The HIC Caption Formula
Structure every social caption as Hook, Insights, Call to action to drive engagement
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 95%
HIC is a three-part caption template Jasmine Star built inside Social Curator: Hook, Insights, Call to action. The mechanism starts with platform physics — Instagram truncates a caption at roughly 120 characters, so the opening line must be strong enough to earn a 'read more' tap. That tap is itself a signal to the algorithm that the reader wants your content, independent of likes or comments. Once the hook reels the reader in, two to three insights build the know-like-trust factor, but each insight must describe what the business does for the follower rather than the author's personal trivia. Finally, an explicit call to action tells the reader exactly how to respond — answer a question, offer a suggestion, sign up. Star's diagnosis of dead captions is blunt: people pour their hearts out and then never ask for a response, so nobody gives one.
Origin
Star developed the formula inside Social Curator, the social media subscription she founded, after repeatedly reading emotionally powerful captions from members that got no replies and realising the missing element was an explicit ask.
Core principles
- 01Visuals make you popular; captions make you profitable.
- 02People do not engage because you never asked them to.
- 03The first 120 characters decide whether anyone reads the rest.
- 04A 'read more' click is an engagement signal even without a like or comment.
- 05Write to one dream customer, not to an audience.
How to run it
- 1
Pick the one reader
Before writing, decide which single dream customer the caption addresses. Write to his or her desires, pressure points, and the solution your business offers.
Pro tip Naming the person in your head keeps the caption from drifting into generic broadcast voice.
- 2
Write the hook
Open with a line that stops the scroll and earns the 'read more' tap. It must land inside roughly the first two lines, about 120 characters.
Pro tip Two reliable hook shapes: a segmenting call-out ('Calling all social media managers') or a curiosity opener ('Can I share a juicy secret?').
Watch out Burying the hook below the truncation line wastes it — nobody expands the caption to find it.
- 3
Deliver two to three insights
Follow the hook with two or three insights that build the know, like, and trust factor by showing what your business does for your followers.
Pro tip Personalise the delivery of a business insight rather than substituting personal trivia for one.
Watch out Insights like 'I like Reese's Pieces and going to the movies' build nothing — they are filler, not trust.
- 4
Ask for one specific action
Close with a single, unambiguous call to action: respond to a question, offer a suggestion, take a quiz, sign up for the newsletter.
Pro tip 'What do you think?' is a low-friction default that gives people an easy on-ramp to engage.
Watch out Multiple competing CTAs split the response and usually produce none.
In the wild
Star walks Hala through applying HIC live on LinkedIn. The hook segments the audience — 'Calling all social media managers' — so the right readers' antennas go up and they tap read more. The insights then describe what the agency actually does for a client: the onboarding call, how it is tailored to them, how it removes stress. The call to action closes with a direct question so the reader has an easy way to respond. Star's point is that the same caption without the closing ask would read as a strong post and still produce silence.
→ A caption that earns 'read more' taps and replies rather than passive scrolling, feeding the algorithm interest signals.
Star describes the pattern she sees constantly inside Social Curator: a member pours her heart out, writes a genuinely powerful caption, publishes it, and hears nothing. She asks why nobody responded. When Star reads the caption back, the diagnosis is immediate — there was no ask anywhere in it. The reader was moved but never told what to do next, so they scrolled on.
→ Adding a single explicit call to action to otherwise unchanged captions converts silent posts into conversations.
Common mistakes
Writing a great caption with no ask
People pour out their hearts, publish, and wonder why nobody responded. The caption never told the reader what to do, so the reader did nothing.
Padding the insights with personal trivia
Insights must build trust by showing what the business does for the follower. Random likes and hobbies fill space without earning anything.
Chasing virality instead of the dream customer
Whether the post gets repurposed on a big site is not the goal. The goal is a small group of the right people having a profound effect on the business.
Is it for you?
Best for
Small and medium business owners writing their own organic social captions on Instagram or LinkedIn.
Not ideal for
Influencers optimising purely for reach and virality rather than customer conversion.
From the transcript
“inside of social curator we created the hic formula this is a foolproof way to drive engagement hic is an acronym for h hook i…”
“your visuals will get you popular and your captions will get you profitable”
“oh you didn't ask for them to respond you didn't tell them what you wanted to do”
From the episode
Jasmine Star: Stand Out On Social
Jasmine Star