How to Turn On Mentions on Instagram

Receiving a mention on Instagram is like getting a digital high-five, and it's a powerful engine for organic growth. But if your brand isn't getting tagged or you can't see the mentions people claim to be sending, you might have mention permissions turned off. This guide will walk you through exactly how to turn on mentions, troubleshoot common notification issues, and actively encourage more of this valuable user-generated content.

Why Instagram Mentions Are So Important for Your Brand

Before jumping into the settings, it's worth a quick refresher on why mentions are one of the most valuable forms of engagement on Instagram. Unlike a simple 'like' or 'comment', a mention is a direct endorsement and a personal handoff from one person's audience to your profile. Think of it as social currency.

Here's why they matter so much:

• Social Proof: When a real person mentions or tags your brand, they are publicly vouching for you. This is authentic social proof that builds trust much faster than a standard ad. Seeing others use and enjoy your product or service makes potential customers feel more confident in their decision to follow or purchase.
• User-Generated Content (UGC): Every time someone mentions you in a post or Story with your product, that's quality content you didn't have to create. Reposting UGC to your feed or Stories fills your content calendar with authentic material that highlights your community and real-world impact.
• Expanded Reach: When someone mentions you, their followers see your handle. It's a direct link to your profile, introducing your brand to a new, often highly relevant, audience. One powerful mention from the right account can bring in hundreds of new followers overnight.
• Direct Engagement and Community Building: Mentions are conversation starters. They give you a perfect, non-salesy reason to slide into someone's DMs with a "Thank you!" or leave a thoughtful comment on their post. This type of personal interaction builds a strong, loyal community around your brand.

Simply put, turning on and encouraging mentions is a non-negotiable strategy for any creator, brand, or business looking to grow organically on Instagram. It turns your audience from passive consumers into active advocates.

How to Turn On Mentions: A Step-by-Step Guide

Fortunately, adjusting your mention settings is a quick and painless process. Instagram gives you full control over who can tag or mention your account. If your mentions seem to be off, a setting might have been accidentally changed or set to a more restrictive option by default. Here's how to check and change it.

Follow these simple steps from your Instagram mobile app:

1. Go to Your Profile: Open the Instagram app and tap on your profile picture in the bottom-right corner to navigate to your profile page.
2. Open the Menu: Tap the three horizontal lines (the "hamburger" menu) in the top-right corner. This will open a pop-up menu with various options.
3. Select 'Settings and Privacy': From the menu, tap on "Settings and Privacy." This is the central hub for managing your account preferences.
4. Scroll Down to 'How others can interact with you': In the "Settings and Privacy" menu, scroll down until you see the section titled 'How others can interact with you.'
5. Tap 'Tags and Mentions': Within this section, tap on "Tags and Mentions" to access your mention permissions.
6. Choose Your Mention Preference: You'll see several options under the 'WHO CAN @MENTION YOU' heading.

Understanding Your Mention Options

Inside the 'Tags and Mentions' menu, you'll typically have three choices. For a brand, creator, or any public-facing account, your selection here is very important.

• Allow mentions from everyone: This is the setting we strongly recommend for most businesses and creators. It allows anyone on Instagram - whether they follow you or not - to mention your handle. This maximizes your opportunity to receive UGC, build community, and get discovered by new audiences. Don't limit your potential supporters.
• Allow mentions from people you follow: This setting is more restrictive. Only the accounts that you are personally following will be able to mention you. This might be fine for a private, personal account, but it severely limits your marketing potential. You'll miss out on mentions from happy customers, new fans, and potential collaborators who don't happen to be on your 'following' list.
• Don't allow mentions: Selecting this option completely turns off mentions. No one will be able to mention your account in their Stories, captions, comments, or live videos. From a business or brand-building perspective, there's almost no scenario where this is a good idea. You effectively shut down a primary channel for social proof and organic reach.

Double-check that your account is set to "Allow mentions from everyone". If it wasn't, switching it over should solve your problem immediately. If it was already set correctly and you're still not seeing them, it's time to do some troubleshooting.

Troubleshooting: "My Mentions Are On, But I Still Don't Get Notified!"

It can be confusing when your settings are correct but mentions still seem to disappear into the digital abyss. Usually, the issue isn't that your mentions are "off," but rather a misunderstanding of how and where different types of mentions appear, or a quirky platform-specific rule. Let's walk through the most common culprits.

1. You're Being Mentioned in Stories

This is easily the most common point of confusion. When someone mentions your account in an Instagram Story, you don't receive a public notification on your activity feed like you would for a comment or a like. Instead, a notification for a Story mention goes directly to your Direct Messages (DMs). It will appear as a new message thread from that user, showing you a preview of their Story.

From that DM, you will also see a button that says "Add to your story." This allows you to reshare their content to your own Story in just a couple of taps, giving them a shout-out while populating your own Story with valuable social proof. These DMs are easy to miss if you aren't actively checking your message requests folder, so be sure to check there regularly.

2. The Person Mentioning You Has a Private Account

Privacy settings are a major factor. If an account is set to "Private," only their approved followers can see their content. If a private account that you don't follow mentions you in their Story or post, you will not be notified. You won't even be able to see the content they tagged you in. This is an intentional privacy feature, and there's no way around it. You must be following the private account to receive the mention notification and see the content.

3. Distinguishing Between Mentions and Tags

Instagram makes a slight but meaningful distinction between being 'mentioned' and being 'tagged'.

• A mention is when someone types your @handle in a caption, comment, or in text on a Story.
• A tag is when someone physically tags your account in the photo or video itself.

While mentions in public feed posts show up in your activity notifications, content you are tagged in appears on your profile in the "Tagged Photos" tab (the icon of a person inside a square). You have control over this. Under "Tags and Mentions," you can choose to "Manually Approve Tags," meaning a tagged photo won't show up on your profile's hidden tag tab until you approve it. Getting a notification for a tag doesn't mean your handle was written in the caption - it means you were tagged in the media itself.

4. A Simple App Glitch

Sometimes, the problem really is just... Instagram. Glitches happen. Push notifications fail. If you've checked everything above and are positive you should be seeing mentions, try these classic tech-support steps:

• Restart the Instagram app completely.
• Check the App Store or Google Play Store to see if there's an update for your app.
• As a last resort, you can try logging out and logging back in, or even clearing your app's cache (on Android).

How to Actively Encourage More Mentions

Once you've confirmed your settings are open for business, you can shift from a passive mentality to an active one. Don't just wait for mentions to happen - create an environment where your followers want to mention you.

Launch a UGC Campaign

A user-generated content (UGC) campaign is a direct invitation for mentions. Ask your audience to share photos or videos featuring your product or service and to mention your handle (and maybe use a specific hashtag). Offer an incentive, like the chance to be featured on your page or receive a small prize. For a coffee shop, this could be: "Show us where you're enjoying your coffee! Mention us in your Story for a chance to be our 'Fan Photo of the Week' and get a free drink on us!"

Master the Art of Reposting

When someone mentions you, reshare it! Reposting their Story to your Story, or their in-feed post to your Story, shows appreciation and encourages others to tag you in hopes of getting a similar shout-out. People love being recognized by brands they admire. It validates their choice to support you and makes them feel like part of the community.

Engage Proactively and Be an Active Community Member

The more you act like a human and less like a billboard, the more people will want to talk about you. Respond to comments. Answer DMs quickly. Comment on other accounts' posts within your niche. The more present and interactive your brand is, the more top-of-mind you'll be when they have something relevant to share.

Add a Call-to-Action (CTA) In Your Content

Sometimes, the easiest way to get mentions is to just ask for them. This can be as simple as adding a CTA to your captions. Some ideas:

• "Bought one of our new hoodies? Be sure to mention us in your unboxing video!"
• "Tried this recipe? I'd love to see it! Share it on your Story and give us a mention."
• "Tag a friend who would love this!"

By making mentions a part of your content strategy, you turn a technical setting into a powerful tool for community-driven growth.

Final Thoughts

Making sure your Instagram mentions are turned on is a five-minute task with a long-term payoff. It opens the door to invaluable social proof, waves of user-generated content, and meaningful community interactions that build a brand organically. Taking the time to understand where and how mentions appear will save you headaches and help you capitalize on every shout-out.

Getting mentioned is one thing, but keeping up with all the replies, comments, and DMs across every platform can feel like a full-time job. At Postbase, we built our features to cut through that chaos. We designed our unified engagement inbox to bring every comment and DM from all your connected accounts into one clean, manageable view. Instead of constantly switching apps and worrying about what you've missed, we give you a single hub to manage your entire community conversation so you can stay engaged without feeling overwhelmed.