Why can't I tag Instagram collaborators?

Instagram Collaborator tagging is a feature that enables two or more accounts to jointly create a single post. Tagging collaborators ensures the post appears on all accounts simultaneously, sharing performance metrics. This boosts visibility, engagement, and the potential to gain new followers for all collaborators.

Through Publer, you can tag collaborators on photos, carousel posts, and reels. To learn more on how you can tag collaborators on Instagram through Publer go here.

However, sometimes you might face issues when tagging collaborators through Publer, and that could be due to any of the following reasons:

You're tagging personal accounts or public accounts that are active for less than 30 days.

Make sure to tag collaborators with public accounts that have been active for at least 30 days. Due to API limitation from Instagram, private or age restricted accounts are not eligible as collaborators.

You're tagging accounts with more than 2 policy violations.

Sometimes, Instagram might restrict some accounts, if they go against their policy violations. They have to make sure to appeal this to Instagram. The collaborator accounts can only be with a maximum of 2 policy violations.

The username is invalid/incorrect.

Similar to user/account tags, if you tag an invalid collaborator, the post will be published without the invalid tag.

Usernames are not case sensitive, however, you have to make sure that the Instagram collaborator's username is 100% correct. Due to Instagram API limitations, Publer can't autocomplete or spellcheck usernames for Personal accounts, only Professional ones. Please double-check the spelling of the username of the Personal accounts before saving. Private Instagram accounts can't be tagged.

You're trying to tag more than 3 accounts.

Due to Instagram API limitations, you can tag up to 3 collaborators per post (image, video).

The collaborator is not accepting the tag.

After you have tagged a collaborator, they have to accept it, so they show up on the Instagram post. If they don't accept or decline it, it will come up as a normal post without collaborators.

What if the collaborator does not receive the notification/invite?

The collaborator might not receive a notification or an invite when they get tagged. In that case, they have to take the steps below.

Disable the Private account: They have to switch from a private to a public Instagram account to enable the collaboration feature.

Switch to a Professional account: Change the account from personal to a professional one.

Keep in mind it might need up to 48 hours for changes to take effect.

Log Out and Log back in: Sometimes, the issue might be a temporary one and will get resolved by logging out and then logging back into your Instagram account.

You are not tagging collaborators properly.

The steps that need to be followed to tag an Instagram collaborator on Publer are simple, however, sometimes you might forget a step or two. For example, it is imperative that you click on the photo or video of the account before you can start tagging collaborators. Learn more about that below.

To tag a collaborator on an Instagram post:

Go to the Create tab on Publer.
Upload your media accordingly.
Hover over the Instagram image/reel and click on the tag icon on the bottom right corner.





Select Tag collaborator and tap anywhere on the photo/video, to start tagging a collaborator.
After clicking on the photo, type the Instagram username in the box field on the right.





You can always remove a tag by clicking on the x button on the right-side of the photo/video.





Once you have added all your tags, you can click on Save Tags and proceed with finalizing the post.
Finally, on the right hand side, you will be able to preview the post and the collaborator tags in real time.

For more information on how to tag collaborators go here.



Written by: Brikena Cani

Updated on: 22/02/2024