Instagram Stories have become an incredibly popular way to share photos and videos. With over 500 million daily active users on Stories, adding text captions can help make your content more engaging and accessible.
As a social media manager with over 5 years of experience, I’m going to walk you through everything you need to know to add text captions on Instagram Stories.
Table of Contents
Why Add Captions on Instagram Stories?
Here are some of the key benefits of using text captions on your Instagram Stories:
- Increased accessibility – Adding captions makes your content more inclusive for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. It also helps people who watch videos without sound.
- Better engagement – Captions can boost views and engagement as they allow people to understand your videos even without audio.
- More professional look – Properly formatted text overlays give your Stories a more polished, professional appearance.
- SEO optimization – Captions allow you to include relevant keywords which can improve your content’s search visibility.
How to Insert Text Captions on Instagram Stories
Adding text captions to Instagram Stories is easy and straightforward. Here are the step-by-step instructions:
1. Create a new story
- Open the Instagram app and tap the “+” icon in the top left to start a new Story.
- You can upload a saved photo/video or capture something new.
2. Add the captions sticker
- After creating your Story, tap the sticker icon at the top.
- Select the “Captions” sticker from the tray.
3. Edit the automatically generated captions
- Instagram will automatically detect speech and add captions.
- Tap on the caption text to edit anything that’s incorrect.
4. Customize text formatting
- Play around with text sizing, color and alignment to match your branding.
- Use line breaks and emojis to make captions more visually appealing.
- When done, simply share your Story as usual and captions will be visible to viewers.
Tips for Creating Better Captions
Follow these tips to make your text captions as engaging as possible:
Use callouts – Strategically highlight key points from your videos with callout captions.
Add emojis – Emojis can make your text captions more fun and attention-grabbing.
Leverage text animations – Animate your captions for a more dynamic, eye-catching effect.
Break up large blocks – Chunk longer captions into smaller paragraphs for better readability.
Proofread carefully – Always double check captions for spelling/grammar errors before posting.
Tools to Add Captions Faster
Manually adding captions to all your Instagram Stories can be time-consuming. Here are some top tools to streamline the process:
- Over – Browser-based Instagram caption creator with templates and collaboration features.
- SubMagic – Auto-generates subtitles for videos which you can quickly edit and export.
- Descript – Transcribes audio, edits text, and adds captions to video files.
- Invideo – Online editor to add animated text, subtitles, stickers to videos.
- Headliner – Creates video captions and subtitles automatically with 95% accuracy.
Make Your Stories More Inclusive!
Adding text captions is an easy way to make your Instagram Stories stand out while improving accessibility.
With the right captions, you can increase views, engagement and reach new audiences. Use the formatting tips in this guide to create captivating overlays tailored to your brand.
Leverage third-party tools to save time spent transcribing and optimizing captions manually for all your video stories.
So try adding text captions to your next Instagram Story and see the difference it makes!
