Picture it: The year was 2017. Low-rise jeans weren’t yet on the horizon, TikTok hadn’t yet taken over the world, and Instagram decided to ruin the lives of millions by getting rid of the option to create your own location tags in the app. The sweet, sweet Instagram location tag.
Back in the good ol’ days, you could add your own location to the app. Some of our personal favorites included “Brad Pitt’s Arm Pit,” “Hell on Earth,” and “I’m SHY.” When it comes to location tagging on Instagram, it has been and still is an incredibly important tool to utilize when sharing content.
Location tagging enables you to express your personality and sense of humor, customize your posts, make your coffee photo stand out among the millions, and connect with new audiences across the world who would have never found your profile otherwise. We love location tags because not only are they a powerful tool to gain traction, engagement, and outreach, they are just so fun. The humor and creativity of the internet are seen in the infinite set of options that are available—and just when you think you have come up with a new one? Someone has already made it before you and you can tap in and use it too.
Why you should use location tags on your Instagram posts
We can hear you asking: “How does adding a location *actually* help me?” Well, friend, take our hand and we’ll show you the way by reminiscing on our old favorite location tags and giving you all the reasons why tagging where you’re at (whether it’s a city, restaurant, or Gretchen Wieners’ Hair Full of Secrets) is important for your content!
Expands Reach of Posts
With over 500 million active daily users (!!) who visit every. single. day, there are thousands of people browsing certain location tags trying to find images and new accounts to follow. Organic reach has become harder on Instagram versus other apps like TikTok, but there are still strategies that can be used to get your account out there to new followers and audiences. We always preach the power of hashtags but tagging cool locations cannot be understated. Make it easier for them and location tag that post! Not only does it make it quicker for you to reach potential new followers, but it also makes sure your content shows up in more searches. And that’s what you want (what you really, really want). Start off by thinking about the location you want to tag. Is it going to be the city you’re currently in? The street you’re on? The shop you’re standing near?
Search each of the locations and determine if your content is going to get lost in the endless amounts of photos of that tag. Let’s take London for example. That city has thousands (probably millions but we’re not scrolling that far back) of tags, so it’s probably not going to do you any good with reaching new people. However, tagging the area of the city you’re in, one of the high-profile restaurants or a park will have fewer posts meaning your photo has a higher chance of being seen by way more people.
Plus, you are likely supporting business along the way, showing new audiences the locations, sites, and services that you’ve loved, and indirectly providing a recommendation.
Helps Get Higher Engagement
We just said, but in case it didn’t sink in, we’ll say it again: tagging your post will help get you higher engagement! Should we say it one more time for luck? Tagging your location = higher engagement.
So many people fixate on their follower counts on Instagram, but one of the metrics that actually boosts the visibility of your profile is your engagement rate. This is calculated roughly as the sum of likes and comments that your post gets in comparison to the number of followers you have, in other words, what portion of your overall following is engaged with your post? Average engagement rates are usually around 1-5%, with anything over 5% representing high engagement. This is a metric to aim for. What’s the overall secret to obtaining it? Making high-quality, relatable content. Putting fun location tags on your Instagram posts will help you relate to new viewers, convey extra details to your current following that may inspire them to comment and share your post, and thereby increase your engagement and overall Instagram profile performance as seen by the algorithm. Posts that have the location tagged have a 79% higher engagement rate than posts that don’t. Read that again. 79% higher rate! Why in the world would you ever NOT location tag your posts?! Say you’re out dining with your friends and have had one of the best meals of your entire life (We’re looking at you, Pink Mamma—we’ll never forget your stunning burrata). You decide to take a photo of the restaurant and tag its location telling everyone how delicious the food was there. Any time someone researches that restaurant and looks under its location tag, they will see your post there. Oftentimes people will engage with that photo by either liking, commenting, or sharing it with a friend who also wants to try the restaurant. *whispers* Tag your location, folks! You can thank us later.
How to find a funny location tag for your Instagram post
Take a seat as we take a moment to reflect on some of our favorite locations that you can tag on Instagram. From “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to “Angelina Jolie’s Right Leg” (yes, we’re still talking about it) to “Ugh!” there are hundreds of thousands of places to tag on your post. And sometimes, on those days you really don’t want to tag the place you’re really located, it’s fun to use somewhere obscure that reflects your mood (yes, Angelina Jolie’s Right Leg is a big mood).
Start by typing in a random word or feeling and scroll through the endless amount of locations to tag. Not only can a funny hashtag be something fun for your followers to see but it can help expand your reach and engagement as they could comment under your post about the location or share the post with friends who’ll find it just as entertaining: “@soandso, omg! look at that location!”
Creative Ways to Use Location Tags Without Giving Away Your Location
Ok so maybe not everyone feels good about having their location posted on their profile in real-time—fair enough. But rest easy, there are still ways to reap the benefits of this engagement strategy without putting it all out there.
Although here at Flick we love to encourage that you tag where you get coffee, where you go to dinner, and the like, in order to get more reach, you can stick to a mood and vibe-based strategy like we mentioned above. Rather than tagging the Starbucks location with your coffee pic, tag your mood or the situation, like “productive morning” or “Mondays” to attract attention to the post, gain viewers, and increase the post’s relatability by giving other users something to laugh at. How to ‘Trick’ your Instagram location
So maybe you are new to Instagram location tags and notice that every time you go to open the location finder, it just lists places in your immediate vicinity, leaving you wondering: how can I post about my vacation later and tag the restaurant I was in? That’s what the search is for! You can literally assign any location in the world from anywhere in the world, whether you are there or not.
The only disadvantage is that you cannot trick the app into thinking you are currently on that street corner where you took the pic, and have it list a bunch of nearby locations for you—you’ll have to go with something either generic or something you can remember from the place. But, if that fails, this is a great opportunity to make use of funny or cute locations for your Instagram posts including those that comment on the weather, mood, vibe, and more.
Which Instagram locations will get you the most likes?
So now that we’ve let you in on the secret of how incredibly important Instagram location tagging is for your account growth and engagement, you are probably wondering: what can I tag to get the most out of this?
Sadly, there isn’t necessarily a template to follow (those of us at Flick already know, everyone wants there to be a formula for viral success). Data has shown us some of the most tagged locations in the world, on the list are predictable global designations like The Eiffel Tower, Burj Khalifa, and the Sydney Opera House…. but that doesn’t mean tagging these sites will get you the most engagement. Your photo will have to stand out among millions to gain any traction or attention in a continuously spammed location feed.
Like we recommend with our Flick hashtag strategies, it’s always good to get yourself to be a top-ranking post in a smaller pool of posts, than a fleeting one in one of these globally dominant location tags. Think about it, it’s basic math—the odds of you being discovered with fewer options are just much higher. Why Location Tagging is Important for Business Accounts
Businesses, this applies to you too! Location tagging isn’t just important for the average Instagram user looking to get more likes on their travel photo or cute outfit pic. For businesses, major profit and revenue opportunities are waiting for you if you optimize your use of Instagram—and that includes location tagging. Whether you own an in-person shop, an eCommerce site, an online service, or anything else, you should be making an Instagram location for your business (see our guide below). Using your location tag is a great way to check-in, get the word out there about what you do in yet another format, and associate yourself with the local area. Then, customers, friends, or clients can use your location when posting about your work or the products they just bought from your store.
🔥 Hot tip: If you have a service like ‘business consulting,’ anytime someone in your area types ‘business….’ Into the location search on Instagram, they will find your tag, thereby discovering your business which they may never have known about otherwise.
Collaborate With Other Businesses Around You
Make sure your posts are not only using your own location, but also including tags of other major landmarks in your local area, or popular spots and destinations. If you own a café and post aesthetic Instagram foodie pics, tag a nearby tourist destination so that when people or visitors scroll through images of important places, they’ll be drawn to your images, your page, and your business, generating better overall sales.
By integrating your name throughout the local area, your business photos will pop up in searches for other industries and topics, pulling in customers who may need your service, but didn’t happen to be searching for it at that time. Once again, these engagement and outreach possibilities that come with location tagging cannot be neglected, the opportunity to gain is simply too high.
Use catchy keywords that relate to your business
Especially if you are an online or digital business, soak up the opportunity to get customers from around the world who would have never found you otherwise by setting your location to keywords that your business offers. You don’t have to limit yourself to your own business location, try searching words that apply to your skillset and offerings like ‘designer,’ ‘small business,’ or even funny ones like ‘financial freedom,’ or ‘freelancer.’ These locations provide you endless opportunities to launch into a pool of viewers and users who would otherwise never find your profile.
How to create a location tag on Instagram
While it’s not as simple as it used to be (us? Still sad about an Instagram update that happened over 5 years ago? No, not us), you can still create your own locations into Instagram.
The Instagram location tag can be anything: Your website, Outer Space, the romantic small town from any Hallmark movie—you name it! Once you’ve established where you want to be, head on over to Facebook.
1. Open your Facebook app and “Check-in”
After Facebook bought Instagram back in 2012, everything that pertains to Instagram has to go through Facebook (yay…).
Make sure that your location permission is turned on in your phone or you won’t be able to do this clever trick.
2. Type in your new location name
Whatever location you’re wanting, type it in! Tap “search” to make sure your new location doesn’t exist (it might be a bit strange if someone had the exact same thought as you in the exact same location, but stranger things have happened!).
After searching, scroll all the way to the bottom of the list and click “Add.”
And voila! Your new location is added. And it’s here to stay. Next time you log into Instagram, you’ll be able to type in the name of your new location tag and add it to all of your posts.
List of the Funniest Locations on Instagram
Royal Wedding with David Beckham and Victoria
Staying home 2020 (is this one funny or sad now?)
The Lair of All Things Dark and Evil
I like big butts and I cannot lie
My treestand in the middle of nowhere
Aliens please come get me
Tall, dark, and vaccinated
List of Cute locations Instagram
The sea with Nemo & Friends
List of Creative locations Instagram
⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️ (or any type of emoji that you can think of!)
Some Cultural Icons Embodied as Locations