The first line is the whole job
On a phone the reader sees one line, maybe two, before “more”. That line has to give a reason to keep reading: a concrete promise, a question they recognise, or a claim that surprises. “We have news” is not a reason.
Five formulas
- Before and after: “Before: three tools and a spreadsheet. Now: one sentence.”
- Question and answer: “Why does coffee taste flat in the morning? Because the water is too hot.”
- One thing we learned: “We thought customers wanted more options. They wanted fewer.”
- Behind the scenes: “05:40 at the roastery. This is an ordinary Tuesday.”
- Straight to it: “New blend. 250 g. In the shop from Friday.”
Length per channel
Instagram: one to three short paragraphs, the most important sentence first. LinkedIn: longer is fine, but air between thoughts, and the point in the first line. Facebook: short, with a question or a call. X: one sentence.
Hashtags and the call
Three to five relevant hashtags are enough; thirty looks desperate. End with one call, not three: order, reply, read more. If everything is important, nothing is.
AI without the AI smell
AI captions give themselves away with exclamation marks, “exciting”, “we are proud to”, and by never saying anything concrete. Give the model your voice and your banned words, ask for three variants, and pick the one that sounds like something you would actually say out loud.
In Marshi
Marshi writes captions in the brand's voice and draws the image to go with them, in the same request. Try the free caption generator first, and take the text in with you.
