Why your captions can’t have linguistic and grammar mistakes?
We’ve worked with our clients on so many different Instagram accounts – from businesses to personal pages for influencers & content creators. And the one thing that people always miss the mark on is their captions’ correctness. The focus on spelling and grammatical/orthographical correctness are so crucial that we can’t stress it enough! It’s literally the first impression people see when they read your offer and the thoughts or ideas you share with the world there.
If you’ve ever asked yourself, “what else should I do before hitting “post,” then worry no more – you are in the right place, and we have the answer: you should make sure that your caption is errorless and entirely on point.
And it’s no coincidence that those who take extra care of linguistic and orthographic correctness will see WAY more success on their profiles. Suppose you’re using Instagram to make money – monetize your business, promote your products or services, whether you’re a brand, a personal brand, or a freelancer. In that case, you should look at Instagram as at your business card, your showcase. Would you want to have literal errors on them?!
If you want to check up the sponge and say, “Hey, who really cares? Nobody will notice, and it won’t hurt my credibility“, we have to undeceive you: unfortunately, the sad truth is: errors damage your credibility more than you think.
Visitors and potential followers/potential clients will appreciate your detailedness
It will unquestionably help you stand out, as many creators nowadays neglect this vital part of copywriting. At the same time, it’s so easy to take the time to figure it out how to have errorless captions! Why not just take this extra effort? Show your followers, your readers, the brands you want to work with, or even your future clients, that you pay attention to the detail, and you believe in the power of branding (yes, every detail is a part of branding, even your type of linguistic correctness!)
Make sure everything looks top-notch. Believe us, it will undoubtedly take you to the next level.
It is essential that a visitor’s – potential follower’s – first impression isn’t of a spelling error. Take the time to find easy methods that work for making sure your captions are well polished to avoid turning away potential readers, followers, or clients.
Read your caption out loud and hear how it sounds
Reading what you have just written aloud allows you to look at it from a different perspective – actually, neuroscientists admit that our neurons process words in an entirely different way when we read something aloud instead of reading it silently. You may find out that something sounds strange, or maybe there’s a better word to describe it – you’ll see that sometimes it makes a huge difference.
Proofreading is a must
Reading the same caption over and over again may sound like a tedious task. Still, even after the 2nd or 3rd time, you may find something to edit, there may be hidden errors to pick up (but remember to do if after taking a break: 10 minutes between the next checking will make you more percipient).
You can also use some online tools for editing and proofreading your text: some of them are remarkably helpful, and they’re AI-powered, which means they spot many details and can help you with word choice. Grammarly and Hemingway Editor are two of them that have free plans, and they’re convenient when it comes to pointing out what you should improve.
Double-check names
You don’t want to make your brand or business a lousy PR – it’s a helpful idea to look over names of companies, people’s names, and industry terminology at least twice to make sure each one is correct. It gives a notably harmful impression when you misspell the name of someone’s important.
Use your friend’s review
When you’re an author of the caption, it’s really easy to breeze past gross errors, mainly if you’re staring at the same text for too long. Before you publish your content, ask your good friend, partner of a family member if everything seems ok – it won’t take long, they can look over it and give you short feedback: sometimes they will notice something you won’t see even after having read the whole part 5 times.
Don’t be in a hurry when writing (and proofreading)
Haste makes waste – you know this popular proverb, right? When you write carelessly and in a rush, you’ll probably have to edit almost everything, and you won’t save time – the other way round, you’ll have to put much more energy into proofreading. Don’t write distracted, thinking about something else (what to eat for dinner?!) or during multitasking. Writing is an activity that demands full focus – and only then it’s done right and fully consciously. It’s all about your reader’s pleasure: sure, you can make up a caption in 2 minutes, but will someone read it? Will it be good enough for your potential followers or clients? We don’t think so.
As writer Randolph Hock admits, “If there are grammatical errors or spellings in the caption, assume that the same level of attention to detail probably went into the gathering and reporting of the ‘facts’ given in this text. I won’t trust it.” – don’t let it be about your captions. Poor grammar and spelling errors reduce your Instagram’s likeability.
It’s more than worth it to pay attention to the detail – believe us, it pays off in the long run.
If you’re into social media marketing and want to grow and monetize your Instagram account – stay with us, we’re going to share a vast portion of the content marketing experts’ secret sauce. We’re posting new tips & tricks few times a week, so stay tuned for lots of credible materials coming this way!