Tag: verification

4 tips to help get you verified on Facebook

Considering Facebook is the biggest social media network, it makes sense if you want Facebook verification on your page.

Facebook has 2.91 billion monthly active users as of 2022. This is actually a 6.2 percent increase from its 2.74 billion users in 2021, which was already a year-over-year growth of 12 percent from 2019.

With the potential to reach so many users, Facebook verification can help your page build credibility and a trusting relationship with your target audience. Facebook verification is the process of getting a profile or page verified to show other users that it represents your authentic presence on the platform. A blue checkmark appears next to the name of a verified account.

In addition to building trust, Facebook verification helps public figures, brands and companies who are susceptible to being impersonated with fake pages establish that they actually are who they say they are. A common example is the real Facebook page for a celebrity versus pages run by fans or imposters.

Facebook also prioritizes verified profiles and Pages in its search results, which can improve your brand’s reach.

While anyone can technically get verified on Facebook, there are strict verification requirements you must meet in order to get approved. However, these are only the bare minimum and are no guarantee that you’ll get verified.

To officially apply for Facebook verification, you would: 

  1. Open the Facebook verification request form.
  2. Choose your verification type, whether you’re looking to verify your personal profile (if you’re a public figure) or your Facebook page.
  3. Confirm your authenticity with credible documentation, such as a driver’s license, passport, etc.
  4. Confirm your notability by selecting a category for your business page or profile so that Facebook can ensure that your profile or page is something people are interested in or searching for.
  5. Add the country where you or your business is most well-known.
  6. Add your audience and “also known as,” which is an optional step, but keep in mind that the more information you give, the easier it is for Facebook to confirm your verification. For your audience, you can enter basic information about your audience demographics. If you have no other “aka” names for your business, though, you can leave that blank.
  7. Add up to five articles that show your Facebook page or profile is in the public interest. This is optional as well, but by including popular social media accounts, articles that talk about your business, Wikipedia profiles or anything else, you’re proving that people are interested in, following or talking about your brand.
  8. And submit!

But again, Facebook verification is not guaranteed. (Fortunately, you can reapply after 30 days if you get denied.) The following are four tips to help you get verified the first time on Facebook (and stay verified).

Be professional

When it comes to being professional on Facebook as a brand, there are a few things to consider, including:

  • The overall impression of your Facebook page or profile matches the image your brand presents elsewhere.
  • You’re only sharing on-brand, related content to your page or profile. No off-brand logos, personal posts (depending on the context), low-quality images, incorrect grammar and spelling, anything that doesn’t reflect your brand voice, etc.

Put yourself in a customer’s shoes when looking at your page or profile. What do you see? Better yet, ask a colleague for an unbiased opinion with a fresh set of eyes.

Maintain up-to-date business information

Before even applying for Facebook verification, you want to make sure that your entire Facebook business profile is complete. This includes working links to your website (and working links from your website back to your Facebook page).

But on top of that, you want to keep that information as up-to-date as possible. Perhaps you created a new website, moved store locations, changed business hours, added new products or services or something else. Regardless of what might change with your business and offerings, you’ll want to reflect that on your Facebook presence. 

Post engaging content regularly

Content (and engaging content in particular) is everything on social media. Without it, your Facebook page is a shell business listing that likely will not receive Facebook verification.

Of course, when it comes to content creation and publication, you want to keep your audience in mind, as well as their needs, challenges and interests. 

Check out our 10 tips for creating engaging content.

When it comes to frequency, consistency is critical. You don’t want to publish several posts in one day and then not post again for weeks. 

A content calendar can help keep you organized, but also check out how often you should be posting on social media, especially Facebook.

But beyond providing engaging content, you’ll want to engage with your followers as well. Reply to comments and direct messages, comment on relevant posts from other users, offer Facebook Lives that are specifically an opportunity for you to answer questions from customers and potential customers, etc. An engaged audience shows Facebook that you’re a notable brand that people follow. This contributes in your favor for Facebook verification.

Follow Facebook’s community standards

Do you know what Facebook’s community standards are? In short, they’re a robust list of guidelines that you should get familiar with (if you’re not already) that outline the acceptable use of the Facebook platform.

If you’re violating these standards, you obviously risk not getting verified. If you do get verified and then violate the community standards, Facebook can revoke your verification.

Reviewing the guidelines, turning on two-factor authentication and staying true to your Facebook marketing strategy will help you get (and stay) verified.

In conclusion

If you don’t get verified the first time that you apply, you can apply again in 30 days. However, we do recommend that you use those 30 days to review what you can improve about your Facebook presence before applying again. In fact, you may receive from Facebook at least part of the reason that you weren’t verified. If this is the case, you’ll want to address those issues as soon as possible.

Check out our seven tips to get verified on Instagram.

As you begin to optimize your Facebook presence for possible verification, consider leveling up your digital marketing process. This can include automation, audience segmentation and enhanced email marketing capabilities, to name a few. DailyStory can help. Schedule your free demo with us today.

 

5 tips to get verified on Twitter

Twitter, like most social media platforms, aims to help cut through bots, trolls and misinformation by various means, such as Twitter verification.

And if your business is active on Twitter, you might be wondering how to get verified and earn the blue checkmark badge next to your account handle.

Twitter verification involves a manual review by Twitter of your account to assert that your profile is credible, authentic and of interest to the public. This means that Twitter can confirm that your account is not impersonating, manipulating or spamming anyone in addition to not violating any copyright or trademark laws. Of course, Twitter verification doesn’t mean an endorsement of your business. It’s all very similar to getting verified on Instagram.

Accounts that can be considered for verification include those used by businesses, politicians, celebrities, musicians, influencers, journalists and so on. Having a big following alone, though, is not a guarantee for getting verified.

Twitter is the world’s seventh favorite social media platform, so to be validated on Twitter helps build trust with your target audience and could lead indirectly to an increase in followers since verification is a sign of authenticity and public interest.

Keep in mind that Twitter announced a new verification program in 2021 after pausing the program in 2017 when a white supremacist’s account obtained a Twitter verification badge, causing a scandal for Twitter.

While anyone can apply for Twitter verification, not everyone will be approved. Minimum follower counts are required, but they do differ between regions to make the verification process more equitable.

Dive deeper into Twitter’s current verification policy.

The application process is relatively simple. Navigate to “Account Settings” on Twitter and select “Request Verification.” Then, you can follow the prompts to submit your application for review.

But again, Twitter verification is not guaranteed. The following are five tips to help you get verified on Twitter the first time you apply.

Optimize your Twitter profile

Of course, you should already want your Twitter account to reflect your brand. What more can you do to optimize your profile? 

You can start by writing a brief-but-descriptive bio that includes your company’s location and a link to your website. In addition, make sure that you’re using high-quality images for your profile photo and cover photo.

You also can pin your top tweet. This then becomes the first tweet users see when visiting your profile, so the tweet you choose matters.

Maintain an active account

If you’re tweeting sporadically, you’re not setting yourself up well for verification. Beyond tweeting more (but still thinking about quality over quantity), you should consider:

  • Responding quickly to direct messages, mentions and comments.
  • Liking, retweeting and commenting on other users’ content.
  • Following and engaging with verified Twitter accounts.
  • Using hashtags to participate in trending conversations.

When applying for Twitter verification, Twitter does look at how your account engages with other accounts. So, ask questions, post polls and mention other verified accounts to encourage them to join the conversation.

To boost the quality of your own brand content, leverage photos and videos. This is especially important considering that you only have 280 characters to work with. Visuals can help communicate more beyond those 280 characters, and you’ll likely see higher engagement as well.

And with more tweets comes a higher risk of spelling and grammar mistakes. Double-check all copy in your tweets before posting since Twitter doesn’t allow you to edit a tweet after publication (and you wouldn’t want to have to do that as a brand anyway).

Plan and execute a Twitter marketing strategy

To help you stay focused and efficient with your content and engagement on Twitter, creating and executing a separate marketing strategy for Twitter is helpful.

You can start by:

Check out our eight expert tips to market your business better on Twitter.

Avoid shortcuts

You might be eager to get your Twitter account verified, but resist the temptation to take any shortcuts. This includes buying followers and relying on bots, you name it.

You want to keep it real, authentic, credible and reliable as a Twitter account, so avoid any seemingly spammy tweets as well. 

Be patient and trust that embracing Twitter’s best practices will not only result in Twitter verification but will help you stay verified as well.

Ensure that everything you tweet is public

While Twitter gives the option for users to change their privacy settings, you want to make sure that as a brand, all your tweets are open to public viewing.

Private tweets limit interaction and engagement, but private tweeting also signals to Twitter that your account is not of public interest.

In conclusion

While there’s no guarantee, getting verified on Twitter is one thing. Staying verified on Twitter is a whole other thing. It is possible to lose your Twitter verification badge if you don’t continue to follow Twitter’s rules and community guidelines.

View Twitter’s “rules of the road” to get a better understanding of the expectations.

In addition, check out the 14 biggest mistakes businesses make on Twitter.

As you begin to optimize your Twitter presence for possible verification, consider leveling up your digital marketing process, which can include automation, audience segmentation and enhanced email marketing capabilities, to name a few. DailyStory can help. Schedule your free demo with us today.

TikTok: 6 tips to get verified as a business

If you’re looking to include TikTok, which is only growing in popularity, in your digital marketing strategy, you also should consider how to get your account verified.

TikTok is a video-based social media platform that encourages engagement around short, vertical video clips. The app has increasingly penetrated popular culture with its various hashtag challenges and viral stars.

As of January 2022, TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users globally. It also boasts the highest social media engagement rates per post.

If your target audience is younger, TikTok might be a “must” rather than a “maybe” in your marketing plan.

But once you create an account, how do you go about getting it verified? Verification is the process that many social media platforms have to confirm that you are you, in the simplest sense. In a world of fake accounts, verification is more important than ever. The benefit of verification is the immediate authenticity and trustworthiness that occurs with that checkmark next to your account handle, which can help grow followers. Your audience knows that the account is truly you and/or your brand.

But verification on TikTok is not a one-size-fits-all process. Unlike Instagram and Twitter, TikTok does not accept requests from users who want to get verified, which can lead to some confusion. In the case of TikTok, it’s a game of “Don’t call us … we’ll call you.” And that call only happens when TikTok perceives you to be a quality account based on consistent activity and viral engagement. In other words, to get verified on TikTok comes down to having a strong strategy on that platform. 

The following are six tips to get verified as a business on TikTok.

Think through your TikTok strategy

Success on TikTok does not just happen. It involves a robust content marketing strategy that’s based on data about your target audience and more.

Do not improvise. Plan out your content and invest the appropriate time and energy into content that will connect with users. You can follow competitors’ accounts for inspiration (what you might want to do and what you might want to avoid).

You also can get organized by creating and using a content calendar.

Follower growth matters

While TikTok won’t say whether there’s a specific number of followers an account must have, it has been seen that the rate of follower growth matters.

Ensuring that your content has value is a great start to growing your followers. But beyond that, consider cross-promoting your TikTok presence on other platforms. Many times, you have to make it extra obvious where your customers and fans can find you.

Focus on post-engagement rates

Consistent posting is key to building up your engagement rates on TikTok. At the same time, quality content matters. 

Regularly brainstorming video ideas can help keep your content fresh.

You also may want to loosely storyboard your idea for an upcoming video so that you can not only be more efficient during the creation process but also more effective.

Keep your audience in mind. Consider their interests, hobbies, challenges and problems. Never stop experimenting with:

  • Popular trends currently happening on TikTok
  • Making high-quality videos
  • Using popular music and other sounds
  • Keeping your videos as short as possible

The hope is that you won’t just grow your engagement rates over time, but you’ll also hopefully go viral from time to time. While going viral can improve your likelihood of getting verified, don’t obsess over it. Keep it simple. Stay focused on posting the best content you possibly can for your audience, and don’t forget to have fun with it.

Go with your niche

You can’t be everything to everyone. In fact, you shouldn’t be if you want to reach the best potential customers for your business.

This is true on TikTok. Your business likely already specializes in a niche within your industry. How do you express that on other social media platforms? How do you want that to be expressed on TikTok specifically?

Niche content can contribute to attracting and keeping a following, which will help get you verified on TikTok that much faster.

Collaborate with an influencer

TikTok influencers can offer a wealth of creativity and reach, depending on who you decide to work with. Plus, if you’re struggling with your content strategy and creation, an influencer could be exactly what you need.

If you’re new to the world of influencers, check out our seven tips to know before starting your first influencer marketing campaign, whether it’s on TikTok or another social media platform.

Consider your other social media accounts

It might sound counterintuitive, but having a strong presence (and even verifications) on other social media platforms can actually help you get verified on TikTok.

So, while you may want to level up your presence and strategy on TikTok, do not shortchange your other accounts. They all matter. 

Check out these eight most common social media mistakes to avoid so that you don’t get tripped up.

In conclusion

Because the path to TikTok verification is not straightforward, it’s important not to give up. This process can take time. 

TikTok is looking for authenticity, engagement and consistency in the accounts it will verify. (Verification can’t even be bought, only earned.) Stay with it and continue experimenting. The verification payoff will be worth it.

While you’re diving deeper into TikTok for your business, consider your digital marketing process. Is it everything you want it to be? DailyStory features automation, audience segmentation and more. Schedule your free demo with us today.

7 tips to get verified on Instagram

For many of Instagram’s nearly 1.5 billion users, Instagram verification is a critical validation.

Instagram verification, otherwise known as that blue check on a user’s profile, is a signal to other users that your profile is the only one representing your brand.

More officially, Instagram says that getting verified means that the visual-first social media platform has confirmed that your account is “the authentic presence of the public figure, celebrity or brand it represents.” It does not equal an endorsement from Instagram.

This verification proves that your profile is not a fake, unofficial or fan account. In addition, it helps your brand stand out.

But you must qualify for Instagram verification. While the exact requirements for getting an Instagram verification badge are unclear, there are some guidelines provided by the platform itself that it takes into consideration when reviewing your application. 

While rumors have swirled regarding how many followers your account needs to have to get verified on Instagram, there is no reason to delay applying for Instagram verification if you meet the guidelines, regardless of the size of your following. (Keep in mind that even if your Instagram account is linked to a verified Facebook page, you’ll still need to apply separately for Instagram verification.)

The application itself is relatively easy:

  • Log into your Instagram account.
  • Go to Settings.
  • Click on “Account’ and then “Request Verification.”
  • Fill out the required fields.
  • If denied, you’ll have to wait 30 days before requesting verification again.

But before you start applying for Instagram verification, the following are XX tips that you can use today to help you get verified on Instagram.

Complete your Instagram profile

Your Instagram profile plays an important role in your verification process. Make sure that it is 100 percent complete. Include a:

  • Well-written bio
  • Profile photo that represents your brand, business or yourself
  • Relevant link

If it’s already complete, ask a colleague to review it. A fresh perspective can identify any opportunities for optimization of your profile that you might not be thinking of.

Avoid cross-platform links in your bio

While we recommend including a relevant link on your Instagram bio, Instagram does not want verified accounts to encourage users to add or follow other social media profiles (such as Facebook or YouTube) in their bios.

That being said, you can still add links to your website, landing page or other web pages. Just avoid linking to your other social media profiles.

On the flip side, it can help to add links to your Instagram profile on your brand’s website, within marketing emails and/or on your other social media profiles. The links to your Instagram account from your other social media profiles especially help validate your profile ownership.

Keep your Instagram account active and uniquely you

Of course, the hope is that if you’re interested in getting verified on Instagram, you’re likely active on the platform. But if you’re not very active, then it’s time to increase your activity in a consistent way.

Regular activity is imperative for Instagram verification. Make sure that you’re posting visually appealing and relevant content for your audience (whether in your feed or in Stories), engage with your followers in comment threads (even on their posts) and monitor your Instagram performance.

Of course, being active on Instagram only gives you the opportunity to consistently reflect your brand personality and everything that makes you unique. When looking over your Instagram content strategy, what helps you stand out, not just from your competitors but also from any impersonator accounts? 

Think about your:

  • Brand voice
  • Visual style
  • Overall feed aesthetic
  • Content theme
  • Hashtag strategy

One easy way to stand out as uniquely you is by sharing behind-the-scenes content that gives your followers an insider’s look at your brand. You also can encourage followers to tag you in their posts, which also helps validate your account as being yours.

Leverage your earned media and SEO

Earned media

Because part of what Instagram is looking for is your notoriety (that you’re a widely recognized brand), earned media can help with that. Earned media is any material written about you or your business that you haven’t paid for or created yourself. The most obvious example is a news article.

Start by Googling yourself and/or your brand and see what comes up. Anything that is relevant should be shared on your account in some way. But if nothing comes up in your searches, you’ll want to create and execute a PR strategy to help change that.

This will take time, but it’s worth the effort (and not just for the Instagram verification).

Check out our eight tips for writing a press release that gets noticed.

SEO

Your notoriety is also helped by your searchability. In other words, the better your search engine optimization (SEO), the better chance you’ll get verified on Instagram.

It’s not a bot that manages your verification request, it’s an actual person. And Instagram does its research. Beyond earned media, what else would someone find when searching for you? Does it positively reflect on your brand and how widely known you are? 

If not, it’s time to turn that tide so that any verification research goes in your favor.

Check out our 12 SEO marketing tips for beginners.

Grow your other social media profiles

While you might be focused solely on Instagram, your presence on other social media platforms can be a factor in your Instagram verification. The stronger the presence on other platforms, the better.

Of course, there’s no magic bullet for growing your following on any social media platform, but a few best practices include:

  • Leveraging any earned media coverage (such as a news article) to your advantage.
  • Showcasing your brand personality through a consistent voice and theme.
  • Posting consistently and frequently.
  • Creating and sharing engaging content.

Check out seven of the best tools to help grow your Instagram followers.

Identify impersonator profiles

One of the factors that Instagram considers for verification is the potential (or actuality) of your account being impersonated.

Instagram itself says that accounts representing well-known figures and brands are verified because they have a high likelihood of being impersonated.

So, it’s in your best interest to keep an eye out for any impersonating, fake profiles falsely identifying themselves as you or your brand. Report them to Instagram, but you’ll also want to document them for the sake of your verification as well.

Do not buy an Instagram verification badge

Do not get tempted. The only way to get verified on Instagram is to apply through the app (or through Meta’s media partners). If you try to shortcut the process or buy your way in, you’ll be wasting your money and risk getting penalized for violating Instagram’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Use.

In particular, giving false or misleading information during the verification process can actually get your account removed from Instagram entirely.

In conclusion

If you do get verified on Instagram, know that you absolutely can lose it as soon as you’re found to not be following Instagram’s Terms of Use and Community Guidelines (or if Instagram finds that you gave misleading or false information on your verification application).

So, you do have to play by the rules, stay active and publish unique and engaging content to maintain your verified status.

If you do not get verified on Instagram after applying, don’t worry. You can re-apply for Instagram verification after 30 days. Use those 30 days to continue working at our tips so that your account can hopefully be approved next time.

Remember, while Instagam verification can be a great asset in your overall marketing strategy on the platform, it’s just one piece of it. Keep all your tactics and plans in place so that you can continue working toward your goals, regardless of whether you’re verified or not.

As you begin to optimize your Instagram presence for possible verification, consider leveling up your digital marketing process, which can include automation, audience segmentation and enhanced email marketing capabilities, to name a few. DailyStory can help. Schedule your free demo with us today.