How To Tag Photos In Instagram

Something that is alternatively great but also irritating in Instagram are hashtags. They are a wonderful way to find like-minded and local photographers. But it is also full of spamming these days.

Here is how I handle tagging my photos, which is by no means the only way!

1. Do not tag much in the the upload.
I hardly ever tag the comment that goes along with the photo. This is the comment that most people see as they scroll through their stream, and if it is full of hashtags, honestly… it’s annoying.

2. Do add tags as the second comment or in later comments.
When you put the tags later, they either get buried in comments or the photo has already passed through your friend’s stream and it does not bother them. I like to go back and tag photos in batches later, from way back in my stream. Unless…

3. If something is timely, tag it right away.
Obviously you want a holiday, an event, a concert, etc to hit a stream in a timely fashion, so don’t wait to tag them.

4. Tag appropriately.
Nothing drives me more nuts than seeing photos of NYC on the Denver hashtag. Yes, the technique of spamming a hashtag has hit Instagram, and it is dumb. That doesn’t mean we should not tag things. Think through what the photo really is about and tag that!

5. Tag for communities.
There are some great photo communities and memes on Instagram, where you can find some great photographers and participate in cool contests.

6. Tag for you.
I have very specific tags for me, my kid, my favorite photos – so I can find them at any time on Instagram. This is probably my FAVORITE reason to tag photos!

How about you?
How to you use hashtags on Instagram?

This article has 4 comments

  1. Zipper

    Great ideas!

  2. Karen

    This is great, thanks!

  3. Janie

    Thanks for the tips.

  4. Victor Khudyakov

    Hi! Use top 30 instagram tags
    http://instagram-tags.ru/popular/top30/

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