5 Restaurant Marketing Tips To Write Better Instagram Captions

By Nancy Howard, Contributor

Nowadays, Instagram Stories seems to be the place where all the fun is at. But does it mean regular Instagram posts and their captions aren’t valuable anymore? Not at all. An Insta caption on your restaurant’s account can make people want to taste your food so badly they will be there in an hour.

To achieve such a result, you need to incorporate two essential factors in your captions:

• Creative writing;

• Marketing.

Here, we’ll talk about the second aspect and how you can get the most loyal audience with a couple of tricks.

Trick #1: Put the Essence in the First 125 Characters

Users see only the first 125 characters of your caption. If you put a photo credit there or a long introduction, people will just scroll past. You need to catch their attention with either:

• The essence of the post, like a thesis statement in an essay;

• An attention hook, like a question or a fact;

• A call to action;

• A joke.

Write such pieces wisely, though, because you don’t want to seem aggressive as a marketer. Don’t make it clickbait as well; it’s an ancient technique that is associated with annoying spam. Remember that you compete with every other blog your followers read. Be better!

Be consistent with your brand as well. If it’s a sweet, all-pink cake restaurant, don’t choose a strict or official tone.

That’s a huge task for the start of the caption, but it’s worth it. You have mere seconds and 125 characters to capture the audience's attention. Make sure you don’t waste them.

Trick #2: Optimize for Other Social Media Accounts

In the new, technologically advanced age, you want to automate as many processes as possible. Instagram offers automatic sharing of your post to other SNS accounts (Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

This is a great way to update on at least three websites at once. However, if the caption isn’t adapted to be universal for all of them, what’s the point?

While on Facebook, your publication will look the same, on Twitter, you have to count the number of characters. The post is shared with a link to your Instagram publication, so the main pitch may be hidden.

Trick #3: Use Well-Working Techniques by Other Blogs

The best recommendation is a proper example. Analyze a list of food blogs and see patterns in their guest posting and self-publications.

More popular blogs will definitely have some things in common. Catchy intros, original metaphors, and wise usage of SEO should be the things to notice. Look for blogs of restaurants in your niche, but always adapt the techniques you take to your target audience and special features.

Incorporate the most effective patterns into your captions. You can even use almost exact phrases as a joke when applicable. Just make sure to not copy the content of other restaurants. This will not bring success to you, only legal problems.

Trick #4: Work on Engagement

Since 2016, Instagram no longer uses a reverse-chronological feed. Now, the deciding factors vary from user engagement to the time you post. Make your caption a one-on-one conversation:

• Ask questions and be prepared to answer them in the comments as soon as possible;

• Create posts with blanks like “_______ is the best breakfast option at [restaurant name].” and ask followers to choose an option;

• Use calls to action to make people interact with your profile more, such as “You can see it in the previous post. Maybe you missed it? Come check!” or “All other options are in the Highlights”, etc.;

• Reward readers with discounts or mentions in stories, etc. for activity, correct answers to questions, mentions in stories, etc.

While informational captures are useful as well, you should definitely make them more fun and exciting for people to read. Do that consistently for several months, and your followers will wait for new posts, keeping your account popular and relevant.

Build a relationship with your follower base, and loyalty will come with it.

Trick #5: Be Searchable

In captions, consider mentioning

• Your account;

• Any additional accounts your restaurant has;

• Credits (photo, writing, etc.; the idea is that those people will share the post, drawing more traffic to it);

• Hashtags.

The latter is a disputed topic. Some people say nobody uses hashtags now, while others still rely on “like for like” or “follow for follow” hashtags. The answer is you need proper hashtags in an adequate quantity.

Use:

• #the name of your restaurant;

• #name of the restaurant + “menu”;

• #location;

• #location + “food”;

• #the name of the dish (if relevant).

These will not only make you more searchable but organize your posts as well. Later on, as you build the account, people will be able to navigate the posts better. You’ll just have to write “If you want to see other breakfast options, go to #hashtag.

Additional Tips to Make Your Restaurant Instagram Account Wholesome

Here are other tips to make your captions better and more recognizable:

• Choose one style and stick to it. If you start the first caption with an emoji to draw attention, continue doing it, use different emojis. You can make a game later on by asking people to search for a certain emoji and win discounts, which will be super fun;

• Drop aggressive marketing. The more you try to lure people with marketing cliches, the fewer will actually remain loyal to you. Let’s agree, it’s a bit irritating when you have a brand trying clickbait methods on you;

• Mention the prices when needed. One of the most annoying things is when a person is asking about the price and gets “check your DM for the answer” or something like that. Provide information! It’s better to get natural activity by writing interesting captions;

• Adopt a scannable structure. There aren’t many ways to format your text when it’s an Instagram caption. But breaking the info down into paragraphs, using emojis for lists, and other cute formatting techniques will make the text more reader-friendly.

Eventually, all these techniques will result in a wholesome Instagram account where captions are there not only to mention credits and use a couple of emojis. People will read and interact with them, bringing you more loyal clients and falling in love with the brand.

Social media is free advertising for your restaurant. People are monetizing their accounts like crazy right now, so why should you not try it out? Catch people’s attention with witty, interesting, and highly engaging captions. Stay creative, but don’t forget about the aforementioned marketing tips to have publications as smooth as a souffle.

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About the Author
Nancy P. Howard has been working as a journalist at the online magazine in London for a year. She is also a professional writer in such topics as blogging, IT and marketing.

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