Tip Tuesday: Captions

So you’ve taken your picture and now it’s time for what many consider the hardest part, writing your caption. Here are my tips for writing a decent and most importantly engaging caption.  

Ask a Question

Do you want more followers, to be a rep, or just be active in the bookstagram community, well give people something to interact with!  The best way to do this is to ask a question in your caption.  Believe me, it is hard to come up with a question to ask.  Much like with photo ideas, Book Photo challenges are a good place to start.  I will caution you though, you won’t be the only one doing this so I try to use a variation on the prompt. 

I also recommend putting the question at the top of your post.   I’ll be honest if I have to read paragraphs of text, to find your question, I’ll probably give up. So either put it at the top of your post or make it clear and easy to find.  

Talk about your Post 

Maybe your post is tied to your question, cool, but maybe it’s not, and if it doesn’t tell me what it is.  Personally, if your caption has nothing to do with your photo I get a little annoyed.  I know this is a personal preference, and I’ve probably done this myself because sometimes you forget to take pictures, I get it life gets in the way, but at least mention one of the books in the photo in your caption. 

Hashtags 

So I think for me this was the most confusing part of posting, but they are a great way to get attention, especially from people who don’t follow you. Some people post hashtags in their actual caption, while others post them in a comment.  I have heard that posting them in that caption is better, but I have seen it both ways so it’s probably just what you prefer. \

There are a few hashtags that I use with every post, but be aware that the less used the hashtag is the more attention you will get when people search for it.  For example, #bookstagram has 25.3M posts.  You are competing with that many other posts, but something like #bookdragon only has about 550k.  I’m not saying not to use hashtags with a large number of posts, but even it out with some smaller ones.  

I also usually add hashtags for the items in my picture. That might be the name of the book or the author.  Maybe you have some candles in your post, so I often use #bookishcandles.  Also if you’ve ever searched by hashtag before, I recommend using that search where appropriate in your post.  

Where do you get your inspirations for questions?  What are some hashtags you use?