With over two billion monthly users, Facebook is a force to be reckoned with. An estimated 74 percent of adults in the United States who use Facebook say they check their social profile at least once per day.
However, Facebook is becoming “pay-to-play” for businesses. You have to run ads to get the exposure businesses once enjoyed from free organic posting. Otherwise, all of your carefully crafted social media marketing may go unseen since it no longer pops into newsfeeds.
Luckily, there are some ways to get around this algorithm shift and still get organic traffic without having to rely heavily on paid Facebook ads. It comes in the form of tagging your business in posts and photos.
When a person or business is tagged in a post, the account user receives a notification of that post. More importantly for businesses, any post you’re tagged in also provides a direct link to your Facebook Page. Tagging your business is an easy and free way to promote your Facebook Page and reach out to potential customers. Here’s how to do it.
How to Tag a Business on Facebook in 5 Steps
Tagging your business on Facebook is a simple process. Just follow these five steps.
1. Into the Account You Want to Tag Posts and Photos From
You can tag your business from your Facebook for Business account or from a personal account. The choice is up to you.
Tagging your business from your business account provides two direct links to your Facebook Page. Since you’re posting as the business, the business name and a link to your Page will appear as the poster. Potential customers can also link to your page through the tag you provide.
If you post as an individual, the posting may look less like an advertisement and populate in newsfeeds organically. However, if you fail to disclose your involvement with the business and potential customers find out, they may also feel deceived. Don’t abuse tagging and never force it. That way, you won’t get into hot water.
2. Decide Where You Want to Tag Your Business
Once you’re logged into Facebook, decide where you want to tag your business. You can tag your business in a status update, a photo, or a reply to a post.
Tagging your business in a status update is unlikely to drive traffic. After all, your existing followers are the only ones who will probably see the update.
On the other hand, tagging your business in a photo may be a good way to reach out to new followers. If you participated in a community event, you might look for pictures on the Facebook Pages of area newspapers and community groups. Tagging your business can direct anyone who looks at those pictures to your Facebook Page, which may help you reconnect with potential customers you met at the event. However, the tagging process for photos is slightly different than the process for posts. To tag a photo, simply click the photo and then hover over it until “Tag Photo” appears at the bottom of the screen. Click it, then follow steps three and four in this guide.
Perhaps the easiest way to reach potential customers is by tagging your business in replies to posts. Seek out Facebook Pages and Groups that focus on your local community. When someone posts a question about something related to your business, post a reply and tag your business. This can direct people who are already interested in related businesses to your Facebook Page. This is labor-intensive manual PR, but it saves advertising dollars and effectively regains some organic reach on Facebook.
3. Type “@” Followed By Your Business Name
To tag your business, start the post with “@” symbol. Then, start writing your business’s name. A list of potential matches will auto populate.
4. Select Your Business Page
Once you spot your business on the auto popular list, just click it to tag your business. It’s as simple as that.
5. Write Your Message
After you’ve tagged your business, you can add more information to your post. You might consider including information about your business, providing helpful tips related to your industry, or answering people’s questions. Ask yourself if it would be helpful, entertaining, or useful to you as a reader. That’s usually a good gauge to whether or not a post warrants publishing.
Having issues tagging a business on Facebook?
If you have a problem tagging your business on Facebook, troubleshoot with the following scenarios.
- Are you trying to tag an individual? For a business to tag an individual in a thread on Facebook, that individual must have already left a comment in that thread. If not, you won’t be able to tag that person. This prevents spam.
- Are you trying to tag another business? Follow the same steps detailed above, but rather than inputting your business name, input the name of the business you want to tag. If it doesn’t show up, click on that business’s page and copy and paste their @tag name located below their profile picture. Tagging other businesses is a great social media marketing strategy. It allows followers to see your posts, which might help you reach more people. Only tag businesses with overlapping interest groups and audiences, and those that are relevant to your company.
The Benefits of Tagging a Business on Facebook
There are a number of bonuses to tagging a business on Facebook. Here are just a few of the biggest perks.
- You Can Drive More Traffic to Your Facebook Page
When you started your Facebook Page, you probably did it to be seen. Tagging your business can help you continue to get that exposure. Since tags provide direct links to your Facebook Page, you might get more traffic by tagging your business on Facebook.
- You Can Direct People Who May Already Be Interested in Your Business
Tagging your business in replies to Facebook posts gives you an opportunity to direct interested potential customers to your Facebook Page. For instance, if someone posts to a group looking for a quick car repair and you’re an auto body shop, you might tag your business in a reply and list your next available appointment. Ease and convenience is the name of the game in our digital world. Make it simple for people to find you and you’ll increase your chances of getting their business.
- You Can Find New Followers
With more traffic flowing to your Facebook Page, you might snag some new followers. If you have more followers, more people are likely to see anything you post to your Facebook Page, making it easier to get the word out about promotions and special events. Plus, having more followers may make your business appear popular, which might inspire new customers to check it out.
- You May Get More Reviews
Drawing more traffic to your Facebook Page can help you get more reviews. Since 86 percent of consumers read reviews for local businesses before making purchasing decisions, online reviews are an invaluable marketing tool.
The Pros and Cons of Tagging a Business on Facebook
To summarize, tagging your business on Facebook can provide terrific benefits. For starters, tagging your business can drive traffic to your Facebook Page, the effects of which can snowball in a positive way. The additional traffic may also help you find new followers and get more reviews. Having more followers and reviews could make your business more appealing to other potential customers.
The main drawback is that tagging your business too frequently can seem like spam to followers. To avoid this, make sure you only tag your business when it is relevant and write new posts each time you tag it. If it’s interesting and pertinent, people will like it.You may already use Facebook to increase online visibility and interact with followers. However, driving traffic to your Facebook Page organically is necessary too. Try tagging your business on Facebook to promote it and reach out to potential customers. As long as you tag judiciously, tagging your business can be a free, easy way to market your Facebook Page and your business.