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How to add captions on instagram


How to Add Captions to Your Instagram Stories

Instagram is rolling out a new accessibility feature that allows you to add captions, or subtitles, to Instagram Stories and soon, Instagram Reels.

With the captions sticker, brands and creators can work toward building a more inclusive experience for their community.

Here’s everything you need to know about Instagram’s newest feature and how you can use it for your business:

How to Automatically Add Captions to Your Instagram Stories

Using Instagram’s new captions sticker is quite similar to using any other Instagram Stories sticker. Here’s how to add captions to your Instagram story:

Step #1: Head to the Instagram Stories or Reels camera and either record or upload a video from your camera roll.

Step #2: Once uploaded or recorded, tap the sticker icon.

Step #3: Select the “Captions” sticker.

Step #4: At this stage, you can choose from four different text formats, move the text around the screen, and change the color.

And that’s it! Your captions should now be generated on your Instagram story.

Be sure to watch and read the captions before posting as Instagram may not accurately transcribe your audio. Currently, users are unable to edit the captions after the fact.

NOTE: The Instagram captions sticker is only available in English and English-speaking countries.

Don’t Have Access? Here Are Other Ways to Add Instagram Story Captions

If you don’t have access to the new captions sticker, no need to panic.

According to TechCrunch, Instagram is “rolling out the captions sticker first to Stories and will then begin testing it in Reels, with a broader launch to follow.”

Luckily, there are other ways to add captions in the meantime.

The first is to manually add text overlays in Instagram to summarize your key talking points:

Alternatively, you can use third-party apps to generate captions for your Instagram stories. The following apps are helpful resources:

  • Clipomatic

  • CaptionMax

To make Instagram Stories creation and planning easier, save time and schedule your Instagram Stories with Later.

It’s simple — upload your videos to the Later Media Library and select when you want them to go live on your profile.

You’ll get a notification on your phone as soon as it’s time to post your stories, and  all of your links and text will be copied to your clipboard.

The best part? Since you’re manually uploading the stories, you can apply the captions sticker before it goes live to ensure you’re sharing accessible stories.

Start scheduling your Instagram Stories with Later today, available on all paid plans!

Why Instagram Stories and Reels Captions Are Important

Instagram Stories captions are easy-to-read subtitles for your videos, making it easier for your community to digest your content.

New feature 📣

Now you can add a captions sticker to Stories that automatically turns what you say into text.

"Sound off" is a request we get a lot so I'm excited that it’s coming to Reels too. We also hope to expand beyond a handful of countries soon. pic.twitter.com/4eMczUoj4x

— Adam Mosseri 😷 (@mosseri) May 4, 2021

It’s been one of the most highly anticipated features on Instagram  — and for good reason!

As a brand, your Instagram content should be as inclusive as possible, and the new Instagram captions sticker helps with that.

Not only are Instagram video captions important for people who are watching without sound, but they’re essential for those with hearing difficulties. Especially since over 5% of the population — 466M people — have disabled hearing loss.

If a user is scrolling through Instagram Stories or Reels in a quiet public place without headphones, there’s a chance they may exit your video.

But, if that very same story had subtitles — it suddenly becomes easier for your audience to stop, watch, and understand the video.

TIP: If you want to level-up your accessibility beyond Instagram Stories and Reels captions, discover 5 Ways to Make Your Instagram Account More Accessible Right Now.

Including captions in your Instagram stories and reels can massively help create a more accessible space for everyone in your community — proving to be a no brainer for your brand or business.

Sign up for the Later newsletter and get the latest Instagram trends, tips, and tricks delivered straight to your inbox:

How to Add Captions to Instagram Stories

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One of Instagram’s newest features is the ability to add captions to your Instagram Stories. This feature interprets what you or someone else is saying and generates text so your followers can read it. As convenient as this option may be for some users, it’s still not available in all regions.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add captions to Instagram Stories on different devices. We’ll also show you a workaround for doing this on your PC.

How to Add Captions to Instagram Stories on an iPhone

Now that Instagram has rolled out the captions feature, it will give your followers a chance to read or better listen to what you’re saying. Not only is the captions feature useful in situations where you can’t turn on your audio, but it makes Instagram more user-friendly to those who are hard of hearing. Once you enable it, Instagram will automatically generate captions that record what you or someone else says in the video.

Note that this feature is only available when your Instagram Story is a video. It doesn’t work with photos. You can use it on prerecorded videos or make a video using Instagram Stories and add the captions afterward. Keep in mind that it currently works just for the English language, so it’s only available in English-speaking countries. However, this might change soon.

If you want to add captions to your Instagram Story on your iPhone, this is what you need to do:

  1. Open Instagram on your iPhone.
  2. Tap on the “Your Story” bubble in the top-left corner, or simply swipe left on your home page.
  3. Record a video or upload one from your gallery.
  4. Tap the sticker icon on the top menu.
  5. Choose “Captions” from the list of options.
  6. Decide on a text format.
  7. Edit the text’s format any way you want.
  8. Select “Done” in the upper-right corner.
  9. Tap on the “Your Story” tab in the bottom-left corner to post it.

Not only does Instagram allow you to add captions to your Story, but you can also edit the text’s format. For example, you can change the size, color, and location of the text. Also, you have four different text fonts to choose from. There’s always a chance that your speech wasn’t accurately transcribed, and unfortunately, it’s currently not possible to edit the text itself. That’s why you should speak as clearly as possible when recording the video.

The captions functionality is currently only available for Instagram Stories, but it might also be possible with Instagram Reels in the near future.

How to Add Captions to Instagram Stories on an Android Device

The captions feature is also available on Instagram for Android devices. What’s more, it will only take you a minute or so to enable it. Follow the steps below to add captions to your Instagram Story on your Android:

  1. Launch the Instagram app on your Android device.
  2. Go to your profile picture in the top-left corner or swipe to the left side of your screen.
  3. Make a video or upload one you’ve previously recorded.
  4. Proceed to the top menu and tap on the sticker icon.
  5. Select “Captions.”
  6. Choose the font, color, size, and location of your captions.
  7. Continue to “Done” in the top-right corner of your screen.
  8. Post your Story by tapping on the “Your Story” tab.

That’s all there is to it. Now your followers or anyone else who is viewing your Story will be able to read your captions.

If you can’t find the captions feature in your sticker menu, it’s possible that Instagram Story captions still aren’t available in your country. Make sure you’re using the newest version of the app. As mentioned before, if you’re not speaking English, then the captions feature won’t be available for your Instagram Story.

If your video is relatively short, and you only say a few sentences, you can still add text to your Instagram story; you just have to type it in yourself. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Open “Your Story” on your Instagram app.
  2. Upload the video or film one to use.
  3. Tap on the “Aa” button on the top menu.
  4. Manually type in what you said in the video.
  5. Choose the text’s font, color, size, alignment, transition, etc.
  6. Tap “Done” in the top-right corner.
  7. Post your Story.

Even though the regular text feature isn’t like the captions feature, it’s an excellent alternative for shorter videos.

How to Add Captions to Instagram Stories on a PC

Since there is no direct way to post an Instagram Story on your PC, the captions feature isn’t available either. However, you can use a two-step workaround to add captions to your Instagram Story and post it from your PC. Firstly, you will need to add captions to your video with a third-party app on your computer. From there, you can either transfer the video to your phone or post it from your browser.

Let’s go over how to add captions to your video first. While there are many third-party apps you can use, we recommend going with Google Drive.

For this method, you need to have the video uploaded to your Google Drive account. Then, the captions have to be written in an SRT format, which should be saved on your computer or your Google Drive. Here’s what you need to do next:

  1. Open Google Drive on your browser.
  2. Find the video file you just uploaded and right-click on it.
  3. Select “Manage Caption Tracks” from the drop-down menu.
  4. Click on “Add New Caption Tracks” on the right side of the video.
  5. Go to the “Upload” tab on the new window.
  6. Drag the file to the window or click on the “Select a file from your device” button.
  7. Find the SRT file and choose “Open.”
  8. Select the language of your captions.
  9. Enter the caption track’s title.
  10. Choose “Upload.”

Now that you’ve added the captions to your video, download it to your computer. It’s time to post it on your Instagram. Follow the steps below to do just that:

  1. Open Google Chrome or your preferred browser on your PC.
  2. Press these keys “Ctrl + Shift + J” at the same time. This will open the Developer Console window on the left side of your browser.
  3. Navigate to the phone icon on the top toolbar. It should be on the left side of the “Elements” tab.
  4. Choose the “Dimensions: Responsive” tab. Once you do this, your screen will be minimized, resembling a phone.
  5. Refresh your page.
  6. Go to Instagram.
  7. Click on the story bubble.
  8. Upload the video from your computer.
  9. Edit the video any way you want.
  10. Post your Instagram Story.

This method may seem more complicated, but it pays off if you can’t use your mobile device at the moment. It’s also more robust since you compile the captions by yourself. You’ll be able to write down the captions accurately, and they don’t have to be in English.

Make Your Instagram Stories Even Better With Captions

While adding text to your Instagram stories has always been a handy feature, automatically generated captions are even better. They allow your followers to read what you’re talking about when they can’t hear you. Even though this feature isn’t available across the whole globe yet, there are things you can do to add captions manually.

Have you ever added captions to your Instagram Story before? How did you do it? Did you follow the method from this guide? Let us know in the comments section below.

Instagram Photo Captions: The Ultimate Guide to Writing

Instagram is a visual social network, but post captions are getting more and more attention. With the tightening of algorithms, everything becomes important: both the general appearance of the account and the captions for photos.

We figure out what to write in the caption for the photo on Instagram, how to format it correctly and use the caption to engage the audience.

Instagram captions

The caption is a short text under the photo in the account. You can write texts for Instagram posts up to 2200 characters. If this volume is not enough, bloggers move part of the entry to the first comment.

Hashtags are added to the Instagram photo caption or users are tagged. You can also add emoji to your signature. The main thing is not to overdo it with their number.

What does the signature contain?

First of all, the caption to the photo is a functional part of the post. Bloggers here talk about the product they are promoting, and brands convey a key message that cannot be expressed visually. For example, they talk about a new collection or detailed instructions for competitions.

There are more and more bloggers on Instagram who use the platform to post small texts. Popular topics: proper nutrition, exercise, personal care, recipes, parenting, travel notes.

Sometimes serious or controversial topics are raised, resulting in interesting and lengthy discussions in the comments. Instagram recently announced tree comments, an update that shows that the platform is indeed moving beyond visual content.

How do I tag a person in an Instagram photo caption?

A user can be tagged in a post in two ways: on the image or tagged in the caption.

1. To tag a person in a photo, click on the three dots in the right corner above the photo, then "Edit". Click on "People Tags" in the lower left corner, a window will open where you can tag a user - anywhere in the photo, start entering his nickname.

With this mark option, the user will receive a notification about it, and the photo will appear in his account, in the "Photos with you" section.

2. To tag a person in the Instagram signature, add the @ sign and start typing a nickname - you will see a list of users in a tooltip, select the one you need.

The user will receive a notification that they were mentioned in the post, but this post cannot be found in their profile.

How to use Emoji in a signature

To add an emoticon, simply add it to the post text. The audience has different attitudes towards emoji in texts.

The best use of emoticons is to highlight important points in a post. For example, using colored squares or dots to make a bulleted list.

This way your Instagram photo caption will stand out better and look better if done in moderation.

How to use hashtags in signatures

To add a hashtag, put a pound sign in front of the word. When published, the tag will automatically become clickable.

In Instagram, tags work as links, and clicking on the tag takes the user to the overall post rating.

9 photos are included in the "Best" section. Getting into this top depends on several parameters, about which the social network does not talk in detail. It is known that reaching the top is affected by the number of reactions under the publication, the speed of gaining likes. Therefore, the number of involved users will largely depend on how to sign a photo on Instagram.

The "Newest" section contains photos with a hashtag, sorted by publication date. However, Instagram tech support acknowledges that the picture may not get here either. Because of this feature of the platform, myths about the shadow ban of Instagram appeared: hashtags stop working in the account. This is not so, it’s just that in any account, any picture may not be included in the results for the tag.

Create a branded hashtag for your company: this way you will introduce it to users, and they will use it in UGC.

More than 30 hashtags cannot be placed under one publication: the rest will not be clickable.

Tags can be placed both in the photo caption and in the post comment.

Beautiful Instagram photo caption

How to create interesting photo captions on Instagram? Take a cue from the accounts you like. Track what topics they raise in posts, what is the size of the signature in their account.

In your personal account, tell the story of the appearance of the photo, your latest news, or discuss an issue that concerns you. Tell us about the cafe you go to, a movie you recently saw, ask the audience an interesting question. Beautiful captions under the photo, which also involve, will arouse interest and bring great benefits. Quotes are a bad idea, leave them to the public from VKontakte.

In a company account, captions are part of the content strategy. Formulate what topics your brand talks about, with what intonation. Each post should be in line with the company's content strategy. Good morning wishes remained in 2012. Beautiful signatures on Instagram can be seen on the example of panaceas_pantry (photo above), outdoorvoices (photo below).

How to analyze Instagram captions?

Instagram statistics gives detailed data on photos and stories. But it is impossible to calculate the effectiveness of signatures on it. Yes, and a beautiful signature on Instagram or not, if you evaluate it “by eye”, this is subjective.

Use Popsters.ru to analyze topics, text size and hashtags in any Instagram account.

Text Referencing Tool

Click on the button with the letter "T" on the right above the feed of posts. Two graphs will appear in the left block: "Words" and "Words/ER".

  1. Words

Shows how many posts the word occurs in.

  1. Words/ER

Shows the average ER for posts that contain a word.

Using this data, you can analyze different topics of posts.

That is, you can find out which topics and texts for Instagram posts create more engagement.

You can also analyze the signature using charts:

  1. Number by length of text;

Displays the number of posts with different text lengths: short, medium, long.

  1. ER by text length;

Shows the average ER of posts with different caption lengths on Instagram.

  1. Relative activity by text length.

Shows the average activity in posts with captions of different lengths relative to the average performance of posts in other formats.

Instagram hashtag analysis

Let's continue to analyze the new opportunities for analytics on Instagram. There are three indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of hashtags:

  1. Hashtags

Shows the number of posts containing certain hashtags

  1. Hashtags/ER

Shows the average ER of posts with certain hashtags.

  1. Relative activity by hashtags

Shows the average performance of posts with certain hashtags relative to the average performance of posts in the account.

Key Findings

1. An Instagram photo caption is an important part of a post. In it, you can tag a person, add a hashtag and give detailed information.

2. The subject of your caption can be anything: rules of the contest, history of photo creation, question to subscribers. But this content must be relevant and consistent with the company's content strategy.

3. It's convenient to analyze captions and hashtags on Instagram using Popsters.

Useful articles on a similar topic:

  • Creating creative Instagram stories: tips from Instagram;
  • The most popular hashtags on Instagram: everything you need to know;
  • How to become a successful Instagram blogger;
  • How to beautifully design an Instagram profile.

How to write caption on Instagram photo from phone and PC

Instagram often comes across photos with captions. The text can be used for different purposes: to focus on the topic of the post, indicate the price, indicate the place where the photo was taken. Unfortunately, the application itself does not yet have a function that allows you to overlay text on a photo.

You can only add text and stickers to stories. But everyone uses them, and the function itself is limited - it will not work to stand out from the rest. There are third-party services and programs to add beautiful and unique captions to photos.

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In the article we will analyze in which cases it makes sense to add text to a photo and what tools to use for this.

Read also : How to properly promote your Instagram account

Why do you need text on Instagram photos at all? Let's consider a few examples of usage:

1. The title of an article or collection

An example is the inscription “TOP of useful services”, it is immediately clear what the post is about. Open it and see the text with the selection. By the way, such posts are often bookmarked.

You can also create post summary slides.

2. Game or contest announcement

You can announce the launch of a contest or game. Below is a typical example of a like-time game for those who want to get free likes, comments and followers.

3. Emphasize a single profile style

Business profiles are made in the same style to distinguish themselves from other Instagram accounts. To do this, use text, shapes, certain colors in the photo. An example is a marketer's account, the text on each photo reflects the topic of the post below it.

4. Quotes, memes or jokes

Choose a beautiful photo and add text over it with a quote, anecdote or meme. But you need to be careful - Instagram has become negative about such content, so you don't need to make an account only from quotes or memes. Better dilute. For example, you run a travel blog, you can take a photo of a beautiful landscape or a photo with you and add a quote to show your subscribers your mood. Below is an example - the writer Oleg Roy, who periodically posts his quotes or excerpts from his books.

5. Prices, product characteristics

So that customers do not burst into direct with a question about prices, you can immediately add this information to the photo.

6. Mood

For posts about love, depression, happiness. You can let your subscribers know that you are sad or vice versa happy.

7. Testimonials

If you have testimonials from grateful customers, show them to your subscribers. It used to be customary to upload screenshots of correspondence, but such photos look ugly. It is better to add a neat inscription, and write the review itself in the post.

8. Advertising

Advertise your business with beautiful text. There are different options here.

9. Animated banners

Can be related to the previous point, but we decided to make it separate. Most often, these banners are placed as a video.

10. Sale, promotion, new product

Show the most important information in the photo - the size of the discount, when the sale will be and where. Everything else can be clarified in the post.

It's interesting : How to get to the top on Instagram

When you shouldn't add text to the photo

This makes no sense, because if the user likes the photos, he will go to your profile and subscribe.

2. When the text doesn't fit with the photo

Sometimes you can spoil a beautiful photo with incompetent superimposed text. This post makes me want to scroll faster.

3. When it is not clear what the text and photo are about

When viewing such a photo in the feed, it is not clear what it is about. And the reason can be not only in the unsuccessful text, but also in the photo.

Article in the topic : How to make beautiful text on Instagram

How to make an inscription on a photo on Instagram

Image sizes and text placement .

Text placement depends on many factors. For example, in posts with quotes, the text often takes up the entire photo. But if you have a commercial account, then you need to strike a balance between the amount / size of the text and the rest of the elements in the photo.

Important: Instagram reduces the number of ad impressions for posts where the text takes up more than 20% of the image.

How to write a caption on your phone

0003

  • Text Art
  • Social Media Post Maker
  • Social Post
  • Social Post Builder
  • Post Plus
  • Canva - mobile application of the online service

For stories:

  • Mojito
  • StoryArt
  • Story Maker
  • InstaStroy
  • Mostory

Let's take a photo with text using the example of the Social Post application.

We go into the application, the free version contains ads. You can buy a paid version or press "back" every time an ad pops up. If we want to create a post from scratch, click "Create post", if from a ready-made template, click "Readymade post". We chose ready.

Templates are divided into categories - business, fashion, new, summer, commercial and so on. To open a category, click "See more".

We select a specific template, and we are transferred to the editor. Here you can add text, stickers, picture, effects and change the background. The order of layers is customizable.

Double click on the text to replace it with your own. Next, click the "Add" button.

The text can be expanded, moved, tilted. We remove the excess. The text has many settings - font, color, transparency, position, shadow. You can make text bold, italic, or underlined.

When finished with the text, you can replace the background - choose from the gallery or download from the stock.

To save the post, click "Save" in the upper right corner. It can be immediately posted on social networks, and it is also automatically saved in the phone's gallery.

What was missing in this application was the ability to edit the background - make it more contrast or black and white. Ready filters are rather weak. There are few templates. But a lot of settings for the text.

Article in topic : Video makers for social networks

On a computer

On a computer, the easiest way to overlay text on a photo for Instagram. This can be done in designers like Canva or in Photoshop.

Canva

Go to the canva website and activate the 30 day trial period - later you can unsubscribe and use the service for free! After registration, in the "Create a design" or "All designs" section, select "Social networks" or "Animation for social networks" if you want to create an animated post. We will choose the first section.

We are thrown into the editor, where you can immediately select a ready-made template and start remaking it for yourself. Templates can be selected by scrolling down or by entering the desired word in the search.

Choose a ready-made template and start editing. The good thing about Canva's builder is that here you can change any template beyond recognition. You can replace the picture with your own, add shapes, masks or animation. In terms of text editing, there are also a lot of possibilities here - you can change the font (there are fonts in Russian), size, color of the text, make it bold, italic or use underscore. You can make a bulleted list, adjust line and letter spacing, adjust text alignment relative to the picture and transparency, insert a link.

The finished post must be downloaded in jpg or png format if you need a static photo and saved in mp4 format if you made an animated post. To do this, click "Publish" and "Download", then select the format. In the Pro version, you can change the size of the finished post.

You can also make a post from scratch. To do this, customize the background in one of three ways - upload a finished image through the "Downloads" section, make a colored background using the "Background" section, or upload a photo from free stocks through the "Photos" section.

Then you can add additional elements to the post - shapes, collage grids, frames, stickers, charts, gradients, lines, ornaments, ready-made drawings. For example, with the help of shapes, you can make a beautiful inscription in a circle.

Next, to add text, click on the "Text" section and select a regular text field or a stylized one. The result is saved as described above.

Signature Photo Templates for Photoshop

These templates look more professional than Canva templates and are more suitable for commercial accounts. They can be found on sites like Graphicriver and other similar graphics marketplaces. You can search for free templates online.

Instagram templates for Photoshop are usually made in psd (for Adobe Photoshop) or ai (for Adobe Illustrator) format. We will not describe in detail how to edit them, there are many training videos on Youtube on this topic. Yes, and template sellers usually attach instructions in the form of a PDF cheat sheet or video tutorial. But if you are a complete beginner, then it is better to work with Photoshop, it is easier than Illustrator - you just need to replace the text, image and colors with your own.

Read also : 27 ideas for Instagram stories

Recommendations

If you decide to take photos with text for Instagram, then here are some recommendations: This applies to all types of accounts, but especially commercial ones. Come up with your own style or find suitable templates. You must have a specific font, certain colors, you don’t need to post posts that don’t match with each other.

  • The style of the account must be a continuation of the corporate style of the company . That is, if your colors are, for example, blue and black, then they should be present in the posts. Your Instagram account must be associated with your business.
  • Divide posts into categories using color scheme and pre-make templates for different types of posts. Write a greeting post or make an engaging post.
  • Highlight the most important text large, for example, calls to action, information about discounts, company name, category name - what people should pay attention to first of all.
  • Watch your competitors – how they maintain their color scheme, how the text looks relative to the photo, what posts their subscribers respond to better.

    Learn more