How to Tag Someone on Facebook When Sharing a Post

Tagging someone when you share a post on Facebook is one of the quickest ways to boost its reach and make your content more conversational. It pulls people directly into the conversation, notifies them of your share, and can even place your content in front of their network. This guide covers everything you need to know - from the simple step-by-step process of tagging people and Pages to the unwritten rules of good tagging etiquette that will help you build your brand organically.

Why Tagging is a Game-Changer on Facebook

Before getting into the "how," it’s important to understand the "why." Proper tagging isn’t just a technical action, it's a strategic part of social media engagement. When you tag someone in a shared post, you’re creating connections and amplifying your message in several meaningful ways.

It Drastically Boosts Reach and Visibility

This is the most straightforward benefit. When you tag a friend or a Page, they receive a notification. More importantly, depending on their privacy settings, the post you shared and tagged them in might now appear on their own timeline. This simple action exposes your content to a whole new audience: their friends and followers. Think of it as a digital word-of-mouth referral. If you're a local bakery sharing a customer's positive review and you tag that customer, their friends who trust their taste in food are now seeing your bakery's name and a glowing recommendation.

It Humanizes Your Brand and Sparks Conversations

Tagging turns a monologue into a dialogue. Sharing a post and adding someone's name is a direct invitation to join the conversation. It signals, "Hey, I thought of you when I saw this," or "Your opinion on this matters." For businesses, this is invaluable. Sharing an industry article and tagging an expert in the field can start a valuable discussion. Sharing user-generated content and tagging the creator shows you’re listening and that you value your community. This human touch makes brands feel more approachable and less like faceless corporations.

It Builds Valuable Relationships and Community

Social media is, at its core, about being social. Tagging is a fundamental tool for relationship-building. It's how you acknowledge collaborations, celebrate partners, or give shout-outs to loyal customers. Consistently using tags to give credit and recognize others builds goodwill and reciprocity. Over time, this transforms your audience from passive followers into an active community where members feel seen and appreciated. This sense of belonging is what turns casual followers into long-term brand advocates.

It Provides Essential Context and Credit

In a world of rapidly shared content, giving credit is more important than ever. Tagging is the primary way to do this on Facebook. If you're sharing a photographer's amazing photo, a designer's new project, or a writer's insightful article, tagging their business Page or personal profile is non-negotiable. It directs traffic and praise where it’s due and maintains your integrity. It also provides your audience with a direct link to learn more about the original creator, adding value and context to the content you share.

The Step-by-Step Guide: How to Tag Someone When Sharing a Post

The process of tagging is simple, but the exact steps can vary slightly depending on what you're trying to accomplish. Here’s a breakdown of the most common scenarios.

Scenario 1: Sharing to Your Feed and Tagging in the Caption

This is the most common use case. You find a post - an article, a video, a friend's update - and you want to share it with your own commentary while tagging someone.

1. Find the post you want to share and click the "Share" button located beneath it.
2. A menu will pop up with different sharing options. Select "Share to Feed". This will open the post composer.
3. The original post will appear as an attachment. At the top, in the text box that says "Say something about this…", you can now write your caption.
4. To tag a person or a Page, type the "@" symbol followed immediately by the name you want to tag (e.g., @Jane Doe or @YourFavoriteBrand). Do not put a space after the "@".
5. As you type, a drop-down menu of suggestions will appear. This list will include your friends and Pages you follow or have interacted with.
6. Scroll through the list and click the correct name. Once selected, their name will turn into a bold, blue, clickable link in the caption. If it doesn't turn blue, the tag isn't active.
7. Finish writing your caption, double-check that your tags are correct, adjust the post's privacy (Public, Friends, etc.), and click "Post".

Scenario 2: Tagging Friends in a Photo or Video You're Sharing

Sometimes you’re not just sharing a post, but a post that contains a photo or video with specific people in it. In these cases, you can tag them directly in the media.

1. If you're creating a new post with a photo or sharing a post that includes one, you can tag people after the media is loaded into the post composer.
2. On the desktop, hover over the photo. You should see an option like "Tag Photo" or an icon that looks like a price tag. On mobile, tap the photo and a similar icon should appear.
3. Click on the face of the person you want to tag. A small box will appear.
4. Start typing their name in the box. Just like with captions, a drop-down menu will appear with suggestions from your friends list.
5. Select the correct person. Their name will now appear on the photo when someone hovers over it.
6. Repeat this process for every person you want to tag in the image.
7. When you are finished, click a button that says "Done Tagging" or simply click away from the photo. Finalize your post and share it. The people tagged will receive a notification that you've tagged them in a photo.

Tagging Pages vs. People: What’s the Difference?

While the process is almost identical (just type "@" and a name), the result and strategic purpose of tagging a personal profile versus a business Page are quite different.

Tagging People (Personal Profiles)

You can generally only tag people who are in your "Friends" list. While Facebook’s algorithm sometimes lets you tag friends of friends, it's not a reliable feature. Tagging a person sends them a direct notification and, based on their settings, may place the post on their timeline for their network to see. It’s a personal action best used for including friends in memories, asking them direct questions, or making them aware of content you think they’ll personally enjoy.

Example: Sharing a throwback photo from a road trip and tagging the friends who were with you.

Tagging Pages (Brands, Businesses, Public Figures)

You can tag any public Page on Facebook, regardless of whether you’ve "Liked" it or not. When you tag a Page, the admin of that Page receives a notification about the mention. It will not automatically appear on the Page’s main timeline, but it can show up in a "Mentions" or "Community" section. This is a powerful networking and brand-building tool. Use it to credit creators, collaborate with other businesses, or engage with brands you admire.

Example: A freelance graphic designer shares their latest project for a client and tags the client's business Page to showcase the work and give them a shout-out.

Best Practices: The Unwritten Rules of Tagging Etiquette

Using the tag feature effectively requires a bit of social awareness. Following these unwritten rules will ensure your tags are received as welcome acknowledgments, not spammy intrusions.

• Tag with Relevance: This is a golden rule across all platforms. Only tag people who are actually in the photo, who were at the event, or who are directly relevant to the caption. Mass-tagging dozens of unrelated people just to get more eyeballs on your post is a surefire way to annoy your network.
• Avoid Over-Tagging: Tagging a handful of key people in a relevant post is effective. Tagging 40 people in a generic happy birthday post is not. Excessive tagging devalues the notification and can even trigger Facebook's spam filters. Keep your tags meaningful and focused.
• Respect Privacy: Not everyone likes being in the social media spotlight. If someone requests you remove a tag, do so promptly and without question. Be particularly mindful when tagging people in content from a business page, an employee may not want their personal profile linked to their workplace’s public marketing material. It's always a good idea to check in with people first if you're unsure.
• Give Credit Where It's Due: When sharing someone else's work - be it an article, a photograph, a piece of art, or even just a brilliant idea - always tag their page or profile. It’s the digital equivalent of a bibliography and a core tenet of good community management.

Troubleshooting Common Tagging Issues

Sometimes tagging doesn't go as planned. Here are solutions to the most common problems you'll encounter.

• "I can't find the person I need to tag." There are a few reasons this might happen. First, double-check the spelling. For personal profiles, you must be friends with them or have a mutual connection in most cases. For Pages, make sure you have the exact formal name. Finally, the person you're trying to tag may have adjusted their privacy settings to block others from tagging them.
• "The tag stayed as plain text instead of becoming a blue link." This almost always means you didn't click the person or Page's name from the drop-down menu that appeared. Simply typing "@JaneSmith" is not enough. You must type and then make a selection from the pop-up list to activate the tag.
• "Can I add a tag after I've already shared the post?" Absolutely! Simply find the post on your timeline, click the three-dot menu (...) in the top-right corner of the post, and select "Edit Post" (or "Edit Caption"). You can now add or remove tags in the caption just like you would on a new post. For photos, the process is similar: open the photo, find the "Tag Photo" option, and add your tags.

Final Thoughts

Tagging on Facebook, when approached with a clear purpose and good etiquette, moves beyond being a simple feature. It's an indispensable strategy for increasing your visibility, creating genuine conversations, giving proper credit, and building a stronger, more engaged community around your personal profile or brand page.

As your social presence grows, keeping track of all these interactions - especially the mentions and tags your brand receives - can quickly become overwhelming across multiple platforms. At our company, we've seen firsthand how crucial it is to catch every mention before it gets lost in the noise. It is for this reason we built Postbase with a unified social inbox. It centralizes all your comments and mentions from every channel into a single, manageable stream, ensuring you never miss a tag or a chance to connect with your community.