When designing for Instagram, you want to follow these simple guidelines to stop the scroll and build engagement:
- No Text
- Longer Captions
- Use Photos
Text In Images
A recent study demonstrated that Instagram post without text in the image performed significantly better than post that contained text. The “No Text” posts had 14.14% greater reach, 39.5% higher likes, and 2.2% more comments that the “With Text” images.
There is a strong indication that your Instagram post will be better tools for communication if you do not include text on the graphic or image.
Longer Captions
When you create a post, do you provide minimal information or write a long caption? This is important for Instagram because you don’t have the ability to put clickable links in a caption. So, what does the research support?
Hootsuite conducted a study comparing “Short” captions to “Long” captions and their effect on engagement. Short captions were defined as one liner to one sentence, while Long captions were 90 – 130 words.
The results showed that longer captions resulted in more comments and more likes.
Use Photos
Should you use photos or create graphics in Canva for your Instagram post? With numerous studies showing that people prefer faces when scrolling social media, the study suggested that photos would actually perform better than graphics.
The results were staggering!
Instagram posts using images, when compared to posts with graphics, had 156.2% more likes and 302.33% more comments!
The Takeaway
When your church is designing for Instagram, use the research to create more engaging posts. The goal is to communicate to your church or community and having posts that are more engaging will help you with this goal.
Consider taking photos around the church on a Sunday morning to have a library of images you can use. You don’t have to be a photo expert to get engaging images for social. Use your smartphone and capture the story of your church.
Tell the story using photos with no text and long captions. This will produce more engagement, more likes, and more comments.
