How To Tag With Tact

We need to talk – you know the conversation is about to get serious when you hear those words. It’s time for a Shop Talk about tagging, or more specifically about how to tag with tact.

What is a tag, you might ask?

A tag is when you upload an image to Facebook or Instagram and you click the tag button to tag someone else in the image. Sounds simple right? What could go wrong?

Trust me, a lot could go wrong…

So how do you tag with tact?

The proper way to use tagging is if we have a picture of us taken together, I would tag you in that picture so that it shows up on both your profile and on my profile. But unfortunately, that’s not the only way it’s used.

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Some marketers have decided that tagging is a really great way for them to spread their marketing message and to get your attention or the attention of your audience. They essentially hijack your profile or your feed by tagging you on their photograph or marketing materials. That way anyone who follows you will also see their post. Your name tagged on that image may imply support or approval of the image or its subject matter, with your followers. There are simple ways to promote your Facebook page that are much less annoying.

When you go look at your profile you might see images there and wonder how on earth they got there.

You know you didn’t upload the image, and it’s often very clear that it has nothing to do with you. Someone who does not know how to tag with tact has put you in that position.

Of course, you can remove the tag – all you need to do is click on the picture on Facebook and choose to remove the tag. The same is true for Instagram, you can click on the picture then click those 3 little dots and it will take it off of being visible on your profile.

But you wouldn’t have to do that if people practiced good social media manners and knew how to tag with tact.

You shouldn’t have to do that because you shouldn’t have been tagged in the first place.

If you want to tag somebody they should be in the picture itself, or have some clear, direct connection to the image that you’re sharing, or have provided their permission or public support of whatever is in the picture. If you’re going to tag someone in your marketing material ASK them first. You never know, they might support your efforts, but at least give them a choice.

Tagging without tact is not nice. It’s inappropriate and it’s time for it to stop. There are much better ways to tackle an online marketing quick start than to tag people without tact on social media!

An added bit of social media good manners – if you are going to post a picture of someone else and tag them in it, it should at least be a good picture.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Shop Talk public service announcement on how to tag with tact, leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts on whether you agree or disagree. Maybe I’m missing something, maybe there’s a valid reason why someone would want to be tagged. If you know that reason, tell me what it is! The only reason I can think of is if it’s some type of a celebratory, congratulatory message that makes me feel good. If it’s all about you, or it’s self-promotion for you, that doesn’t make me feel good. That makes me feel used. That, to me, is inappropriate and if we all use our good social media manners it can stop right now.