Tutorial
We created the Prepare to Post area in the app as a place where you can go to think creatively and purposefully about your own posting without all the other distractions of social media (like mechanics, and analytics.) Our hope is that while you are there, you can just focus on conveying the best of your business to your target audience.
We also hoped the space would be a place where you can relax and write. One of the things that can sap creativity is when you sit down to post under time pressure. Just knowing that you need to come up with a post in a certain amount of time can be stressful.
By finding time to work in your Caption Library in a positive mindset, you will be surprised how much more pleasant and productive posting will become. Also, it is a great feeling to know that, going forward, you have captions stored in your library.
So where to start? First and foremost, we must hold our audience’s attention.
Educate, Entertain and Inspire
My favorite caption advice is to think of these three verbs when creating a caption. Writing for social media is like writing for a magazine in that if your posts are not interesting in one of the ways above, people will eventually unfollow you (unless they are a family member or employee.)
So take whatever caption draft you have for a topic and revisit it with the idea of making it fit into one of these three categories.
For example: perhaps I want to post about an upcoming new year’s sale on journals. On the surface, it’s not that interesting. But if I start if out with, “Did you now 4/5 people don’t keep their new year’s resolutions? Buy a journal to track your commitment. On sale now.” This could be educating and perhaps inspiring, as well.
An athletic company might entertain in their posts by talking about the extreme locations customers use their products or with humorous stories about how people have accidentally broken their sports watches.
Get Comfortable
Captions seem to be the part of social media that gives people the most discomfort. Many people feel that they are not ready to write for an audience of people they don’t know. Let me tell you a few things to alleviate those fears:
Speak about what you know
You can’t be too far off if you speak about topics that you know and understand. Surely your own product is one of those. Make sure your main messages don’t get you out of this zone of personal expertise. (Alternatively, if you have a great idea for a post but it is somewhat beyond you core expertise, you can always share an article written by someone that does have the necessary expertise.)
Speak from the heart
If you speak from the heart, you can overcome many other disadvantages. People respond to an authentic, caring voice.
It’s personal but it’s not
Some people are uncomfortable with the feeling that their captions are a direct reflection on them. This is true to some degree, especially if you are a one man or woman show. However, it is still a caption written for your “business”. Also, it will be one of many captions you write, so try not to put too much emphasis on any one caption. It will be in your feed one day and gone the next (unless someone chooses to look at your previous posts.)
Work Ahead
-Use Library for Special Events or Seasonal
Sometimes you know exactly what’s coming up on the calendar that needs posting about. It may be a product launch, company event, or national holiday. The Caption Library is perfect for creating those posts ahead of time. You can quickly create a number of posts to take you from pre-post upcoming event. When you are ready (or have full information), you can come back, finish and schedule them. (Use the category “special events” or “seasonal” in your Caption Library for this type of post.)
-Capture Full or Partial Ideas
You don’t have to have a perfectly formed idea to use the caption library. Even saving a snippet of and idea can save you time in the future. When these ideas come to you, take a minute to save them in your library either in full or in part.
-Try These Prompts to Get You Started
Go to your app Caption Library. Then put on your journalist hat for a bit and start content creation with these prompts. Enter your answers in your Library. Don’t forget to categorize your message based on the drop down menu: is it Message 1, 2, or 3 or some other category. This quick step will help you keep track of whether or not you are presenting a variety of messages in your feed or not.
Message One – Product
What to think about in your library:
How does our product benefit people?
What is interesting about our product?
What’s new with our product?
What don’t people know about our product?
Message Two – Big Picture
What industry or larger group is our product part of?
What is happening in this industry? Famous people, changes, trends?
What article can I share to educate my followers about my industry?
Message Three – Personal
Why should people care about what we do?
What does our company stand for?
What do our customer need to know about our team?
What special is going on right now with our business or team that people should know?
-One Last Pass
After you jot down your caption idea, take one more minute and ask yourself how you can be different or creative in how you present these answers.
-Can I add humor?
-Can I put them in a different format?
-Can I add a link to an article on the topic?
-Can I add a quote?
-Can I tag someone?
You get the idea.
Sometimes the answer is no, the post is fine as it is. Sometimes the answer is yes, and it is worth taking another few minutes to make it a really top notch post.
Meet us in the Small Biz Builders, or private Facebook group, with any questions, feedback or ideas. Got a good writing prompt? Please share!