Book publishers statistically improve their follower interaction using key elements of Instagram captions—and you can, too.
When you are designing Instagram captions for book publishers, it can be difficult to determine how to write the most effective caption. Too long, and it’s boring. Too short, and it might be lacking. Not only is the length important, but aspects of the caption content are important, too. Research conducted by KoMarketing suggests that including a CTA (call to action) can nearly double the effectiveness of an Instagram post, and HootSuite suggests that a large driving factor of interaction on Instagram is a post’s personality. These suggestions raise the question: do CTAs and personality in Instagram captions for book publishers make a difference in improving viewer interaction?
Research
In order to test this research question, I turned to Instagram for answers! I gathered a list of 30 random posts that have been published within the last year from the following publishers:
- Running Press
- Genius Books
- Zorba Books
- Independent Publishers
- Orca Book Publishers
- Random House Publishers
- Hachette Book Group
Following my gathering of these posts, I created a percentage of followers/viewers that liked the post by dividing # of likes by the number of followers. I then categorized the posts into one of four categories:
- CTA, personality
- No CTA, personality
- CTA, no personality
- No CTA, no personality
Posts that were categorized as containing a CTA included action words, suggestions, or demands, such as “click the link in our bio!” or “tell us why you love this book!” Posts that were categorized as containing personality used first-person speech, a personal anecdote, or distinctly personal brand voice in their Instagram caption.Following the categorization of these captions, I averaged the percentages of likes/followers in each category to demonstrate the average ‘like’ interaction for each type of caption.
Conclusion
When a call to action was included in a book publishers’ Instagram caption that utilized personality, users were 1.5x as likely (1.893% of followers liked) to interact with the post than if there was just a caption with personality (1.23% of followers liked), and more than four times less likely to interact with the post than if there was just a call to action (.439% of followers liked). The winning combination seems to be including personality along with a call to action. Personality and interactivity lead to a more engaged audience, which thus improves your odds on the Instagram Algorithm. In conclusion, book publishers should include both a CTA and brand personality in their Instagram captions to improve interaction.