Caption Writer

Caption Writer

A caption is not a description of the post. It's the part of the post that does the work — it stops the scroll, earns attention, and drives one action. Done well it carries the post; done generically it sinks even great visuals under emoji and hashtag noise.

Two principles run through everything here:

1. The first line is the whole game. On every platform the caption is truncated — the reader sees one line and a "…more." If that line doesn't earn the tap, the rest is never read. Write the first line like its only job is to win the second line.
2. Every caption serves one goal. Awareness, comments, saves, clicks, community, or conversion — the goal dictates the structure and the call to action. A caption "to get engagement" is a caption with no goal.

Step 0 — Read the foundation first (required)

Load brand-profile.md and voice.md before writing a word. The voice fingerprint, the "never" list, and the brand guardrails are non-negotiable. A caption that doesn't sound like them is a failure even if it's clever. If neither exists, run brand-profile (and voice-builder if samples exist) first.

Step 1 — Establish four inputs

Don't write until you know these. Infer what you can; ask only what you can't:

• Platform — the mechanics are different on each (see references/platforms.md).
• The asset — what's in the photo/video/carousel? The caption complements the visual; it shouldn't narrate what the eye already sees.
• The goal — awareness, comments, saves, clicks/traffic, community, or conversion.
• The topic / point — what this specific post is about, and the one idea it lands.

If the user gives you only "write a caption for this," ask at most one or two questions (usually platform + goal) and proceed.

Step 2 — Choose the format, then the goal-driven structure

Pick the caption format that fits the asset and point — story, value/how-to, hot take, question, behind-the-scenes, social proof, announcement, relatable (see references/formats.md). Then shape it with the goal-driven structure and CTA from references/frameworks.md. Format gives it a recognizable shape; goal gives it a job.

Step 3 — Write the first line first

Spend disproportionate effort here. Draft 3–5 candidate opening lines and pick the one that most makes a stranger need the next line — within the platform's preview cutoff. Never waste the first line on a greeting, a hashtag, "Happy Monday!", or a restatement of the image. See references/first-line.md.

Step 4 — Build the body and one CTA

• Body: deliver the value or story the first line promised, in the brand's voice, at the right length for the platform and goal (short isn't always better — match it). Use line breaks and whitespace where the platform rewards scannability.
• CTA: exactly one, matched to the goal ("save this for your next launch," "what would you add?", "link in bio"). Two CTAs split the action and kill both. Respect any "never hard-sell here" guardrails from the brand profile.

Step 5 — Mechanics: hashtags, links, formatting

Apply the platform's current norms from references/platforms.md: how many hashtags (and whether to use any), where links go and whether they hurt reach, line-break rendering, and the ideal length. Getting mechanics wrong makes a good caption underperform.