Win Attention Or Lose Affection
Six Tips For Crafting A Compelling Caption
Are you looking to share an article on social media, or write a blog-post, but are unsure what to put as your headline? Here are six tips for crafting a compelling caption that can be combined in any variation.
What’s Eye-Catching?
1. Flag Your Audience
- ‘You’, ‘entrepreneurs’, ‘millennials’, ‘parents’, ’startups’, etc.
2. Offer Counterintuitive Take
- Don’t follow what convention says, do this
“to find work you love, don’t follow your passion” –TED Talk
Headline example (for this article): Don’t Report What’s Said, Say What’s Unsaid
- Present a paradox (inherent contradiction)
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — attributed to Wayne Gretzky
Rule number one: ignore all the rules.
Headline example: Avert Stating the Obvious Cannot Be Overstated
- Pair contrasting-concepts
Yesterday you said tomorrow — Nike campaign
Headline example: Win Your Audience Or Lose Their Attention
3. Identify Gap In Audiences’ Knowledge
- Hone nightly news/clickbait-technique
“What you don’t know about [blank] …”
“Top Ten [blank]…”
Headline example: Six Tips for Crafting A Compelling Caption
- Point out potential threat (or opportunity)
Headline example: How A Headline Can Lose Your Audience
What’s Persuasive?
4. Rhyming (makes more memorable)
“a stitch in time saves nine”
“If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” — Johnnie Cochran
Headline example: Win Attention Or Lose Affection
5. Repetition, (gives a proverb-like feel)
“the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” — FDR
Headline example: Compelling the Obvious Is Not Compelling
6. Symmetry (feels like wisdom)
“ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country” — JFK
Headline example: To State the Obvious Is Too Obviously Overstated
Finally, keep it pithy, avoid puns, and steer clear of cliches.
