What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you see an account with a blue tick on Instagram?
Trustworthy? Famous? Credible? Rich? Digital Status Symbol?
Maybe it’s a bit of them all.
‘Blue Ticks’ are the much-coveted mark of social media success. Some would say they are more impressed with a blue tick than the amount of followers somebody has. It’s actually incredible the lengths people will go to to try and get one or the price that people offer to pay.
Celebrities and brands want their fans and followers to know it is really them. Influencers feel like they have made it to the next level. Customers would rather do business with someone who has one.
Instagram probably didn’t realise it would be creating one of the digital world’s most sought-after status symbols when it issued the first blue tick back in August 2018. Their purpose was, and is, to help users know that they are actually interacting with the ‘real’ account. Not a copy, not an imposter, not a scammer. It was created as a mark of protection to stop people from being misled or scammed. If someone is verified then they are the real deal!
As well as attracting attention and being a mark of credibility, other benefits of a blue tick include getting access to the latest features before they are released to the public, and the fact that your account will appear at the top of search results when people are looking for a brand or individual.
What it takes to get verified
The verified badge or the ‘blue tick’ on your Instagram account is a key part of building your business or personal brand. Whilst most people think that getting one is a black art and almost unattainable, Instagram is actually very transparent about what it takes to get an account verified. And unlike Twitter’s new rules, it doesn’t involve paying them for it.
In order to get verified, Instagram wants you to be Authentic, Public, Complete, Unique and Notable. It isn’t about having 500,000 followers as a lot of people incorrectly believe.
So let’s look at each of these traits individually:
Authentic
To be considered for verification, an Instagram account must represent a registered business or entity, or belong to a real person or public figure.
Public
Sorry all you secret squirrels, but private accounts aren’t eligible for verification. Your account must be public and visible to all.
Complete
The account in question needs to be active with a profile photo, a completed bio and at least 1 post. That’s the easy bits over! Read on as the criteria gets tougher.
Unique
Only 1 person or brand can be verified. Digital proof that there really is only 1 Matt Haycox! So if you have multiple business accounts then you need to decide which the main one is going to be before you apply for verification.
Notable
So now is the main part where most people seeking verification are going to fall down. To achieve verification, your Instagram account needs to represent a well-known figure or brand and it must be highly searched and featured in multiple mainstream news sources.
Promotional or paid content does not qualify here. This is the bit where people’s egos get the better of them and they feel short-changed for not getting verified. But this is the key bit. As my inside man at Instagram puts it, an account needs ‘a minimum of 3 or 4 pieces of mainstream press where the name of the individual or brand are in the headline of the article’. When making your application to be verified you will need to input this information into Instagram along with links to the relevant articles.
How To Apply For Verification
So if you feel like you have all the above criteria covered it’s time to make your application. Again, Instagram is quite transparent about this and makes the process very simple.
Here, in their own words, are the steps to follow:
Once you have applied, WAIT! It can take a few weeks even if your application is successful as all accounts require manual checking from Instagram. So don’t keep reapplying repeatedly as it might cancel your application.
Remember! An unverified account is better than no account at all. So don’t make the mistake of using false or fraudulent information when applying for verification. If you do, you are at serious risk of having your account disabled or deleted.
Should you be lucky enough to get verified then remember that you can’t then change your username. If you do then you will likely lose your blue tick.
Didn’t get verified this time, even though you fulfilled all the requirements? Don’t worry, you can reapply after 30 days.
One Size Doesn’t Fit All
If you are successful at getting verified on Instagram then unfortunately that doesn’t automatically qualify you to get verified on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms. All the different platforms have their own criteria and processes to go through. The upside to that though is that if you haven’t qualified for Instagram verification yet, there is still a chance you may be able to get verified on other platforms in the meantime.
Improve Your Chances Of Verification
If you haven’t satisfied all the requirements of verification, or even if you think you have but just want to increase your chances, the following steps will help:
Become Newsworthy
As I said earlier, this is arguably the most important criteria in the whole verification process. The more mainstream media content there is about you then the more likely you are to get your Instagram account verified.
Do you have a great story to tell? Do you have a PR advisor helping you tell it to the media? Are you reaching out to journalists and publications to get yourself known?
Being newsworthy is just the first part – making sure your story is told is the important part.
Optimise Your Online Presence
What do people see when they search for your name or brand on Google? If it is just your Instagram account, or even worse nothing, then you have a problem.
Whilst you are waiting to get that mainstream media that you require to get your Instagram account verified, there are still plenty of ways to grow and optimise your presence online.
You need your name appearing on websites that have a high domain authority and one of the easiest ways to do this is to make sure you have a presence on as many social media sites as possible. If you are lucky (and properly optimised) then being having a profile on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Pinterest will take care of 50% of the 1st page of Google for you!
Then make sure you have a high-ranking website for your personal or business brand and you are well on your way to online domination.
Grow Your Followers
Whilst Instagram officially doesn’t recognise the amount of followers you have as part of the criteria to becoming verified, there is no question that having more followers will help you. It will help in the perception of your brand, and obviously more people following you means more potential customers – even if you aren’t verified yet.
Post Regularly
Instagram may say that they only require 1 post on a profile to make it eligible for verification, but common sense dictates that a person or brand who is regularly posting is going to have a better profile and a higher chance of being seen online. The saying may be quality over quantity, but on social media, the key is quality AND quantity.
If you create great content and post it regularly then, even if you don’t manage to get your account verified, you will be building an audience of engaged supporters who hopefully will become customers.
Instagram Verification Mistakes To Avoid
If you haven’t yet been verified, maybe you are making some of these mistakes:
Don’t Give False information
Lying – it isn’t big and it isn’t clever! Especially not to the staff at Instagram! If you purposefully give incorrect information about your business or yourself you are only going to hurt your prospects of getting verified. Mr Zuckerberg is watching our every move and undoubtedly his team has the resources to catch you out! So don’t take the risk. Best case it will delay the verification process. Worst case you will be blacklisted from verification and have your account closed permanently.
Don’t Put Links To Other Social Media Channels In Your Bio
Instagram doesn’t like you linking out to other social media profiles. So if your bio is promoting your Twitter or OnlyFans accounts, then get it removed now!
Don’t Buy ‘Likes’ Or Followers
This may have looked good years ago, but no one is stupid enough to fall for it today. Buying followers just kills your engagement ratios when your account is populated by bots, fake accounts and faceless weirdos in Timbuktu. Buying ‘likes’ looks weird when you don’t have the comments or quality content to match them. It won’t help you with anything at all when trying to grow your brand and social media profile, and while Instagram may not have an official line on the matter, it certainly won’t help you get verified.
Follow Community Guidelines
Instagram makes it very clear what they consider acceptable behaviour in their community guidelines policy. Follow it!
Can’t Get Verified? Don’t Cry!
Whilst getting your Instagram account verified is definitely a benefit to your business or personal brand, there are still many things you can do to improve your online presence and credibility whilst waiting for your blue tick.
Leverage Your Bio
The bio section of your Instagram (or any other social media) account is a great place to tell the world who you are, what you stand for and why they would be crazy not to follow you. It doesn’t have to remain static either. You can change or update it regularly with new and different information and make sure your followers know about any recent big wins.
Link From Other Sources
Instagram may not like you using your bio to link out to other social media sites, but there is nothing wrong with linking it to your Instagram account from other sources. Use your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts to tell people where they can find you on Instagram. And if any of those accounts are verified then that will already give you great credibility when linking through to your Instagram account.
Use Instagram Stories
One of the main reasons to get verified is to show that your account really belongs to you and isn’t a fake or scam account.
A great way to prove that you are the real deal is to use your Instagram stories to post behind-the-scenes (BTS) footage showing the real you. Show yourself, your life, your staff, your offices. Let people know what a credible and successful operator you are and give them the confidence to do business with you.
Grow Your Network
Instagram may control who gets the blue ticks but they can’t stop great content creators from building a loyal army of followers. So while you are waiting for your verification make sure you are posting regular, quality content and engaging with your followers to help your profile grow. Even if you never get the digital badge of honour you will still have a great platform to do business from.
Struggling To Do It Yourself? Let Me Help You!
I have laid the process out for you very clearly, but even if you follow all the rules and steps, Instagram verification is certainly not guaranteed. I know plenty of people who have been trying for literally YEARS and still have no success.
But that’s where I am here to help! I have had my blue tick for over 12 months now and I have some fantastic relationships with senior people at Instagram – so I know what it takes to get the job done, and I have a hotline to the people who have the answers you need.
So if you want someone to help you get your ducks in a row and hold your hand through the process get in touch with me or my team today.
