I see a lot of unusual things on social, but nothing quite like a century-old government body going viral on Instagram.
The National Park Service, which turns 107 this year, is snatching up over half a million likes on their posts. A government account? The USDA could never.
And here’s the crazy twist—they use almost no video content, just single-image posts with really long captions. Basically, everything we’ve been told not to do.
The secret? A stellar caption-writing technique.
Swipeable Instagram caption secrets from NPS
Prioritize the hook
The NPS creates most of its Instagram captions by browsing images and thinking of a joke or pop culture reference first. Bite-sized education or PSAs are built in later.
That’s prioritizing the hook, which is backward from the standard approach of having a CTA in mind before crafting social content.
Give your platform a job
Rather than looking at social media as a platform to deposit a Canva graphic every day– I’m looking at you, Labor Department – the NPS gives their Instagram a job. It’s a digital park ranger with official park ranger duties.
Those include educating, engaging, and keeping visitors safe. Giving Instagram these digital duties creates a powerful asset for the parks.
Voicing the inner monologue
On every ranger-led park tour I’ve been on, there are dad jokes, chatter, wildlife facts, and a few good yarns. And the occasional PSA to not touch the 1-ton bison.
All these elements show up in NPS posts in punchy ranger-esque captions that read more like a monologue, and engagement is through the roof.
Even with the constraints of planned messaging, there’s freedom in how you actually write the copy. Add in pop culture references, lend your voice, and play with that inner monologue as though you were actually talking to the reader, not at them.
W.W.R.D?
- Experiment with flipping your caption-writing strategy for engagement first before purpose and CTA.
- Give your clients' social media platform a job. Think beyond “brands Instagram account” to what it needs to do and be in order to be a useful tool.
- Define a voice beyond the more generic “brand voice.” Work to establish tone and delivery in a way that feels natural to your clients.
About Kristen Dahlin
Kristen fell into content marketing between Disneyland gigs and Hawaiian weddings. With a few years of SEO-fueled freelance under her belt, she wandered into tech. That winding path eventually landed her as a founding team member of BRIL.LA.