Top Instagram Growth Tools
With over 10 years as one of the most popular social media networks, Instagram has come out with a variety of features to ensure that the integrity of their platform is maintained. You may have noticed the little blue checkmark next to usernames on the platform— this is one way that they do so.
This tiny blue checkmark holds a lot of power, and it’s called an Instagram verification badge.
These verification badges are given out to public figures, celebrities, and other official people that have an established presence on the platform. This is one of the ultimate status symbols of Instagram!
Most users seek out the blue verification badge because this gives automatic credibility to an Instagram account and makes it look official. Getting verified may seem like an easy task, but it’s not as simple as it appears.
There are a few reasons why, and mostly it’s because there’s no set process or criteria by which an Instagram account will be verified. In this sense, it becomes a sort of private club that only the lucky can join.
It’s not impossible, though, despite the somewhat secret nature of what it takes to become verified on Instagram.
Having a distinct social strategy on Instagram is one of the most important things to success on the platform, and with so many businesses of all sizes on the platform as well as many public figures, we’ve done some digging on what it takes to become verified on Instagram.
After you take a look at this guide, it’ll become more clear on how you can get verified on Instagram and the different things you can do to move towards a blue verification badge.
If your friend’s baby can get verified on Instagram, after all, why not your brand or business? Instagram truly is a unique place. We want to help you have a full understanding of verification on Instagram.
In this guided article, you’ll get answers to the following questions:
- What does the blue checkmark mean on Instagram?
- How can a verified account help my business?
- Can I request an Instagram verification badge?
- How do I become a public figure on Instagram?
- What can help me get verified on Instagram?
- Do I really need to be verified on Instagram?
And more! We can’t wait to share our helpful tips with you. Let’s find out how to get verified on Instagram!
Post Contents
What Does the Blue Checkmark on Instagram Mean?
We know a bit about the verification badge on Instagram when thinking about how to get verified on Instagram, but what does it really mean and how does it add to the Instagram community?
The whole purpose behind the blue checkmark on Instagram is to identify that a celebrity, business, public figure, artist, and more are actually who their account claims they are; it shows users that they really are, in fact, the real owner of the account.
When we consider our own presence on Instagram, it’s not likely that someone is going to be out there impersonating us; we are, after all, just everyday people. For celebrities and brands, however, it’s a different story.
There are tons of different accounts out there that pay homage to different celebs and music groups through fan pages; if you were to look at some of these, you may be easily confused about whether or not this is the real celeb.
For instance, if you search Lady Gaga on Instagram, you’ll get many different results. The first result that will appear is the official Lady Gaga account, which you can see has a blue verification badge.
Other accounts will then follow, including ladygaga.nation, ladybabygaga, ladygagatasty, ladygaga.now, and more. It’s not too difficult when the celeb uses their simple name as a username, but for others, like drake, it can be challenging to identify if the blue badge didn’t exist.
Drake’s famous handle, ChampagnePapi, doesn’t pop up when you search “Drake” on Instagram. Instead, other accounts like drakeofficial, drake, and wordonrd appear. Without the blue badge, you might easily mistake one of these other accounts as the real Drake.
It’s clear that without the blue verification badge to help distinguish the real owners from the imitations, it’d be hard to maintain the integrity of their persona on Instagram.
Instagram claims that “verified badges help people more easily find the public figures, celebrities, and brands they want to follow.” It’s clear that the verification badges have helped a great deal to serve that exact purpose.
How else can a verified badge help businesses and public figures so that you can work out how to get verified on Instagram? Let’s take a look.
How Verified Accounts Help Your Business on Instagram
In addition to determining the reals from the fakes, there are a few other things that having a verified badge can offer your Instagram account. Here are four ways that a badge helps you on Instagram.
Brand Credibility
When thinking about how to get verified on Instagram, there’s no doubt about the fact that having a blue checkmark next to your Instagram username helps people to see the authority that your brand or business holds. Boosting brand credibility isn’t easy, but the little blue checkmark helps.
It can also help to weed out those accounts that are trying to devalue your brand or scam your audience by offering freebies or different prizes on Instagram. It’s a way for Instagram users to ensure that they’re getting info from a reliable source as well as protect your brand from any negative actions taken without your permission.
Increase in Reach
In addition to higher levels of credibility, people will be more likely to visit your profile when you have a blue verification badge on Instagram. Because they know that your account is official, your profile and content will get more reach.
You can even get more reach for your content in the comment section; when a verified brand or figure leaves a comment on Instagram, users take notice— people want to check out what a verified account has to say on Instagram.
You’ll then funnel more traffic to your Instagram profile as well as see positive effects on your brand performance as well as conversion rates.
Swipe Up Feature
If you’ve seen an Instagram story that allows users to “swipe up” and check out an external link or a product directly from Instagram stories, you may have wondered how to do that yourself.
Unfortunately, even if you have a business or creator profile, you won’t have access to the feature unless you have over 10k followers— or, you can have a verified badge and you’ll automatically get the feature.
Even if you aren’t quite at the level of 10k followers but have somehow established your official presence through a verified badge on Instagram, you can still access this feature, which does make the verification process worth it.
When you want people to be able to shop directly from your Instagram story or want to funnel traffic to an outside website, the swipe up feature is very useful.
Social Search Presence
With so many different duplicate accounts out there, it can be hard to actually find the account you’re looking for (see our Drake example above). When you get verified on Instagram, your account will appear at the top of the search for the term that a user enters.
If you enter, for example, Zara, the verified Zara account will always appear at the very top. All of the accounts underneath can then be discounted as unassociated with the actual Zara brand, helping Zara in terms of search presence.
The blue verified checkmark gives your account more visibility in the search bar and will get you noticed more easily.
How Can I Request an Instagram Verification Badge?
So, there are plenty of cool things about having a blue checkmark badge for your Instagram account and working out how to get verified on Instagram, but how can you get one? Is it possible to request a verification badge on Instagram?
The good news is that yes, you can make Instagram aware of your desire to have a blue checkmark badge through their verification process. How can you apply to get verified on Instagram?
It only takes a few simple steps to learn how to get verified on Instagram:
- Visit your Instagram profile page
- Identify the menu icon (three horizontal lines) at the top right of the page and tap it
- Tap the first option to get to your account settings
- Once on your settings page, tap the account option
- Look for the request verification option and tap it
- Complete the form with the required information
You’ll have to include information such as your username, full name, known as, as well as the category for your account to try and learn how to get verified on Instagram. It’s important to be accurate in all of this information.
In addition, you’ll need to submit a photo of your ID, which must be a government-issued photo ID with your name and date of birth. You can also use official business documents to fulfil this request.
When you submit this photo, make sure that the photo is high-quality and easy to see so that Instagram can review it; if the photo isn’t easy to review, Instagram may deny your application simply for this.
Instagram mentions directly on this form that “submitting a request for verification does not guarantee that your account will be verified.” So, this is simply a way to get your foot in the door. Make sure that your profile and content is professional and aligns with your business and account type.
If you are denied, don’t worry— you’re not out of luck forever. You will have another chance to apply again after 30 days from the first denial of your application. Continue to build up your Instagram content and account presence for better odds.
How Can I Become a Public Figure on Instagram?
A public figure is technically defined as a well-known person that is beloved by many for whatever reason— politicians, sports heroes, celebrities, singers, among others are ones that are most likely to be considered a true public figure.
These days, however, a public figure is actually a business description that you can choose on Instagram; this may be most applicable for Instagram influencers or even content creators that contribute to the community.
When you have an Instagram business account, you can change the category to public figure; it will then show that title on your Instagram bio if you so desire.
Technically speaking, you can become a public figure on Instagram with even no followers; this, however, goes against the true definition of what a public figure is. If you’re trying to establish yourself as a public figure on Instagram. You’ll need to:
- Build a strong following so that people know who you are
- Contribute to the Instagram community through great content
- Have a real-world presence that makes an impact on people
Of course, you can be a public figure without these things, but you won’t truly live up to its name nor gain traction on Instagram without these three elements apparent on your profile. Just because your account is set to “public figure” doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be verified.
How to Get Verified on Instagram: What You Need
Because Instagram has a set process for verifying accounts, it’s a bit easier to determine what you actually need if you’re seeking verification on the platform and trying to work out how to get verified on Instagram.
If you are looking to get a verified badge on Instagram, the first thing you may think of is a high follower count; if you have a lot of followers or reach a certain threshold, they’ve got to verify you, right?
Well, this is one contributing factor, but it’s by no means the only way to become verified. Not only that, Instagram is well aware that there are ways that people fortify their follower count, either through buying fake followers or other methods.
If you have a large, genuine following, that will certainly help, but it’s not the only thing Instagram considers when giving a verification. Instagram is looking for people and businesses who have contributed value to Instagram and/or the general public.
What does that mean? Let’s find out.
A Public Presence
Ultimately, you do need to be popular or known about when figuring out how to get verified on Instagram. People should know about you and/or your endeavors and not only search for you on Instagram but in other media outlets. This could mean other social media networks, Google, or in real life.
Let’s put it this way: have you ever been on the news? Do people seek you out at events? Do people Google you? Is your YouTube channel soaring with popularity?
If you have a strong presence, you’re more likely to gain a verification badge on Instagram.
When you need to get more people checking out your content, you can use hashtags to boost your content reach and encourage people to take notice of your profile. For a targeted hashtag strategy, check out a hashtag generator — they can help you to find the hashtags that are performing well in your niche and more likely to get your content seen.
Keep in mind that paid advertisements aren’t considered to be a viable source for visibility in the public eye, which means that even if you paid for a lot of exposure, that isn’t a sure-fire way to get verified.
Ads can help you to get noticed and help people to see you, thus taking more action in terms of searching for you and so on, but ads alone with no action won’t be the thing to get you verified.
To Be Real
You have to confirm you are who you say you are when learning how to get verified on Instagram, and you must show that through submission of a photo ID during the application process. You have to be who you say you are and represent your profile in an authentic way.
If you categorize your account as a fashion brand, your account and actions on Instagram should reflect that. This may be one of the reasons why many meme accounts, although incredibly popular, never become verified.
Alternatively, if you’re an individual on Instagram looking to be verified, your account should showcase content that supports your public presence and how you impact people on Instagram.
To Be Unique
Now that you’ve established you are who you say you are, you’ve also got to set yourself apart in terms of what you offer the community. Your brand or endeavor can only have one verified account, so make sure your account fully represents it in a standout way.
The only time that your brand or business can have multiple verified accounts is if there are different sections to your company or different operational locations around the globe. Some companies pursue multiple verified accounts, like Vans, whereas some don’t, like Old Navy.
To Follow the Rules
This should go without saying, but you must adhere to Instagram Terms of Use and Community Guidelines in order to become verified. You may even get suspended or banned if you don’t follow these guidelines.
This includes being honest and avoiding any false or misleading information. Also, you should avoid hate speech or things that damage the community and cause harm to others.
A Complete Profile
Last but not least, you should work to ensure that your profile is as complete and professional as possible when learning how to get verified on Instagram. Having things like a clear profile picture, completed bio, established content as well as any other elements like IG stories or Story highlights to help your profile look as clean and complete as possible.
In addition, confirm that your profile is public; a verification badge has to reflect the fact that the public is influenced by your presence, and having a private account doesn’t coincide with that.
Is Getting Verified on Instagram Worth it?
At the end of the day, learning how to get verified on Instagram satisfies the ego but it also does bring some practical benefits such as more search visibility and the swipe up feature.
It’s good to have account verification on Instagram because it establishes your brand’s reputation and also avoids any misunderstandings from accounts that may be trying to use their image for profitability.
While you have little control over whether or not Instagram finds you worthy of verification, there are some actions that you can take to increase your chances of getting verified as we mentioned above.
Work to establish your profile in a complete way, create content that is valuable and attractive to the community, and build a solid reputation that people seek out. When you do these things, you’ll be more likely to have an approved application for verification so that you can be successful in working out how to get verified on Instagram.
Good luck!
