How to Create a Location on Instagram in 2024 (Add a Custom Tag)

Instagram locations allow you to tag custom spots that are searchable and help drive engagement. By creating your own location, you make it easy for your audience to tag your business or brand in their Instagram posts and stories. This builds valuable exposure and hype around your account.

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll explain everything you need to know as an Instagram user or social media manager about setting up custom locations in 2024.

Why Locations Are Valuable on Instagram

Before jumping into the step-by-step process, let‘s discuss why taking the time to create a custom Instagram location is worth the effort:

Increased Visibility and Exposure

Every time another user tags your location, it drives visibility to your Instagram profile and location page. The more tags you accumulate, the more eyes will be on your content. One study found posts with a location receive 79% more engagement on average.

User-Generated Content

When people tag your spot, they‘re creating photos and videos on your behalf at your location. You can re-share this user-generated content as free marketing materials like testimonials.

Improved Local SEO

A popular, well-tagged location may help boost your local SEO presence by reinforcing your business name and location relevance. This leads to increased visibility in local search engine results.

Audience Insights

The content created at your spot provides useful customer insights you can use to refine marketing campaigns. You‘ll learn more about how people engage with your brand in real-life.

Relationship Building

You can engage with anyone who tags your location by liking, commenting on, and reposting their photos. This helps build relationships with current and potential new customers.

Let‘s now go step-by-step through how to create an Instagram location for your brand or business to start realizing these benefits.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Location on Instagram

The process of making a custom, branded Instagram location involves a few key steps:

Step 1: Enable Location Services on Your Phone

First, make sure location services are enabled on your iPhone or Android device. This allows the Facebook platform (which powers locations) to access your GPS coordinates:

On iOS:

• Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services
• Scroll down and toggle location access to "On" for Facebook

On Android:

• Go to Settings > Location > App Location Permissions
• Toggle location access to "On" for the Facebook app

You can turn access back off after creating your spot if desired.

Step 2: Tap "Check In" on the Facebook App

With location services enabled, open the Facebook app on your phone and tap the "Check In" icon at the top:

This brings up a map interface to search and create locations.

Step 3: Search for Your Desired Location Name

Tap the search bar and type the name of the custom location you want to make. For example, "Empire State Building".

Hit return and you‘ll see some suggested places pop up in the results.

Step 4: Tap "Add Location"

At the very bottom of the search results, tap the "Add Location" button:

This will open the page to create your new Instagram spot.

Step 5: Select a Relevant Category

Next, choose a high-level category that best fits what your location represents. The category provides context to Instagram about what type of spot it is.

For a business location, select a fitting type like:

• Store
• Restaurant
• Cafe
• Bar
• Venue
• Stadium

Tap the one that fits best. The more specific the better.

Step 6: Precisely Drop the Location Pin

A pin will now drop onto the map to mark the geographic coordinates of your spot. Make sure to adjust it to exactly where your business is located:

• Tap and hold the pin to move it around
• Use zoom buttons to adjust map scale
• Blue circle defines the searchable area

Getting the pin in the right place is important for accuracy.

Step 7: Name Your Location

If needed, tap the location name at the top to edit it. Add your official branding or business name.

For example, "Empire State Building Observatory" or "Apple Fifth Avenue".

Step 8: Tap "Save"

Once named, categorized, and pinned accurately, tap "Save" at the bottom to create the location!

It will now be available for anyone to tag on Instagram.

And that‘s it! Just follow those steps to get your custom branded Instagram location set up properly.

Step 9: Claim Your Location (Optional)

After creating it, you may see your location appear in Facebook search. If so, tap to open it and "Claim Location" at the top.

This links your Facebook Page as the official admin. It‘s optional but can be helpful to claim ownership if you have an existing Facebook presence.

Your shiny new Instagram location is ready to be tagged! Now let‘s look at some best practices.

Tips for Creating an Effective Location

When making a custom spot, keep these tips in mind for optimal results:

• Include branding like your business name so it‘s identifiable.
• Be physically present at the location when creating for best geotagging accuracy.
• Use a descriptive category like "Boutique" instead of just "Business" or "Store".
• Pinpoint the exact address instead of general area for precise tagging.
• Claim it on Facebook to link your Page and control as the admin.
• Promote it proactively to drive tags by sharing, adding highlights, etc.

Taking the extra time to craft an optimized location will give you the best shot at driving meaningful engagement.

Driving Engagement with Your Location

Simply creating a location won‘t magically make it popular. Here are some ideas for actively promoting your spot to get people tagging:

• Share it prominently in your Instagram bio.
• Add a Story highlight encouraging tags.
• Use geotags in your own posts and stories.
• Put up signage in your business asking people to tag.
• Run contests and campaigns for tagging your place.
• Engage with users who tag to encourage more.

Gently nudging people to tag your spot, especially when launching it, will kickstart the momentum.

Location Stickers for Instagram Stories

In addition to tagging locations in feed posts, you can tag your custom spot in Instagram Stories as well.

When creating a Story, use the location sticker and search for your branded location. The sticker actively promotes tagging your place.

Location stickers function just like post tags, so be sure to take advantage in Stories too.

Analyzing Performance and Engagement

You can view metrics on your location page to assess performance. Monitor number of tags, reach, and engagement over time to optimize.

Instagram also shows the top posts and contributors. Engage with these users to encourage continued tagging.

Analytics provide actionable insights into how people interact with your location.

Using Related Locations for Growth Opportunities

Discovering and engaging with locations related to your business or industry provides growth opportunities.

When users are checking out those spots, your location may also show up as a "related" or suggestions in that niche. This leads to cross-promotion.

Tools like Widgetic allow you to search related hashtags and locations to follow:

Connecting with complementary locations gives you a potential avenue for users to discover and tag your place.

Location Tags Usage Study [Infographic]

Here is an infographic summarizing eye-opening research by Later on location tag usage on Instagram:

Key stats:

• Photos with locations get 79% more engagement
• Over 175 million locations have been tagged
• Food spots are the most tagged category
• User-generated photos outperform branded content

This data demonstrates the tremendous potential of location tags for your Instagram growth.

Customer Content and UGC Examples

Check out these great examples of user-generated content created from custom location tags.

This is the type of authentic content having a spot makes easily sharable:



User photos and videos give valuable social proof and free marketing materials.

Top Location Categories on Instagram

Based on Instagram data, below are the top 10 most tagged location categories globally:

Category	% of Tags
Food/Drink Spots	15%
Shops/Retail	15%
Travel Spots	12%
Arts/Entertainment	10%
Outdoors	8%
Landmarks	7%
Professional Places	6%
Residences	5%
Colleges/Universities	5%
Events	4%

As you can see "food" and "retail shops" make up a significant portion of the total tags. This data can inform your location category selection.

Location Tagging Frequency Data

In addition to top categories, Instagram provided data on how often users actively tag locations:

• 18% tag a location in the majority of posts
• 36% tag locations sometimes
• 46% rarely or never tag

So while under half of users actively tag, those that do make up an important target audience.

Expert Tips on Location Tags for Businesses

Here are some pro tips from social media experts on optimizing locations:

"Make sure your location tag is easily searchable and utilizes your branding so fans can find it." – Jenn Herman, Social Media Consultant

"Engage with visitors by liking and commenting on tagged photos to encourage more user-generated content." – Lamar Tyler, Founder of Black and Mobile

"Add your custom tag to your profile bio link and Stories highlights to promote it to your followers." – Meg Case, Dir. of Social Media at Michael Stars

"Run monthly contests where users must tag your location for a chance to win a prize or gift card to drive buzz." – David Moritz, Co-founder of Social Media Tech

These are smart ways to maximize your branded Instagram location for business.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

Creating and optimizing a custom Instagram location unlocks huge potential for driving more reach and engagement.

Here are some key takeaways:

• Enable location services and create through Facebook
• Accurately categorize and pinpoint your physical spot
• Include branding people can search for
• Promote your spot actively via bio link, signage, contests
• Re-share user photos and videos from your location
• Analyze performance and find related spots to engage
• Utilize in both feed posts and Stories for maximum impact

I highly recommend taking the quick steps to set up your own branded Instagram location. The visibility and content benefits are well worth the effort!

Hope this guide was helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions as you create and optimize your Instagram location.