In the fashion community, few social media platforms are as beloved as Instagram. Whether we’re sharing snaps of our latest #ootd or browsing through other fashion people’s fabulous posts from runway shows, parties, and beyond, Instagram is where it’s at. There’s only one problem.
Posting a photo to Instagram, of course, isn’t really a hard thing to do—the challenge comes in crafting the perfect caption to accompany the image. Some of our favorite It girls are really good at it—we’re looking at you, Alexa Chung—and while we take inspiration from their daily musings, we thought it might be wise to pick the brain of a bona fide social media expert. And that’s just what we did.
We sat down to chat with Michael Kwolek, the director of research at social media consultancy firm Room 214. We asked him to share his learnings on the types of Instagram captions that work—the ones that increase engagement, are prone to getting you more likes, and generally make people like you more on the platform—and, of course, the types of captions that don’t work.
What he had to say really surprised us. Keep scrolling for an expert’s tips on how to write the perfect cute Instagram caption.
“Brevity is so important,” Kwolek tells us. “I like when people just use a caption like ‘This.’ [to go along with their image]. That’s always a good go-to. Something super brief. It should be shorter than a tweet.”It’s true: All those people you follow who like to #hashtag #every #word #in #their #Instagram #poststhey’re doing it wrong. “Gasp. According to Kwolek, if your Instagram caption is borderline illegible, that’s a bad thing. (Though you’d probably never know it from taking a quick scroll through your feed.)“Add value to the image with the caption,” Kwolek recommends. “When I scroll through Instagram, I don’t necessarily even read the captions. If you want to have a caption that people are actually going to want to read, you kind of have to build that up with the image first. You want people to say, ‘I’m going to look at this image, but hey, I’m going to read this caption too.’” And how do you do that? “For all the blushing brides out there, this one’s for you: Event-specific hashtags are lame, according to Kwolek.Yes, à la Beyoncé, Instagram photos without captions reign supreme.Susan Alexandra’s whimsical bags make us really inexplicably happy.The clear trend is bubbling up in jewelry, too.These would complement an athleisure outfit like no other.The earrings you’ll find adorning every fashion person right now.Skinny sunglasses keep evolving. Minimal design with maximum effect.See all the modern ways we’re loving to wear pearls right now.These cult-favorite bags just got a fresh spring coating.Will there ever be a time when berets are not in style? Serious question.Wear these to complement all your spring sandals.
How do you approach writing Instagram captions?
This post waspublished at an earlier date and has been updated.
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