8 Ways to Improve Your Finance & Bank Advertising with AdWords

What comes to mind when you think about doing your taxes or managing your finances? For me, a headache comes to mind. Let’s face it – finance is not the most marketable industry. Yes, finances are something that every responsible adult needs to think about, but that doesn’t make it a sexy topic. This fact is just one of the many challenges that marketers and advertisers in the finance industry face.

Nowadays marketing a bank or financial company comes with even more challenges. “Responding to 21st century problems in an industry still heavily reliant on 20th century processes is a daily challenge for financial marketers,” says Lucas Jones from Decibel Insight.

With history not on their side, one of the biggest challenges for financial marketers is gaining trust. According to research from PwC, only 32% of people say they have confidence in banks!

So, what can financial marketers do to overcome these challenges? Investing in a Google AdWords strategy to ensure their organizations are discoverable in the search results is one way to grow in the industry. “Search is 100% crucial to keeping loan and mortgage prospects engaged,” says WordStream’s Senior Paid Search Strategist Chris Panetta.

Chris has been running the AdWords strategy for 30+ organizations in the financial/banking space over the course of the last five years. From payday and specialty loans, to mortgages, banking, and more, Chris knows this space well. I recently dove into some of the main learnings Chris has collected over the years, so without further ado let’s jump into his top eight tips to outshine your financial competition with Google AdWords.

#1. Create Unique Offers and Calls-to-Action

In a crowded landscape, how can financial marketers stand out on the SERP? Chris recommended boasting about your perks within your ad copy. “You need to have unique offers and calls to action; focus on benefits like ‘free airline miles,’” says Chris.

So, what sets you apart? Perhaps you give a free hour-long financial consultation for new clients? Or maybe you charge no annual fee, and offer X times more cash back than similar companies in your niche? Write a list of your most intriguing perks and benefits and include them in your ad copy. Make sure to use features like ad extensions to help add more offers to your copy.

Check out the great example from Chase Bank below.

In just one AdWords ad they were able to include all of these benefits!

• Cash back and rewards
• Pre-qualified offers
• 24/7 customer service
• Chip-enabled rewards
• 50,000 bonus point
• 2X points on Travel and Dining
• $0 intro balance transfer free for 60 days
• No annual fee

Pretty impressive!

#2. Prioritize Competitor Targeting

Finance is an industry where the competition simply can’t be ignored. Why? Because sales cycles are much longer in the banking industry.

Remember when we talked about gaining trust a few minutes ago? This is something that takes time for prospects, and a lot of that time is spent researching your competition. So rather than letting your competitors steal these ripe prospects, you need to outbid them on the SERPs. This requires dedicating a chunk of your budget to bidding on competitor keywords.

Chris informed me that competitive targeting makes up 75% of spend each month for one of his current financial clients. “You need to beat your competition in quantity and price to win these prospects over,” says Chris. If you’re not familiar with competitive bidding on Google, check out this helpful post for tips on what and what not to do.

#3. Leverage Demographic and Income Targeting

Looking back on the history of AdWords, it’s always been a bit challenging to match an ad with a user’s search intent, even with keyword match types and negative keywords. This is likely why in September of 2016, Google announced that they were letting advertisers have more control over their audience. Similar to targeting options on social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, advertisers can now layer on targeting options like age, gender, and parental status to pursue their audience of interest.

According to Chris, this is a feature that financial marketers should absolutely be using. “I always leverage demographic and income targeting to target management-level people more readily,” says Chris.

With this feature you have the options of making bid adjustments for certain audiences or just excluding audiences to focus in on your target age ranges and incomes. Don’t waste money on an audience that is not likely to use your services, and use these features to find more relevant leads.

Learn more about income targeting here.

#4. Customize Your Landing Pages

While having customized landing pages for your ads might seem like common sense, it’s something that is often overlooked by busy marketers. While this is totally understandable, taking the time out of your busy schedule to make customized landing pages based on your ad groups and keywords can make a huge difference when it comes to lead conversion rates.

Just think about a time when you have searched for something on Google, and ended up on an unhelpful landing page. Did you stay on that website, and search around for what you were looking for? No, you probably hit the back button to choose the ad above or below the one you clicked on.

“It’s important to be as relevant as possible,” says Chris. “Have tailored pages for each product – for instance, have pages for business checks vs. business manual checks vs. business laser checks.”

#5. Use All Available Call Features

Call-only campaigns, call extensions, mobile bid-adjustments, and call tracking – these are just a few of the AdWords features that the financial marketer should be prioritizing. Phone calls are common and important within this industry, and phone leads are easier to turn into sales.

“Phones call are crucial!” says Chris. “My client loves phone calls and can usually convert them at a higher rate, and for higher values, than his website can.”

Here’s a run down of the various options I mentioned above:

• Call-only campaigns: With call-only campaigns your bidding and paying to get a call rather then a visit to your website. It’s important to realize that your strategy need to be different for these compared to a regular search campaign. Check out this post for some tips on doing these right.
• Call extensions: Call extensions are a bit different then call-only campaigns since the option to visit your website is still there, but now you can also add an extension to allow for phone calls. You can also schedule these to only show during business hours, when people are available to answer the phone, which is pretty neat.
• Mobile bid-adjustments: Where are people most likely to call from? Their cells phones, duh. Luckily, Google allows you to adjust your mobile bids, so you can make sure to bid higher on mobile traffic to bring in more rings.
• Call tracking: Lastly, it’s critical to track your calls in order to understand where your ROI is coming from. For more on call tracking, check out this post.

While optimizing your campaigns for phone calls might sound like a lot of work, it will be well worth the effort once your phones start ringing off the hook.

#6. Open Your Wallet

While we all know that advertising involves a budget, for those in the financial space this budget may need to be a tad bit higher than the average industry.

Why? Well, financial keywords are competitive, and these types of companies can usually afford to spend a bit more for higher rankings. We all know that ads below the fold do not get as much traction, and if you are on the second page just forget about it… Sadly, the second page of search results may as well be a deserted island.

Chris explained that this industry has much higher costs per click (CPC’s), which is one of the challenges that comes with managing accounts of this nature. “Unfortunately, don’t think you can have success with a small budget,” says Chris. “Depending on your niche, CPCs can range from five to one hundred dollars per click.”

Finance and banking related keywords are among the most expensive in AdWords

On the plus side, new clients typically bring in enough revenue to offset acquisition costs. Use the tip below to control your budget, and ensure ROI is being yielded before you throw away any dough.

#7. Start Slow on Search

Whether you’re new to AdWords or have been using the platform for some time now, ensuring you are only running successful campaigns is critical. This is why Chris recommends starting out slow so you can truly measure results, and spend your budget where ROI is being yielded.

“Start with one to three campaigns, and scale spend in those campaigns,” Chris says. “If you have a small budget ABSOLUTELY do not spread it out. Find a core group of four to ten keywords and work to dominate the impression share on those.”

This strategy will not only ensure your money isn’t being wasted, but it will help you grow and measure your success more effectively.

#8. Remarket, Remarket, Remarket!

Remarketing is basically giving your leads a gentle reminder about your services by popping up on their screens again after they’ve already shown interest.

While it might sound like a creepy process, we’re all constantly being remarketed to, and this strategy can actually work quite well – this audience has already searched for and expressed some type of interest in your product or service. So you know they’re in market and aware of your brand, and they might just need a little push.

There are many reasons why remarketing in the banking/financial industry is so critical. For one, it’s a competitive space, so reminding your leads about why they should choose you over your competition is key. And then there’s the longer sales cycles that come into play…

“The average sales cycle for a home loan and mortgage is 6 months, and these people will be doing multiple research cycles,” says Chris. “Staying in front of them with search, remarketing, and RLSA is the only way to try and ensure they end up using your client and not a competitor.”

If you’re new to remarketing check out this awesome guide to get started.

We all know financial marketers know a thing or two about money, so make sure to use these tips to spend wisely on your advertising and reach your highest ROI potentials.

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MozCon 2018: Making the Case for the Conference (& All the Snacks!)

Posted by Danielle_Launders

You’ve got that conference looming on the horizon. You want to go — you’ve spent the past few years desperately following hashtags on Twitter, memorizing catchy quotes, zooming in on grainy snapshots of a deck, and furiously downloading anything and everything you can scour from Slideshare.

But there’s a problem: conferences cost money, and your boss won’t even approve a Keurig in the communal kitchen, much less a ticket to a three-day-long learning sesh complete with its own travel and lodging expenses.

What’s an education-hungry digital marketer to do?

How do you convince your boss to send you to the conference of your dreams?

First of all, you gather evidence to make your case.

There are a plethora of excellent reasons why attending conferences is good for your career (and your bottom line). In digital marketing, we exist in the ever-changing tech space, hurtling toward the future at breakneck speed and often missing the details of the scenery along the way.

A good SEO conference will keep you both on the edge of your seat and on the cutting-edge of what’s new and noteworthy in our industry, highlighting some of the most important and impactful things your work depends on.

A good SEO conference will flip a switch for you, will trigger that lightbulb moment that empowers you and levels you up as both a marketer and a critical thinker.

If that doesn’t paint a beautiful enough picture to convince the folks that hold the credit card, though, there are also some great statistics and resources available:

• HubSpot’s statistics showing the value of meeting face-to-face and networking
• Rand’s excellent deep-dive into the reasons for and against attending marketing conferences
• The ROI of investing in employee education

Specifically, we’re talking about MozCon

Yes, that MozCon!

Let’s just take a moment to address the elephant in the room here: you all know why we wrote this post. We want to see your smiling face in the audience at MozCon this July (the 9th–11th, if you were wondering). There are a few specific benefits worth mentioning:

• Speakers and content: Our speakers bring their A-game each year. We work with them to bring the best content and latest trends to the stage to help set you up for a year of success.
• Videos to share with your team: About a month or so after the conference, we’ll send you a link to professionally edited videos of every presentation at the conference. Your colleagues won’t get to partake in the morning Top Pot doughnuts or Starbucks coffee, but they will get a chance to learn everything you did, for free.
• Great food onsite: We understand that conference food isn’t typically worth mentioning, but at MozCon you can expect snacks from local Seattle vendors – in the past this includes Trophy cupcakes, KuKuRuZa popcorn, Starbucks’ Seattle Reserve cold brew, and did we mention bacon at breakfast? Let’s not forget the bacon.
• Swag: Expect to go home with a one-of-a-kind Roger Mozbot, a super-soft t-shirt from American Apparel, and swag worth keeping. We’ve given away Roger Legos, Moleskine notebooks, phone chargers, and have even had vending machines with additional swag in case you didn’t get enough.
• Networking: You work hard taking notes, learning new insights, and digesting all of that knowledge — that’s why we think you deserve a little fun in the evenings to chat with fellow attendees. Each night after the conference, we’ll offer a different networking event that adds to the value you’ll get from your day of education.
• A supportive network after the fact: Our MozCon Facebook group is incredibly active, and it’s grown to have a life of its own — marketers ask one another SEO questions, post jobs, look for and offer advice and empathy, and more. It’s a great place to find TAGFEE support and camaraderie long after the conference itself has ended.
• Discounts for subscribers and groups: Moz Pro subscribers get a whopping $500 off their ticket cost (even if you’re on a free 30-day trial!) and there are discounts for groups as well, so make sure to take advantage of savings where you can!
• Ticket cost: At MozCon our goal is to break even, which means we invest all of your ticket price back into you. Check out the full breakdown below:

Can you tell we’re serious about the snacks?

You can check out videos from years past to get a taste for the caliber of our speakers. We’ll also be putting out a call for community speaker pitches in April, so if you’ve been thinking about breaking into the speaking circuit, it could be an amazing opportunity — keep an eye on the blog for your chance to submit a pitch.

If you’ve ever seriously considered attending an SEO conference like MozCon, now’s the time to do it. You’ll save actual hundreds of dollars by grabbing subscriber or group pricing while you can (think of all the Keurigs you could get for that communal kitchen!), and you’ll be bound for an unforgettable experience that lives and grows with you beyond just the three days you spend in Seattle.

Grab your ticket to MozCon!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!

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33 Epic Instagram Captions That Will Break Your Like-Ometer

The first step to getting a ton of Instagram likes is posting a great photo. But photo quality isn’t enough if you want to join the best of the best – you also need a killer caption. Great Instagram captions push your post over the top. They make your audience laugh, cry, and above all, identify with your photo. But more importantly, great Instagram captions help your account get found, so you can get more followers.

Still, crafting an engaging caption isn’t as easy as it looks. Not only is it easy to second guess yourself, but if you second guess yourself over and over again, it’s easy to lose confidence. And a lack of confidence can be enough to discourage posting altogether.

Our solution? Look at the funniest users on the platform, and study how they craft their Instagram captions. We pulled 33 captions from a handful of well-known Instagram users, and grouped them into four categories. Once internalized, you’ll be able to easily adapt these categories to your own content—and post witty and engaging Instagram captions at a moment’s notice!

Ready for 33 epic Instagram captions that will break your like-ometer? Let’s dive in!

Self-deprecating Instagram captions

One of the best ways to come up with a funny Instagram caption is to practice self-deprecation. People use self-deprecation to get away with posting pictures of themselves—i.e., it can’t be self-aggrandizing if you’re poking fun at yourself. As a method, it’s super easy—simply pick out a detail about yourself, small or large, and poke fun at it. The key is to not take yourself too seriously. Let’s start by looking at the king of not-taking-himself-too-seriously, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

1. The Rock gets head-y  

Some people are self-conscious about their knees. Some people might hesitate before posting a gym picture of themselves wearing skin-tight leggings. If we asked The Rock, maybe he’d count himself a member of both those groups. We’ll never know—because by posting anyway, and making fun of himself before anyone else has a chance, he redirects our attention to the intended message of the post: The Rock is an inspirational badass.

2. The Rock stays silly

Staying for a moment with the king of action thrillers and 4am workouts—“Sexy and effective” is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you see the face The Rock is making here. You know what is sexy? Humor. Comfort in one’s own skin. Those are what make this Instagram caption a winner.

3. Johnny Football is a polarizing dude. And he knows it.

Football fans across the country know Johnny Manziel. Many of us feel personally slighted that he’s spoiled his God-given gifts and eschewed NFL stardom for a life of partying. What’s disarming about this caption? It shows that Johnny Manziel also knows Johnny Manziel. The guy can’t even post a #ComebackSZN photo in earnest these days for fear of getting cyber-eviscerated. So here he is, attempting to steer into the skid. We just hope he posted this from a gym, after working on his throwing motion.

4. Ryan Reynolds: humor suits him

Ryan Reynolds is a handsome man. I know it. You know it. The guy who pumps your gas knows it. He’s so handsome, in fact, that it’s almost rude, him throwing his handsomeness all up in our social feeds. How does Ryan Reynolds get away with posting his well-manicured mug on Instagram without drawing the ire of his followers? By reminding us that deep down, he’s just another normal dude with deep-seated sock insecurities. As you were, Ryan. 

5. Paul Bissonnette: bad at hockey, good at social media

If you’re not a hockey gal or guy, here’s an analogy to describe Paul Bissonnette: Paul Bissonnette is to professional hockey as Cobra is to 80s cult action flicks—so bad, he/it will never fall out of favor. Bissonnette revels in his role as a washed-up, skill-less scrapper, and has accrued hundreds of thousands of social media followers as a result. Here, he endears himself to his audience by belittling the one skill that allowed him to play professionally in the first place—his ability to fight. The hashtag also shows great self-awareness. Yes, the post is about him. But he’s self-deprecating, so it’s cool.

6. Karlie Kloss: uber funny with the Instagram captions

Ok. So Karlie Kloss doesn’t go too hard on herself here. But who among us hasn’t been a little rideshare-challenged? She gets high marks for this one.

7. Lena Dunham: postal worker

We can’t say for sure what an elderly postal worker looks like, but we can imagine it’s not good. Selfie justified.

8. Coco haggles his way into some likes

As a late night host, Conan O’Brien has a talent for (playfully) making light of his guests achievements. We love him because he rarely lets himself off the hook, either. Here, a strange man tails him as he haggles his way into some solid social engagement.

9. Kat Dennings puts cups on her eyes

You might know Kat Dennings as one half of 2 Broke Girls. You might not know her as girl who throws cups on her eyes to prolong hitting the treadmill. And truly: we’ve all spent an extra minute or two in the locker room to avoid hitting the weights. The best self-deprecating Instagram captions are the ones we can all identify with.

“Imagine what they would say” Instagram captions

On to our next category. If you’re an avid user of the platform, you probably see several of these Instagram captions per day. “Imagine what they would say” is a technique by which—you guessed it—you imagine what a subject of your post would say if they had the ability to. This technique works best with babies and animals, but can also be applied quite effectively to grown human males and females. Let’s check out some of the best Instagram has to offer.

10. Pup, inhibited by cone, gets caught in doggie door 

 

A post shared by Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) on Jan 26, 2018 at 5:06pm PST

“Sharon, please just put down the phone and help me.”

Why are animals effective subjects for “imagine what they would say” Instagram captions? Because animals are hilarious. Exhibit A: this beagle getting his head stuck in his doggie door. Without the caption, all we have is a beagle getting his head stuck in a doggie door—funny, but also kind of sad. With the caption, with have a beagle that’s probably a little embarrassed about getting his head stuck, and is demanding assistance. Definitely funnier, definitely less sad.

11. Golden has a nose for the ball

 

A post shared by Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) on Feb 2, 2018 at 6:05am PST

Put me in coach, I got a nose for the ball!

Continuing the theme of pups struggling to navigate human technology: here we have a very good boy showing very lackluster ball skills. That doesn’t temper his enthusiasm, though—and the caption reflects that.

12. Baby as physical specimen

 

A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on Jan 29, 2018 at 1:16am PST

I love this footage with all my soul. Walking into the @ufcpi in Las Vegas with my son Conor Jr. in hand. Look at his neck and back muscles and his total body control. I’ve watched this too many times. He is a specimen.

Conor McGregor is notorious for his bravado. It’s helped him earn deals, win fans, and probably, win fights. Is ascribing your very young son that same machismo a humorous social media tactic? For this writer, yes, very much so.

13. Armen Paul gets pensive

Part-time comedian, full-time rising musician Armen Paul is always good for an online chuckle or two. This rarely-seen-but-effective tactic sees him substitute commentary for stream-of-consciousness monologue. Can’t think of anything funny to say about a solo shot of yourself? Simply select any one of the outrageous thoughts that occur to you throughout the day.

14. Doggo does a thing

There’s a new dialect emerging on the internet. Some find it incredibly annoying; some live by it.

If you can stomach it, Doggo is quickly becoming an Instagram like machine. And don’t feel bad about using your pet for social validation. We all do it.

15. Doggo says “thamk you”

 

A post shared by John Trulli (@doggosdoingthings) on Feb 3, 2018 at 12:32pm PST

Given that Doggo is not the easiest dialect to master, we figured we’d give you another chance to see it in action. We saw this video spread to multiple accounts and news feeds, and get mounds of engagement along the way. If you can somehow situate your pet in a majestic wildlife predicament, and set the scene with a psychedelic keyboard number, get ready to see even more likes roll in.

16. Evil cat

It’s easy to play on the over-zealous and occasionally dim-witted demeanor of dogs for the sake of a good Instagram caption; but it might be even easier to play on the demeanor of cats. Evil cat—conniving cat, jerk cat, what have you—is always good for a laugh when you’re posting a picture of your fuzzy calculating one. Just look at that face. That is an animal that will maul you in your sleep, then all but ruin the chiffarobe.

17. #DogSelfie

This is less an “imagine what they would say” than a “imagine what they would do,” but the premise remains the same. You probably know Allison Williams from Get Out and Girls. You probably didn’t know that her pup rarely misses an opportunity to hack her phone with a #DogSelfie. If you have a dog or a cat, the faux-selfie is a guaranteed crowd favorite.

Wordplay Instagram captions

We’ve come to the category that’s my personal favorite—wordplay. Not only is wordplay funny, and not only is it obvious, but often, the more obvious it is, the funnier it is. So if you’re apprehensive about sounding lame—don’t worry. In the world of wordplay, it’s better to be lame than not.

Let’s check out some examples of great wordplay Instagram captions.

18. Minne-snow-ta

The New England Patriots were hard luck losers in the Super Bowl, but I think we can all agree they go home winners with this Instagram caption. “Minne-snow-ta” sounds like the punchline of the joke your Dad told at Thanksgiving. It’s so bad, it’s good.

Good on ya, New England. If only we’d seen this kind of execution on defense.

19. Bored of your job? Anastasia Ashley isn’t.

We didn’t know Anastasia Ashley had this #fire ad copy in her! Ashley is a pro-surfer-turned-social-influencer who uses her clout to help companies like FreeConferenceCall build brand awareness. This awfully punny bit of wordplay was enough to earn a spot on our list.

20. Armen Paul likes turtles

If you were asleep in 2007, and missed the I Like Turtles Kid, do yourself a favor and click the link. As far as this post is concerned: it takes not only musical chops to make it in the music business today, but a stellar social media presence. Armen Paul knows that all too well. Wordplay like this has allowed him to gradually amass a solid Instagram following. Slow and steady wins the race.

21. Godzingis, #Shaqtin a fool

 

A post shared by DR. SHAQUILLE O’NEAL Ed.D. (@shaq) on Jan 27, 2018 at 5:14pm PST

SHAQTIN A FOOL HAS EYES EVERYWHERE

You’re forgiven if you’re not a sports fan and didn’t understand most of the words you just read. “Godzingis” is the nickname of Kristaps Porzingis, the 7’ 1” Latvian savior of the New York Knicks franchise. #Shaqtin is the social media hashtag Shaquille O’Neal uses to call out people for doing silly, clumsy, or idiotic things—i.e., Shaqtin’ a fool. That’s right. Wordplay has the power to change one’s own name into a social media movement. (Doesn’t hurt being Shaquille O’Neal either.)

22. When bay leaves

Looking for silly wordplay captions? Look no further than Tilda Lindstam. Tilda is a 24-year old Swedish model who gets damn creative with her Instagram captions. For the social media lay person, “bae” is another word for “love interest.” Nobody likes when bae leaves. (Definitely throw a couple bay leaves in your jambalaya too, though.)

23. BaeGoals

Not too much to say here. Fit a popular two-word meme into a food item and you’re at the top of your game.

24. Karlie Kloss, biologist model

Ms. Kloss’ name is spattered all over this list—but it’s not for her tree-identifying abilities. If you really scrutinize this picture, you’ll notice that in it, there are in fact no spruce trees. Still, you have to appreciate the range. Karlie made this list for self-deprecation and wordplay. That’s a diverse caption portfolio, people.

“Call out a friend” Instagram Captions

Our final category is “call out a friend” Instagram captions. This method is best practiced by making a playful joke about a friend in your photograph; but as you’ll presently see, there are a few different ways to go about it. Let’s dive in!

25. Chris Pratt gets wedged

This caption is pretty indicative of Chris Pratt’s brand of humor—ridiculous to the point of defying a category. We figured we’d throw this one in “call out a friend” because, hey, the description bears a striking resemblance to James Franco’s 24 Hours. But truly, what makes this caption effective is that it turns the subject from a guy who earnestly looks off into the distance into a guy who earnestly looks off into the distance but has a sense of humor about it. If you’re ever looking for caption inspiration, Pratt’s Instagram is a good place to start.

26. Sarah Silverman says a not nice thing

As far as pointed jokes go, Sarah Silverman has certainly done better. Still, if you’re looking for a formula for how to call out a friend in an Instagram caption, you can do worse than this. Mention friend in post. Say not nice thing about said friend. Friend experiences embarrassment. Post experiences engagement.

27. You are…not the father

Who’s safe from Chrissy Teigen’s diabolical captions? No one. Not even her husband, John Legend. The “he’s not the father” is a favorite among celebrities—you might have seen Blake Lively’s dig at Ryan Reynolds—and why not? Those guys get some pretty big egos. A little cage-rattle every now and again is totally healthy.

28. The “ageless” Hugh Jackman

Speaking of Ryan Reynolds—the guy just keeps bringing the Instagram caption heat. To wish Hugh Jackman a happy birthday, he paid homage to time Jackman weighed 130 pounds, lived in a one-bedroom apartment in the projects, and smoked $2 cigars. We’re sure Hugh appreciated the sincerity.

29.  Patton Oswalt and his runaway

Pictured in this post is Patton Oswalt’s wife, Meredith Salenger. A talented actress in her own right, Meredith is decidedly not 14. Still, for her age (47), she has a youthful complexion. This caption is a good example of the fact that you don’t have to be totally facetious in your call out. You can be complimentary as well (even if that compliment is shrouded in sarcasm).

30. Chelsea Handler calls out unwillingly photobombing man

There is an Instagram account out there devoted to men who have been forced to go shopping with their wives and girlfriends. We think there should be another devoted to men forced to take or be in pictures. Either there was a riveting game on, and this guy was too intrigued to notice Chelsea Handler’s picture, or he simply didn’t have the energy for a proper photobomb, and decided to feign interest in a faux-game to avoid having to get up. Whatever the case, he adds a funny element to the post, and good on Chelsea for having the wherewithal to call him out.

31. Ryan Reynolds wishes his mom a happy Mother’s Day

You can’t keep this guy off this list! Reynolds comes back here with a dynamite Mother’s Day Instagram caption. Like Chris Pratt’s earlier post, the humor here sort of defies a genre. Is it absurdist? Mother-ist? Difficult to say. What we can say for sure: it’s eminently like-able.

32. Swardson & Spade: big budget film guys

There’s definitely a tragic sort of bravery in Benchwarmers, but we can safely say it’s of a different breed than that shown in Braveheart. We love this Instagram caption from Nick Swardson because it’s self-aware. Also, because he calls out himself as well as a friend. He’s not a big budget dramatic actor. Nor is David Spade. Thus, Swardson gives us the best of both worlds—the friend call-out, as well as self-deprecation.  

33. Spaghetti Western Ted Cruz

 

A post shared by Patton Oswalt (@balvenieboy) on Mar 27, 2016 at 7:00pm PDT

Still love Ted Cruz’s work in FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.

Patton Oswalt takes a break from his wife in this post to focus on his other love interest: bashing the GOP. This is a variation on the “call out” method we’ll call, “call out your enemy.” No, that is not in fact Ted Cruz at the end of this clip. But it’s really, really funny to imagine that it is.  

Closing Thoughts

In this post, we’ve outlined four different ways to approach Instagram captions on your next Instagram post. Internalize these categories, adapt them to fit your own life, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming an Instagram caption pro. Most important of all, don’t think too much about it. Take a page out of Spaghetti Western Ted Cruz’s book: fire from the hip!

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33 Epic Instagram Captions That Will Break Your Like-Ometer

The first step to getting a ton of Instagram likes is posting a great photo. But photo quality isn’t enough if you want to join the best of the best – you also need a killer caption. Great Instagram captions push your post over the top. They make your audience laugh, cry, and above all, identify with your photo. But more importantly, great Instagram captions help your account get found, so you can get more followers.

Still, crafting an engaging caption isn’t as easy as it looks. Not only is it easy to second guess yourself, but if you second guess yourself over and over again, it’s easy to lose confidence. And a lack of confidence can be enough to discourage posting altogether.

Our solution? Look at the funniest users on the platform, and study how they craft their Instagram captions. We pulled 33 captions from a handful of well-known Instagram users, and grouped them into four categories. Once internalized, you’ll be able to easily adapt these categories to your own content—and post witty and engaging Instagram captions at a moment’s notice!

Ready for 33 epic Instagram captions that will break your like-ometer? Let’s dive in!

Self-deprecating Instagram captions

One of the best ways to come up with a funny Instagram caption is to practice self-deprecation. People use self-deprecation to get away with posting pictures of themselves—i.e., it can’t be self-aggrandizing if you’re poking fun at yourself. As a method, it’s super easy—simply pick out a detail about yourself, small or large, and poke fun at it. The key is to not take yourself too seriously. Let’s start by looking at the king of not-taking-himself-too-seriously, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

1. The Rock gets head-y  

Some people are self-conscious about their knees. Some people might hesitate before posting a gym picture of themselves wearing skin-tight leggings. If we asked The Rock, maybe he’d count himself a member of both those groups. We’ll never know—because by posting anyway, and making fun of himself before anyone else has a chance, he redirects our attention to the intended message of the post: The Rock is an inspirational badass.

2. The Rock stays silly

Staying for a moment with the king of action thrillers and 4am workouts—“Sexy and effective” is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you see the face The Rock is making here. You know what is sexy? Humor. Comfort in one’s own skin. Those are what make this Instagram caption a winner.

3. Johnny Football is a polarizing dude. And he knows it.

Football fans across the country know Johnny Manziel. Many of us feel personally slighted that he’s spoiled his God-given gifts and eschewed NFL stardom for a life of partying. What’s disarming about this caption? It shows that Johnny Manziel also knows Johnny Manziel. The guy can’t even post a #ComebackSZN photo in earnest these days for fear of getting cyber-eviscerated. So here he is, attempting to steer into the skid. We just hope he posted this from a gym, after working on his throwing motion.

4. Ryan Reynolds: humor suits him

Ryan Reynolds is a handsome man. I know it. You know it. The guy who pumps your gas knows it. He’s so handsome, in fact, that it’s almost rude, him throwing his handsomeness all up in our social feeds. How does Ryan Reynolds get away with posting his well-manicured mug on Instagram without drawing the ire of his followers? By reminding us that deep down, he’s just another normal dude with deep-seated sock insecurities. As you were, Ryan. 

5. Paul Bissonnette: bad at hockey, good at social media

If you’re not a hockey gal or guy, here’s an analogy to describe Paul Bissonnette: Paul Bissonnette is to professional hockey as Cobra is to 80s cult action flicks—so bad, he/it will never fall out of favor. Bissonnette revels in his role as a washed-up, skill-less scrapper, and has accrued hundreds of thousands of social media followers as a result. Here, he endears himself to his audience by belittling the one skill that allowed him to play professionally in the first place—his ability to fight. The hashtag also shows great self-awareness. Yes, the post is about him. But he’s self-deprecating, so it’s cool.

6. Karlie Kloss: uber funny with the Instagram captions

Ok. So Karlie Kloss doesn’t go too hard on herself here. But who among us hasn’t been a little rideshare-challenged? She gets high marks for this one.

7. Lena Dunham: postal worker

We can’t say for sure what an elderly postal worker looks like, but we can imagine it’s not good. Selfie justified.

8. Coco haggles his way into some likes

As a late night host, Conan O’Brien has a talent for (playfully) making light of his guests achievements. We love him because he rarely lets himself off the hook, either. Here, a strange man tails him as he haggles his way into some solid social engagement.

9. Kat Dennings puts cups on her eyes

You might know Kat Dennings as one half of 2 Broke Girls. You might not know her as girl who throws cups on her eyes to prolong hitting the treadmill. And truly: we’ve all spent an extra minute or two in the locker room to avoid hitting the weights. The best self-deprecating Instagram captions are the ones we can all identify with.

“Imagine what they would say” Instagram captions

On to our next category. If you’re an avid user of the platform, you probably see several of these Instagram captions per day. “Imagine what they would say” is a technique by which—you guessed it—you imagine what a subject of your post would say if they had the ability to. This technique works best with babies and animals, but can also be applied quite effectively to grown human males and females. Let’s check out some of the best Instagram has to offer.

10. Pup, inhibited by cone, gets caught in doggie door 

 

A post shared by Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) on Jan 26, 2018 at 5:06pm PST

“Sharon, please just put down the phone and help me.”

Why are animals effective subjects for “imagine what they would say” Instagram captions? Because animals are hilarious. Exhibit A: this beagle getting his head stuck in his doggie door. Without the caption, all we have is a beagle getting his head stuck in a doggie door—funny, but also kind of sad. With the caption, with have a beagle that’s probably a little embarrassed about getting his head stuck, and is demanding assistance. Definitely funnier, definitely less sad.

11. Golden has a nose for the ball

 

A post shared by Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) on Feb 2, 2018 at 6:05am PST

Put me in coach, I got a nose for the ball!

Continuing the theme of pups struggling to navigate human technology: here we have a very good boy showing very lackluster ball skills. That doesn’t temper his enthusiasm, though—and the caption reflects that.

12. Baby as physical specimen

 

A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on Jan 29, 2018 at 1:16am PST

I love this footage with all my soul. Walking into the @ufcpi in Las Vegas with my son Conor Jr. in hand. Look at his neck and back muscles and his total body control. I’ve watched this too many times. He is a specimen.

Conor McGregor is notorious for his bravado. It’s helped him earn deals, win fans, and probably, win fights. Is ascribing your very young son that same machismo a humorous social media tactic? For this writer, yes, very much so.

13. Armen Paul gets pensive

Part-time comedian, full-time rising musician Armen Paul is always good for an online chuckle or two. This rarely-seen-but-effective tactic sees him substitute commentary for stream-of-consciousness monologue. Can’t think of anything funny to say about a solo shot of yourself? Simply select any one of the outrageous thoughts that occur to you throughout the day.

14. Doggo does a thing

There’s a new dialect emerging on the internet. Some find it incredibly annoying; some live by it.

If you can stomach it, Doggo is quickly becoming an Instagram like machine. And don’t feel bad about using your pet for social validation. We all do it.

15. Doggo says “thamk you”

 

A post shared by John Trulli (@doggosdoingthings) on Feb 3, 2018 at 12:32pm PST

Given that Doggo is not the easiest dialect to master, we figured we’d give you another chance to see it in action. We saw this video spread to multiple accounts and news feeds, and get mounds of engagement along the way. If you can somehow situate your pet in a majestic wildlife predicament, and set the scene with a psychedelic keyboard number, get ready to see even more likes roll in.

16. Evil cat

It’s easy to play on the over-zealous and occasionally dim-witted demeanor of dogs for the sake of a good Instagram caption; but it might be even easier to play on the demeanor of cats. Evil cat—conniving cat, jerk cat, what have you—is always good for a laugh when you’re posting a picture of your fuzzy calculating one. Just look at that face. That is an animal that will maul you in your sleep, then all but ruin the chiffarobe.

17. #DogSelfie

This is less an “imagine what they would say” than a “imagine what they would do,” but the premise remains the same. You probably know Allison Williams from Get Out and Girls. You probably didn’t know that her pup rarely misses an opportunity to hack her phone with a #DogSelfie. If you have a dog or a cat, the faux-selfie is a guaranteed crowd favorite.

Wordplay Instagram captions

We’ve come to the category that’s my personal favorite—wordplay. Not only is wordplay funny, and not only is it obvious, but often, the more obvious it is, the funnier it is. So if you’re apprehensive about sounding lame—don’t worry. In the world of wordplay, it’s better to be lame than not.

Let’s check out some examples of great wordplay Instagram captions.

18. Minne-snow-ta

The New England Patriots were hard luck losers in the Super Bowl, but I think we can all agree they go home winners with this Instagram caption. “Minne-snow-ta” sounds like the punchline of the joke your Dad told at Thanksgiving. It’s so bad, it’s good.

Good on ya, New England. If only we’d seen this kind of execution on defense.

19. Bored of your job? Anastasia Ashley isn’t.

We didn’t know Anastasia Ashley had this #fire ad copy in her! Ashley is a pro-surfer-turned-social-influencer who uses her clout to help companies like FreeConferenceCall build brand awareness. This awfully punny bit of wordplay was enough to earn a spot on our list.

20. Armen Paul likes turtles

If you were asleep in 2007, and missed the I Like Turtles Kid, do yourself a favor and click the link. As far as this post is concerned: it takes not only musical chops to make it in the music business today, but a stellar social media presence. Armen Paul knows that all too well. Wordplay like this has allowed him to gradually amass a solid Instagram following. Slow and steady wins the race.

21. Godzingis, #Shaqtin a fool

 

A post shared by DR. SHAQUILLE O’NEAL Ed.D. (@shaq) on Jan 27, 2018 at 5:14pm PST

SHAQTIN A FOOL HAS EYES EVERYWHERE

You’re forgiven if you’re not a sports fan and didn’t understand most of the words you just read. “Godzingis” is the nickname of Kristaps Porzingis, the 7’ 1” Latvian savior of the New York Knicks franchise. #Shaqtin is the social media hashtag Shaquille O’Neal uses to call out people for doing silly, clumsy, or idiotic things—i.e., Shaqtin’ a fool. That’s right. Wordplay has the power to change one’s own name into a social media movement. (Doesn’t hurt being Shaquille O’Neal either.)

22. When bay leaves

Looking for silly wordplay captions? Look no further than Tilda Lindstam. Tilda is a 24-year old Swedish model who gets damn creative with her Instagram captions. For the social media lay person, “bae” is another word for “love interest.” Nobody likes when bae leaves. (Definitely throw a couple bay leaves in your jambalaya too, though.)

23. BaeGoals

Not too much to say here. Fit a popular two-word meme into a food item and you’re at the top of your game.

24. Karlie Kloss, biologist model

Ms. Kloss’ name is spattered all over this list—but it’s not for her tree-identifying abilities. If you really scrutinize this picture, you’ll notice that in it, there are in fact no spruce trees. Still, you have to appreciate the range. Karlie made this list for self-deprecation and wordplay. That’s a diverse caption portfolio, people.

“Call out a friend” Instagram Captions

Our final category is “call out a friend” Instagram captions. This method is best practiced by making a playful joke about a friend in your photograph; but as you’ll presently see, there are a few different ways to go about it. Let’s dive in!

25. Chris Pratt gets wedged

This caption is pretty indicative of Chris Pratt’s brand of humor—ridiculous to the point of defying a category. We figured we’d throw this one in “call out a friend” because, hey, the description bears a striking resemblance to James Franco’s 24 Hours. But truly, what makes this caption effective is that it turns the subject from a guy who earnestly looks off into the distance into a guy who earnestly looks off into the distance but has a sense of humor about it. If you’re ever looking for caption inspiration, Pratt’s Instagram is a good place to start.

26. Sarah Silverman says a not nice thing

As far as pointed jokes go, Sarah Silverman has certainly done better. Still, if you’re looking for a formula for how to call out a friend in an Instagram caption, you can do worse than this. Mention friend in post. Say not nice thing about said friend. Friend experiences embarrassment. Post experiences engagement.

27. You are…not the father

Who’s safe from Chrissy Teigen’s diabolical captions? No one. Not even her husband, John Legend. The “he’s not the father” is a favorite among celebrities—you might have seen Blake Lively’s dig at Ryan Reynolds—and why not? Those guys get some pretty big egos. A little cage-rattle every now and again is totally healthy.

28. The “ageless” Hugh Jackman

Speaking of Ryan Reynolds—the guy just keeps bringing the Instagram caption heat. To wish Hugh Jackman a happy birthday, he paid homage to time Jackman weighed 130 pounds, lived in a one-bedroom apartment in the projects, and smoked $2 cigars. We’re sure Hugh appreciated the sincerity.

29.  Patton Oswalt and his runaway

Pictured in this post is Patton Oswalt’s wife, Meredith Salenger. A talented actress in her own right, Meredith is decidedly not 14. Still, for her age (47), she has a youthful complexion. This caption is a good example of the fact that you don’t have to be totally facetious in your call out. You can be complimentary as well (even if that compliment is shrouded in sarcasm).

30. Chelsea Handler calls out unwillingly photobombing man

There is an Instagram account out there devoted to men who have been forced to go shopping with their wives and girlfriends. We think there should be another devoted to men forced to take or be in pictures. Either there was a riveting game on, and this guy was too intrigued to notice Chelsea Handler’s picture, or he simply didn’t have the energy for a proper photobomb, and decided to feign interest in a faux-game to avoid having to get up. Whatever the case, he adds a funny element to the post, and good on Chelsea for having the wherewithal to call him out.

31. Ryan Reynolds wishes his mom a happy Mother’s Day

You can’t keep this guy off this list! Reynolds comes back here with a dynamite Mother’s Day Instagram caption. Like Chris Pratt’s earlier post, the humor here sort of defies a genre. Is it absurdist? Mother-ist? Difficult to say. What we can say for sure: it’s eminently like-able.

32. Swardson & Spade: big budget film guys

There’s definitely a tragic sort of bravery in Benchwarmers, but we can safely say it’s of a different breed than that shown in Braveheart. We love this Instagram caption from Nick Swardson because it’s self-aware. Also, because he calls out himself as well as a friend. He’s not a big budget dramatic actor. Nor is David Spade. Thus, Swardson gives us the best of both worlds—the friend call-out, as well as self-deprecation.  

33. Spaghetti Western Ted Cruz

 

A post shared by Patton Oswalt (@balvenieboy) on Mar 27, 2016 at 7:00pm PDT

Still love Ted Cruz’s work in FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.

Patton Oswalt takes a break from his wife in this post to focus on his other love interest: bashing the GOP. This is a variation on the “call out” method we’ll call, “call out your enemy.” No, that is not in fact Ted Cruz at the end of this clip. But it’s really, really funny to imagine that it is.  

Closing Thoughts

In this post, we’ve outlined four different ways to approach Instagram captions on your next Instagram post. Internalize these categories, adapt them to fit your own life, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming an Instagram caption pro. Most important of all, don’t think too much about it. Take a page out of Spaghetti Western Ted Cruz’s book: fire from the hip!

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