time and a place to share your amazing product or service.
To make this kind of caption as compelling as possible, make sure to call out the unique benefits of your offer.
Many social media marketers, brands and businesses on Instagram shy away from talking about the products and services they sell on Instagram, for fear of coming across too salesy.
This is a big mistake, for two reasons:
- Your followers are bombarded with hundreds of messages every single day, so they need to be reminded (frequently) that you and your fantastic business exist
- Your content isn’t always shown to the majority of your Instagram followers, which means they may have missed the last time you talked about your products/services
So take the opportunity to expand on your products and services in an original Instagram caption.
Copywriter Christine Blubaugh is a great example of this.
Check out this Instagram caption where she talks about what’s on offer in her paid program Social Posts That Sell.
Notice how she includes 3 key bullet points that respond to her ideal customers’ biggest struggles:
- Not managing to show up on social consistently
- Not attract the right people
- Not generating leads and sales from Instagram
Bust a myth (or three)
Another way of educating your followers is by busting some common myths that surround your industry.
This proves your authority, builds trust with your community, and shows off your expertise.
☝️Essential if you want to turn followers into loyal fans.
In this caption example from dietician MacKenzie Breihan, she shares 5 common food-related myths with her audience.
Once she’s busted those myths, she goes on to explain what people should focus on instead if they want to lose weight in a healthy way.
What’s great about her Instagram caption is that it’s easy to read (short sentences and paragraphs), it makes use of emoji bullet points AND it has an intriguing first line. ✅
Promote a freebie
Do you have a free template, guide, video or tool that would benefit your followers?
Talk about it! And just like you would do with a paid-for product/service, make sure you’re explicit about how and why it will improve your ideal customers’ lives.
The clearer you can make this, the more of a no-brainer your CTA will be to your followers to click the link in your bio or DM you to take the next step.
How to make a promotional Instagram caption more original?
Look no further than this caption from designer and letterer, Lauren Hom.
In it, she talks about the WTF Should I Letter word generator she created to help letterers when they’re stuck for ideas.
Her caption is written with such enthusiasm that you can’t help but want to find out more about the generator.
Share your values
64% of consumers say that sharing the same values with a brand is the primary reason they have a relationship in the first place.
So what does this have to do with Instagram captions?
Use them as an opportunity to share your brand values, mission and what matters to you as a business or content creator.
In this Instagram caption from skincare brand Wild Seed Botanicals, the founder Laila talks about why she is so intentional about turning happiness into joy.
The second example comes from Instagram marketing expert Tyler J. McCall.
He talks about why it’s so important to celebrate freedom in business versus always chasing more money.
This original Instagram caption struck a chord with many of Tyler’s followers and sparked a huge amount of conversation in the comments section.
Be honest
The final Instagram caption idea is sharing an honest admission or story.
This kind of caption is less polished, pulling back the curtain on your business or life so that your Instagram followers see a side of you that they wouldn’t ordinarily.
In this example from business coaches Carol and Jason, Carol shares an honest moment from their recent podcast recording.
These kinds of Instagram captions are great because they combine humor, relatability and the human side of your brand that people will connect with.
Whether it’s a photo, text graphic, Reel or IGTV, being honest and open about your thoughts, feelings or something that’s happened recently in life or business, is a great idea for an original Instagram caption.
Writing tips
Now that you’ve been inspired with some original Instagram caption ideas, how about some writing tips to help make the drafting process even easier?
Write without self-editing
Once you have your post ideas and topics down, the next step is to draft rough captions.
That’s right – I said rough captions.
Because the best way to combat writer’s block and get into a good rhythm is to write without editing as you go.
So start with your ideas, set a timer and write freely!
Then, once you have a week or a month’s worth of rough captions drafted,
you can go back with a fresh pair of eyes to make edits.
I promise you that caption writing this way will make things much easier and much more fun. 🙌
Treat your first line like you’re writing an email
That first line of your caption? It’s the most important part of your Instagram caption.
If you don’t make this section of your caption intriguing, then very few people will click read “more”.
And if they don’t, you’ve wasted your time and energy writing an original Instagram caption.
So give your readers every reason to want to keep reading by:
- Posing a question
- Being controversial
- Sharing an honest admission
- Including a number (works best for an educational-style post)
Treat the first line of your Instagram caption like an email subject line.
You need to cut through the noise of people’s Instagram feeds in the same way that you’d try to cut through their cluttered inbox.
A so-so, wishy-washy first line won’t entice anyone to read more – so make it good!
Use (very) short paragraphs and sentences
Don’t forget to keep your caption as digestible as possible.
The best way to do that?
With very short paragraphs and sentences that are easy to skim through.
To help you with this, start by writing out your captions in Word or Google Docs as you would normally.
Once you come to edit, be brave with chopping up text into paragraphs no more than 1-2 sentences long.
If an Instagram user is faced with a wall of text when they go to read your caption, they won’t read at all.
Include some emojis
You don’t have to throw all the emojis into your caption.
However, sprinkling a few strategically throughout will draw your reader’s eye down the text and towards the call-to-action at the end.
If you’re wondering which emojis to use, here are some of the best emojis to increase click-through rates and engagement.
I like to use emojis at the beginnings and the ends of sentences (and sometimes in between paragraphs), to keep people reading.
Always, always, always include a CTA
Apart from making the first line of your Instagram caption as intriguing and clickable as possible, the second most important thing to do is…
… to always include a clear call-to-action (CTA).
Give people something to do. Whether it’s commenting below, saving the post or tagging a friend, people need to be told what to do – otherwise they’ll do nothing at all.
Make sure this CTA is on a standalone line (not buried within the preceding paragraph) so it’s super obvious and not missed by skim-readers.
And try to avoid using “check out the link in my bio!” for every CTA.
Instagram users don’t leave Instagram very easily. They enjoy swiping Stories, hopping from post to post, and scrolling through Reels.
To get someone to click on the link in your bio and leave Instagram for an external website is a big deal.
So rather than always trying to make that your goal, instead keep engagement on the app.
By encouraging conversation on your account, you will increase your engagement rate and build relationships with people. Win-win.
A list of CTAs for you to use
Just in case you’re ever stuck for a call-to-action to use in your Instagram caption, here’s a selection:
- Comment below
- Tag a friend
- Save this post for later!
- Share this post with someone who needs it
- Double tap
- Send me a DM
- Click the link in my bio 👉 [insert Instagram handle]
- Drop your favorite emoji below
- Can I get a [insert word e.g. Amen! Hell yes!]?
- Tag your creations using [insert branded hashtag]
Conclusion
How do you feel about writing your next batch of original Instagram captions?
Inspired? Excited? Raring to go?
We hope so!
With the writing prompts, the ideas and the CTA suggestions, you have everything you need to craft captions that connect to your community.
