How to Tag More Than 5 People on an Instagram Post

Thinking you can only tag five people in an Instagram post is a common misunderstanding, but the good news is, you can actually include far more. The confusion comes from mixing up a standard tag with the collaboration feature. This guide will show you exactly how to tag up to 20 accounts directly in your photo or video, mention more in your caption, and use the collaboration feature strategically.

The Difference Between Tagging, Mentioning, and Collaborating

Before we get into the step-by-step methods, let's clear up the terminology. Instagram offers three distinct ways to link other accounts to your content, and they each serve a different purpose.

• Tagging: This is when you digitally "pin" an account to a specific spot on your photo or video. Tapping the post reveals the tags. This is the method that allows you to include up to 20 accounts. Tagged content may appear on the "Tagged" tab of the person's profile, boosting your post's visibility.
• Mentioning: This is when you use the "@" symbol followed by a username (e.g., @postbase) directly in your caption or in comments. These create a clickable link to the user's profile and send them a notification. You can mention up to 10 accounts in your caption.
• Collaborating: This is a special feature that adds another user as a co-author of your post. The post will appear on both of your profiles, share the same like count, and display comments from both audiences. This is the feature with the more restrictive limit, which is currently a total of 5 collaborators.

So, the question isn't how to tag more than five people, but rather understanding which feature to use. If your goal is to acknowledge, credit, or simply link to more than five people, standard tagging is your best friend.

How to Tag Up to 20 People in an Instagram Feed Post

This is the simplest and most effective way to feature a large group of people. If you hosted a workshop, attended a team event, or want to credit a big creative team, this is the tool for the job. Tagging up to 20 people directly in the image is straightforward.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Start Creating a Post: Open Instagram and tap the "+" icon at the bottom of the screen. Select the photo or video you want to upload and tap "Next."
2. Edit Your Photo (Optional): Apply any filters or make edits, then tap “Next” again.
3. Access the Tagging Menu: On the final screen where you write your caption, you will see an option labeled "Tag People." Tap on it.
4. Start Tagging: Tap anywhere on your photo. A search bar will pop up. Start typing the username of the person you want to tag. As you type, Instagram will suggest accounts. Select the correct one.
5. Position the Tag: You can drag the tag to reposition it anywhere on the image. Many people like to place the tag directly on the person it corresponds to.
6. Repeat the Process: Continue tapping the photo and searching for usernames until you've tagged everyone you need to. You can repeat this process up to 20 times for a single-image post or for each image in a carousel.
7. Finish and Share: Once you’re done tagging, tap "Done." Complete your caption, add your location, and then tap "Share" to publish your post.

Pro Tip: For a post with lots of tags, try to space them out so they don't overlap and make the image look cluttered. If you're tagging a big group photo, positioning the tag on a person's shoulder or torso area is often better than right on their face.

Combining Methods: How to Acknowledge Over 30 People in One Post

Here’s where you can get really strategic. If 20 tags still aren’t enough, you can combine standard tagging with caption mentions to give a shout-out to even more people.

Imagine you just finished a big brand event. You can:

• Tag 20 people in the photo: This could be your core event team, speakers, and special guests.
• Mention 10 people in the caption: Use this space to thank your key vendors, sponsors, or attendees.

By using both features to their full potential, you can reference 30 different accounts in a single Instagram post. This creates a massive ripple effect, sending notifications to all 30 accounts and dramatically increasing the chances that your post will be seen and shared.

Example Caption Structure:

"What an incredible wrap to our annual summit! We couldn't have pulled it off without our speakers and team (all tagged in the photo!). A huge thank-you to our key partners who made this happen: @partner1, @vendor2, and @sponsor3. Your support was everything..."

When and How to Use the Collaboration Feature

The Collaboration feature is powerful but much more specific. Tagging is for giving credit or acknowledging presence, while collaborating is for co-creating and sharing ownership of content. Due to its impact - placing a post on multiple profiles - Instagram limits this to a total of 5 accounts per post to prevent spam and keep content authentic.

Use Collaborators for:

• Brand Partnerships: The primary use case. An influencer and a brand can create a single post that appears on both profiles, unifying the campaign's engagement.
• Joint Announcements: Two companies announcing a merger, a new product collaboration, or a joint venture.
• Creative Projects: A photographer and a model can collaborate on a post so it shows up in both of their feeds seamlessly.
• Event Co-Hosts: If multiple organizations host an event together, they can collaborate on the promotional posts.

How to Invite Collaborators (Up to 5 Total):

1. Follow the same steps to create a post.
2. On the final screen, tap "Tag People."
3. Instead of just tapping the photo, you will see a button that says "Invite Collaborator." Tap it.
4. Search for the username of your collaborator and select it. You can repeat this for up to 4 other accounts.
5. Once you share the post, the people you invited will receive a notification to accept the collaboration. Once they accept, your post will appear on their profile grid as well.

The key here is that collaborator invites must be accepted. Regular tags are applied automatically without the other user's approval (though they can remove a tag if they wish).

Strategic Ways to Tag More People (Beyond One Post)

If you genuinely have more than 30 people you need to shout out, blasting them all in one post isn't always the best strategy. Here are a few ways to extend your reach while keeping your content clean and effective.

1. Use a Carousel Post

A carousel allows you to post up to 10 photos or videos in a single swipeable post. Each photo or video can have its own set of 20 unique tags. While it might look crowded if you max this out, it technically gives you the ability to tag up to 200 accounts in a single post. A more realistic approach is to break your photos by groups. For example:

• Slide 1: The group shot, tagging key organizers.
• Slide 2: A photo of the guest speakers, tagged accordingly.
• Slide 3: Photos of workshop attendees, with a new set of tags.

This approach feels more intentional and tells a better story about your event or project than a single photo with 20 tag dots on it.

2. The Instagram Stories Power-Up

Don't forget about Stories! Your Instagram Story is the perfect place for more casual, behind-the-scenes shout-outs. You can mention up to 10 accounts per Story slide using the `@mention` sticker or just by typing the text.

If you've maxed out the tags on your feed post, create a series of stories highlighting others. Take a screenshot of your new post, share it to your story, and use that space to tag more people who were involved. This not only acknowledges them but also drives more traffic back to your main post.

3. Engage in the Comments Section

Your own comments section can be a powerful place for additional acknowledgements. After you publish your post, you can leave a comment tagging people you want to thank. For example: "Also wanted to say thank you to @userA, @userB, and @userC for their amazing help behind the scenes!"

This tactic works best for a handful of extra thank-yous. It keeps your caption clean while still ensuring those users get a notification and feel included.

Final Thoughts

So, while you are limited to five collaborators, your ability to tag and mention people on Instagram is much greater. By combining the 20 tags you can place on a photo with the 10 mentions available in your caption, you can effectively showcase and notify over 30 accounts in a single, powerful post.

Once you start using these tagging strategies effectively, the boost in engagement is real - but so is the flood of notifications, comments, and DMs. We actually built Postbase to solve this exact headache. Our unified inbox pulls all of your interactions from all your social accounts into one single, clean feed, making it simple to manage conversations and ensure no message ever gets missed.