Chapter 7
Gone are the days of waiting for customers to come to you. In the contemporary business setting, you go after them and woo them to where your business is. Getting verified on Facebook and Instagram, two of the biggest social media platforms out there is a big deal because it ensures you reach a lot of potential customers.
To think that back in the day companies used to run their business with a minimal or no social media presence sounds laughable.
Today, no serious brand can survive, let alone prosper, without a cohesive social media strategy superimposed on their overall marketing strategy.
With a jaw-dropping 3,8 million people globally using social media in 2020, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Brands that skip social media marketing miss out on reaching over half of the world’s population.
Not only are people on social media, but they are also hooked. They spend up to 3+ hours on various social platforms texting, chatting, engaging with people and brands they love around the clock. That’s good news for brands hungry to engage their audiences that love to jump from channel to channel.
In this section, we will explore the benefits of social media marketing before digging into how to get verified on Facebook and Instagram, two of the biggest social channels today.
Let’s start by getting the basics out of the way.
What Is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing (SMM) is the use of social media to connect, engage, delight, and serve your audience to drive your business goals.
SMM combines business with pleasure. You publish tremendous content, answer questions, monitor brand sentiment, and have fun with your audience while meeting business goals.
Those business goals can be to:
- Increase brand awareness.
- Generate leads.
- Drive website traffic.
- Increase sales.
- Build customer loyalty.
- Enhance Public Relations.
These are the hottest social media platforms you can invest in to supercharge your business:
- Micro Blogging (Twitter, Tumblr)
- Social Networking (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+)
- Video Sharing (YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok)
- Photo Sharing (Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat)
Investing in SMM is a smart business move because your audience is waiting for you there.
5 Advantages Of Social Media Marketing Or Why SMM Is Important?
Below are some benefits of SMM.
1. Allows You To Promote Your Products/Services And Increase Sales
The foremost advantage of SMM is increasing sales.
Up to 54% of social browsers use social media to research products they are interested in. Because users are in a buying mood, it’s a tremendous opportunity for your brand to go for the jugular sometimes—ask for the sale.
But be creative.
You could:
- Present common use cases of your product.
- Include CTAs to your product pages in your content.
- Tell users what makes your products different.
Don’t be scared to sell on social media and boost your bottom line. People are ready to do business there. However, don’t overdo it.
2. Drives Traffic To Your Site
Social channels can be a rich source of traffic for your site.
For you to tap into the 3,5 billion social media users and funnel the traffic to your site, start by growing your followers. That’s the foundation of driving traffic from social, having an engaged audience that loves you and what you do.
Once you have an engaged audience, it’s a matter of:
- Sharing teasers of your blog posts.
- Including a clear call to action e.g. check out the post, read more, visit our site, etc.
- Making your social updates visually attractive to draw readers in.
- Sharing tasty tidbits and quotations to draw people’s attention.
3. Increases Brand Awareness
Social media can help put your brand in front of new eyeballs.
To make your brand name spread far and wide on social:
- Run contests that have attractive prizes.
- Use hashtags and content keywords so your content spreads organically.
- Hold exciting events e.g. Twitter Chat.
- Weigh in on trending topics to get your voice heard.
If you push your brand awareness campaigns well enough, long enough, you will gain brand recognition. People will instantly recognize your brand, not just through the things you say but through your company’s symbols like your logo.
That’s a great place to be as a brand. A stage where people respect you for who you are, not just what you do.
4. Gives You The Opportunity To Bond With Your Audience
It’s one thing to know a brand exists, it’s another to love the brand to bits.
Through smart social media usage, you can deepen your relationships with your target audience.
You can do that by:
- Asking your fans questions.
- Answering questions from your followers.
- Responding to all brand mentions.
- Doing giveaways, often.
- Giving discounts to your number one fans.
5. It Can Double Up As A Customer Service Platform
On top of this, social media can double up as a customer service channel whenever troubled customers reach out.
These days customers are connected 24/7.
They want to reach brands:
- Whenever they want.
- However they want.
They expect stellar service, even on social media. Deny them that, and they leave. Keep track of brand mentions through a social listening tool and be on the lookout for customers who need help with your product. Respond promptly and they’ll rave about your stellar service to friends, and generate more brand awareness for your brand.
Notable Facebook And Instagram Statistics
No matter which niche you are in and whether you are in B2B or B2C, a substantial segment of your market is on Facebook and lnstagram.
Consider these eye-opening numbers:
1. Facebook’s advertising audience is 2,14 billion. (Hootsuite)
So you have a wide market to tap from.
2. Half of Facebook users visit the site twice a day. (Pew Research Center)
You have an enormous opportunity to reach users.
3. A typical Facebook user clicks on 12 ads a month. (Hootsuite)
Users are ready to engage with your ads.
4. In October 2020, Facebook users made 5 comments, 12 post likes, 1 share, and 1 page like. (AdExpresso)
Translation? You have an engaged audience ready to gobble up your content.
5. Instagram has 1+ billion users. (Instagram)
Like Facebook, Instagram has a very wide market reach.
6. 81% of people use Instagram to research products and services. (Instagram)
You can freely sell your products/services because people are looking for them.
7. 130 million people on Instagram tap on shopping posts each month. (Hootsuite)
Not only do people research products, but they also buy them.
8. Instagram’s engagement rate is 13.5x higher than Facebook posts and 27x higher than a Tweet. (Rival IQ)
By hopping onto Instagram, you will join a highly engaged audience.
9. On Instagram, photos with faces get 38% more likes than those without. (Georgia Tech)
This is sweet news for personal brands—the more you show your face, the more popular your brand becomes.
The best part?
People spend a combined 111 minutes on both channels daily according to Broadband Search studies.
Daily time spent on Facebook.
Daily time spent on Instagram.
That’s why the two platforms are such a big deal. Not only do they have 3+ billion users combined, but their users also spend close to 2 hours glued to them daily. This presents savvy brands with a golden opportunity to build their brands there.
With that in mind, let’s zoom in on the two platforms. In particular, we will look at how to get verified on Facebook and Instagram. Finally, we will explore how to get maximum value for your brand from your verified accounts.
How To Get Verified On Facebook
Let’s start with how to get verified on Facebook.
Before we delve into detail, let’s hear in Facebook’s words, their definition of a verification badge and why it’s important:
“The verified badge appears 
next to a Facebook Page or account’s name in search and on the profile. It means Facebook has confirmed that an account is the authentic presence of the public figure, celebrity, or global brand it represents.”
Here is a specimen of a verified page from Sam Ovens, who runs a popular consulting company.
Notice the blue checkmark next to his name. It means he’s the man. 😎 His brand isn’t ordinary. It’s a VERIFIED brand baby, the cream of the crop in his industry.
Maybe you are wondering how getting verified on Facebook can help your brand.
7 Reasons To Verify Your Facebook Page
Here are 7 reasons getting verified on Facebook matters.
1. Better Search Footprint
As a verified user, the Facebook algorithm will push you up the search results.
2. More Followers
Because your page is easier to find, you will gain more followers faster.
3. Get Featured On Company Pages
Verified accounts can get featured on other business pages, thus increasing the reach of your content.
4. Surge In Credibility
Having the verified tick next on your page tells users you are an authoritative, trusted brand.
5. Competitive Edge
If your competitors aren’t verified, people will pick you over them because your brand looks more legitimate.
6. Get Facebook Privileges
Verified users can access new Facebook features and tools earlier than the rest of the platform’s users.
7. Thwart Imposters
A verified page protects customers from being scammed through fake pages run by people who steal your business identity.
Now that you are aware of the benefits of being a verified business on Facebook, let’s look at how exactly to do it.
How To Get Verified On Facebook: A Step By Step Guide
First up.
Requirements To Apply For A Verified Badge
For Facebook to consider your verification request, you must meet the following verification criteria:
- Authenticity: You are a real person or a registered business entity.
- Uniqueness: You are a distinctive person or business. They only verify one account per person or business.
- Completeness: Your account must be complete and active—have an about section, a profile photo, and a minimum of one post.
- Notability: Your account must represent a popular person or brand that’s been featured in many news sources. Note: sponsored content doesn’t count as a legitimate news source.
- Truthfulness: You must be truthful—if you provide any false or misleading info, you won’t get verified.
A quick word about notability.
Brand prominence is the foundation of it all. If your brand isn’t eminent enough, your chances of getting verified are very slim. Facebook only verifies brands that have generated significant public interest in their activities. If you are a nobody online, forget it. So don’t gun for verification straight after launching your company. To enhance your chances of verification, build a strong online footprint first.
Make a splash everywhere online.
That said, let’s get into the exact steps to take to apply for Facebook verification.
Step #1: Click on the Facebook contact form.
They will take you to their application form for you to fill.
Step #2: Choose the verification type
You can either verify a Page or a Profile. If you would like to verify your Profile, they will then ask for your profile URL.
Step #3: Select a category for the Page or Profile
Pick a relevant category that best represents what your brand does from the drop-down list of 9 categories. Select ‘other’ if your sector isn’t in the listed categories.
Step #4: Fill in the name of your country
Type in the country’s name where your business operates from.
Step #5: Attach a photo of your ID
Upload a clear photo ID that clearly shows your name and date of birth. You can also use a driver’s license or passport if you like.
If you want to get verified as an organization, not a person, you can submit any of the following documents instead.
- Your organization's phone or utility bill
- A certificate of formation
- Articles of incorporation
- Tax or tax exemption documents belonging to your organization
Step #6: Say why you want your Page or Profile to be verified
In the provided space, share why they must verify your Profile/Page.
Write something along these lines:
- My brand is popular and highly searched on Facebook and online.
- My well-known brand is prone to parody accounts—provide proof of parody accounts. if you have it.
- I want to give confidence to my big audience to know that they are interacting with me, not a fake brand.
- Include proof of your mention in notable news publications.
Step #7: List other social media accounts
Put links to your other social media accounts. Only include accounts with a massive, highly engaged audience. While Facebook says this step is optional, don’t pass up the opportunity to flex your authority.
After all, they say flaunt it if you have it.
You worked your tail off to grow your audience, it’s time to cash in.
To strengthen your case, put any additional info you may have on the last slot on the page.
Step #8: Submit the application form
Once you’ve completed the last step, click on the blue ‘send’ button to submit your application.
Done.
How long does it take to get verified?
Account verification approval differs from account to account. Verification takes anywhere from 2 days to 45 days. Yeah, I know a month and a half is a long time, but remember good things come to those who wait.
What if Facebook rejects my verification application?
Remember that an application doesn’t guarantee acceptance. Facebook may reject your application. If that happens, don’t lose hope. You can always make another application after 30 days. Just do your homework, assess why you failed to meet the criteria, and cover all the bases to improve your chances of acceptance this time around.
How to stay verified on Facebook
Your prized verification status isn’t a lifetime award. You can lose it at any moment if you break any of Facebook’s values or policy guidelines, You can cross the line if you:
- Break any industry-specific regulations.
- Provide false or misleading information.
- Violate their terms of service for professional accounts.
Use your verified account wisely so they don’t revoke or suspend it. Worse, they may go as far as deleting your account. So, whatever you do with your account, toe the line to continue enjoying the verified personal brand privileges.
How To Get Verified On Instagram In 5 Simple Steps
Because Instagram is Facebook’s sister platform, the demands for verification are the same. Like Facebook, Instagram also uses the blue checkmark to denote verified accounts.
Here’s how to get verified on Instagram.
Step #1: Log into the account you want to get verified.
Step #2: Tap 
or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
Step #3: Click 
in the top right, then tap 
Settings.
Step #4: Tap Account, then tap Request Verification.
Step #5: Enter your full name and provide the required form of identification (example: government-issued photo ID or license).
Not rocket science, right?
Let’s answer a few pertinent questions:
What happens after I apply for a verified badge on Instagram?
You wait.
Once they have processed your application, you will receive a notification telling you if they verified your account or not.
How long does it take to get verified on Instagram?
It varies from account to account.
However, most accounts get verified in 30 days or fewer. Some accounts get the seal of approval within a few hours or one week.
Okay, so you’ve got the acclaimed Facebook or Instagram verified badge, then what?
What happens if Instagram declines my application for verification?
No problem.
You can submit a new request after 30 days.
Can you buy a verified badge on Instagram?
Bad idea.
Instagram doesn’t sell the verification badge, so you shouldn’t buy it. Buying one from anyone violates their policy guidelines. Besides, you will get burned if you buy a verification from the notorious black market.
If I’m verified on Facebook, does Instagram automatically verify my Instagram account?
No.
Verification badges aren’t transferable across the two platforms. You must request Instagram verification separately.
Do I keep my Instagram verified badge forever?
No.
Instagram can take away verified badges at any time. They may take away your badge or disable your account if you:
- Advertise, sell, or transfer your verified badge.
- Try to verify your account through a third party.
- Use your profile picture, bio, or name section to promote other services.
But you have nothing to fear if you stay on the right side of the line. You can enjoy your verified badge and its perks for as long as you like.
How To Build A Super Brand On Facebook And Instagram
Getting verified on Facebook, and Instagram isn’t your brand building panacea.
It won’t build your brand on autopilot or fix all your branding problems in a flash.
Far from it.
To get the greatest value from your verification, follow these three golden tips:
1. Produce Superduper Content
If getting verified is the king, then the content is the throne.
Without it, the honorable king has nowhere to sit.
Buttress your authority by continuing to churn out brilliant content, day in day out. The more solid your content, the stronger the customer loyalty from your fans. If you slacken on content quality, customer loyalty will get eroded bit by bit until all you have left will be nothing but a prestigious verified account with a disengaged audience.
To keep your audience engaged and loyal to you, don’t compromise on content quality.
Never.
2. Be A Good Listener
Brand building isn’t just about posting fresh content.
It’s not a monologue.
Bright brands drive intelligent, engaging conversations with their customers. That’s why they keep coming back for more. Listen to your audience’s struggles, dreams, and delights. Use the intel to create relevant content, improve customer service and experience, or even create new products.
You can spark conversations by asking open-ended questions. Sit back and let your fans speak their hearts out while you take notes.
3. Be Authentic—Always
Phoniness is rampant in contemporary business circles.
No wonder an astonishing 96% of people don’t trust brands according to Inc. However, the same study showed people do trust people more than companies. This trust for people is a lifeline for personal brands because it means people will give you a chance.
The tricky part is you embody your brand. But if you become a genuine brand and be upfront with your customers and prospects, you will profit immensely from people’s tendency to trust other people.
As people’s trust levels for brands plummets, the authenticity stock rises.
In fact, authenticity has now become a cashable business asset. Venngage maintains that 91% of consumers would rather buy from authentic brands than fake ones.
Get real and reap the rewards.
