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How to write an effective caption - Facebook

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Social media relies on visuals nowadays, with almost every algorithm boosting image and video content more than purely text. 

That said, you want to caption your images and videos and you want to caption them effectively.  

Today’s topic is on Facebook and how to caption your content for great results.  

The content 

First thing to consider is the message that you want to get across. A caption needs to be impactful whilst remaining short and clear. 

Think of the aim. If it’s a CTA (call to action), include a link so that the person reading your post can easily do what you want them to.  

If you have a sale that ends soon, tell them that - make sure that they know to place orders before the end date. 

If you want to increase interactions with your account, ask a question or prompt a discussion. 

If you want to showcase yourself and your knowledge, add some facts or statistics that are relevant.  

Unprofessional and sloppy

Figures can be much punchier than a simple explanation, so don’t be afraid to use them to really get your point across.  

Simply think about what you want to gain from your social content and make it easy for the viewers to give it to you.  

The main thing is to get straight to the point, no babble or lead up to the key message. Make the important information visible as soon as the viewer looks at the text.  

You also have to take spelling, punctuation and grammar into account. Having any mistakes or typos in a caption looks unprofessional and sloppy. 

Be natural 

Language is more casual online, so using slang or abbreviations usually isn’t frowned upon (depending on your target audience) but basic spelling and grammar must still be correct.  

If your brand identity is more casual and fun, then type in that tone. 

You want to present your brand with a human voice, so personality has to be taken into consideration.  

Lastly, be natural! 

Overly formal writing can look strange and inhuman, remind your audience that you are real people working for a real company. 

Even if it’s subconsciously, it makes them feel more connected to you and makes your brand more likeable.  

The length 

If you use social media for marketing, you’ll know the struggle when it comes to truncation.  

Truncation is when your caption is shortened by the ‘…see more’ button (or similar depending on the platform). 

This is a problem because it’s hiding what could be valuable content. 

Unless your caption is short enough, truncation is unavoidable. 

This is why it’s important to keep captions short but impactful, you need to get your message across in just a couple sentences so the viewer doesn’t have to click anything to get all of the information. 

Depending on the device, you have as few as 132 characters before your Facebook post will truncate, but it isn’t an exact science.  

The most engagement

An analysis from BuzzSomo says that the ideal Facebook caption length is around 50 characters, as it gets the most engagement.  

If you have a lot of information to get across, this might be too short but it’s a good aim to have for day-to-day posts.  

The total limit for a Facebook post is 63,206 characters but unless you’re writing essays for your audience, you should be fine.  

If you want to check your post length before uploading, Sprout Social offers a social media character counter which allows you to check the characters of your post and advises you if it’s too long or short. 

Do you need a hand with social media for your business? We want to help, contact our team for more information.

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