Welcome to the Instagram Academy. Want to add a tag on Instagram but don’t know how? This is the lesson for you. The photo network lets you tag your friends not only inside a post, but also on the photos you publish and inside comments.
What does tagging mean? A tag is a kind of label that lets you mention another user in a post. If you are wondering how Instagram tags work and imagine it is complicated, by the end of this lesson you will see it is far simpler than you thought. Let’s go through how to add tags step by step, in the post caption, on a photo, and inside a comment.
New to the Academy? Have a look around: you will find plenty of other lessons on Instagram, on SEO, on Facebook and on growth hacking.
In our Instagram Academy you will find other lessons on Instagram geotags, on Instagram collaborations, on how to schedule posts, how to use Instagram for business and much more…
Ready to find out everything about tags on Instagram? Let’s go.
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How to tag in an Instagram post caption
The first way to add a tag on Instagram is to “mention” someone inside the caption describing the content. It is very simple:
- open the Instagram app on your phone;
- pick the content you want to publish and apply whatever edits you like;
- in the space for the caption, write the text that goes with the photo, or leave it blank;
- to add the tag, type “@” in that space followed by the first letter or two of the account you want to tag: a list of matching users appears, including the one you are after.
- select the user you want to tag and their profile name appears in blue inside the caption.
- if you picked the wrong user by mistake, removing the tag is just a matter of deleting it with the backspace key you use for ordinary text.
- once you have the right profile, tap share. Once the content is published, your tag is live.
You can also put your tag anywhere in the text: at the start, at the end or in the middle, it makes no difference. The person you tagged gets a notification on Instagram taking them to the post you published.
Note: Instagram lets you remove a tag from the caption even after publishing. To do that, go to “Edit” and delete the tag like ordinary text. Once you confirm with the arrow at the top left, the tag is gone.
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How to tag photos on Instagram
Another way to add a tag on Instagram is to put it directly on the photo you want to share. It is a nice way to attach a username to a face, especially when the photo shows several people.
Free image from Pixabay
Tagging a photo takes a few simple steps:
- Pick the photo you want to share, apply the filters and edits you want and tap “next”.
- Below the caption space, select “Tag people”;
- The search bar appears at the top, while a box asking “Who’s this?” appears on the photo;
- If you want the tag somewhere other than where that box sits, double-tap the photo at the point you prefer — on someone’s face, for instance;
- Once you have chosen where the tag goes, use the search bar and type the first letters of the account you want to tag;
- A list of matching profiles appears: if the one you want doesn’t show automatically, tap “search” and within seconds it is there to select;
- If you want to add more than one tag, just repeat the process for each one;
- Publish the photo and, once it is on your home, the tag is live.
The tagged user or users get a notification from Instagram and the photo also appears on their profile in the dedicated section. How do you get there? Tap the icon showing a person in a speech bubble: it is the last of the three icons on the right, just before the preview of everything shared so far.
Note: if you put the tag directly on the photo, the tagged user’s name does not appear in the caption: to see it, your followers have to tap the photo and the names appear where you placed them.
If you want to remove a tag from a photo, go to “edit”. At the bottom left you will find the Tag icon with the number of people tagged. Tap it and the photo opens in the “tag people” section. Tap the tag you want to remove: an X appears, tap it and your tag is gone. The photo automatically disappears from the profile of the person you removed.
Free image from Pixabay
How to add tags on Instagram: comments
Finally, Instagram lets you tag people in comments. That is simpler still.
- Scroll the comments under a post until you reach the comment box marked “Add a comment”;
- Type “@” followed by the first letters of the profile you want to tag and the list of matching users opens;
- Select the person you want to tag; write a comment if you like and hit send.
The tag is live in the comment and the person gets a notification taking them to the post. Why tag in comments? It is a widely used way to pull other people into a discussion or simply to show them a post, thanks to the notification.
In this case, to remove the tag you have to delete the comment, since Instagram does not let you edit it.
Free image from Pixabay
Conclusion
Here we are at the end of this lesson. Instagram tags certainly hold no secrets for you now: you have learned how to tag inside a post, on a photo and directly in comments. Easier than you imagined, wasn’t it?
What are you waiting for? All that is left is to tag your friends and share your photos with whoever you like.
We will see you in the next lessons, where we will go deeper into other Instagram subjects you are sure to find interesting. Stay tuned and keep following your favourite Instagram Academy.
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