How Your Instagram Captions Can Help You Go Viral

The Internet is a big web of social networks, with users readily available for lifelike interactions and other functions. Instagram plays a very pertinent role in this regard.

At this juncture, let's establish that going viral on the Internet means putting out authentic content that catches the attention of millions of users. Most of the time, they go as far as sharing and reposting such content elsewhere online.

Here's how to get Insta famous and make your content go viral with the right captions…
 

Factors that define viral content

• The number of shares and reposts

• The number of likes

• The number of individuals it reaches 

• The speed at which users consume or engage with the content 

• (If it features a link) The number of clicks it generates 

As you can see, going viral is a little more complicated than just accumulating a few hundred likes.

There are many ways and strategies to go viral through Instagram, but most of them boil down to stimulating and increasing user engagements.

And if you push the content well enough, it gets to feature on Instagram's Explore page; here, the sky becomes your limit.

Why captions matter to Instagrammers

IG captions are text-based descriptions that give context to a post while amplifying the brand's essence and encouraging users to take action.

The captions can also include emojis and hashtags—an opportunity to get creative and use combos to stimulate much-needed engagements.

A well-crafted caption shows a brand's creativity and mental spontaneity. So when you see a viewer drop a love or haha emoji, you know that s/he resonates with your post deeply.

An imaginative caption is what will make the difference between a user that moves past your post and the one that engages with it.
 

Making your Instagram captions effective for viral content

These are not tricks but probably techniques that you know or might have thought of, but somehow overlooked.

1. Understand your audience on Instagram and beyond

The peak of going viral online involves tons of real engagements on different social media platforms. So, don't just look at your audience from Instagram's point of view but also put into consideration other users that will see your content elsewhere.

The idea is, there must be a reason why every bit of your followers decided to click the follow button. Once you can find that appealing element, you can tailor your content to put it in great lights.

It would be impossible to consider the specific interests of every single follower, but you can classify the majority along the following lines:

• Age

• Location 

• Gender 

• Occupation 

• Income level 

• Education level

The caption complements your content and determines if it will spark a conversation. To get enough engagements, you need the image and/or video to be crisp and captivating, to catch the interest of your target audience.

If you're really after those splendid captions, then you need to establish an ideal user persona. Fortunately, this also applies to other social networks, not just Instagram. So you don't have to do this twice.
 

2. Identify your brand voice and stick to it

Every brand has a voice, and if you want to get atop of the chain, you need a voice/identity that is unique and relevant to your target market.

For instance, Nike has a voice that might come across as urgent or even extreme but at the same time, inspiring and motivational.

More so, the brand maintains this voice across all their platforms and promotional campaigns.

In isolation, a voice that seems urgent might be a bad idea, but considering that its audience, especially for their advertisements, are mostly sportspeople who would go crazy when their team scores or even concedes, it becomes relevant.

Also, every brand should endeavor to throw in some entertainment in their posts, to make them more catchy. Granted, Nike goes overboard with a powerful and positive voice; they still manage to make their content entertaining.
 

3. Come up with a captivating sentence

Any brand should begin their caption with highly-persuasive words that highlight its values—especially because when your caption is too long, Instagram includes a 'More' button while cutting off the end part. Users will have to tap to see the rest.

It's perfectly okay to have a lengthy post but ensure that the first few words are compelling and convey your message in the catchiest way.

With this, users would be more inclined to read more, where they will now find your mentions and hashtags.
 

4. Tell a story with your captions

Everyone loves a good story, and a brand would stimulate more engagements and emotions when it fuses the right story into its captions.

The story would help develop a deeper connection with potential customers/clients and would also make your brand more relatable.

Also, the story can take any form—it could be polarizing, emotional, humorous, etc. You do not want it to be too long, as this can easily be a turn-off for most viewers.

Brands can also ask users to share their stories or start a contest around it, for bigger conversations.
 

5. Always include a strong CTA

The fundamental aim of your posts is to make users take action. So somewhere in your caption, you should direct users to the link in your bio or persuade them to 'Share on your Instagram Stories,' 'Tag a friend,' or 'Tap to purchase.'

Also, contests and giveaways are a very effective way to make users take action. (I mean, everyone likes free stuff, right?)
 

6. Create a unique hashtag

Hashtags sprinkle your content with discoverability, increasing the number of people it eventually reaches.

Imagine providing a clever CTA that involves users commenting with a particular hashtag. If successful, more non-following users would get to see your posts and perhaps, respond to them.

Still, avoid using too many hashtags in your captions. This comes off as spammy and we don't want to drive potential customers/clients away, do we?