Writing Captions for Instagram Draining Your Life? Let Me Help You.

By Nicole Healy

Strategy is everything behind creating a phenomenal social media marketing plan - there needs to be planning, structures and thought processes behind this.

The words you use can either make or break someone converting as a customer to your business, however we are not professional copywriters, we are qualified hair & beauty professionals - so being good at social media doesn’t come naturally for all of us, some are just really good at it and others simply do not enjoy it, it’s the dread of their business.

Let’s face it, writing a caption to go with your post can be tricky, especially if you don’t enjoy it. You started your career in your industry to do services on clients, not to be a social media wiz, a social media strategist and a copywriter - relatable right? Otherwise, you would have done that for a career.

I want to give you some easy ideas of what to write about, and the length of your captions for feed posts & reels. Reels captions is another strategy all together but to be honest, Reels captions are probably the easiest to write, because they really don’t need to be a huge essay!

What I love about a feed post, you know the ones, the photo posts or carousel style posts, you can share these to Facebook too, and what you need to remember about Facebook is, people see the caption before they see the content, this is why your words really matter.

9 times out of 10 I’ll ready a caption on a feed post, because I love to know the context of the post and what that person I follow has to say, often I’ll either learn something I didn’t know or it helps me to get to know that person more, because they’re sharing something about themselves that helps to create connections.

However, with reels, you don’t necessarily need to write this big, long caption, because the headline is all they see, unless they tap the ... to read more and when people are viewing reels, they’re there for the video not the caption.

If you find Captions tricky, what you can do is you can use them to first off spark engagement on your posts and also your reels, by asking your audience to take action on a post.

You can start your caption headline with a statement such as “Save this post / reel to learn more about (what the purpose of your post is)” this way, you start to gain engagement on your content, which pushes your content out further to your ideal audience.

Saves are the engagement superhero. When people are saving your content, this tells Instagram that people are really enjoying your content, so much so, that they will look at it time and time again in their saved album. Whatever the engagement you’re seeking, all you got to do is simply ask for it! and trust me, it works. I did a Reel just yesterday and started my caption with “SAVE THIS for basin content ideas” - the reel was a scalp massage video, showing the experience at the basin.

This Reel I know was targeted to my ideal audience, which is hairdressers. Sharing tips with them on what to film at the basin, as this really is one the best parts of going to the hairdressers and I hardly see hair salons showing what type of massages and services they offer at the basin.

The rest of the caption talks to my audience about who is guilty of not doing this and then I was the problem solver by sharing the importance of this - this can truly be a huge upsell area in your business, but upgrading your client to a deluxe treatment at the basin, which for some salons can be a $50 treatment and includes beautiful and relaxing scalp massage - who wouldn’t want that when they come to the salon to chill out and wind down.

Your clients may not even know you offer such a treatment, because you never promote them on your socials, you just fill up your grid with all after photos and reels - it’s over saturated content, mix it up by showing these types of services, your business isn’t just all about colour, it’s about selling your retail, upselling at the basin, be the knowledgeable hairdresser that you’re!

Your captions can be a place to literally brain dump! When I’m often asked why I am confident at writing longer form captions, it’s me just dumping what I am thinking onto my keyboard and often, I will have an idea for a great caption in my head, I’ll open the notes app in my phone and write the idea and then come back and write it out in there! For me, my captions 100% need to have some kind of value, whether that’s for my audience to learn something that they will find helpful and know me as a trusted source, or knowing that I want to spark engagement to further my reach.

Here is 5 tips on Caption Ideas that you can truly do and they’re things that you already know - trust me! You talk about this all day long, it’s just a matter of putting that into text - or if you’re truly not confident at writing captions, think about creating more engaging content via reels by doing a voice over - just explain what it is you’re doing in your reel. It’s not a matter of posting just because, it’s about being engaging and smarter with your content in what’s a truly oversaturated app and platform.

1. 3 Tips on how to look after____________

2. Is your hair going brassy, here’s how to fix that.(share your knowledge on how to stop this)

3. Is your hair feeling dehydrated? Here is how you can restore the moisture in your hair.(share your tips and knowledge)

4. Trying to grow your hair? Let me share how to speed up the process.

5. Not sure how often to wash your hair? Let me break it down for you below.

If you’re an educator wanting to grow your education business and trying to attract more hairdressers to follow you, then you’ll need to create content and captions that are helpful for them!

Once you know the process, it’s not that scary after all, you’re a professional, you’re confident, you know what you’re on about, to your clients, they trust you with your knowledge. What I often find holds people back from writing - is judgement - what will others think of me writing this educational caption. The only thing they will be thinking is, why didn’t I think of that!

The format to an amazing caption is: The Headline that draws them in or sparks a call to action for engagement

Context and Educational Tips and Hints: Call to Action to share how to make a booking or close a sale with a potential client, how can they find out more about you!

I hope you found these tips helpful, and I can’t wait to see you sharing your helpful and insightful captions on the gram soon!

If you would like to work with me in 2023, book a FREE 15 Minute Discovery Call with me by emailing me socialsalonschool@gmail.com or you can find out more about me on Instagram @ social.salon.school www.melbournehairblogger.com.au/ findoutmore