Adding mentions (tags) in posts
There are times when you'll want to callout another social account in your posts. These are sometimes called "at mentions," "@mentions," or "tags."
In this article:
- Facebook page mentions
- X/Twitter mentions
- Instagram mentions
- LinkedIn mentions
- Mastodon mentions
- TikTok mentions
- Threads mentions
- Bluesky mentions
đź“ť Notes
- You can mention (tag) other Facebook Pages, Instagram profiles, LinkedIn Pages, LinkedIn profiles, Mastodon users, TikTok accounts, and X/Twitter profiles in posts scheduled through Buffer.
- It is not currently possible to mention Facebook profiles, Facebook groups, or Pinterest profiles in posts scheduled through Buffer.
- It is not possible to use mentions (tags) when creating posts for Facebook Groups.
Facebook Page mentions
You can mention other Facebook Pages in posts that you are scheduling to be shared to a Facebook Page. To mention a Facebook Page in your post, type in the @ symbol and start typing the first few letters of the Facebook Page you’d like to mention. Matching results will be returned and you can click on the page you'd like to include.
đź“ť If you are posting to more than one social network in the composer, your tag will default to X/Twitter. To ensure you tag the right handle for each social network, choose "Customize for each network" and work directly in the Facebook composer before adding your tags.
Tips for finding the right Facebook Page
- If the page name contains spaces, it can help to replace the space with an underscore symbol when you type the name. For example, "Runner's World" could be typed as "Runners_World" to find the right page.
- Some brands have multiple Facebook Pages under the same name, making it difficult to identify the page you're looking for. Here's an example. Each Facebook Page has an ID, which is the string of numbers that appear in the list of matching results. You can find which ID relates to which page by heading to https://facebook.com/page-id-here (where you'd replace page-id-here with one of those IDs). You'd then be taken to that specific page.
X/Twitter mentions
Due to API limitations, we’re not able to autocomplete mentions of X/Twitter accounts. That said, you can still include mentions in your post but you would need to type in the exact handle you’d like to include. Once your post is published to X/Twitter, the account you mentioned will become hyperlinked.
Instagram mentions
Due to API limitations, we’re not able to autocomplete mentions of Instagram accounts. That said, you can still include mentions in your post but you would need to type in the exact handle you’d like to include. You can include up to 20 mentions within one post. Once published to Instagram, the account you mentioned will become hyperlinked.
Interested in tagging people in your images? Currently, tagging in images is only available for Instagram posts that are published automatically. Learn more about how image tagging works here.
âť“ Can our Customer Advocacy team answer any questions for you? Feel free to reach out here.
LinkedIn mentions
Mentioning LinkedIn Pages
To mention a LinkedIn Page, copy and paste the LinkedIn URL for that Page into the composer (eg: to mention Buffer, you would copy and paste our LinkedIn URL that looks like this: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bufferapp/.
Mentioning LinkedIn profiles
To mention a LinkedIn profile, you can type the @ symbol and search for a profile* to tag.
*Notes:
- LinkedIn Pages can only tag profiles that follow their Page.
- LinkedIn profiles can only tag profiles belonging to their connections.
- Because different channels might have different connections, it is not possible to select multiple LinkedIn channels when @ mentioning a LinkedIn profile.
Troubleshooting LinkedIn profile mentions
If you're trying to tag a LinkedIn profile but it's not working as expected, there could be a few reasons behind this. Here are some common scenarios to check:
1. The profile isn’t following your LinkedIn organization page
For a tag to work, the person you're trying to mention must be following your company’s LinkedIn page.
How to verify:
- As the Page Admin, go to your company page, click on the number of followers, and search for the name of the person you're trying to mention.
- Alternatively, the person you're trying to mention can verify if they're following your page.
2. The profile has profile visibility turned off
If someone has restricted their profile visibility, they may not appear as an option to mention when you're composing a post.
3. Third-party data sharing is turned off
LinkedIn allows users to limit how their data is shared with external tools and services. If this setting is disabled, it can prevent them from being mentioned outside of LinkedIn directly.
4. Mentions are disabled on their account
LinkedIn users can choose to prevent others from mentioning them in posts or comments. If this setting is off, they won’t be taggable.
5. The profile has restricted access to their profile
If the person you’re trying to tag has blocked you or set their profile visibility so you can’t view it, you won’t be able to tag them.
Note: Items 2-5 in the above list can only be verified by the LinkedIn profile owner within their account settings. Therefore, if you've confirmed that the profile is following your Page, you can ask the profile owner to check the following:
- If there is any missing piece of information about the profile being tagged, including First Name, Last Name, or Headline.
- If you are trying to match a profile you want to tag based on the Maiden Name or Additional Name, that information is not publicly visible.
- In case there are any misspelled characters, hidden spaces in the name, etc.
- If the user’s profile you are tagging is not in EN_US, it won’t be returned under suggestions.
Mastodon mentions
You can mention users by typing out their full address, e.g. @jane@exampleserver.com.
Note that any usage of @word will be interpreted as mentioning the local user with the username word, if that user exists.
Only the username part will count against your character limit – the domain is not counted.
TikTok mentions
You can mention a TikTok user by typing out their exact handle in the caption of your post (e.g. @‌bufferapp). Once published to TikTok, the account you mentioned will become hyperlinked.
Threads mentions
At this time, we’re not able to autocomplete mentions of Threads or Instagram accounts. That said, you can still include mentions in your Threads post but you would need to type in the exact handle you’d like to include. Once published, the mention should be hyperlinked.
Bluesky mentions
Tag other users by inputting their full handle, eg: @name.bsky.social. We don’t currently offer autocomplete of handles, so make sure to type the handle correctly, or copy/paste from their page!