Six Different Kinds of Instagram Captions you Should Try Before Summer Ends

These days, your instagram profile is one of the primary ways you present yourself online. For that reason, I started out this summer with a goal to take my instagram game to the next level. I created a brand new account, @things_elise_does and made an effort to keep a consistent theme of colors and filters. This alone hasn’t been simple. In fact, my initial theme was very dark and it’s lightened gradually as I’ve gotten in the swing of things. Yet, I’ve found the more daunting task comes after your photo is already edited and ready to be posted and you have to think of the caption.

How many times have you had your mind go completely blank when it came to captioning your photo?

Hopefully, this outline of some of the different types of captions can help you find some inspiration for your next post.

1.The Quote

This is easily the most stereotypical type of instagram caption. It’s great for when you’re pinched for time and can’t think of something clever on your own! Another advantage to a quote is it will make you appear cultured. Here’s my little cheat: at brainyquote.com you can search a person or concept to find the perfect quote. 

2. The Song Lyric

I know, I know, a song lyric is just another type of quote, but the effect is very different between a historical quote and a song lyric. A song lyric is much more like a pop culture reference. The name dropping involved in a quote may come off as sophisticated but a song lyric will be far more relatable.

3. The Emoji

I don’t use this sort of caption very often but I adore the simplicity of it. There’s really two ways you can do this one. The first is simply using emojis that have to do with the pictures content. For example a palm tree and hibiscus on a picture of yourself on a tropical beach. The other option is more coy. You can try to communicate a statement through just a series of emoji’s such as using the eye emoji, a heart, and and the letter U to communicate “I love you”.

4. Breaking the Fourth Wall

The basic premise of this sort of caption is letting your followers become a part of your photo. The easiest way to do this is describing what you were experiencing when the picture was taken. For example, if you’re laughing, let your followers in on the joke. Or, tell your followers what happened immediately before the camera was shot. Maybe, even drop a quote of what someone in the picture was saying!

5. The Exposed Private Thought

This sort of caption was made popular by the creation of the “finstagram”, the duplicate account many people create to post their less public thoughts and photos that they wish to share with only some of their friends rather than all their followers. However, at some point this style of caption became acceptable on “rinsta’s” (real instagram’s) as well. An example of this sort of caption is the one on the post on the left where it the content didn’t connect to the picture at all and it seems more like I posted to say something than to show something. 

6. The Pun

Who doesn’t love a pun? The key to this form of caption is it being applicable to your picture AND recognizable to your audience. For example, this week I posted a picture of a friend and I doing yoga on a camping trip. The caption I chose to use was “She’s the Yogi to my Boo-boo”. The reaction to this caption was less astounding than I expected and I believe it was because most of my followers are far too young to have ever sat through an episode of Yogi Bear. 

Hopefully, this post can help you break out of your latest case of caption writers block! If you’re still struggling for inspiration, feel free to peruse my instagram posts below! 

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