How to Tag and Highlight in Facebook

Tagging someone on Facebook is more than just linking their profile, it's a direct line to instantly boost your post's visibility and engagement. Whether you want to give a shoutout to a friend, credit a collaborator, or get your entire group’s attention, mastering Facebook's tagging and highlighting tools is an essential skill. This guide will walk you through exactly how to tag people, Pages, and groups, and show you when to use the powerful @everyone and @followers highlights for maximum impact without annoying your audience.

The “Why” Behind Tagging: More Than Just a Name Drop

Before getting into the step-by-step instructions, it helps to understand what makes tagging so effective. When you tag a person or a Page in a post, photo, or comment, you create a direct link to their profile or Page. But more importantly, you send them a notification. This simple act has several powerful ripple effects:

• Increased Reach & Visibility: Tagged individuals are more likely to see, like, comment on, and share your post. When they interact with it, your post then gets shown to their network of friends, expanding its reach far beyond your own audience. It’s one of the most organic ways to increase eyeballs on your content.
• Building Community and Relationships: Tagging is a form of digital acknowledgment. It says, "You are part of this story." For businesses, tagging customers who share photos with your products (with their permission, of course!) makes them feel seen and valued. For individuals, it strengthens social bonds by sharing memories and experiences.
• Crediting and Collaboration: In a creative world, proper credit is everything. Tagging photographers, artists, writers, influencers, or any collaborator is standard practice. It shows respect for their work and helps them get the recognition they deserve, all while strengthening your professional network.
• Driving Conversation: Tagging someone in a comment can bring them into a discussion, asking for their opinion or making them aware of a topic relevant to them. It turns a static post into a dynamic conversation hub.

How to Tag People and Pages in Facebook Posts and Photos

The most common use of tagging happens right inside a standard Facebook post. The process is straightforward and works similarly across desktop and mobile devices.

Tagging in a New Post (Status Update, Photo, or Video)

This is tagging at its most basic. You can do this in the caption you write for your post.

1. Start creating a new post from your timeline, a Page, or a group.
2. In the text box where you write your caption, type the "@" symbol.
3. Immediately after the "@" symbol, begin typing the name of the person or Page you want to tag. Do not add a space between "@" and the name.
4. A dropdown menu will appear with suggestions that match what you're typing. The suggestions will populate based on your friends list, Pages you've liked, and other public profiles.
5. Click on the correct person or Page from the list. Their name will turn into a blue, clickable link in your post draft.
6. Finish writing your post and click "Post." The tagged account will receive a notification that you've mentioned them.

Pro Tip: You're not limited to one tag. You can repeat this process as many times as needed to include everyone relevant to your post.

Tagging People in a Photo You've Already Uploaded

Forgot to tag someone? No problem. Facebook makes it easy to add tags after the fact.

1. Navigate to the photo you want to add a tag to.
2. Click on the photo to open it in the full-screen photo viewer.
3. At the top or side of the screen, you should see an option that says "Tag Photo" (it often looks like a little price tag icon). Click it.
4. Your cursor will change to a crosshair. Click on the face of the person you want to tag.
5. A text box will appear. Start typing the person's name, and just like before, select them from the dropdown menu.
6. The tag is now attached to that specific spot in the photo. Click "Done Tagging" or simply close the photo viewer to save your changes.

Facebook’s photo recognition often suggests tags automatically. You can simply approve these suggestions to save time.

Tagging Friends and Pages in Comments

Bringing someone into a conversation that's already happening is a great way to boost engagement. The process is identical to tagging in a post caption.

1. Find the post where you want to leave a comment.
2. In the comment box, type "@" followed by the person's or Page's name.
3. Select the correct profile from the dropdown list.
4. Finish your comment and hit Enter. They'll get a notification that you mentioned them in a comment.

How to Tag Friends in Facebook Stories

Tagging in a Facebook Story works a bit differently. A tag in a Story not only notifies your friend but also gives them the option to share your Story to their own Story, dramatically increasing its reach.

1. Tap "Create Story" at the top of your Facebook feed.
2. Select the photo or video you want to add to your story.
3. Tap the "Stickers" icon (the smiling square) in the top right corner. From there, select the "@MENTION" sticker.
4. Start typing the name of the friend you want to tag and select them from the list that appears. You can then drag, resize, and rotate the tag sticker just like any other sticker.
5. Alternatively, you can tap the "Aa" (Text) icon. In the text field, type "@" followed by your friend's name, and select them from the list. This creates a text-based tag that you can also customize.
6. Once you're happy with your story, share it. Your tagged friend will receive a notification and a direct message with a link to add your Story to theirs.

Understanding Page and Group Highlights: @followers and @everyone

Moving beyond individual tags, Facebook offers two extremely powerful highlighting tools for Pages and Groups: @followers and @everyone. These act like a digital megaphone, sending a notification to a large number of people at once. Because they are so powerful, they should be used very carefully.

For Page Admins: The @followers Tag

The @followers tag is a feature for Facebook Pages that allows you to notify people who follow your Page. When you include @followers in a post, a notification gets sent to some, or all, of your followers.

Think of it as cutting through the noise of the regular feed. It’s designed for important news your entire audience should see.

When You Should Use @followers:

• Major Company Announcements: A new product launch, a rebranding, or big news that affects your customers.
• Time-Sensitive Events or Sales: Announcing a flash sale that ends in 24 hours or reminding people about a live stream starting in an hour.
• Important Community Updates: Significant changes to store hours, services, or terms of service.

When You Should NOT Use @followers:

• Your Daily Posts: Using this for your everyday content is the fastest way to get people to turn off your notifications or, worse, unfollow you.
• Minor Updates or Content Promotion: Don’t use it just to push a new blog post or photo. The notification implies urgency, so the content needs to match that expectation. Overusing it will cause notification fatigue and your audience will start ignoring you completely.

For Group Admins: The @everyone Tag

The @everyone tag is one of the most powerful - and potentially most annoying - features available to Group admins. When you use it in a group post or comment, every single member of the group receives a notification.

When You Should Use @everyone:

Use this tag with extreme caution and only for information that is absolutely essential for every member to see. Think of it as the emergency broadcast system for your community.

• Urgent Announcements: An event has been canceled last minute, the location has changed, or there’s a critical security update for the group.
• Rule Changes and Moderation: Announcing significant changes to the group rules that everyone needs to be aware of to avoid getting banned.
• Closing the Group: Informing all members about the group being archived or shut down.

When You Should NOT Use @everyone:

• To welcome new members or ask an engagement-bait question.
• For promoting your personal business or a non-essential event.
• For asking a question that only a few people in the group can answer.
• Basically, for anything that is not truly an "everyone needs to know this right now" situation.

Abusing the @everyone tag is the fastest way to drive members away from your group. When people are flooded with notifications that aren't relevant to them, they will either mute or leave the community.

Best Practices for Effective Tagging and Highlighting

Now that you know the mechanics, let’s wrap up with a few simple rules of thumb to make sure your tagging is effective and not disruptive.

1. Tag with Relevance and Purpose: Don't tag people randomly to get attention. Only tag individuals who are in the photo, who were at the event you're posting about, or who are directly relevant to the topic of your post. Irrelevant tags feel like spam.
2. Ask Permission for User-Generated Content: If you're a business sharing a customer's photo, it’s always a good idea to comment first and ask for permission to repost and tag them. Most people will be thrilled, but asking shows respect for your community.
3. Use @followers and @everyone Sparingly: Treat these powerful highlights as tools for rare, important occasions. The less you use them, the more impact they'll have when you do. Make a rulebook for your brand or group that defines exactly what qualifies as an "everyone-must-know" announcement.
4. Engage with Tags You Receive: Tagging is a social interaction. When someone tags you or your Page, take a moment to respond. A simple "thanks for the shoutout!" goes a long way in building relationships.

Final Thoughts

Tagging, at its core, is about connection. Used properly, it’s a simple feature that expands your reach, builds community, and makes your content more interactive. Used improperly, it can feel like spam. By tagging with purpose and using power-features like @followers and @everyone thoughtfully, you can improve your Facebook strategy and foster a more engaged audience.

Staying on top of all those tags, mentions, and comments across different platforms can feel like a full-time job. With our unified social inbox at Postbase, we bring all your Facebook, Instagram, and other social conversations into one streamlined feed. This makes it so much easier to engage with your community, respond to tagged posts, and never miss an important interaction, while our visual calendar helps you plan those high-impact, tag-worthy posts ahead of time.